Then she laughed and smacked his chest. “No, silly, I did not meet a man.” Relief coursed through him, swift and strong. “It was a girl…or a young woman, actually. She has Down Syndrome.”
Since he could breathe again, he took advantage and buried his nose in her fragrant locks. “I don’t remember seeing her. Is she one of the flock?”
“I do not think so and that is the strange thing. She told me she was not supposed to be seen, that she was invisible. She said a man named Richie told her that she has to stay hidden.”
Hunter’s brows creased. “I don’t remember anyone named Richie, but we’ve met so many people.”
“I do not remember a Richie, either, and I could not get her to tell me more. She was truly frightened that I had seen her. I did convince her to meet me again this morning at the same spot.” She was absently stroking him again and if she dared to look down, she’d see the effect it was having on him by the rather impressive tent in the sheet. “When she left, I tried to follow her, but it was as if she just disappeared.”
“What do you mean?”
“I gave her a head start and I watched her navigate the path. I got up to follow, rounded a curve and she was just gone. Poof.” She snapped her fingers. “Not a sign of her anywhere.” She studied him carefully. “You believe me, yes?”
“Of course, I believe you.” Talia was one of the most intelligent, sane people he’d met. True, she’d suffered a significant loss with the death of her father, and that could mess with your mind, but she didn’t imagine things.
“What time are you meeting her?”
She checked her watch. “In an hour.”
“I have a meeting with Elijah this morning, too. He wants me to take over security of the compound.”
“That is good. You can detect any weakness, see if there is an alternate exit that we can use to spirit Margaret out of here. It might be difficult to breach the drawbridge.”
“Elijah told me there isn’t one, but I don’t believe him. I can’t imagine him designing a place without at least one other exit, possibly more. He’d want to save his sorry ass if something happened.”
“I agree. Do you think it is safe to wear our comm devices now?”
“Yeah, I do. Peter and his crew have perfected them, so they’re basically invisible. Oh, and after meeting up with Sawyer and Mason yesterday, I’m now armed.” Her eyes lit up as if he told her he been given diamonds and pearls and he chuckled.
“Me, too?”
“I could only get one, but we can share.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“How about I carry it and you can borrow it when you need it?”
He snaked his arms around her and held her tight. “I’m sure we can work something out,” he said, before he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed all thoughts of weapons…of the bullet-wielding kind…from her mind.
#
Talia waited in the same spot she met Tilly, hoping the girl would show today. She took the longer route that led away from the cabins. She didn’t want to run into anyone who might delay her arrival, causing Tilly to flee. She checked her watch. She was a few minutes early.
Her mind drifted back to the hours spent in bed with Hunter. In his arms. It felt right. She wasn’t a cuddler…never had been. But with Hunter, she didn’t even think about it. She just wanted to be as close to him as possible. Sex to her was a physical need, nothing more. But last night had been the most intense moment of her life and he hadn’t even entered her body. His penetrating gaze, his intoxicating scent, his hard, muscular physique, they all conspired to overwhelm her. She didn’t get off on public displays of affection and even knowing Elijah was watching wasn’t enough to stop the tidal wave of emotions that enveloped her. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like when they did make love. It was no longer the thought of if, but when. They were going to have sex. That was a foregone conclusion. The connection, the chemistry between them was too strong to ignore.
She’d been so engrossed in her thoughts, she hadn’t heard Tilly approach until the girl was standing in front of her, causing her to jump. Some trained agent she was. “Good morning, Tilly.”
“Hi, Tina. I brought you something.” Tilly thrust out her hands to reveal a battered brown stuffed bear. The fur was missing in places and one eye was hanging on by a thread.
Talia accepted the gift and studied it before tucking it against her side. “That was very sweet of you, Tilly. I love it. Thank you.”
“I’ve never had a real friend before,” Tilly admitted. “I didn’t know what to give you and I collect stuffed animals, so I brought you one.” She plopped down beside Talia on the rock and swung her feet.
