Rank: Lighthouse Security Investigations Series

by Maryann Jordan

  She sucked in a quick breath and he grabbed her hands, rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles. “You’re so good at what you do, you found them out almost immediately, which was not something Frank was expecting. I know your dad and he are friends, and I honestly don’t think Frank ever intended to cause you trouble. He just made the mistake of thinking you were an easy mark. Unfortunately, Kozlov has no such scruples. He is a dangerous man, unpredictable, and if he figures out you’re on to him...”

  Eyes widening, she licked her lips slowly, saying nothing, but giving all her attention to him.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked, shaking her hands in his.

  “This would be so surreal if I hadn’t had such a strange and scary day.” Holding his gaze, she shook her head, and said, “Rank, I don’t even know what to do with this information. Is my,” she swallowed hard and tried again. “Is my life in danger?”

  He leaned forward, linking his fingers with hers. “Babe, when I said we would keep you safe, I meant that.” Bending slightly to maintain a hold on her gaze, he added, “There’s a way, in particular, that I would like to bring up to you.”

  “Okay,” she immediately aqcuiesced, trusting him implicitly. Tilting her head to the side, her mind reeling, she asked, “What is it?”

  “Do remember when you first saw my lighthouse tattoo? I told you that it had a special meaning.”

  Her gaze shifted to his bicep, even though it was now covered with his shirt.

  He waited till her eyes moved back to his before he continued. “The design is one that Mace created as a logo for his business. Each of us who work for him has the same tattoo.” Her brow scrunched in thought, and he said, “There’s actually a small microchip embedded under the skin, right at the light of the lighthouse.”

  Her eyes opened wide and she exclaimed, “Microchip?”

  “In our job, Helena, we often have to go to a lot of different places, investigating situations of varying degrees of danger. To make sure we all know where each of us is at all times, we have location chips embedded.”

  “I did that with my cats,” she blurted. “I mean, I know it’s not the same, but I had the vet microchip them in case they ever ran outside.”

  He grinned and nodded. “Our microchips are little more sophisticated, giving more information than just location, but the concept is the same.”

  Scrunching her brow again, she asked, “I’m sorry, but I don’t see what this has to do with me.”

  “I think it would be a good idea for you to have one.”

  She squeaked, “A tattoo?”

  Shaking his head, he said, “No, no. Not the tattoo…just the chip.”

  She thought for a moment, and then asked, “Is it something that you do for a lot of others?”

  He pondered his answer, then replied, “Sometimes, if there’s a client that appears to be in a specific type of danger and we have a long-term commitment with them, we’ll use the chip. However, when the mission is over, we remove it. For the Keepers and their family, we don’t remove it. When Sylvie and Mace got together, she got the chip…and the tattoo. Since David is a child, he just has the chip. Although, when we put it in, I also did a stencil of the lighthouse. It was washable, but he liked feeling like part of the guys.”

  “You did the stencil?”

  “Yeah. I do the tattoos for the Keepers. If you wanted one,” he said slowly, “I’d do it for you too.”

  She let the implication of his offer sink in and her heart fluttered, but then she thought back to the reason it was all necessary to begin with and she tensed up. “Do you really think the chip is necessary? If you guys are watching me and providing protection…” She let the rest of her comment just hang.

  He sighed, and admitted, “We’re the best, but nothing in life is infallible. If anything should ever happen to you, with the chip, we would know where to find you.”

  Shrugging her shoulders, she nodded. “I trust you. Let’s do the chip. The other part, the tattoo,” she paused. “If you still feel that way after all of this is over, let’s talk about it again, okay?”

  Smiling softly, he agreed, “Okay.”

  “So,” she took a deep breath, “when do we do this?”

  He scooted closer on the sofa and pulled her over into his lap. With one hand resting on her ass, he slid the other up her back and underneath her silken hair to her neck. Moving her face just a whisper away from his, he said, “Tomorrow. We’ll do it tomorrow. Tonight, you’re all mine.”

