by Lynsay Sands
Eight
“Wait. What?” Elspeth stared at Mortimer with disbelief. “You’re putting bodyguards on me?”
“It’s just until we sort out who’s behind these attempts on your life,” Mortimer said soothingly.
“The stabbing wasn’t an attempt on my life,” Elspeth snapped impatiently. When he arched one eyebrow, she grimaced and said, “Yes, all right, it was. But it was a one-time thing. The guy was mortal. He was also psychotic or something. He was off his meds and delusional, and the police took him away. He’s in jail or a hospital now. The two incidents weren’t connected. In fact, the second incident was probably just an accident. Someone in a hurry just bumped me and accidentally knocked me into the road,” Elspeth assured him.
“You were pushed. It wasn’t an accident,” Mortimer said firmly.
Shaking her head with frustration, Elspeth paced away from his desk. This had been the last thing she’d expected to be greeted with when she’d entered Mortimer’s office. This was just crazy, and so freaking unfair!
Spinning around, Elspeth marched back to his desk and slammed her bag on its wooden surface. “Mortimer, I moved to Canada so that I wouldn’t have to live with my mother hovering over me all the time. Now she’s here, and you want to stick a couple of men on me to boot? Unbelievable!”
“Yes, well . . .” Mortimer shifted his stapler on the desk, and then his mouse, and grimaced. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any men to spare to guard you at the moment. As you know, we’re stretched pretty thin just now.”
“Thank God,” she said with relief, thinking it meant she would avoid guards after all.
“However, Sam, Rachel, Lissianna, and Alex have volunteered to take turns guarding you in pairs until we figure out who is behind these attacks and put an end to them.”
“Attack,” she snapped. “Singular. And we don’t even know if it was a serious attack on me. Maybe it was just another mentally ill individual running around randomly pushing people into the road.”
“Fine. Attack in the singular,” he agreed. “But it does not matter. One attack or two, you will still have a guard with you until we know what is happening.”
Elspeth dropped into the chair in front of Mortimer’s desk with a sigh. It seemed she hadn’t escaped a guard after all. Sam, Rachel, Lissianna, and Alex were going to—
“Alex who?” she asked suddenly.
“Sam’s sister,” Mortimer admitted apologetically.
“You mean my brother Cale’s wife?” she asked with a frown.
“Oh, yeah.” He smiled faintly. “I always forget he’s your brother.”
Elspeth nodded, and then arched her eyebrows. “Alex is going to guard me?”
“She’s very good with a knife,” he assured her.
“Yeah, at chopping and dicing onions! She’s a chef, Mortimer,” Elspeth said with exasperation. “And Lissianna is a housewife now, Rachel a doctor, and Sam a lawyer. They aren’t bodyguards, Mortimer.”
“Have I mentioned that we’re shorthanded?” he growled. “Just think of it as a girls’ night that’s going to last days . . . or weeks. However long it takes,” he ended with a grimace. “Just go get your nails done, have facials, or hit The Night Club, drink Wino Reds, and giggle about how stupid and pathetic we men are or something, but do it with the women accompanying you.”
Elspeth sat back and eyed him with sudden understanding. “Mother wanted the bodyguards.”
“She wanted me to put six men on you around the clock,” he said unhappily. “But I just don’t have the manpower. Hopefully, having the women with you will prevent future attacks and appease your mother.”
“Hmm,” Elspeth said on a sigh. She didn’t think it was likely. Her mother would not be appeased. She’d insist on guarding her as well and would end up herding them all around like they were a gaggle of grade-schoolers on a field trip. But then, Martine would have done the same thing had her guards been six strong and able Enforcers armed to the teeth. Her mother had issues with the safety of her children. She was also an original Atlantean, born there before the fall, owned a home in New York where she went when they had to leave England to handle the not-aging business, and as such had a seat on both the North American and British Councils of Immortals. On top of that, she was a member of the board of directors for Argeneau Enterprises, which paid Mortimer and the hunters for their work. With all of that weight behind her, Mortimer couldn’t really afford not to do as she wished . . . unless Uncle Lucian trumped her demands. Unfortunately, Uncle Lucian wasn’t here to intervene.
