Call My Bluff

by Elizabeth Knox

  My fingers shook as I dialed her number, my ears straining before being told by a monotone robotic voice to leave a message. Damn. I dialed again. Then sent a text. I would go up to our rooms and check, then once I knew she was okay I would head into the meeting.

  Striding across the lobby, intent on my cell and getting a response, I collided with someone.

  “Ohhh… hello, gorgeous.” I heard from the other end of the video call she was on and now desperately trying to disconnect from, as her eyes met mine. Her wide smile was disarming, it actually made me want to smile in return.

  Nope, not gonna happen.

  So I cocked an eyebrow instead and slightly narrowed my gaze, my eyes not leaving hers. Her feet still hadn’t moved. I saw her eyes flick to where my hands were grabbing her arms in an unnecessary effort to keep her upright. My senses were totally overwhelmed, she smelled faintly of cookies or some damn shit.

  “You okay? You can let go of me now.” Even though I was listening, it took a full two beats for me to release her.

  Taking a deep breath, I had to swallow as she turned and bent over right in front of me. All I could think was that her ass was perfect, as she grabbed what I then realized was my cell from the floor.

  Holding out my phone to me, she scowled slightly as she said, “This lobby is big enough for both of us. Next time watch where you’re going.”

  I turned and stalked to the bank of elevators, jamming the button to take me to the ninth floor. I realized I hadn’t uttered a single word, and I also hadn’t gotten a message back from Grace.

  “Grace?” My voice boomed through the rooms that felt empty. Knowing she often had her headphones on, music blaring at a level that would have seemed tame to me at her age, but now defied all reason as far as I was concerned, I called out again as I reached the door to her bedroom. I checked for any signs, her backpack, laptop, or everything else was missing.

  I called her school to let them know that Grace should be there. Then I called down to reception.

  “Yes, sir?” a young girl answered immediately before the second ring.

  “Bring my car up, and the driver in the town car. I need them both ready to go by the time I get back down.”

  “Right away. And sir? Ms. Powell has arrived.”

  Good. She could come with me, and I can fill her in on the way.

  My setting up the casino security meeting with Rylan was going to have to wait. He could earn his way for a change and lead the meeting. I needed to focus on Grace. It had been so tempting to confide in Rylan. Hell, he was the one person I should be able to share all this shit with. But the nagging feeling that I needed to keep my guard up, that I couldn’t trust those closest to me, won.

  Each time in my life that I had ignored my gut, it bit me in the ass.

  This time too much was on the line.

  This time it was Grace.

  Chapter Three

  HONOR

  “Woo-hoo, they grow men hot in Vegas!” Ravi was still enjoying my encounter with tall, dark, and glowering.

  “Yeah, it was a real bump-and-run. He didn’t even say sorry for knocking me into next week. Good thing he was hot-as-hell ‘cause his manners left a lot to be desired. Look, I just checked in, now I am cooling my heels waiting for Mr. Ford to make an appearance.” I had hardly thought about the job again, except to call Ravi back and try to convince the guy at the front desk I needed to switch my room. This wasn’t like me at all, but I couldn’t get Mr. Bump-and-run out of my mind.

  Just at that moment, the man we were going to stop talking about any second rounded the corner. Maybe if I hadn’t been so distracted by him, I would have taken note of the guy behind the check-in counter standing straighter, or the valet rushing for keys, or even the uniformed driver who stood as he appeared. But I barely noticed any of those things, partially because my pulse quickened as I willed him to notice me again, and mostly because I was scrambling to figure out why I found him so attractive.

  Oh no. The realization hit me hard. It was him. It had to be. The him that needed me to fix this for him. The him that I needed to build the agency on. As he took the keys from the valet his eyes finally met mine.

  “Gotta go,” I mumbled quickly to Ravi and shoved my cell away. I lifted my chin and crossed to where he stood. At least the surprise in his eyes told me he hadn’t known who I was earlier either.

  He quickly introduced me to Jon, the driver. He told Jon he wanted him to drive along the bus route to Grace’s school and look for her, while we took the city streets which would get us there faster.

  Once he and I were alone in his car, he started to talk, “Grace didn’t make it to school.” I could hear the concern laced in his voice.

  “Do you remember what she was wearing this morning?” I had only just asked the question when the entire interior of the car seemed to ring, and the elfin face of the young woman I had chatted with in the closed cocktail bar this morning appeared on an obscenely large screen in the center of the dash. He suddenly pulled over, and touching the picture on the screen before he said, “Grace?”

  “Hey, Dad!” Her breezy demeanor flooded me with relief. “Before you even say anything, I was late this morning. Not a lot, but the school said the message had already been sent. I didn’t want to bug you, but I also didn’t want you to worry or anything. I just saw your messages on my phone. I thought it would be better to call you back.”

  “Where are you now, munchkin?” His term of endearment and the softness at the edges of his voice told her he wasn’t angry.

  “I am just heading into first period. I kinda missed homeroom though…”

  “Hey, I am glad you called me, I was worried. How about I pick you up after school?”

