by J. M. Madden
“Okay.”
A bubble of tension eased in her spine. Chad smiled at her, bright teeth flashing, and she felt heat bloom in her cheeks. She clamped her jaw in desperation, sending pain shooting through the side of her head. Yes, he was cute, but men only brought pain.
CHAD CALLED DUNCAN, in spite of the crazy hour. “Dude, don’t you ever sleep?”
The older man chuckled on the other end of the line. “I could ask you the same thing, smartass. What’s going on?”
Chad filled him in on the details, ending with tonight’s altercation. “I need to get them out of town. And we need to make this bastard squirm.”
“Agreed on both counts. Has she given us any usable information about his business?”
“Well,” Chad sighed, “the daughter is a partial stockholder. I think that’s the only reason why he wants her.”
“Hell.” The silence stretched on the other end of the line. “Okay, how many people do you need?”
Chad thought for several long seconds. “At least two. Maybe three.”
“We’ll make it an even four-man squad, that way you’ll have better coverage. I’d rather you have too many than not enough, and this is our fuck-up, so we’ll clean it up. I got your text about the female, and as long as you’re comfortable with Rachel as one of your four, you have my blessing to take her with you. And Zeke.”
Chad frowned. “I hate to take Zeke away right now. Preston?”
Duncan paused on the other end of the line. “Preston’s not on anything major. I’ll let him know. Who do you want for your fourth?”
“Flynn.”
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
The former SEAL was a bit of a wild card, but was a truly impressive fighter. He wouldn’t like it where they were going, but he would deal.
“Done, then. I’ll let them know they’re on. I’ll also start digging a little harder. I’ve got a buddy at the Federal Reserve Board that might be able to look into things.”
Snorting, Chad shook his head. “Why am I not surprised you have a buddy there? Seems like you have buddies everywhere.”
Duncan laughed. “Well, yeah. I served for a long time. You know that. Had a lot of men under my command. A lot of them have gone on to other careers. Hell, I’m meeting some of their sons now.”
Was that a note of sadness he heard in Duncan’s voice? Nah…
“So, how’s your bum?”
Duncan snorted. “Well, he’s got issues, but I think he’s reachable. I may have to be out here for a few days.”
“Okay, we’ll be gone by the time you get back. Do you want to know where?”
“Nope. The less I know the less I have to testify about. Just stay safe and keep our people safe. Keep your phone on you.”
“You know I’ll do all of that. Thanks, Dunc. You be safe too.”
“Will do.”
Chad hung up his phone slowly, details swimming through his head. The logistics of making six people disappear for an unknown amount of time would not be easy, but he knew he could do it. More importantly, he knew where he could do it.
Damn, he had a lot of phone calls to make. And very little time to do it.
* * *
WHEN DUNCAN RETURNED a few hours later, he half expected Aiden to be gone. He pushed the door in and peered around the little corner to the bed. Aiden lay in the exact position he had been in before. It was as if he’d been so wiped out he didn’t have the energy to even shift.
Duncan could sympathize. It seemed like he never felt rested anymore.
Turning, he looked down the hallway to the waiting room. He could park in there for a little while, catch up on some emails. Planting his cane, he started for the room.
Aiden’s auburn-haired doctor walked out of one of the rooms a little ways down the hallway and turned to the right, her head tilted down to the clipboard in her hand. Since she was going the same direction he was, she hadn’t seen him, which was fine. It gave him a chance to check her out. Although with that long white doctor’s coat on, it was kind of a non-issue. The color of her hair stood out like a neon light though, curling down her back to below her shoulder blades.
Duncan was actually surprised he was even vaguely interested. It had been so long since he’d had even the faintest hint of curiosity. Had to be the red hair.
The doctor paused and knocked gently on the door to her left. As she stepped into the room, she glanced up, her gaze catching on his for the barest second before she disappeared from view.
Duncan paused. Had he actually seen the flash of awareness in her eyes? Or had he imagined it? She knew he was walking behind her—the sound of his cane on the floor had a distinctive sound from his feet.
Shoving into motion again, he shook his head. There was no damn way she’d looked at him like that. And even if she had, she was a damn baby. There was no way he’d consider touching that.
Chapter Five
THEY ALL MET at the office. Though it was four a.m. in the morning, Mercy was bright-eyed with excitement as she looked around curiously. Lora, on the other hand, had gone into mother-tiger mode. She surveyed everyone with suspicion, if not outright alarm. When she caught sight of a stone-faced Harper lounging in the meeting room, trimming his nails with his knife, she paled and shifted to the opposite side of the table, tugging Mercy along behind her. She settled into a spare chair in the corner with Mercy on her lap.
Rachel, the new hire, thrummed with excitement though she never moved. Chad held his hand out to her as she stood. “I’ve not had the chance to meet you yet. Chad Lowell.”
She grinned at him, shaking strongly. “Rachel Searles. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for the chance to do this.”
At first glance, Rachel seemed pretty and open. Her honey blond colored hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and she was dressed in fatigues and a T-shirt. Then he realized how strong she was. The woman was stacked with muscle. Not so much to lose her femininity but definitely enough to intimidate most men. If she hadn’t been standing in a group that was all over six feet and moderately to heavily built, in Harper’s case, she would have dwarfed most average men.
