CHAPTER NINE
Lianna dozed off as they drove, unable to keep her eyes open. She supposed it was the adrenaline wearing off.
And you clearly trust Reece way too much.
He’d locked up her inn. He worked with some...amazon woman who roared around on a motorcycle with a split lip and smoky laugh. He promised to protect her and Henry with a fierceness she didn’t know how to convince herself was made up.
Every time the rough drive bumped her awake, she’d glance back at Henry. Reece had offered him his video game device, which he’d apparently swiped for Henry when he’d been locking up.
Sleep was a lot less complicated than all...that. So she let it overtake her again. The next time she woke up, the sun was setting in a riot of oranges and bright pinks in front of her. They were pulling up on some sort of circular driveway to a...
House was too subtle a word. It was more like a compound. Rustic decor, but like some high-end hunting resort rather than...
Well, whatever she assumed it actually was. “This is something else.”
Reece smiled wryly.
She glanced back at Henry. His head was bent over the game, that glazed-over look in his eyes when he’d spent too much time playing. “All right. Hand it over.”
“Mooooom.”
It was comforting that even in the midst of all this, Henry could maintain his epic whining skills.
“Right now.”
He groaned and moaned for a few extra seconds, likely trying to finish some battle before he finally logged off the device and handed it over. He looked up grumpily, but then the frustration on his face melted away.
He flung himself forward in the car, squinting at the big house in front of them. “Whoa! You live here?”
“Not really,” Reece replied. “This is where I work.”
“And the Valkyrie?”
“Yeah, her too.”
“Cool. Can we get out?”
Reece nodded, pushing his door open. Henry scrambled out of the car, and Lianna knew she should, too, but for a moment she was so overwhelmed by everything that she felt like nothing more than dead weight.
But Henry was bounding toward this strange place, and she couldn’t let him be out there alone. She couldn’t...
There were so many things she couldn’t do, no matter how she felt. She pushed out of the car and forced her heavy legs to move.
“There’s plenty of space. You and Henry will have a room. You can rest up for a while before we go over everything.”
She shook her head at Reece. She’d grabbed Henry’s backpack and she held the straps in a tight grip as if it would keep her centered in this strange new world. “No. I want to...” She didn’t know how to complete that sentence, but Reece nodded as if he understood anyway.
He led them to the door. There were a series of security hoops to jump through. Some sort of fingerprint scan, hidden behind a slab in the wooden planks of the panel next to the door. Then there was a code on the door to punch in. Henry watched it all with wide eyes, and Lianna imagined she had a similar expression on her face.
What had she gotten herself into?
Eventually, Reece put a normal-looking key in the door and the lock clicked. He pushed open the door and ushered her and Henry inside. There was a petite woman waiting for them.
“Betty,” Reece greeted her.
“Hey, Reece. Shay sent me to grab bags, show room assignments.”
“We want to get the important stuff out of the way first.”
Betty nodded, then turned to Lianna with a smile. “I can take your bags if you’d like and put them in your room. We should be able to supply you with whatever you don’t have.”
“I don’t have...anything. Not my purse. No clothes or... I just have my phone.”
“I got your purse. And Henry’s inhaler. The rest I’m sure we’ll be able to supply for you temporarily,” Reece said.
Lianna blinked. How would he even know to...? Where had he put...?
Betty held out her hands, and it took Lianna too long to realize she meant to take Henry’s backpack. After a few more seconds of utter confusion, and the utmost patience on Betty and Reece’s part, Lianna handed over the bag. Reece also handed her a backpack she hadn’t realized he’d been carrying.
“You can take them to the meeting room, Reece. Shay will be available shortly,” the woman said, then bustled away purposefully.
Lianna watched her go, then looked at Reece. “You all just use your real names?”
“For the most part. We don’t really exist for the years we’re with the group, and I didn’t have much of a profile before that. It’s easy to be erased, which allows us to be who we are here.”
The group. Erased. It sounded ominous, but the woman who’d taken their stuff had seemed so... normal.
Reece led them down a hallway and then into a big room. It looked like some sort of meeting room with a large table and lots of chairs around it. There was a computer and monitors lining one wall. Lots of speakers and absolutely no windows.
The woman from the motorcycle earlier was already there, kicked back in a chair as if she was relaxing. She straightened when they entered. “Hey, kid.” She grinned at Henry, to his clear delight.
“Hi, Valkyrie,” Henry said.
“Call me Sabrina. And if it’s okay with your mom, I’m going to go show you our game room.”
“Like video games?”
“Yup. You ever been to an arcade?”
“You have an arcade?” Lianna asked under her breath.
Reece shrugged. “Sometimes you gotta pass the time as mindlessly as possible.”
“Can I go? Can I go?” Henry demanded, clearly not at all concerned about all the strangers around them. Or the strange place and danger and...
Lianna looked up imploringly at Reece. “I’d really prefer it if he stayed with me.”
