Midnight Escape (Fortress Security Book 1)

by Rebecca Deel

  “It involved another case.”

  “Joe’s?” Cal asked.

  Eli nodded. “I asked Dana to keep an eye on Sartelli, let us know who he was talking to, that sort of thing, not record him. I never asked her to do anything dangerous, Brenna. I would never do that. She’s a friend.”

  “Well, obviously, she found out something that upset Sartelli.” Brenna turned her scowl on Cal. “Why don’t you arrest him or put the squeeze on him? Make him tell you where Dana is.”

  “We don’t know Sartelli is behind her disappearance. It’s possible this has nothing to do with her boss. She could have stumbled onto something shady while doing this favor for someone other than Eli. I can’t arrest somebody because you want him to be guilty.”

  “Have you even talked to Sartelli?” Brenna’s voice rose.

  Color creeped up Cal’s neck. “Yes, ma’am. I have. He knows nothing except that Dana’s on vacation and he wasn’t happy about it. He hadn’t expected her to be gone. You disappointed the guy holding you at knife point. How did you get away from him?”

  For an instant, uncertainty flickered in her eyes. Uncertainty and something else Eli couldn’t identify. She was holding something back. He wished he knew her better so he’d recognize the emotion on her face. Now he had no choice but to weasel the info out of her whether she liked it or not. Anything she withheld made all their jobs harder.

  “The complex security guard interrupted him.”

  Eli leaned closer to the bedside. “Did he help you get away?”

  Brenna’s gaze remained glued to her hands. “In a way.”

  “Brenna.” Cal remained silent until she looked at him. “What happened? What did the security guard say? Don’t leave anything out. It could be important.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “He told us to get a room, that there were kids living in the complex.”

  Eli leaped to his feet. “What? Did this scum bag assault you?”

  Brenna scooted further across the bed in an effort to get away from him. “Not really.”

  “Not really? What does that mean? Did he try to rape you or not?” Anger made his words sound harsh. No wonder she’d held back. He couldn’t imagine any woman being comfortable talking about a sexual assault with another man. Maybe Cal could bring in a female police officer to question her closer. He gentled his tone. “Brenna, please. We need to know everything. It might help us find this guy and maybe your sister.”

  She glared at him. “He pressed me against the wall with his body, okay? The security guy thought we were making out. We were in the shadows and the guard didn’t see the knife. Hoodie kept the knife hidden, but he apologized and told the guard he couldn’t keep his hands off me. The guard waited for us to move along. I got far enough ahead of Hoodie that when I rounded the corner, I ran away from him. He chased me. I ran into the woods and out into the road straight into a cop car.” She shrugged. “That’s all I remember until I woke up in the ambulance.”

  Cal paused in his note taking. “And you didn’t see your assailant’s face. Did he say anything else, something that stood out?”

  She snapped her fingers. “Yes, now I remember. He called me by name like he knew me. And, before you ask, I didn’t recognize his voice.” She frowned. “One other thing I noticed. Hoodie is very well spoken. You know, mannerly. He called me Miss Mason. This wasn’t a random break-in. He broke into Dana’s place to look for this digital recording and, when he discovered I was staying there, came after me to see if I had hidden it.”

  A nurse entered the room with a clipboard in her hands. “Forms for you to sign, Miss Mason, and you’ll be ready to leave.” After obtaining her signature and giving instructions from the doctor, she left the room with a curious glance at Eli and Cal.

  “I need to search Dana’s apartment,” Cal said in the silence following the nurse’s departure. “If you don’t have your keys, I can get one from the complex management.”

  Brenna pointed to the bag sitting on the counter. “I grabbed my purse before climbing off the balcony.”

  “You climbed off the balcony.” Eli dragged his hand down his face. Guilt ate a hole in his gut as he considered how scared she must have been to scale the iron railing of a third-floor apartment and make like a monkey to the ground. He should have stayed somewhere close by. He could have helped her. He’d done enough rappelling in his SEAL days. Didn’t like heights, but he’d sucked up the fear and completed his tasks anyway. Eli dropped into the chair by her bedside.