Chad motioned to the others in the room. “Have you met the other yahoos?”
She nodded, her golden eyes darkening just a bit. “I have.”
Flynn cleared his throat. “Can we get some details now or what?”
Glancing at the belligerent former SEAL K9 handler, Chad fought a grimace. He had hoped some of the attitude would wane if Flynn were given something more challenging than the computer work he’d been doing. He’d been hired a few months ago, with conditions. Flynn struggled with PTSD like they all did, from losing his K9 in the war, but his felt different for some reason. Chad couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly, but it was unsettling. The counselor swore his treatment had progressed.
The darkly-bearded man stared at him hard, as if daring him to say something about his attitude.
Chad motioned to Lora and Mercy sitting behind him. “We’re on a security detail until further notice. We’re bugging out because the perp, a former client, has tried to acquire the target, his daughter, twice now.” He smiled at Mercy, determined to keep her calm and protected. “Duncan needs time to manage the sitch on this end.”
“Where are we going?”
Glancing at Rachel, he hesitated. “I’ll tell you when we get there. The less people that know where we are the better. You were aware of that when you signed on for this operation, right?”
She nodded. “Yes, sir. Sorry.”
Flynn snorted. Rachel turned to look at him, but didn’t say anything.
Chad wondered what kind of an idiot he was throwing this crew together.
“Cash transactions only. No cards. This guy has ties to the financial world, so we’re not going to make it easy for him to track us. We’ll take two vehicles. Harper, are you up to driving?”
The other man nodded, expressionless as always.
“A
nd I’ll take my truck. It’s a long drive, boys and girls, so be prepared.”
Lora looked shell-shocked. He wanted to reach out and reassure her, but they needed to get going. “Are you okay?”
She blinked at him. “What about my job and my house? My car?”
Chad had left directions with Shannon on what to do, but he hadn’t told Lora. “We’ll inform your job what’s going on, to a certain extent. If they hold your job until this thing is overgreat. If not, we’ll set you up in another position. Mercy’s school will also receive a note about the situation, with directions to contact us should somebody inquire about you or her. The house will be locked up and we’ll make sure your vehicle will be stored in your garage. We’ll take care of your bills right now. If you want to jot down a note to our receptionist with your account numbers and the names of the companies for your utilities, it would make our job that much easier.”
Lora’s mouth had dropped open. “You can’t do all this. Nobody can. These are my responsibilities.”
He nodded. “I know. But we don’t have time to hang out waiting for you to tie up loose ends. He’s tried to…” he paused, looking pointedly at Mercy, “twice now. And I’m not so sure that your ‘anniversary visit’ wasn’t the first attempt.”
She sank back in the chair and tears came to her eyes. The thought had obviously not occurred to her.
Chad gave her a minute to gather herself, aware of the others in the room. He turned to look at them. “Get your gear together.”
They moved at all once, though Flynn tossed him an aggravated look as they left the room.
Chad knelt down beside her chair on his good leg and dared to reach out to touch her elbow. “I’m sorry I can’t give you more time to adjust to this, but we need to go. The sooner we go the safer you’ll both be. Let me worry about the details. You take care of her.”
He ran his finger down Mercy’s nose, tapping on the end, and she grinned at him. “We have to go on a trip. Are you ready? And Handsome?”
She nodded and slid from her mother’s lap to step closer to him. “That man was kind of scary.”
“Which one?”
“The one with the dark hair.”
Chad nodded and reached out to rest a hand on her shoulder. “Flynn’s just kind of grumpy. He won’t hurt you.”
It actually surprised him that Harper wasn’t the one who had scared her.
Mercy clutched her dog, bear, whatever it was, and sighed. “Okay.”
Lora looked resigned to what was going on, and he had the striking thought that maybe he was running her life like the bastard ex was trying to. “If you really don’t want to leave, we can try to tough it out here.”
She shook her head, giving him a tight smile. “No, I know leaving is best. It’s just hard. I’ve fought for everything we have and to walk away from it is harder than I expected.” She swallowed. “You know, I actually had a plan to leave if things got desperate. I don’t understand why I’m dragging my feet now.”
She shook her arms out and stood, heading toward the table. “Give me a minute to write a few things down and I’ll be ready.”
Chad pushed to his feet, anxious to get going. While Lora worked on her list, he walked down the hallway to the employee lounge. There was a group of lockers on the back wall. Inside his, he pulled out one of his alternate legs, the blade prosthetic. He hoped he didn’t need it, but he’d rather take it than not have a backup. He stuffed his spare clothes in the bag as well. They’d probably have to stop on the way to buy a few more things to add to their wardrobes, but this would do for a few days.
When he returned to the boardroom, Lora clutched her list.
“I couldn’t remember everything, but I think I got most of it. Some of the account numbers I couldn’t remember.”
Chad smiled at her. “No biggie. Shannon is a whiz with this kind of thing. She’ll figure it out. You’ll have to leave you cell phone too.”