“I might be able to help with that.” Another woman entered the room. She looked more like the first one than Sabrina. Normal. Just an average young woman dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. But she went to a computer, tapped a few keys and then pointed to one of the many monitors along the wall.
On one monitor was the view of a room filled with arcade games. “You’ll be able to keep your eyes on him. I can even turn on audio if you want.”
“I...”
“Come on, Mom. Please. Please. Please.”
Well, she certainly didn’t want him hearing anything she had to say to Reece or his...coworkers. And this provided her no excuse. She’d be able to see and hear Henry.
And what if they do something to him? They could...
“You remember the red door we passed?” Reece asked. “In the first hallway.”
“Well, yes.”
“That’s the arcade room.”
Apparently, he could read her thoughts. Or she was that transparent. “Fine. All right. Just...be good, Henry. Polite.” She had no idea why she was warning her son to be polite when they were in the midst of all this. Just...habit. Ridiculous, mindless habit.
“Awesome!” Henry bounced, turning his attention to Sabrina. “Can I play whatever games I want?”
“Sure thing, kid.” She led him out of the room and Lianna had to curl her hands into fists to keep from panicking and running after them. She glanced at the monitor. It only took a few seconds, and then Henry raced into the room. Sabrina kicked back in the corner, giving him the run of the place.
Lianna could see everything. Hear everything.
“I’ll tell Shay you’re ready for her,” the woman who’d brought up the room on the monitor said. She smiled at Lianna, then waited for Reece’s nod before she left the room.
“Are you in charge?” Lianna asked.
“Hardly. Elsie is tech, which means she’ll answer to whatever operative is handling the
assignment.”
“And you’re handling the assignment of me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
* * *
REECE HAD NO idea how to answer that question, especially when she asked it with that baffled horror. He knew she was struggling with the decision to come with him, struggling with trusting them. Who could blame her?
She kept her eyes glued to the monitor, so Reece figured he’d give her all the truths he could.
“I’m a field operative. When an...assignment comes up, Shay determines who’s going to handle it.”
“Shay is your boss. The one you were talking to when you...” She trailed off but finally took her eyes off Henry on the monitor. “You said you wouldn’t let a kid get caught in the cross fire. I’m holding you to that, Reece. For whatever it’s worth, I’m depending on you and yours to keep Henry safe.”
“I will.”
She nodded, though he knew she didn’t fully believe him. She didn’t not believe him. She was just conflicted, and rightfully so. “Shay is in charge here. She manages the rest of us, a combination of field operatives, tech gurus and medical staff.”
“You have medical staff?”
“Yes, though most of them are on call. But Betty is our head doctor. She’s headquartered here and takes care of, well, anything that pops up.”
“Like someone getting hurt.”
“If the mission is dangerous enough. But it’s not just that. We’re normal people who need physicals and to be told to get some rest or eat better if we’re run-down.”
Lianna took some time to think over that, watching Henry’s every move again.
“I’m sorry we had to bring you here. I should have...handled this better. I know Henry missing school isn’t ideal, and you have an inn to run, and I promise we’ll do everything to get you back home and safe as soon as possible.”
Lianna nodded. “What...what happens next?”
“Elsie should have an ID on the guy at your inn today. Hopefully she can trace him to whoever placed those listening devices. From there, ideally, we can neutralize any threat against you and Henry.”
Lianna looked perplexed. It wasn’t fear, exactly, but still he wanted to soothe her. Assure her that North Star was the best of the best and she’d be safe. Everything would be taken care of. If he had to lay down his life to make it so.
But Shay strode in, Elsie following behind.
“Reece,” Shay greeted him. “Mrs. Kade, I want to thank you for coming with us. It makes it a lot easier to keep you and your son safe with you here under our protection. At least until we understand the threat against you.” Shay settled herself in her normal seat at the head of the table. Elsie sat next to her.
Normally, Reece stood for these interactions, but he thought Lianna needed to sit. She wasn’t used to...any of this.
So he pulled a chair back for her and she hesitantly slid into it. He took the seat next to her.
Shay’s gaze remained on Lianna. “Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Understand the threat against you?”
“Oh, well.” She slid a glance at Reece. “Reece said they must have overheard our conversation. About the listening devices. I don’t understand why they’d be listening. I don’t understand...any of it.”
“You don’t know who would put listening devices in your home?” Shay asked. Her voice was casual rather than demanding, but Reece still had to hold himself back from telling Shay to cool it.
“Not specifically,” Lianna said. Her gaze darted from Shay to Elsie to Reece to the monitor. She couldn’t seem to settle on any one place to look. She twisted her fingers in her lap. “Any one of the men who wanted more information about my late husband.”
“Right. You understand that at this point we’re concerned not just about the threat against you, minor though it’s been, but what they might have overheard about us.”
This time the look Shay gave Reece was not casual. Apparently, Shay had deduced a little bit more about his slipup than he’d hoped.
“It’s just...” Lianna looked at Henry on the screen, then down at her folded hands. “I don’t think they overheard things, exactly. At least, not... It’s just...” Lianna blew out a breath and Reece was...confused.