  After Cal handed her the bag, she dug through the contents and held aloft a set of keys. She slid one off the ring. “Would you see if my laptop is still under the bed, please? If it’s not, I’ll need to make arrangements to get another one, even if it means adding to the tab on the credit card, much as I dread the expense. I don’t have a choice. My laptop is my livelihood. Deadlines don’t take into account middle of the night intruders.”

  “Sure. You do realize Dana’s place is now a crime scene and you can’t stay there for a while, right?”

  Brenna sighed. “I need clothes, too.” She frowned down at her dirty pajamas. “I can’t wear these anymore.”

  “I’ll see what I can do about that. Where will you be staying? I need a number where I can reach you.”

  Brenna recited her cell phone number. “I guess Eli will have to take me to a hotel for a day or two.” She smiled at him. “A hotel that won’t bankrupt my bank account.”

  “She’s staying with me.” Eli helped her from the bed. “She will be with me or Jon from now on.”

  “I can’t impose like that.” Brenna swayed on her feet.

  Eli grasped her arm. “Save the argument for a later time, beautiful. If you stay in a hotel, Jon or I will have to stay there as well and that will pad your bill. You’re saving yourself money this way.”

  Brenna yanked her arm away. “How about I save myself even more money? You’re fired.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Brenna scowled at Eli, fighting to stay on her feet and away from the nearest wall. She felt sorry for the poor baby. Well, not much, but he did look miserable. Her frown deepened. He should look miserable. The sorry excuse for a friend used Dana to do his dirty work which might have led to her disappearance.

  “Nice going, lover boy,” Jon Smith said. He lounged against the doorway, observing the occupants of the room. “Let me grab some paper and take notes. Wouldn’t want to miss the fine points of handling women.”

  Eli glared over his shoulder. “Shut up. You’re making things worse.”

  “From where I’m standing, that’s not possible.”

  “Do yourself a favor, Jon,” Brenna said. “Leave the pages in Eli’s playbook alone. Otherwise, your next date will be years in the future.” She slanted a slit-eyed look at the flushed PI standing by her side. Good. She hoped he squirmed a long time. Not that it mattered. As soon as she found a hotel, she planned to send Eli Wolfe on his way.

  A twinge of uneasiness pierced her anger. How would she find Dana? Where did she start looking? Her first jaunt into the PI world had ended on a downtown street in Nashville with a yard ape bodyguard drawing down on her. So much for her bravado. She was lucky not to come away from that encounter with more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese.

  “Miss Mason, you might want to rethink that decision,” Cal said. “Someone wants information from you and he’s willing to hurt you to get it. You escaped a few hours ago relatively unhurt. Next time, you might not be so lucky.”

  Next time? Brenna did not like the sound of that comment. She swallowed hard. “You think he’ll come after me again?”

  Jon straightened. “Did he get what he wanted?”

  “No,” Eli said, his voice tight. “He wants some digital recording that Dana had. Did she mention anything about that to you?”

  Jon shook his head. “Fire Eli later, Brenna. He might be a jerk, but between us, we’ll keep you alive and bring Dana home.”

  Eli scowled at his partner
before turning again to face her. “Besides, Wolfe Investigations doesn’t give refunds. You hired us, you’re stuck with us, sugar. We deliver your money’s worth.”

  “You need a better slogan.” Brenna fought the smile threatening to curve her lips upward in spite of her anger. “Especially in light of the fee you charged me.”

  “We still owe service for ninety-nine percent of your retainer.”

  Cal flipped his notebook closed and stuffed it into his shirt pocket. “Despite how this all came down tonight, you can trust these men, Miss Mason.”

  “Do you?”

  He paused at the door and glanced over his shoulder. “Trust Eli and Jon? You bet. Who wouldn’t want two former Navy SEALs guarding their six? I owe both of them more than I can ever repay. So, yeah, I’d trust them with my life and have many times over the years. I’ll be in touch.”

  Brenna watched the police detective until he walked out of her line of sight. Her gaze shifted from Jon to Eli. Wow, Navy SEALs. Dana sure knew how to pick friends. Handsome and deadly.

