by S. M. Butler
“Records of Giroux family movements. Who works for them. Where their family homes are. And I’m not talking the public ones. I’m talking about the ones that paranoid Simon didn’t want the world to know about. Also, Simon’s personal businesses, most of them highly illegal.”
She crossed her arms while Hardy dipped one arm into the box and pulled out a couple file folders. He skimmed over the papers in that folder, shaking his head. “The amount of intelligence in here is massive. Things we only dreamed about acquiring, Murph.”
“You didn’t have the right connections.” Addison’s voice cut through the sifting of papers. Was that smugness I heard in her voice?
Hardy stopped and glanced at his sister. “I just can’t believe that my sister was involved in this.”
“I could continue it,” she said. Both of us snapped our heads toward her.
“What?” Hardy said.
“Alex’s will was designed to work with or without my signature.” She leaned against the doorway. “The will went into effect no matter what. The only way to stop it would be if I declined it. It’s all automatic. And if I die, the money gets tied up in so much legal, Giroux wouldn’t see it for years.”
She didn’t seem upset at all by this point. In fact, she was the most calm I’d ever seen her. It was a little unnerving to see her this way.
“So what happens when you inherit?”
She smiled, soft and mischievous. “I become a billionaire, and your best source of information on Giroux Enterprises.”
Chris’s eyes narrowed at his sister. “You’re not playing spy. It’s too dangerous.”
“Damn straight,” I agreed. The idea of Addison, my Addison, being anywhere near people like Simon and Jean Giroux was enough to make me vomit. After admitting to her how I felt about her? After finally telling her the truth? I couldn’t let her do that.
“I’m almost twenty-five, Chris. Last I checked, I was an adult.”
“I could put you in jail.”
“If you were going to, you’d have done it by now.”
“Don’t test me.”
“Go ahead,” she challenged him. The defiant glare was backed by the straightening of her spine. She’d always been independent, even though she’d deferred to her family’s judgments as a child… but now she was showing strength with Chris she’d never had growing up. It was damn sexy. “I’ll be gone in two days the second you do.”
Chris slammed his fist into the metal wall. “Goddammit, Addy!”
To her credit, she didn’t even flinch. Who was this girl? The Addison I’d known years before wasn’t this tough, this confident. Sure, she had the confidence of head cheerleader in school, and she’d always been good with people. But this woman here? So much more than that.
“Who else knows about this place?”
“Other than you guys?” She shook her head. “No one, really. I have the only key and it goes to all the units we have. It was my job. No one would have ever suspected me, the arm candy to have the most important possession Alex ever had. Even if they’d somehow figured out we had this place, they’d never know how to open it, and forcing it would blow the whole thing.
Chris glanced over the boxes, disbelief plain in his expression. “Addison, what did you get yourself into?”
“Look, you do what you can to protect those of us at home, right? You go on missions, you put your life in danger, in front of insurgents and terrorists.”
“That’s different. I’m trained for my job. You’re a civilian, Addison. My job is to protect you.”
“Maybe not all of us are willing to sit around and rely others to protect us. I was in a position to make a difference and I took the opportunity.”
“So, you and Alex?” I asked. She turned toward me. Her slate eyes struck me right between the eyes like a laser sight. I lost my breath for a moment, but cleared my throat. “You were really going to give up your life for him?”
“It’s complicated.”
What the fuck did that mean? Either she was or she wasn’t. I didn’t get the gray area here.
“So, you were going to marry him?” I asked.
She nodded. “We decided that he could marry me under an alias and we could manage the fortune jointly. Love was a factor, but it wasn’t The Factor.”
Anger pulsed from my chest, but I didn’t say anything, nor did I want to know any more. She was talking and being honest with us. I had to give her credit for that. She could have lied her ass off, and I was glad she gave us the truth. Even if I hated her responses. I focused on Chris. “We can fit all this in the car. We don’t need to call in a truck.”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
Addison slid the key back into its locket position, and re-clasped it behind her neck. As it laid against her chest, she pressed her hand against it, and shut her eyes. Did she miss her fiancé? Did she wish he were here instead of me? Did she regret sleeping with me?
Hardy hit me in the chest and pointed to the boxes. “Where should we take these?”
I frowned. It was likely with Addison’s latest declaration of her intent to take up the Giroux mantle, that Master Chief would have no choice but to arrest her now. “Let’s load it up. We’ll take it back to Coronado and have Battles’ new team look at it.” The auxiliary team was new, not a normal SEAL team. They didn’t deploy with us mostly, and they handled a lot of the investigation that Master Chief didn’t want to turn over to our partners at the NSA.
While we loaded, I noticed Addison got really quiet, and she absently rubbed the locket while she stared at some unknown spot on the wall. I walked over to her, and rested my hand on the small of her back. “You good?”
I wanted to be furious with her, but I just couldn’t muster it up. Like it or not, I did love her. And I would, even if she decided she didn’t love me back. I was such a sucker.
She shook her head. “No, I’m not good. These boxes… they’re the culmination of all the information we collected. Getting these… getting ready to visit the other locations… it means that he’s really gone.”
So she really did love him.
