Renegade Protector

by Nico Rosso

  Mr. Hebert’s words faltered. “Of...of course not.” Having him on the defensive brought out her urge to go for the throat, to curl her fist in his shirt and tell him that she would never sell, no matter what they threw at her. But she knew from Ty that this meeting was just a step to finally stopping the intimidation.

  She leaned toward Mr. Hebert, her hands spread on the conference table. “Then maybe you should’ve waited for my answer before you snatched the other land.” The next look from Mr. Hebert gave her a taste of what she needed. A glimmer of fear in his eyes. But not nearly the same amount as they’d made her feel. Mr. Hebert glanced out the glass wall at one of his associates. This older white man in an expensive gray suit shrugged as if to ask what the problem was. When he laid eyes on her, though, his question disappeared and his posture straightened. The older man turned to head down the hall one way, changed his mind, then hurried away in a different direction.

  Ty’s even voice took over the room. “After investing those millions in undeveloped land, your associate might not like it if you give up the pursuit of Ms. Balducci’s property.” He waved his hand slowly in the direction the other man had sped off to.

  “Mr. Innes?” Mr. Hebert seemed to have been infected by the same fluster that took over the older man. “He’s not involved...”

  Ty stepped up to stand at her side. He spoke slowly and calmly to Mr. Hebert. “You’re not to contact her again. No one is to contact her again.” Good thing he was on her side, because he was ice cold and damn intimidating.

  “W-well,” Mr. Hebert stammered, “I don’t think you have to worry about that.” His hand shook slightly as he indicated the door out of the conference room. Ty swung it open for her and they walked back out the way they came. Mr. Innes was nowhere to be seen.

  The woman in the lobby smiled. “Do we need to set up another appointment?” Mariana shook her head and left with Ty. Her heart pounded as if she’d just been in a fight.

  As they waited for the elevator, Ty knocked his knuckles into the back of her hand. “You kicked ass.”

  “You’re freaking scary when you go cold.” She returned the gesture and wondered if there had been a static shock where they’d touched or if she’d imagined it.

  “Absolute zero.” Then he smiled with the quiet warmth she’d grown to understand in him.

  The elevator opened to show a few businesspeople, most of them on their phones. With each floor down she and Ty rode, her body calmed from the confrontation. Every sentence rang again and again in her head, overanalyzed. Maybe she could’ve said more. Or got more information. Her brain had been revving so high when she’d been in the conference room.

  Once the doors opened on the ground floor, Ty walked slowly, allowing the other people to get ahead. He leaned close. “Hebert doesn’t know anything. Mr. Innes, though...” He went silent and stared ahead.

  Her pulse immediately raced up again. Two security guards, a white man and an Asian man, both in navy uniforms, stood in the building lobby, necks flexing and hands curved ready. Ty reached into his jacket. She and the men tensed. Only she relaxed when Ty pulled out his sunglasses and put them on.

  The guards separated slightly as they approached. The closer they came, the more she saw the hard lines of their faces. Ty raised his hand slightly as a warning. “No need for an escort. We’re leaving.”

  While the guards were distracted with him, she slipped the knife out of her pocket and kept it folded. The guards looked like they were made of stone, hard enough to break the blade. They didn’t pay attention to Ty’s dismissal and kept coming. In another three steps, they’d reach her. She couldn’t see a gun on either of them, but that wasn’t a guarantee they weren’t armed. Ty definitely was, but how bad would things have to get for him to draw it?

  Before the guards intercepted them, they stopped walking and formed a wall to her left. Ty kept moving, so she did, as well. After they’d passed the guards, the two men swung behind them to closely follow. The muscles in Ty’s jaw jumped. He growled back to them, “What did I just tell you?”

  The men continued to ignore him. One of them hooked his thumb in his gear belt next to a collapsible baton in a sheath. Her palm sweated around her knife. Ty remained amazingly cool. He slowed as he approached the glass doors. The guards didn’t adjust their pace and came closer. Without missing a step, Ty undid his blazer and spun toward the men. “Don’t touch her.” His jacket opened just enough to reveal the gun on his belt.

  The guards froze.

  Ty’s menacing scowl alone would make anyone back off. He effortlessly opened the door for her, then followed her out into the bright day. “We’ve done all the damage we can. Let’s get out of town.” She felt the eyes of the guards on her back all the way across the street and let out a huge sigh once she climbed into Ty’s car.

  He spoke kindly from the driver’s seat. “You’re still holding your knife.” Sore fingers uncurled from around it. Ty asked with surprise, “What is that?”

  She opened the steeply curved hawkbill blade. “Pruning knife.” She closed it and explained, “It’s the only knife I have under three inches.”

  He chuckled, impressed. “If they’d seen it, I wouldn’t have had to flash my pistol. No one’s going to mess with you with that knife in your hand.” The car kicked into gear and he hurried them out of the parking lot. Part of her expected to see the security guards and a full SWAT team waiting for them in front of the building, but everything seemed normal on the street.

  The tall buildings seemed like they were ready to come crumbling down on her in hard and sharp shards. It felt like she’d been tensing her muscles for hours. Relaxing them made her far too vulnerable. “Get us out of here.”

  “You’ve got it.” He moved more aggressively through city traffic and hit the highway without looking back. They blended in with the rush. Anyone following them would’ve been lost. She, too, was without a compass until they crested the hills and once again faced the Pacific Ocean.

  She wanted to go home. She wanted home to be safe again, and had no idea if what Ty had helped her do today would be enough.