  “So, what’s it going to be, Brenna?” Eli retrieved her purse from the bed and handed it to her. “Do we search for Dana with or without you?”

  Brenna’s eyes widened. Determination glittered in Eli’s spectacular green eyes. Either she agreed to work with them or he and Jon would run this investigation on their own. She raised her chin, eyed him. Wolfe Investigations owed her, even it if was only ninety-nine cents. And they owed it to Dana to rescue her since it might be their fault her sister was missing. “Fine, you’re hired again. Now get me out of this place.”

  Eli pulled into the driveway of his ranch-style home, shut off the Camaro’s engine, and glanced at his silent passenger. Brenna’s head remained propped against the seat rest, her breathing slow and even. He hated to wake her, but given the circumstances of the night, if he tried to lift her from the car he’d likely end up with a bloody nose. He’d had plenty of those in training and on ops. Didn’t like them. Safer for his face and her hand if he woke her from a safe distance.

  “Brenna, we’re here. Can you walk to the house on your own?”

  The sleeping beauty in his passenger seat stirred, stretched, winced before opening her eyes. “Where are we?”

  “South side of Nashville in a suburb near the Davidson county line. We’re sitting in my driveway.”

  Brenna eyed his well-lit home. “What if I refuse to stay?”

  Tension tightened every muscle in his body. Did she hate him that much? And why did he care? He’d only met her the previous afternoon. It shouldn’t matter what she thought of him. Yet it did. A lot. “We laid out the rules for your safety at the hospital. What’s it going to be, Brenna? Stay here with me or get connecting rooms at a hotel?” He paused. “On your dime, of course.” Dirty pool, he knew. She didn’t appear flush with cash at the moment. Besides, he could keep her safer in familiar surroundings. He knew who came and went at different times during the day and night in this neighborhood. He’d made it a point over two years to stay home at various times, different days of the week, to learn the life rhythm of his subdivision.

  More than that, he wanted Brenna Mason to trust him. He’d screwed up. He wanted a chance to redeem himself in Brenna’s eyes and bring Dana home. The time clock in his head kept ticking. His gut said time was running out to mount a rescue op, if one were still needed by this point.

  Another hard glare his direction and Brenna opened her car door.

  Eli blew out a breath and hustled around the hood to assist the still-weaving author up the walkway to his front door. Once inside with the door secured and the alarm reset, he nudged her down the hall to his guest room. “There’s a full bath through the door on your left. Towels and washcloths are under the vanity. My sisters stay here once in a while, so they leave their favorite body washes and shampoos in there. Help yourself. I’ll grab a couple things for you to sleep in and lay them inside the bedroom door.”

  “Thanks.”

  He studied her drawn, sad expression a moment. “Brenna, I am sorry about Dana. We’ll find her. We’re very good at what we do. Jon and I work with some of the top black ops people on the planet. In the meantime, clean up and rest. Hoodie doesn’t know where you are. You’re safe.”

  “That’s why I feel so guilty. I’m safe. Dana isn’t. Again.”

  Eli raised his hand, brushed the back of his knuckles over her velvet cheek. So soft. “We’ll find her.” He turned her around and urged her toward the bathroom.

  Two hours later, Eli sat at his kitchen table, cell phone pressed to his ear, sipping on a cold Coke, and waiting for his former SEAL teammate to answer his phone. He also listened for any noises indicating Brenna was awake in the guest room. He didn’t really want her to hear what he feared could be happening with Dana.

  “Yeah, Maddox.”

  Eli leaned back in his chair. “Anything yet?”

  Maddox growled. “You just called me thirty minutes ago, Wolfe.”

  “You have people everywhere. Figured you might have something by now.”

  “Yeah and I’m your fairy godmother waving a magic wand. All my people are busy running ops. I’m short staffed. We’re spread thin, too thin. You should be in the field yourself right now. Jon, too. Not like I don’t have plenty of work for you. I had to turn down a couple contracts this week because I don’t have enough people free.”