“Thank you. It was very thoughtful of you, but you didn’t have to bring me anything.”
“I wanted to give you something for being nice to me.”
She curved her arm over the girl’s shoulder and hugged her tight. “Well, you are easy to be nice to, Tilly.” Tilly beamed, and Talia made a vow to make her smile as often as possible. She removed her arm and held the bear in front of her. “Thank you again. It’s perfect. Does she have a name?”
Tilly laughed and bumped her shoulder against Talia. “It’s a boy, silly.”
Talia smiled and turned the bear this way and that. “It is definitely a boy bear. Hum. What do we name him? Yogi? No? How about Boo Boo?”
Tilly giggled. “Boo Boo Bear. He lives in Jellystone Park.”
“So he does. I know, how about if we name him Buddy, since you and I are buddies now.”
Tilly bobbed her head in confirmation and clapped her hands together. “Buddy. Yes, it’s perfect.”
Tilly gazed at the bear with affection and Talia suspected it was one of her favorites. The missing fur and worn appearance were also dead giveaways. Tilly hugged this bear often. “Are you sure you do not want to keep Buddy with you, Tilly? He can be mine but live with you.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I have a great big collection of all kinds of animals.” She held her arms out wide to demonstrate. “Every time we must move, Richie tells me to get rid of some, but I don’t want to.”
“Do you move often?”
Tilly scrunched up her face in thought. “I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
“Did you tell Richie about meeting me?”
Tilly shook her head from side to side. “Oh, no. Richie would get very mad. I don’t like it when he’s mad.”
Talia grasped the girl’s hand. “Tilly, does Richie hit you?” If he did, Talia would find him and make him regret the unfortunate day he made an appearance on earth.
Tilly’s eyes widened. “Oh no, Richie would never hit me. He takes care of me. But he tells me over and over to stay hidden.” She lowered her voice, mimicking what Talia assumed was Richie’s voice. “You can’t be seen, Tilly. You must stay hidden, Tilly. No one can see you, Tilly.”
Talia smiled at her. “If you can’t be seen, what do you do all day, Tilly?” It must be a boring life with no television or internet allowed in the compound. How would she pass the time all alone?
“I watch televi…er, play with…” She lowered her head and muttered, “What am I supposed to say?” She worried her bottom lip and tapped her foot. Suddenly, she jerked her head up, her smile wide. “Dolls. I play with dolls.”
“You play with dolls?”
Tilly nodded vigorously. “Yes. Dolls. I play with dolls.”
“All day?”
“Yes. Dolls are demanding, and you must pay attention to them all the time or they can get hurt. They can fall off things and bang their heads. Then they cry real loud. And you have to feed them and change them.” She pinched her nose with her index finger and thumb. “Yuck. I don’t like that part at all.”
Talia had never played with dolls, so she wasn’t sure of the commitment it took, but this sounded excessive even to her. Dolls were just plastic toys, right? Inanimate objects? “Who is watching your dolls while you are here with me?”
“Ms. Sanchez and Ms.—Oo
ps!” Tilly slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh no, oh no, oh no. I didn’t say their names.” Tears flooded her eyes. “I’m in so much trouble.”
Talia grasped Tilly’s hands and held them tight. “Tilly, look at me.” She waited until Tilly lifted her head and the misery reflected in her light brown eyes almost broke Talia. “You are not in any trouble. I am your friend, no? I will not say a word to anyone about what you tell me. And Tilly, you can tell me anything. Okay?”
A tear dripped down Tilly’s face when she nodded. “Okay.” She held up her little finger. “Pinky promise?”
Talia curled her finger around Tilly’s. “Pinky promise.” When Tilly looked mollified, Talia added, “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
Tilly swallowed. “Well there is—” Suddenly her eyes widened, and she gasped. “Someone’s coming. She sprung to her feet and took off.
“Tilly, wait.” Talia jumped up to follow.
“Sister Tina!”
She jerked to a stop with a muttered curse. Plastering on a smile, she turned. “Good morning, Sister Joan,” she greeted. “How are you today?”