  Helena lay in bed, snuggled tightly into Rank’s side. She had gone to sleep easily, sated from making love and exhausted from the day’s events. Now, she was awake, and her mind was racing. Moonlight was coming in through the slatted blinds, casting slivers of illumination across the blanket.

  She watched the steady rise and fall of Rank’s chest, then allowed her gaze to drift up over his short-bearded jaw to his sensual mouth. She even stared at his perfect nose, wondering how a man like Rank could make it to his age without it having been broken, assuming he probably played football or wrestled in his younger years. His blue eyes were closed in slumber, but she had the color of them memorized. A lock of hair fell across his forehead and she longed to reach up and push it back, but did not dare for fear of waking him up.

  To her, he was a perfect physical specimen, all muscles and strength. But it was when he looked at her and smiled, softness and ease radiating from him, that she felt herself falling in love with him. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, she saw that it was just a little after two o’clock. Continuing to stare at him, she allowed herself to face in the middle of the night what she had refused to accept during the day. Definitely falling for him.

  That thought should have made her nervous, considering how they had gotten together and the uncertainty facing them once all this was over, but it did not. She wondered if her feelings were reciprocated, if Rank had fallen as hard as she had, but he made it clear that he wanted to be together now. She was smart enough to know that it did not mean this would last forever. There was still the chance that, after the mission was over and things settled down, he would not feel the same way.

  * * *

  With these thoughts swirling in her head, she sighed and closed her eyes, willing once more for sleep to come, uncertain what the next day would bring. She did not know how long she had drifted away, when she felt the bed shift as Rank sat up, cocked his head to the side, and listened. As she propped up on an arm, he asked, “Babe, where the cats?”

  “I shut them in the laundry room. With Prairie close to delivering, I wanted her near the box that I made for her. And since the litter box is in there, I just put them all there. Why?”

  Instead of answering, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. Bending, he snagged his clothes off the floor and quickly stepped into his boxers and jeans. Looking over his shoulder, he said, “Stay very quiet, but get dressed.” He glanced to the floor where her underwear lay, and added, “Fully dressed. Jeans. Warm shirt. And get your shoes on.” Seeing she was about to ask a question he gave his head a short shake. “Need you to do what I ask, please, babe.”

  She snapped her mouth closed and threw her legs over the opposite side of the bed. Standing quickly, she jerked on her panties and found her bra. Tiptoeing into her walk-in closet, she slid on a pair of jeans and found a warm, dark blue turtleneck. Uncertain what was happening, she also grabbed her comfortable denim jacket before sliding her sock covered feet into a pair of boots. Exiting the closet, she heard Rank on the phone.

  “Sorry, man, I know you were sleeping. I’m at Helena’s. Something’s not right. We’re dressed and getting ready to get out of here.” He paused, listening. “I know that nothing’s triggered the alarm, but something’s not right. Do me a favor, get a call to Mace. Tell them we’re coming in.”

  She moved to him and placed the flat of her palm on his chest. “Rank?”

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and stared into her face, seeing c
onfusion mixed with fear. Giving her a squeeze, he said, “I don’t know if anything’s going on. The alarm hasn’t sounded but I’ve got a bad feeling.”

  Her head jerked in a nod, and she whispered, “Okay.”

  “We’re going to go downstairs, and I want to double check the alarm. Do you have any cat carriers?” Seeing her nod, he continued, “While I’m doing that, I want you to get the cats and get them in the carriers. Grab anything that you think you might need over the next couple of days. A few clothes, your laptop.”

  “Are we leaving?” she asked, her voice whisper soft, as though afraid someone could hear them.

  A quick nod and a squeeze about her waist, was his answer. “Don’t worry, I’ll get us somewhere safe. Now go take care of what I need you to do, okay?”