“Do you have any idea who might have pushed you in front of the car?” Mortimer asked suddenly, pulling her from her thoughts.
Elspeth shook her head unhappily. “I had no idea I was even pushed until Wyatt told me on the way here, and I didn’t get the chance to ask him about it,” she admitted, and then said, “Are we sure I was pushed? Who were the witnesses? Maybe I just stumbled off the curb or something.”
Mortimer was shaking his head before she finished the suggestion. “G.G. was one witness. He was watching out the window and saw someone push you and run off.”
Damn, Elspeth thought. Someone was trying to kill her. That was hard to believe. Good Lord, she’d only lived in Canada six weeks and hadn’t pissed off anyone that she knew of. Well, aside from Madeleine/Nina, she supposed. But Meredith’s thieving tenant was in jail. Now, if this was England . . . Actually, she couldn’t think of anyone in England who might want her dead either. She hadn’t got out much there thanks to her mother’s—
“Maybe it’s someone trying to hurt my mother by hurting me,” she suggested suddenly.
“Maybe,” Mortimer allowed, and added, “She’s old and difficult enough to have made enemies,” he said dryly. “Which makes it more likely than someone wanting to hurt you.”
“Exactly,” Elspeth said with satisfaction. It was always good to hear that she was more likeable than her mother.
“I’ll look into that possibility too, then,” he decided, jotting a note on a yellow pad on his desk. “But in the meantime, Alex is on her way here and she and Sam will watch you until dawn, when Lissianna and Rachel will take over.” After a hesitation, he added, “Greg might be bringing Lucy to join you as well. Lissianna says little Lucy has trouble sleeping without her there, and Greg says he does too,” he added with a roll of the eyes.
Elspeth’s eyebrows rose with disbelief.
“And if Etienne catches wind that Greg and Lucy are with Lissianna, he’ll probably wander over too to be with Rachel,” he finished with disgust.
“Mortimer, if it’s so dangerous I need guards, do you really think it’s a good idea to have a baby around?” She didn’t wait for an answer, but added, “Besides, my apartment only has two bedrooms, and it already has four people in it thanks to my mother and sisters deciding to visit. I don’t have room for five more people.”
“We can use the basement apartment.”
Elspeth swiveled in her seat to see Wyatt standing in the open doorway. While his comment had startled her, his presence surprised her more. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d left.”
Nodding politely at Mortimer, he entered the room and moved to stand beside her chair. “Valerian and Tybo mentioned that Mortimer planned to have you guarded, so I thought I’d come in and see if there was anything I could do.” Turning to Mortimer, he offered his hand, “Hi. I’m Wyatt MacKay.”
“Garrett Mortimer.” The head of the Enforcers stood up to take Wyatt’s hand. His gaze narrowed on the mortal’s forehead as they shook, and then he nodded and released his hand. “We’ll pay the rent for the basement apartment. I’ll arrange to have furniture delivered later today.”
“You don’t have to rent it. It’s free right now anyway,” Wyatt said solemnly.
“We’ll rent it,” Mortimer said firmly, and then smiled and added, “Martine and the twins can move down there to make room for Elspeth’s protection to stay in her apartment.”
Elspe
th perked up. “Really?”
“It’s the smartest move,” he said with a shrug.
She grinned briefly, but then deflated and shook her head. “Mother won’t do it.”
“She will,” he assured her. “Sam will make her. She’s had a lot of practice dealing with powerful immortals since marrying me. The woman has no fear. She essentially lawyers them to death.”
Elspeth raised her eyebrows, wondering how exactly that was done.
“I’d be happy to help guard Elspeth,” Wyatt announced a little stiffly.
Probably because he knew Mortimer would refuse, Elspeth thought. Wyatt was mortal, after all, easy to kill in comparison to an immortal, and—
“I’ll get you suited up with guns and whatnot then,” Mortimer said, standing up.
“What?” Elspeth gasped with amazement as she lunged to her feet. “Mortimer, he’s mortal!”
“He’s also a former member of the JTF2,” Mortimer informed her as if that should mean something to her.
“I’ll never get used to this mind reading business,” Wyatt muttered, but Elspeth and Mortimer paid him no attention.