“It’s not that,” she said.
I blinked. I had said that out loud? Crap. Way to go, moron.
“It was never really about love at all. This has been a constant part of my life for a year. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about it coming to an end, or changing so drastically. I’d give anything to be back home right now.”
“A minute ago, you were ready to go to the trenches on this.”
“I still am, but… that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to curl up in bed with you and hide the rest of the world.” Her delicate brow creased between her eyes, and for a moment she looked so vulnerable, I couldn’t help myself. I hooked my finger under her chin, and made her look at me.
“You know that I’ll never let anyone hurt you, right?”
She swallowed, and slowly nodded her assent.
“No one, Addison.” I glanced back to Hardy, who was checking out one of the boxes with the hard drives in it. I lowered my voice so he wouldn’t hear me. “I don’t know what happened between us or how you feel about it now, but it just reaffirms what I’m saying. No one will ever hurt you, not so long as I can prevent it. Get it?”
She nodded, without a word.
“Seriously.”
“I get it. Thank you, Murphy.” Her last three words were whispered with a hint of relief.
I smiled. “We’ll talk later, okay? We’ll work it out.”
She nodded. “Yeah.” She didn’t seem overly enthused, but I supposed it wasn’t the best subject to look forward to.
I did want her to know that I wasn’t just after sex. In hindsight, she was maybe too vulnerable for what we’d done together the night before, too close to this Alex thing. She needed more time.
As I walked over to her brother to help him grab boxes, I saw movement from her in the corner of my eyes. She grabbed something from the box next to her and shoved it in the back of her pants when sh
e thought I wasn’t paying attention.
So much for vulnerability.
Addison
In the suburban, I leaned back against the seat as Chris started the vehicle and slowly pulled out of the storage area and onto the parking lot before the road. The repetitive blinking of the turn signal throbbed in time with my head.
In the distance, tires squealed, followed shortly by sirens. That was one thing I disliked about city life. There was always noise. In Aruguay, Alex’s house was so far in the outskirts of the country that there were no sirens or midnight screams. There had been gunshots, which should have been a freaking clue back then.
Just as Chris pulled out into traffic, another SUV swerved beside us, gunning their gas pedal so they came up beside us. Chris cursed, and that’s when I looked out at the men in the other vehicle.
Their weapons looked heavy-duty, not that I could have told anyone what type of gun it was.
“Addison, get down to the floor!” Murphy yelled.
I unbuckled and slipped down to the floor of the car as it jerked hard to the right. Gunshots rang out, shattering the glass above me. I screamed, and covered my head with my hands.
“Take the next right,” Murphy ordered.
Chris didn’t say anything, but the whole vehicle veered to the right hard. Silence above me reigned, and I didn’t want to remove my hands, in fear that something else would happen. I waited, listening as Chris floored it for several more minutes before we came to a stop.
Murphy got out first, or at least I thought he did. The sound of the door opening came from his side.
“Addison?” Chris’s voice was soft, but tensed. “Addison, you okay?”
Slowly, I moved my hands, the glass clinking as I lifted my head and lowered my arms. I was wedged between the driver’s seat and the backseat. My chest was tight, my breathing shallow.
“Addison?”
I glanced up at Chris as he hung over the driver’s seat to look down at me. “I’m okay.”
He chuckled. “We both know you’re not.”
“Then why did you ask, smart-ass?” I said, smirking at him.
“Can you get up?”
“I may be stuck.” The truth was, I could probably get out, but with the glass around me, it probably wouldn’t be without some cuts in the process.
Chris got out of the car, and opened the back door where I was. Carefully, he picked the bigger pieces off me, and then pulled me out of the car by my armpits. He set me on my feet and dusted me off, looking for injury. I didn’t think there was injury. It didn’t feel like it.
Murphy came back then. “I think they took off. I called for backup.” His eyes scanned over me quickly, assessing for damage, like Chris had. “You all right?”
I nodded. “What was that?”
“I think people have figured out you’re not Aruguay anymore.” Murphy glanced to Chris. “Did you see the tattoo?”
“On the right hand, on the back.” Chris nodded. “It’s a Collective tat.”
The Collective was one of the organizations that wanted Giroux dead. He’d taken many clients from them, scammed them out of a lot of cash in the past.
This just proved it. I could not hide. I was not safe. At least Giroux would actually give me a measure of protection, if only to save his money from legal tie-ups. This was only the first. Outright terror filled my veins. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move.
“Addison!” Chris yanked my arm back. He cupped my face, forcing me to stare at him. “Look at me. Breathe. Deep breaths. Don’t pass out on me.”
He pulled me close. I was limp, like a rag doll, not fighting. I felt weak. “Let’s get her out of here. She’s going to pass out on us.”
“Brody’s on his way now. He was finishing up some stuff when I called.”
All I heard for minutes was the pounding of blood in my ears as I rested my head against my brother’s chest. I’d been shot at. Someone tried to kill me.
“Crap. Murphy, can you get her for a second? I can’t reach my phone.”