  This time it was her turn to reply with a quick nod. She tiptoed quickly back into her closet and grabbed a small, rolling suitcase. Within a minute, she had thrown in some clothes and underwear and, with a hasty trip to the bathroom, had grabbed her essentials.

  When she came back into the bedroom, he was already gone. She carried the suitcase and continued to tiptoe into the living room. Racing to the laundry room, she opened the door and smiled at the three, sleepy cats blinking up at her.

  “Hey, guys. I know you hate the carriers, but we need to go on a little trip.” She opened the pantry closet and snagged one large carrier and one smaller one. Stuffing Oscar and Grover into the larger one, she carefully picked up Prairie and placed her into the smaller one. Grabbing a bag that was hanging on the back of the door, she tossed some cat food inside.

  Rank was on the phone when she hustled back into the living room, a cat carrier in each hand. Disconnecting with whoever he was speaking with, he stepped over to her. “One of my co-workers, Clay, is looking at the security cameras. He’s noticed the same SUV driving up and down the street. Last night, while you were getting ready for bed, I moved my SUV to the alley just behind your building. We’re going to go out the back, get everything loaded up, and get out of here.”

  She sucked in a quick intake of air, her eyes large. “But what if—”

  He halted her words, placing his fingers on her lips. “No ‘what ifs’. I need you to do what I say and do it exactly when I tell you, okay?”

  With his finger still pressed against her lips, she nodded. He looked down at the two cat carriers, and said, “I’ll get the suitcase and the large carrier. Grab your purse, briefcase, and the smaller carrier and follow me.”

  They broke apart and she immediately moved to do as he had asked. In under five minutes, they slipped out her back door and headed to his SUV. The suitcase went into the cargo space and the cat carriers went into the backseat. As soon as they climbed inside, he started the engine and pulled out of the alley.

  She looked over and noted that he had a special radio connected to his dashboard. As she sat with her hands clasped in her lap, looking around her neighborhood, she wondered where they were going.

  “Talk to me, Clay,” he called out.

  “Same vehicle that was at Helena’s business has been circling the block. No one has gotten out, but they circled for almost thirty minutes, before finally parking in the front around the corner.”

  “What about her car?”

  “Walker and Drew took care of it. Checked for explosives and bugs. It’s clean. They got it to the rendezvous point.”

  “I know you’ve got a lock on us, but it’ll be a long drive. We’ll get there soon as we can.”

  Disconnecting, he felt her eyes on him, and he looked to the side. “You okay?”

  “Explosives? Bugs?”

  He heard the raspy disbelief in her voice, and replied, “Your car was exposed in the parking lot for a while. We didn’t want to take it without making sure it was clean.”

  “But Walker told me it would be fine just left in the parking lot.”

  “Babe, he wasn’t going to tell you everything…not when I couldn’t be there to soften the blow.”

  She opened her mouth, but nothing came out for a moment. Staring straight ahead as he pulled onto the highway, she watched as the red taillights in front of them moved on. Finally, she whispered, “I don’t understand why any of this is happening. I don’t even know where we're going.”

  He reached his right hand across the console, clasping her cold fingers in his warmer ones. Giving them a little squeeze, he brought her face back toward his. “I’m taking you somewhere where you can be safe, Helena. Right now, I can’t guarantee your safety in your apartment.”

  She nodded, but did not say anything.

  He squeezed her fingers again, and asked, “Do you trust me?” He looked to the side and held her gaze, breathing easier when she nodded.

  “Yeah. I trust you.”

  21

  The motion of the vehicle traveling down the road finally relaxed Helena, but sleep did not come. Toward the east, the dark night sky was lightening ever so slightly with the anticipation of the rising sun soon to come.

  She watched as Rank turned off the highway and continued the journey, moving from one road to a subsequently smaller one. Finally, miles down the road, he made a turn onto what appeared to be a wide gravel drive, but not a road.

  Curious, she wanted to ask where they were but knew that whatever safe haven he was taking her to, it was probably best if she did not know where it was.