  Regret raced through his system. He would give almost anything to be back in the fray, anything except the sanity of his best friend and teammate. “I hear you, Maddox. Tempting though it is, I’ll have to pass for a little longer.”

  A pause, then, “Jon’s not ready?”

  Eli bit back a bitter laugh. Not hardly. The op he and his partner had deployed on three months ago with the Zoo Crew almost cost Jon his life. If Eli had been five minutes later, Jon would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery right now. “He’s getting there. What about the leak?”

  “Plugged.”

  Eli’s lip curled. He didn’t ask details, didn’t want to know. From the tone of Maddox’s voice, the leak had been plugged permanently. No less than the traitor deserved. He’d sold the Zoo Crew to the highest bidder along with the stolen plans for the new missile system Fortress had been contracted to retrieve for an unnamed American defense contractor.

  “It’s been too long,” Maddox said, his voice soft. “You know that, right? This whole situation doesn’t look promising for a search-and-rescue op. This is probably going to be a recovery mission.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Eli dragged a hand through his shower-damp hair. “It’s been ten days too long. No ransom demand, but no body either.” Stupid to be optimistic. He’d been through enough missions as a SEAL to know you hope for the best but plan for the worst. Another glance in the direction of the guest room. He didn’t want to be the one to break Brenna’s heart, prayed he’d never have to tell her the unthinkable.

  “Doesn’t mean Dana’s still alive. You know the stats, Eli.”

  Yeah, he did. Didn’t mean he liked them. Chances were good Dana had been killed within a few hours of her disappearance. “I’m hoping the kidnappers want information from Dana bad enough to keep her alive until they get it.”

  “Then you better find the recording before they do.”

  Maddox didn’t have to say the rest. If Hoodie found the recording before they did, Dana would be an unnecessary and expendable liability. The likelihood of someone killing his friend made him want to hurl his donut breakfast. “Keep tabs on her passport.”

  Maddox snorted. “Doubt the kidnappers will go through legit channels to get her out of the country. I’ll flag it anyway.”

  “I know, but just in case we’re reading this wrong and she leaves the country under her own steam.” Couldn’t imagine Dana doing that in light of her past with her stepfather. She wouldn’t want to worry Brenna.

  “Done. Now, stop calling me every half hour unless you have new info to share. I’ve got three other situations around the
globe blowing up right now. I’ll be in touch.”

  He dropped the phone and rubbed his eyes. Man, he needed a huge hit of caffeine. Eli rose and filled the coffee pot with water. He scooped ground coffee from the can and dumped it into the filter. While the aromatic brew dripped into the pot, he eased the curtain back and scanned the neighborhood. The Cordells drove past in their new Escalade. Eli smiled at the sight of the frail senior citizen behind the wheel of such a large SUV. Looked like a kid in the driver’s seat except for the gray hair.

  He froze. No sign of a struggle in Dana’s apartment. She disappeared after dinner at Red Lobster, but where was her Mazda? If they could locate Dana’s car, it might give them another avenue to pursue.

  Eli snatched his phone from the table and punched in Jon’s number. “Did Cal say anything about Dana’s car?”

  “Hasn’t located it yet.”

  “Think you can find it first?”

  Sounds of keys clicking, then, “I’ll hack into the traffic cams and track her from Red Lobster.” And Jon ended the call. A wry smile crossed Eli’s lips. His co-workers didn’t waste time on niceties.

  “What’s going on?”

  Eli spun around. He stared at the gorgeous writer who did incredible things to his oversized t-shirt and sleeping shorts. They had never looked that good on him. He needed to say something, but he had a feeling Brenna wouldn’t appreciate comments from a near stranger about how stunning she looked first thing in the morning. She looked rumpled and adorable. Her flushed cheeks indicated she’d slept at least a little before wandering to the kitchen. Not enough sack time, he knew. From what he’d gathered at the hospital, she hadn’t slept at all before Hoodie broke into Dana’s apartment.

  He also considered the fact she didn’t sound grumpy before a cup of coffee a real plus. “Jon’s going to search for Dana’s car on the traffic cams.”

  “You think he can find her car?”