Then I was being lifted, gently, strong arms surrounding my body. My legs dangled freely, and I rested my head against Murphy’s shoulder. My mind was coming back, but I had no desire to move. I was terrified. My ears were ringing from the gunshots. I never wanted him to let me go.
I finally got enough strength to move my arm, which I promptly used to fist Murphy’s shirt in my fingers. Like that would keep him close to me, like I was afraid that if I let go he would leave.
When the other SUV pulled up, I tensed, afraid of it happening all over again, but Murphy soothed me with his low voice, telling me everything would be okay. I eased, only because his voice slid over me like slightly melted butter.
Two minutes later, we were all in the car, on our way back. Chris was driving the battered SUV behind us. I laced my fingers with Murphy, not caring if Brody saw it or not. I needed warmth and safety and Murphy had that in spades for me. Real, tangible fear woke up inside me, like cold spikes that drove themselves into my inner organs. Someone had tried to kill me. Really tried to kill me.
~*~*~
I didn’t remember much of the way back. I knew that Murphy was filling Brody in on everything, but the actual words? I wasn’t listening. Tension filled the cabin until it felt like a two-ton weight was sitting on my chest. Tucked in the waistband of my jeans, the notebook rested against the small of my back.
While that notebook would save my life with Giroux, it was a death sentence in everyone else’s view. I should have told them about it, but it was more personal. Of course, the way Murphy was holding me earlier, he should have felt it where I’d hidden it, but he hadn’t said a word about it.
We arrived back at the Coronado COC, which wasn’t underground like the facility in Aruguay. I supposed there wasn’t any reason for it here. Brody parked the SUV in one of the parking lots and continued talking with Chris about… something. I wasn’t sure what.
When we entered the building, I finally managed to take in my surroundings. Windows streamed in sunlight from every direction. There were monitors all up and down the hall, showing the camera’s eye, or other things I really didn’t understand. Where the underground lair they had in Aruguay was somewhat grungy, this facility was the exact opposite. It was fresh and not suffocating at all. But still I felt… drained.
The next room we entered was the size of my little closet bedroom back at the other place. Except this one had a window, with bars on it. I turned on my brother, angry and annoyed, but he put his arms up in surrender. I didn’t have the patience to deal with this anymore.
“It’s just the only room we have. You’re allowed to walk around the building, but you have to have a keycard to leave, so most of the doors going outside won’t open.”
“Which you’re not giving me.”
“Only team members get the card. It’s not against you personally. Besides, you don’t need to be out wandering around. You were shot at today, Addison.” Chris tried his hand at a half-hearted smile.
“Right,” I grumbled, and sat down on the bed. My legs felt like jelly.
“Murphy and I need to unload the truck and report in. You don’t have to be there for that, and I’d rather LT not see you right now.”
“LT?”
“Lieutenant Nelson. He’s the current OIC here.”
“OIC?” I was getting tired of military lingo.
“Officer in charge,” Chris explained.
“And why don’t you want him to see me again?”
Chris shrugged, but it was Murphy who answered. “Because LT’s not convinced you’re trustworthy. And if he sees you, he’ll want you under lock and key for reals.”
I felt a little bad now. They were still watching out for me. I’d gotten them shot at and they were still doing what they could for me.
“So you’re protecting me?”
“We’re trying,” Murphy replied. “You don’t make it easy.”
I half-heartedly chuckled. “No, I suppose
I don’t.”
“You’re not locked in, but we’re asking you to hang out here for a bit, okay? Stay out of sight. Rest. You had a rough day today.”
“Out of sight, out of mind?”
“It’s the secret mantra of the military,” Chris replied. He tapped Murphy in the chest. “We have to get that stuff to Battles.”
Murphy nodded, glancing back as Chris walked back through the doorway. His blue gaze searched mine. “You’ll be okay here, right?”
I nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
“I could stay…” he offered.
Stay? I didn’t even want to be in the same room with him at the moment. It was too much, knowing that things were so different now. I’d nearly gotten him killed, and now the awkward was settling in.
“No, I’m okay,” I told him. Shit. Why did I say I was okay? That was like a full on admission of “I’m not okay.” By the looks on both guys’ faces, that little factoid had not been missed by either. “Really. I’m all right. Just tired from the whole thing. It’s been a long couple months and being home, but not home, feels weird. And you know… that whole shooting thing.”
Chris squeezed my hand and let go. “I will get you home, Addison. This stuff you gave us… it’ll help.”
I pasted on a smile, because I knew that was wrong. People were all the same. They could promise you one thing, because you had something they wanted, but when you finally gave them what they wanted, they wanted something more. That was where we were at with their superiors, but I had nothing left to give. Chris probably believed he could get me free, but the truth was… it wasn’t going to happen.
“We’ll be back shortly,” Chris said. I nodded, and the two left the room, Murphy pulling the door shut softly behind him.
~*~*~
Murphy
I knew why she didn’t want me to stay. I’d spent the last half hour in the car, thinking about the shooting, and holding her while she zoned out completely. Meanwhile, there was something at the small of her back, tucked in her waistline that she had hidden from me, and I wasn’t going to be able to let it go.
I sighed and stopped in the hallway. “I’ll catch up with you later.”