  “You okay?”

  She turned at the sound of his voice and offered a small smile.

  “You can talk to me, babe. I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through. I know this is surreal as hell.”

  A slight giggle erupted from her and she wondered where it had come from. How was it that in the middle of all the changes that were coming at her from all directions, she could laugh?

  “I’m just enjoying the drive,” she responded, her smile firmly in place.

  He chuckled and shook his head. Slowing down, they moved past a grove of thick trees. A few lights shone in the distance, signs of human life way out in the middle of nowhere. Before they got too close to them, he turned to the left, onto a smaller gravel drive that took them deeper into the copse of trees.

  Leaning forward, she stared out the front windshield, the only illumination provided now from the headlights. The thick forest opened up ahead, exposing a grassy area surrounded by trees and the headlights landed on a small cabin. One floor. Made of logs with a stone fireplace on the left wall.

  Rank parked in front of the structure and reached over to hold her hand again. “I know it’s not much, but it’s safe.”

  Unable to take her eyes away from the side of the cabin buried in the woods, she shook her head slightly, and said, “It looks like something out of a storybook.”

  Startled, Rank turned and looked at it, trying to imagine it from Helena’s viewpoint. He had been afraid that it would seem too poor of an accommodation, even for a short time, but it was a safe place, and that was all that mattered. A means to an end. But now, with her comment about a storybook, he looked at it with new eyes.

  “Come on. Let’s get you and the cats inside.”

  The cats had amazingly slept during their drive, for which Helena was grateful. She let go of Rank’s hand and grabbed the handle of the door.

  “Wait,” he called out. “Let me.”

  She watched as he hustled around the front of the SUV, opened her door and offered his hand to assist her down.

  “It’s dark out here,” he said, unnecessarily. “You take the small carrier and I’ll take the larger one. We’ll get inside, then I’ll come back for the rest.”

  Nodding her agreement, she reached into the back seat and plucked out Prairie’s carrier. He grabbed the one containing Grover and Oscar and the bag of cat essentials, then led the way up the gravel front path. Setting one bag on the stoop, reached into his pocket for the keys. Opening the door, he swung it wide and stepped inside, scanning the area to make sure it was clear before waving her in.

 
Her breath halted in her throat as she stepped over the threshold, wondering what she would find inside. He flipped a light switch by the door and the room illuminated with soft light coming from the lamps to the left, in what was obviously the small living area.

  A brown loveseat, with an accompanying chair, sat facing the stone fireplace on the left wall. The thick-hewn log walls gave off a rustic, comforting vibe. Heavy green curtains covered the windows and a green, thick, braided rug covered the wood floor. A few paintings of rocky coastlines hung on the walls.

  A yowl from Oscar startled her and she accepted that a tour of the small cabin would need to wait until she had a chance to deal with the cats. Looking over at Rank, she asked, “Where should I put them?”

  He shook his head. “Well, there’s no laundry room here, but there are two bedrooms. Could we set them up in the smaller bedroom?”

  Smiling, she said, “Honey, we can put them anywhere. After all, I’m just a guest here, so I want to make sure I’m doing the right thing.”

  He stepped closer and looked down at her, holding her gaze. Peering up at him with nothing but trust, she waited for his response. Reaching out, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and said, “While you’re here, this is your place. So, I want to make sure that you’re comfortable.”

  She smiled and he returned it with one of his own. Bending, he grabbed the carrier and said, “Come on, grouchy. I’ll show you your new home.”

  He led them past the eat-in kitchen, with a small table, down a short hall and to the right, into a small bedroom. It contained a double bed with a handmade quilt covering it, a small chair and a dresser. He sat the cat carrier down and walked over, opening the closet door. It was a surprisingly big closet, with a light bulb fixture in the middle and a pull string to turn it on and off. Giving the string a jerk, the closet was nicely illuminated.