  I was feeling a bit like a voyeur, not able to escape the father-daughter phone conversation coming through the car speakers.

  “Can a friend come, too?” I noticed she didn’t use the word home, and I wondered if it was deliberate.

  “Sure.” He chuckled. “Sounds good.”

  As Grace disconnected the call, I felt all the tension leave him, and he stared straight ahead for a minute. I watched him send a brief message to Jon and gave him the afternoon off.

  “How about we get a coffee, and I can fill you in? I sure am glad you’re here Ms. Powell.”

  Needing the coffee, and a minute to get my crap together, I agreed, probably too fast. I would blame it on a latte addiction if anyone asked, but I was dangerously close to freaking out inside. At the moment, all I wanted to do was go check she actually was at school. To make sure, and lay eyes on her myself.

  “Hey, how about we grab some after we check the school? We’re almost there, aren’t we? Why don’t we just head in and lay eyes on her?” When he didn’t answer I kept going, “I would like to see where you normally drop her off and pick her up, and where her classrooms are. From now on, I think I should drive her to and from school.”

  His quiet, “Good idea,” in response let me know I had won this battle. But I needed to make sure that it was because of my now—the circumstances around Grace—and not my past haunting me. I took a deep breath, and as he pulled the car away from the curb heading into the action, I needed to get myself centered again. I sighed, thinking maybe this time I could make a difference.

  Later, sitting across from Sawyer, holding my fancy coffee, I watched him as he lifted his mug and deeply inhaled before he took a mouthful. His eyes almost closed, breathing in the aroma of the brew. The cup I needed both hands to hold, looked like a child’s in his strong grip. He caught me watching him as he set his coffee down and leaned back, draping his arm along the back of the booth seat. His eyebrow raised in question and he didn’t smile.

  “How much does Grace know?” I asked.

  Sawyer kept looking straight into my eyes as he answered, “She knows you’re here to help, but I don’t think she understands how serious it is right now. In her words, it’s not a big deal.”

  “I’m relieved that you
told her the truth about why I’m really here.” No way I could handle lying to Grace when I would be with her twenty-four-seven now, by playing his girlfriend, or whatever other cock-a-mamie stories he might have come up with to hide the truth from everyone else. That I would have to keep up with in addition to protecting his daughter.

  It gave me new insight into what I would be asking the other women at the agency to do. How hard it would be to become part of another person’s life and still protect them. I knew the agency would provide an amazing service, save lives, and help people who were exactly where I had been a few years ago.

  “Yeah,” he said slowly. “I made it a rule when she was about four, never to bring anyone into her life that I couldn’t see there permanently. Grace never would’ve bought it.”

  “Who do we need to convince then?”

  “Pretty much everyone. Rylan knows, but all the other staff must think your mine. That’s another reason moving your room next to mine is a good idea.”

  As I lifted out my laptop to show Sawyer the electronic tracing I had already been doing of all Grace’s communications and online contacts, I wondered silently what his other reasons were?

  Chapter Four

  SAWYER

  Walking into the security meeting with Honor at my side an hour later felt good. After talking, planning, and seeing her intensity in keeping Grace safe, it finally felt like I wasn’t alone. Rylan introduced me to several of the new security guards. Everyone was here today for training, to grab their uniform, and to get their hours for the next few days. I wanted to be impressed, and while most of the guys seemed cool, a few of them looked different to what I had hoped for. None of them were the ex-cop, ex-ranger types I had told my brother I wanted for the clubs. In this room full of sixty or so of our newest security crew, only a handful sported buzz cuts. Two of them were women. There were even a couple of ponytails—if that’s what you call them on a dude.

  I acted like I was showing Honor around, but when she patted my ass as she left the security briefing room I nearly choked. The other guys laughed, she knew because she looked back at me and winked. Winked! I needed to focus, not to get the hots for the specialist I’d hired to stop my daughter’s stalker.

  Rylan was suddenly in front of me with a scowl on his face. “That’s who you’ve hired, instead of letting my team handle it?” The anger in his words caused droplets of spit to form at the edges of his mouth. Before I could begin to reply, he went on, “What the hell kind of protection is she going to be? You need someone who’s going to intimidate this little fucker… not just fuck you. Do you need some ass, bro? Wanna get laid? ‘Cause I can sort that out for you, get you some real pretty ladies. This shit with Grace is real. You need to let my guys deal with this. We can stop this punk kid.”

  I wasn’t sure with Rylan’s little speech what to be pissed off about first. He was out of line that much I knew. I itched to put my fist to his jaw, the way I would have settled it when we were younger.

  “You really think Grace is gonna be okay with one of your hulking guards being with her every day? Watching her hang with her friends? Be part of her life? Those huge men are perfect for the drunks at the bar, drowning their sorrows, and for the casino floor, keeping the players in line, but not for this.” I bit back everything else I wanted to say. The fact that he was so sure he had it all figured out—that Grace’s stalker was another kid—made him blind to all the other threats. It was just another reason I wasn’t about to let his security team and he get anywhere near my daughter.

