Free His Wicked Pleasure by Christina Gallo

his spine. Paul walked up behind him, noticed his friend’s demeanor and let out a loud groan.
     
                  “I know that look,” he said handing Declan the coffee he’d picked up for him. “I’ve seen it so many times on your face...we’re about to be deployed.” He groaned, “That just sucks right now.”
     
                  Declan nodded as his gaze took in two commanding officers and an admiral headed their way. Immediately, he and Paul stood at attention and saluted.
     
                  “At ease men,” said the admiral with a nod. “We’ll be joining you during your meeting today.”
     
                  Declan nodded but he didn’t relax. Instead, he stood at perfect attention as tension filled every part of his body. The last thing he wanted was to leave Kristie without letting her know how much she meant to him. He needed to tell her how badly he wanted a relationship.
     
                  He shook his head. Now was not the time to focus on what he wanted, he had a mission to do. Forcing himself out of his own pity party, he replied, “Please, follow us. We were just heading towards our meeting room.”
     
                  The officers followed Declan as they walked towards the large building and through the halls to the meeting room. Declan waited as the officers took their seats before he took his own and then he waited, lost in his own thoughts, as his squad came in one by one.
     
                  “I guess the gangs all here,” said Declan looking over at Paul with a frown as his commander walked through the door.
                 
                  The next hour was spent with the commander giving them their orders and Declan listened as each man was briefed on his role on this mission. . For himself, he was head of operations...a role that he was very familiar with.
     
                  The commander led them to a room filled with computers, wall monitors, and hi-tech equipment and let the team go to work. Rubbing the back of his neck, Declan stood in the center of the room, looked at the screen on the wall and frowned.
     
                  “This is not going to be an easy assignment,” he sighed. It shouldn’t surprise him, none of his assignments were easy.
     
                  Paul looked at the building on the wall, walked over and enlarged it. “Interesting.”
     
                  “Very,” said Declan rubbing his chin while staring at the display before him. Then they got to work setting up everything that they needed to. Finally, after the sky outside started getting dark, the broke away from the computers for a few minutes.
     
                  “We’ve been in here for hours,” said Paul with concern. “Let’s send someone out to get us food. I think we’re all hungry and can use something in our stomachs.”
     
    ~*~*~*~
     
                  Walking into her office, Kristie found her uncle busily typing on his laptop at her desk. She smiled and warmly hugged him.
     
    “I’m not going to sugar coat this, Kristie.” He grimaced, “Your email had me take your concerns very seriously. It seems you’re right. Someone, or several people, are stealing from you.”
     
                  “Oh no,” said Kristie sadly.
     
                  “Yes and someone from your company leaked information about that theft, although they twisted the truth to implicate our family, which is why the media is having a field day.”
     
    ~*~*~*~
     
                  Taking a bite out of his sandwich, Declan stood up and switched things around on the wall. He stood there chewing while he was lost in thought.  After a few moments, the plan hit him like a ton of bricks.
     
                  Declan turned around and watched his team working while they ate. Walking back to his