Joan walked closer, a basket full of cut blooms hanging off her arm. “I’m good.” She peeped over Talia’s shoulder. “Did I hear you talking to someone?”
Talia followed her gaze, relieved to discover that Tilly was nowhere to be seen. “Uh, no, I am embarrassed to admit I was talking to…him.” She held up the stuffed bear.
Joan threw back her head and laughed, her hand gripping Talia’s. “I do the same thing! Only I talk to squirrels. I’ve even named a few and shh,” she put a finger to her lips, “I sneak them nuts, too.”
Talia smiled, but it turned into a grimace when Joan linked her arm through hers and started moving forward down the path. She had no choice but to walk with her.
#
“How are you today, Lightkeeper?” Hunter almost choked on the words. Calling a grown man by such a stupid name was hard to do with a straight face.
Elijah let him into his cabin and closed the door. “Remember, when it’s just us, you can call me Elijah.” Elijah’s cabin was larger than the others but was still sparsely furnished. He led Hunter to a locked door with an alarm panel.
“I trust every person in the compound,” Elijah explained as he punched in a code. He made no move to disguise the sequence, so Hunter committed the numbers to memory. “But this is where I store all of the funds to keep the compound running. It just makes sense to be careful. I don’t think we’d ever be invaded, but I need to protect the flock, just in case.”
The door sealed shut behind them, leaving them enclosed in a windowless room. “Having no entry from the outside and the locked door is good security,” he said it to stroke Elijah’s ego, but didn’t mean it. Only one way in also meant only one way out. If you were attacked, you had no way to retreat.
The space appeared to be an office. A large walnut desk was situated against the far wall. Bookcases lined another, and two large monitors showing the outside of the compound were prominently displayed. A table surrounded by four chairs took up space in the middle of the room.
Hunter walked closer and recognized the gate on the outskirts of the property on one screen. The camera slowly rotated to encompass the area, bleak and deserted. The next screen was positioned to show directly outside of the walled compound where the drawbridge lowered over the moat.
“Besides the electric fence and gate, and the scrambling devices, this is the extent of security for the property,” Elijah confirmed.
“It’s a good setup,” Hunter said, making a point to check out the wires and lines. The system looked routine and he was pretty sure it wasn’t linked to the hidden cameras in the other cabins…assuming they were all wired. That meant Elijah had another monitor somewhere. “The rotating cameras encompass a wide range of sight. Is it taped?”
“On a forty-eight-hour loop. The only times the alarm has sounded has been because of an animal,” Elijah admitted. He took a seat behind the desk and Hunter followed, dropping into a leather chair on the other side. “As I mentioned yesterday, on top of my personal security and overseeing the set-up for the compound, I would appreciate it if you would look around, make sure there are no safety issues that need to be addressed. Anything from a tripping hazard to something much worse.”
“I can do that,” Hunter agreed.
“As you know, Rob and Clint serve as my assistants, doing things like running errands and assorted odd jobs. I’ve provided them both with disposable phones so I can call or text them when I need them.” He reached into a drawer and withdrew a black phone. He passed it across the top of the desk. “I need to be able to contact you when I need you.”
“Of course.” Hunter picked up the device and attached it to his belt. Damn, the thing was tiny. He wouldn’t be surprised if he lifted the lid to find a rotary dial. Elijah needed to step into the twenty-first century.
“If it’s an emergency, I’ll add a nine-one-one so you’ll know to hurry.”
Two beeps sounded in rapid succession and then the office door burst open. Elijah jumped to his feet at the same time Hunter leapt up and spun around, reaching on his hip for his non-existent weapon. The gun Sawyer gave him was strapped to his ankle, out of sight.
Rob and Clint strolled inside. “Hey, Elijah, it’s time to roll…Henry? What are you doing here?” Rob asked, his eyes raking over him in suspicion.
“He’s here because I invited him,” Elijah responded as he retook his seat. “Henry will be taking over security duties.”