Elspeth was staring at Mortimer with bewilderment, mentally running through the possible meanings behind the initials JTF. Jazz Tune Fans, Just The Facts, Justice Truth Freedom, Junior Twinkie Finders, Jolly T—
“Dear God, stop!” Mortimer barked suddenly, and then, shaking his head, he asked with disbelief, “Jolly Titty Fondlers?”
Flushing with embarrassment that he’d caught that one even as he’d interrupted her, Elspeth shrugged helplessly. “Well, I don’t know what it stands for.”
“Joint Task Force,” he said abruptly.
“Oh.” Elspeth shifted on her feet and then sighed. “Some kind of think tank?”
“No, Elspeth. They’re like navy SEALs in the States,” Mortimer said wearily, and then frowned when she continued to look bewildered, and said, “Like the British SAS, but made up of Canadian soldiers.”
“Oh,” she said with understanding. She knew the British SAS were super soldiers who handled the more dangerous things that cropped up in the world, like coups, hostage situations, and so on. The idea that he belonged to the Canadian version of the same thing was more than a little surprising, though. Wyatt seemed like just your average nice guy. Although he did have a pretty awesome physique, and that air of command, she thought, eyeing him.
“Elspeth, Sam is in the kitchen,” Mortimer said, moving around his desk, headed for the door. “Why don’t you go see if Alex has arrived yet while I take Wyatt to the outbuilding to look at weapons?”
Nodding, Elspeth watched the men leave the room, and then sighed and pushed herself to her feet. She’d come expecting to work, but Mortimer thought she should take a day or two off to “recover” . . . under the watchful eye of his wife and her sister, apparently. At least until dawn, and then Lissianna and Rachel would take over. Her mother, however, would be there around the clock, she was sure. Elspeth didn’t think for a minute that Sam was going to be able to make Martine move down to the basement apartment. It was more likely her mother would make Sam, Alex, Lissianna, and Rachel stay there . . . without her.
Picking up the bag holding her ruined purse and its contents, Elspeth headed out of the office and along the hall to the front of the house, where the kitchen was situated.
“Good evening, Elspeth,” Sam greeted her cheerfully. “Looks like we’ll be hanging out for a while.”
“Looks like,” Elspeth agreed with a smile, her eyes widening slightly as she looked her over. Sam was dressed in black jeans, a black T-shirt, and black boots. She had a gun holstered on one hip, a TASER on the other, and a knife strapped to her leg on top of her jeans. “Looks like you’re armed for bear.”
“So is Alex,” Sam announced with a grin. “She’s in the bathroom. Should be out in a minute.”
“I’m back.”
Elspeth turned to see Alex entering the room, also dressed all in black and prickly with weapons. The woman had large eyes and a full mouth like Sam, but Alex wore her shiny brown hair in a bob while Sam’s darker hair was long and wavy.
“Cale says, ‘Hello, little sister,’” Alex told her with a smile.
“He doesn’t mind you playing babysitter to me?” Elspeth asked with a faint smile.
“Nope. He’d be here with us, but he’s helping Mortimer with a job,” Alex explained.
Elspeth nodded solemnly. “A lot of nonhunters are helping out right now.”
“And those who aren’t are freaking out and going rogue,” Sam said dryly. “Honestly, I’ve never seen it this bad. It’s like going rogue is contagious and we’re having an outbreak.”
“And yet Mortimer benched me,” Elspeth pointed out with irritation, dropping her garbage bag of possessions on the marble top of the island that took up the center of the kitchen.
“Your lunch?” Alex asked.
“My purse,” she said dryly. “It got destroyed during my accident.”
“Being pushed in front of a moving vehicle is not an accident,” Sam said solemnly. “And you’ve only been benched until you’ve finished healing . . . or maybe until this mess is cleared up,” she added, looking uncertain. “I’m not sure.”
“So, you need a new purse?” Alex asked, moving to her side to open the plastic bag and look inside. Eyes widening, she murmured, “Ooooh. You need a new phone too. And a wallet . . . was that a compact? I’m pretty sure that pink goop was lipstick, and the loose powder looks like . . . blush?”
