The One That Got Away (The Bounty Hunter Trilogy)

Chapter ten

Alec yawned while pouring himself some coffee. Soft music was coming from the radio and he tried to figure out if he wanted eggs or pancakes. Just as he was taking out the eggs and bacon, Isabelle came in, cheerful as ever. "Hey, big brother." she kissed Alec on the cheek, and grabbed his coffee mug. "Hey!" Alec protested, but Izzy flicked her hair, took a sip and then smiled "You love me." She sat down on a stool and Alec grunted "No, I don't." Isabelle replied with "Yes, you dork. You do." Alec sighed, cracking an egg on the pan and turned to his annoying sister and grumbled "Yeah, I do. But you're still a pain in the ass." Isabelle laughed and flicked open a fashion magazine, while talking "Yeah, whatever. How did things go last night? We good to go?" Alec nodded, telling her that Catarina gave them the green light. "What about Jonathan, find anything out about him?" he asked, while putting the bacon next to the eggs.

Isabelle raised her eyes to him and gave a defeated look "Not really. We dug around but there's not much to go on besides the fact that he seems to like the shady bar downtown, where he's been seen a couple of times. 'The Lair' I think. Kind of a drug den, really." Alec nodded again and Jace came into the kitchen, wearing only sweatpants. Alec rolled his eyes and said "Jace, really?" Jace smirked and said "What? There's no one here." He picked a stool and sat on it, taking the mug from Izzy, while Alec put another mug under the coffee machine. "Well, I can't say the view is bad but I think Clary might have a heart attack once she comes in here." a voice said. Magnus came into the kitchen, wearing sweats and a black tanktop and smiling at Jace. Alec looked at him and felt a pang of jealousy, which he quickly shrugged off. 

Jace almost fell from the stool. "Right, well, thanks I guess?" he said with a questioning voice. Magnus laughed as Isabelle threw a shirt at Jace. Just as he had it on, Clary came in with Simon, speaking softly and Simon laughed. Alec noticed Jace looking at them with a jealous expression and almost laughed out loud, knowing he had worn that look himself just a minute ago. "Morning, guys!" Clary chimed. Isabelle flicked the magazine and raised her eyes to Simon. "Morning, Simon." she said sweetly. Simon blushed and Clary nudged him to sit down at the table. "So, you always have family breakfasts here? 'Cause I can't say I enjoy you all blushing over each other like teenagers." Magnus spoke up. Alec's eyes flicked to him, but Magnus was staring at the others with a content smile. Simon started to sputter something but Jace said "You can always have breakfast later. Or in your room. Or anywhere that's not here." He looked at Magnus with a little hostility, but Alec turned to him and said "Jace. Behave." Magnus stared at Jace but the blonde's eyes flicked to Alec, who was staring at him intently.

Jace threw his hands up in defeat and said "Fine.  But only if he does." Magnus smiled an evil smile and said "That word doesn't exist in my vocabulary, blondie." Jace rolled his eyes but Alec set a big plate of eggs and bacon in front of them, shutting them up with a glare. He grabbed smaller plates and gave one to each. They started to eat and Alec stated "Today we're going to make a plan on how to move forward. And then, until we get more intel from Catarina, we are going to keep a close eye on Valentine and Jonathan. But until we get something concrete, it's just the usual. Bounties, if you get them. But when I call you, you come straight here. Alright?" He spoke with an authoritative voice, like he always did when handing out commands, and Magnus stared at him in awe. The others nodded and Simon said "Alec, there's something I wanted to show you afterwards in the computer room. If you have time." Alec nodded at him and stabbed his bacon with his fork.

"Alright, I'm going to have a training session, Alec?" Jace said after he had finished. Alec nodded and said "I'll check up on whatever Simon wants to show me and then we can go. Magnus, you coming?" Everyone stopped to stare at Alec and then Magnus. Jace eyebrows furrowed together. Magnus looked at Alec and slowly smiled. "Sure, been waiting to knock some sense into blondie." Jace rolled his eyes but looked at Alec in confusion. Alec just shrugged his shoulders and gathered the plates. Izzy and Clary did the dishes while Alec went with Simon. Once in the computer room, Simon said "I checked some of the footage yesterday, about Valentine and Jonathan. And I got a match of Jonathan down at the docs. He was there with some pretty brutal looking guys, here." Simon pulled up the footage and watched. It was indeed Jonathan Morgenstern, with some guys who looked like criminals. Jonathan was saying something but the camera was too far for them to hear what was being said. Then he took out a picture and showed it to the men. Simon stopped the video there and said "I zoomed in on the picture, here."