Clint snorted. “Tough job.”
“It’s time to run those errands in Denver,” Rob said, looking pointedly from his watch to Elijah.
“We can postpone until next week,” Elijah said. “Once Henry and Tina are settled.”
“No, we can’t,” Rob insisted. “We need to go today. We already postponed once.” His jaw was clenched and judging by the look in his eyes, he was adamant. Hunter wondered what the errands were and if he would be invited.
Elijah paused, and Hunter speculated what would happen if he declined. Rob and Clint looked ready for battle. He may have to save Elijah twice in two days.
“Very well. Let me finish up here before we leave.”
“Do you need me to accompany you?” he asked Elijah, watching his face closely. The way the other two men were acting had his curiosity peaked.
Elijah studied him and then shook his head. “Not this time.” He stood. “We’ll be gone all afternoon, so we can go over the rest of the security issues tomorrow.”
Hunter pushed to his feet and faced the two men, having to look down at both. He put an extra dose of malice into his stare at Rob. He wanted to bash the man’s face in for daring to touch Talia. “No problem,” he said to Elijah, but he didn’t take his gaze from Rob. “I’ll just spend the day with my gorgeous wife.”
Chapter Seventeen
Elijah opened the door and escorted Henry outside. He waited until the man was gone before rounding on the two men behind him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Barging in uninvited?”
“Hey, we didn’t know you were in a meeting.” Clint held his hands up in surrender. “Besides, you promised a visit to the whorehouse since we missed our regular day,” he added without an ounce of remorse.
“We wait all week for this,” Rob whined. “We didn’t get to go on Saturday. How were we supposed to know you let the new guy into your private office? It’s not like you hung a sock from the knob or anything.”
Elijah ignored the crude reference. He hadn’t gone to college, so he’d never lived with a male roommate he wasn’t related to, but he knew of the ritual where one person tied a sock to the knob to let the other one know he was getting jiggy with a girl. “The new guy, as you call him, saved my life yesterday.”
“Yeah, we know,” Clint muttered.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you take the hero with you and Clint and I’ll bang his wife?”
E
lijah had Rob pressed against the wall with a hand circling his neck before he even realized he’d moved. “You will not disrespect Tina,” he growled. He felt protective of her. Possessive. She might be Henry’s wife, but she was his to fantasize about. He didn’t want Rob anywhere near her, or even thinking about her. The man had a brutal streak that frightened most of the ladies at Miss Maxine’s. Elijah had to pay extra to find women willing to put up with his predilections. He put up with his behavior because he needed the two men to do his dirty work. But now he had Henry.
Rob grabbed the hand clutching his neck to lessen the pressure. Elijah was shocked to realize he was getting hard. Damn, he really did get off on murder. He released Rob before he did something stupid and killed the man.
“Sorry,” Rob coughed, rubbing his neck. “I didn’t mean nothing by it.”
“Fine. Let’s go.” The way he was primed and ready, he wouldn’t last a minute with the spectacularly talented Farrah.
#
“Hey babe, where are you?” Hunter returned to their cabin only to find his wife still gone. She’d left before him for her meeting with Tilly.
“I’m looking for Tilly,” she answered in his ear. He’d heard parts of her conversation with the girl and Joan’s untimely arrival. As he stared out the window, Rob, Clint and Elijah headed for the van. “The three stooges are leaving the compound and they’ll be gone all afternoon.”
“We can talk to Margaret. I’ll be right there.”
Five minutes later, Talia breezed in the door. She looked so fresh and wholesome and he fought the urge to sweep her in his arms and kiss her until they both lost consciousness. Instead, he said, “If we can get the target to come with us today, we can wrap this case up.”
She looked pensive. “But what about the murder?”
He shrugged. “It’s not our job to investigate. We’ll turn it over to the authorities.” When she continued to look troubled, he touched his finger to her chin and lifted until she was looking at his eyes. “What’s really bothering you?”
Total Surrender Page 13