  “No, man. I got a couple of great tech guys. One of them would be perfect. We put in the right equipment. He can see everything from in here. You gotta get rid of her. We should be handling this, man. As. Family.” To emphasize his last words, he smashed his fist down onto my desk.

  I knew his frenzy came from a place of wanting to protect my daughter. I thought back to how I had felt, across the table from Honor this morning, making a plan and watching how calmly and methodically she took me through the steps she had taken so far.

  I knew we needed her.

  I wanted her here.

  “Let me know how the mock-ups run this afternoon?” I had hired a whole lot of actors to come in and cheat, play the tables, and machines. I offered a bonus to any of the actors who got away with cheating. I needed to know the security weaknesses before we opened on the weekend.

  I wanted to fix it all. Be done. To have the hotel and casinos already open, the burger joints and cocktail bars doing a good trade, but mostly just have the asshole that threatened my daughter arrested, or better yet buried.

  As I walked out, heading into yet another meeting with the local FBI agent—this time with Honor—we needed to go over what had happened in the first room I had booked her. She had gone in, found wireless bug-style microphones and two cameras. Then she insisted on searching Grace’s bedroom, and as soon as she found the night-vision surveillance cameras, she wanted update the FBI. We were trapped in a no man’s land, the stalking was escalating, but the Feds and local law enforcement needed a crime to be committed before they could take action.

  Well, I wasn’t going to wait until something happened to the one person in this world that I was meant to protect. I would fucking burn this building down before I let anyone hurt her.

  I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that the whole security team needed my attention. But too much was going on.

  For now, it would have to wait.

  Chapter Five

  HONOR

  The school parking lot was jammed with luxury cars, the odd minivan driven by an exhausted nanny, and teens listening to music, trying to play at things like they didn’t notice each other. It was a huge contrast to the sedate and quiet lot it had been on that first morning.

  This was my third afternoon picking up Grace.

  It was the first time though, that I was picking her up with Sawyer.

  My eyes were scanning for her in the crowds of teens as he said, “There she is.”

  That impressed me, that he scanned crowds almost as well as I did. But if I was honest with myself, several things about Sawyer Ford impressed me. This afternoon, less than twenty-four hours before his big casino and hotel grand opening, he was taking the afternoon off to spend time with his daughter. Grace was zombie obsessed and with all the other shit going on, he decided to take her, and two of her friends to play some sort of zombie tag. Ugh. He was making it difficult for me to stay professional in this carefree-happy mode he created for Grace.

  He sang while he made Grace her breakfast because I’d walked in on that twice when I was picking her up to drive her to school. The nights he was working late, he would stop whatever he was doing at six and have dinner with her, and they would both talk about their day. Anytime another contact was made from the person stalking Grace, he dropped whatever he was doing, and made time to plan. That had happened three times in the four days I had been with them.

  Arriving at the apocalypse-style warehouse just out of town, I began to feel a tingle in my fingers and toes I hadn’t felt for a long time. The long building with stripped cars covered in graffiti and large military-style Humvees with red paint dripping from stuffed zombie bodies heightened my awareness and made my chest feel tight.

  Walking together into the large reception area and gift shop, the girls ogled the merchandise, as Sawyer turned to me and asked, “What’s up?”

  Every time we spoke now our eyes held for just a beat too long. I was aware of him, his strength, whenever we were together in the same room.

  “Just doin’ what you’re paying me for.”

  I needed to get my mind back on track, stop drooling over him the way Grace’s friends were drooling over the young veteran getting the gear ready for our group.

  “Are you feeling this isn’t safe? I thought the spontaneity would be good. No one knows we’re here. What’s going on?”

  Smiling, I decided I’d let him know truthfully exactly what had been on my mind as
I showed my concealed carry permits and released my holstered guns into the lockbox for the duration of the zombie tag game. “Most women come into places like this, and they do just what Grace and her friends are doing. Looking at the pretties, the baubles, the stuff designed to catch your eye. Wanna know what I see?” He nodded. “Seven exits, eight windows, four of which are too high to be easily broken into, fourteen lights, approximately ten switches, and three smoke alarms. It’s what makes me good at my work, makes things safer for Grace.” I swallowed, reflecting that I hadn’t been so bluntly honest with anyone else before.

  His eyes softened, and the corner of his mouth almost twitched into a smile. “I’m glad you’re here… for both of us.” As he turned, covering the space in only a few long strides, he stepped over to where the girls were, and for those few seconds all I could see was him.

  As soon as we were all geared up, helmets, protective vests, and goggles, the girls couldn’t stop giggling. They were having a blast and it showed. Grace’s eyes sparkled and she was talking constantly with her friends. I was quiet just sticking to her side like glue. Holding the assault-style rifle felt natural, as did wearing camo gear again, as we walked into the tent that served as a briefing room. A former Army Ranger Staff Sergeant gave us all the specifics of our ‘mission.’ I was touched and amazed that Sawyer had chosen this, a veteran-run business, for his time to unwind and bond with Grace.

  We moved as one group down a long narrow passage before coming out into a mini ‘bombed city.’ There were no doors, just open doorways to check for zombies, who needed to be shot.