“Yes, blush,” Elspeth said on a sigh. “I don’t bother with face powder, but will put on a little blush when I’m without blood and a bit pale.”
“Ah.” Alex lifted her face from the bag and grinned. “You need to go shopping.”
“Well, I guess I know what you’re doing today, Wyatt,” Mortimer said almost sympathetically, drawing their attention to the men’s arrival.
Elspeth glanced over her shoulder at them, and then did an about-face to gape at Wyatt. His jacket and the dress shirt he’d been wearing earlier were off and over his arm, leaving him in a tight T-shirt that clung to an extremely muscular chest . . . that presently sported a shoulder holster with two guns, one on either side. He also had a gun strapped to his hip. He too was loaded for bear, but Elspeth was a bit distracted by this glimpse of his chest. He dressed to hide it, but as she’d noted before, the man was in impressive shape.
“Wyatt’s coming with us?” Sam asked with surprise.
Mortimer nodded. “He has some special skills that may come in handy. He was a soldier, and has worked as a bodyguard for the last four years since leaving the army.”
“You have?” Elspeth asked, turning to Wyatt with surprise.
He nodded abruptly, looking uncomfortable with the attention he was receiving.
“So,” Mortimer said, turning away. “I’ll leave you to your shopping and go back to work.”
Elspeth watched him leave with a wry smile. The man seemed more than eager to escape and she couldn’t blame him. With everything else going on, this situation was the last thing Mortimer needed added to his plate. Her mother could be a difficult woman at the best of times, but with one of her children under threat, she was no doubt unbearable.
“Well, where do you want to go shopping?” Sam asked once her husband was gone.
Elspeth considered the question and then said, “I don’t know. I need to hit an Apple store, I guess. I can get a new phone there, and then maybe Walmart? There has to be one between here and the apartment.”
Alex’s eyebrows rose. “I was expecting you to want to go to somewhere a little more . . .”
“She was thinking a designer store,” Sam said with amusement when Alex’s voice trailed off.
“Like I could afford that,” Elspeth said with a snort. “No. Walmart is good.”
Alex’s eyebrows rose, but she shrugged. “Sensible. Nice to know you aren’t blowing the money your parents gave you.”
“What money?�
� she asked with amusement, and when Alex looked confused, Elspeth explained, “Yes. Mom and Dad have a lot of money. And they have given stocks to my brothers, but my sisters and me . . .” Grimacing, she shrugged. “Mother wouldn’t even consider doing the same for us. We might use it to run away. Not that I mind,” she added quickly. “I can make my own way.”
“So,” Wyatt said into the silence that followed. “Phone or purse first?”
“Walmart is closer,” Sam said at once.
He nodded. “And Mortimer said we would be taking one of the SUVs from here?”
“Yeah. Donny prepped and moved one to the house garage earlier today,” Sam explained.
“Prepped?” Wyatt asked.
“Gassed it up and stuff.” When Wyatt’s eyebrows rose with curiosity, she explained, “The SUVs have UV film on the windows, as well as a blood cooler and weapons chest. Donny made sure the film was in good shape, that the vehicle was full of gas, and that the cooler and chest were stocked.”
“Everything a vampire could need,” Wyatt said wryly, and then grimaced. “Sorry. Immortal.”
“No problem,” Sam said lightly, coming around the island. “Just don’t slip up in front of the old ones. They get testy about it.” Pausing in front of him, she pulled out a set of keys and raised her eyebrows. “I was going to drive, but now that you’ll be with us, I suppose you’d prefer—”
“No. I’m good with you driving,” Wyatt interrupted, waving away the keys.
“Wow. A man who doesn’t have to be at the wheel. Impressive,” Alex teased lightly.
“I haven’t lived in Ontario since I was a teenager. I don’t know where anything is,” he said with a shrug. “Besides, not driving leaves my hands free to handle defense if necessary.”
“All righty, then,” Sam said lightly, turning to lead the way to the door to the garage. “Let’s go.”
“Do you want the front seat, Elspeth?” Alex asked as they followed Sam out into the garage.
“No,” Wyatt said before Elspeth could answer. “The front seat exposes her from two sides, the front and side window. The back only exposes her to the window on her side of the vehicle. She’ll be more protected in the back seat.”