This was not the woman he had come to know, however superficially. There was a timidity to her and an almost stream-of-consciousness way of speaking that wasn’t Lianna at all. Even when she’d agreed to go with him, she hadn’t led him to think she was lost and confused and didn’t know what to say. It had been a resigned best-of-two-rotten-situations attitude.
This was different. An act.
“Reece mentioned the devices during a conversation, yes, and a little bit about his work. But I didn’t believe him, exactly, and I told him to go. So when I went to my room that night, I... Well, I pulled the one in my room off the smoke detector. And instead of putting it back, I threw it in my desk drawer.”
Reece leaned back in his chair. Well, he hadn’t expected that. No wonder she was acting fishy. She’d tampered with the listening device.
“I suppose that was all the tip-off they needed,” Shay muttered.
“Except I don’t understand. For months right after Todd was killed they asked me questions. I didn’t have answers. Then someone set these listening devices up, and I haven’t talked about Todd beyond saying that he was killed and that I didn’t know anything. Why do they think I know something?”
Shay’s expression was as grim as Reece’s felt. They didn’t have the answers for that question. And that grated.
“Here’s what we can offer, Mrs. Kade. A place to stay while we identify the man who came to your inn this afternoon.”
“We’re close,” Elsie offered, tapping away on her computer. “I’ve dug through the first two fake identities. I think the real one is just within reach.”
“All we need from you is your cooperation in telling us what you know about your late husband.”
“I don’t know anything,” Lianna said, a trembling note to her voice that...
Reece had to wonder what was wrong with him. It sounded fake, and didn’t inspire any of his usual sympathy or protective instincts when it came to Lianna. Instead, it made him suspicious.
You’re losing it, Montgomery.
“Maybe something we find will jog a memory or two. All we’re asking is that you’re honest with us, and answer any of our questions to the best of your ability. It’s our top priority to keep you and your son safe, but we can’t promise that for good until we know who and what we’re dealing with.”
“How did I come to be an assignment if you don’t know who or what you’re dealing with?”
And that reminded him more of the real Lianna. A smart question, delivered in a strong voice. Determination, even if fear and worry were at the edges.
Shay leaned back in her chair, eyes narrowing as she studied Lianna. Immediately Lianna dropped her eyes and started fiddling with her hands again. “This is just so hard and I don’t know... It’s overwhelming.” She dabbed at her eyes. Eyes that, as far as Reece could tell, were dry.
She was playing a part. She had to be.
“What do you know, Lianna?” he demanded, maybe a little too harshly.
Her gaze whipped up to his, and the look in her eyes did not match the fumbling, scared mask she was putting on for Shay. “What do you mean?”
“You’re hiding something. You’re putting on this scared, grieving widow act, but it doesn’t work. I’ve been around you. I know this isn’t you.”
“A few days’ stay at my inn hardly gives you leave to know me, Reece,” she said, but it was that sharp, strong voice again. Her real backbone showing through.
Reece saw Shay and Elsie exchange a glance. They were seeing it, too. Whether they knew her or not, they’d realized sh
e was playing the hapless widow.
“I know you’re scared that whatever Todd did might touch you and Henry. I understand that. And I promise you, we all promise you, we will do everything we can to keep you and Henry safe. No matter what you know or don’t. But that only works if we know what you know. You’re putting us at a disadvantage if you’re hiding things. We won’t be able to protect you as effectively. I know you don’t trust me, but you have to trust that we’re working toward keeping you safe, or you wouldn’t be here with Henry.”
“You kidnapped me.”
“You waited for me, Lianna. Please, tell us what is it you know.”
Her gaze went back to Henry on the monitor. She was quiet for a few humming seconds. She wasn’t twisting her fingers anymore; she had them clasped in her lap. Tightly. When she finally spoke, it was with a gravity befitting the situation and with none of the melodrama. “Everything I’ve done since Todd died is for my son. To keep him safe. To keep us both safe.”
“You won’t be in any trouble, Mrs. Kade, if that’s what you’re worried about. No matter what you might have done—”
“Oh, please, I haven’t done anything,” Lianna snapped. “But I do...” She trailed off and looked at Reece, and he could read every doubt, every worry, every fear of hers in her blue eyes.
She looked for the longest time, so he held her gaze. Willing her to believe. To understand. To lay some of this burden on him instead of keeping it solely on her own shoulders.
“I do know a few things,” she finally said. “Things I shouldn’t.”
CHAPTER TEN
Lianna’s heart was hammering in her chest. The act that had worked so well when she’d talked to the FBI and whatever other men had come to interrogate her after Todd’s death hadn’t worked at all on Reece. If she wasn’t totally misreading the room, Shay and Elsie hadn’t bought it, either.
How had she gotten so bad at pretending? How had they seen through her?
Why are you going to tell them?
The truth was... She didn’t know how to keep Henry safe now. Not with listening devices and strange men in her inn. She thought she’d won, but she hadn’t. Not fully.
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