She didn’t seem too upset as she handed it over.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Chad walked her out of the room, down the hallway and dropped the list and phone on Shannon’s desk. Then he guided them to the elevator where their bags waited. “We’re bugging out! Are you ready?”
Mercy giggled and nodded, dancing beside them. “Bugging out!”
Lora smiled as she watched her daughter, and Chad thought that maybe everything would be okay.
* * *
WHEN DR. HARTFIELD walked into the waiting room where he’d set up his impromptu office and sat down in the chair across from him, folding her legs elegantly, he expected an update on Aiden.
“Would you like to go down and get a cup of coffee in the cafeteria? I’m dragging, and if you’re going to be here as late as you were last night, you probably need food too.”
Duncan sat back in the chair, surprised at her boldness. But he shouldn’t have been. She seemed confident in her skin and her abilities as a doctor. She couldn’t have gotten where she was today if she hadn’t had balls.
As he looked into her dark kelly green eyes, unhidden by her chunky black glasses, he wondered where all the arguments went he’d been giving himself a couple hours ago. “I can take a coffee. And a sandwich.”
Gathering his cane, he pushed to his feet. Pride made him try to minimize his limp, but he gave up on that pretty quickly. If she was interested in him anyway, the quickest way to turn her off was to show her everything.
As she led him from the room and down the hallway, she made sure to walk beside him slow enough that he didn’t struggle. Years ago it would have frustrated Duncan to make people curb their speed for him, but he’d come to the realization that they could walk away from him and he would be fine with it. He would get there eventually.
She pressed the elevator button when they drew close enough, then leaned against the wall. “Looks like you can set up your operation wherever you happen to be. What branch of military were you in?”
“Marines.”
The woman got a funny look on her face and nodded her head. “Should have known.”
The elevator doors hissed open and he made a motion for her to get on first, then he followed. “If I’m not mistaken, you have the look of a brat.”
Laughter pealed out of her, stunning him with its clear beauty. As she looked at him, mouth spread in a smile, eyes creased with laughter, he knew he was in deep shit.
Duncan felt more alive than he had in a long time. Alex Hartfield was an interesting woman. What the hell she wanted with him, he didn’t know. At first he thought she was looking for a father figure to take care of her, but she quickly dispelled that notion. She and her Marine father were on excellent terms, and as they spoke Duncan realized he had known a Hartfield in Iraq. When they connected the dots, he felt like an old man. Yes, that was her father. They’d not been in the same unit, but they’d pounded the same dirt. The difference being her father had never been seriously wounded.
Duncan would still be over there if that helicopter hadn’t come down on him and his guys.
When Dr. Hartfield asked about his injuries, he gave her the list. Clinical, details only. But when she rested her hand on his and he looked into her eyes, he lost his distance. “The biggest injury was to my soul, though. I lost a lot of good men over there.”
She tightened her hand on his, her eyes going moist with tears. “But there’s nothing you could have done,” she whispered.
He shrugged.
Pulling his hand away, he began to gather up his trash. They were in territory he had no interest in rehashing. “When will Aiden be able to be released?”
Her eyes cooled as she watched him but she accepted that he needed distance. “As long as he starts to eat correctly over the next day, I should be able to let him go in a few days. He has to eat first.”
Duncan nodded and waited while she got to her feet. He took her plastic tray from her and dumped the trash, then held out a hand for her to proceed back the way they came. This had been a
nice break, he told himself, but it was time to get back to real life.
* * *
LORA WATCHED THE miles fly by. They headed east for a while, but she realized they were kind of making a loop. At one point they backtracked completely and took a different exchange on the freeway. Chad talked to the big, black, military-looking vehicle behind them a couple of times, but they didn’t think they were followed.
After a few hours she started to see signs for Texas. “Are we going to Texas?”
He nodded, glancing away from the road to see her reaction.
Lora didn’t know how she felt. It was as good of a place to hide as any, she supposed. “Are we going somewhere in particular?”
His eyes shifted away, and for a moment, he looked a little uncomfortable. “We are. A little place about an hour south of Amarillo called Honeywell, Texas.”
She had never heard of it. “What’s in Honeywell, Texas?”
He grinned at her. “Not much of anything really. Couple restaurants, couple gas stations, a grocery, a feed store. There’s a little movie theater that plays matinees on the weekends.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’ve been there before?”
Winking at her, he passed a vehicle. “I might have grown up there.”
Lora didn’t know what to think. Why on Earth would he take her to his home? “Mind explaining that to me?”
Chad sighed. “Well, we’re not connected in any way, so I thought it would be a good place to hide you out. My family has a ranch down here, several thousand acres, and it’s easy to lose yourself on the land. My dad gave me a chunk of the ranch to try to get me to come home a few years ago, but I wasn’t interested in moving back. It’s nice to visit once in a while, but I doubt I’ll ever live there again.”
“And your parents are okay with you bringing a strange woman and child home with you?” She thought his cheeks might have flushed just a bit.
“Well, they’ll probably get the wrong idea, but that may actually work in our favor. I, um,” he coughed into his hand, “well, anytime I come home I have visitors. Of the female persuasion. Maybe if they think I’m off the market they’ll leave us alone.”