  Chapter Nine

  There’d been enough talk. Ty brought them back to the coast and felt Mariana slowly decompressing next to him. Replays and analysis would burn her out, so he navigated them to a lunch spot he knew of in one of the small towns north of hers. Their silence during the meal wasn’t awkward or charged with unresolved emotions. It was necessary. He took a few minutes to text the content of the meeting to his frontline Frontier Justice associates, Vincent and Stephanie, emphasizing the name Mr. Innes. That man practically tap-danced down the hallway once he saw Mariana. Mr. Hebert wasn’t in on it. Mr. Innes was.

  After lunch, Ty and Mariana walked a boardwalk near the bluffs over a beach. Her eyes focused in the distance, still processing, but she stood on strong legs and her path didn’t waver. The strength he’d seen in her, felt in her, showed up in that conference room. He hadn’t known how much talking he’d need to do, but it was her force that sent the message. To say he was impressed was an understatement. More like awed. Her controlled storm seemed like it could take the whole building out.

  She stopped at an old redwood fence and stared out at the sea. “Did that do anything?”

  He stood next to her, felt her energy calming. “We got a name. Innes.”

  “But they’re still going to come back,” she said, resolved.

  “Yeah. Until we find the right guy at the top to send the right message to.” She was too experienced with the situation by now to believe any deflection. “Today we got to the suits.” He leaned his shoulder into hers. “You saw Innes jump.”

  That brought out a smile. “Felt good.” She stayed pressed against him.

  “We’ll rattle all the bolts out of him.” He slid his fingers up her wrist and curled his hand around hers. Too intimate. Once the touch started, hi
s hunger for the heat of her connection struck deep.

  She held him. “There’s no way to thank you.” The sea air carried her whisper into him. “There’s no one else I’d want helping me other than you.”

  Turning, she pulled him toward her. Her head tilted up and he fell into the kiss. The words were still on her lips, he tasted her truth. They met tenderly. She opened to him and the kiss deepened. Heat crashed through him. The link between them he’d tried to deny was inescapable. He would do anything to help her. What had started as a mission was now tied to his heart.

  The kiss ended and he opened his eyes back to the bright sun. They stayed at the bluff for a few more minutes. The ocean shone and surged at the beach below, calm and eternal. But their work protecting her and her home wasn’t done and it was time to return. Without speaking, she understood, walking readily with him back to the car.

  The ride to Rodrigo released more of the tension that had built up on the way to the Hanley Group confrontation. Mariana found a local college radio station and they listened to music they’d never heard before. Once back in town, Mariana’s attention grew more focused. “I want to swing by my shop and see Sydney.”

  “Can I drop you? I need to do a hardware store run.”

  She nodded. “It’s just a couple blocks away.” Afternoon deepened the shadows and increased places for someone to hide. He pulled up in front of her store. She must’ve seen the concern on his face. “I’ll be quick, then I’m going right over to Sydney’s.”

  “Meet you there.” How would they part? A kiss? A handshake, like teammates? He hadn’t left her since yesterday morning. She leaned forward and he met her for a quick kiss. A moment later, she was out of the car and on the sidewalk.

  He kept an eye on her in the rearview mirror as long as he could before turning toward the hardware store. Though brief, the kiss’s impact remained. The fact that it was so casual, so light, was what shook him. He’d shared brief passion with women before, but nothing sustained. His job would always get in the way and the initial fever would dwindle until they both agreed to move on from each other. The passion for Mariana hadn’t gone away. It rooted deeper than he’d known.

  The parking lot of the hardware store and lumberyard was filled with pickup trucks and men and women with dust on their boots. Ty’s rattling, dented car turned a couple of heads, but there were no comments thrown his way as he got out and entered the store.

  More than just hardware, the store supplied everything a homestead needed. Lamp oil, canning supplies, toys and pots and pans. His ancestor had probably walked through a very similar general store in this area, though he wouldn’t have seen the two-hundred-dollar coolers or propane grills. Ty moved past the ready-made housewares and headed to the raw materials at the back of the store, basket in hand.

  Going through a mental list, he collected what he needed as he wove through the aisles. A countdown ticked in his head. Mariana was still under threat. And everything felt more...complete when he was at her side.

  A man walking down the aisle toward him told Ty that he wasn’t going to have a quick in-and-out visit to the store. Pete, in full uniform, cruised forward. His rangy frame blocked any exits. Ty imagined the small smile on the officer’s face was supposed to be friendly, but it was mostly a sneer of authority. And Pete’s gaze remained cool.

  “Those don’t look like vacation souvenirs,” he ribbed unsuccessfully, staring into Ty’s basket.

  “Good eye.” Ty put the basket down and faced Pete. “You just might make detective.”

  The cop straightened taller. “Don’t suppose you’ve remembered any more details from the other night.”

  “I’ll let you know.” There must be security cameras on every aisle in the store. Was anyone watching the two of them squaring off? “Has your department found anything?”

  Pete stared over Ty’s shoulder like he was reading a teleprompter. “We’re still sorting evidence and have put out a call for any potential witnesses to come forward.”

  Ty suppressed an unhappy laugh. “This isn’t a press conference.”

  “This isn’t your case.” The cop hitched his thumbs in his belt. “You’re staying in town?”

  “Nearby.” Ty was more than ready to move on. Pete the cop hadn’t helped. Pete the ex was one of the last people he wanted to be talking to.

  A realization finally dawned on Pete, his eyes narrowing. “At Mariana’s?”

  “Is there a law against it in this jurisdiction?” Ty was pushing it, but wasn’t going to shrink away from Pete. Deliberately selecting an item from a peg on the wall, Ty took a package of sash cord and tossed it in the basket.

  Pete blinked at the suggestive coil of rope. His jaw flexed. He stared back at Ty with more emotion in his eyes than before. “Maybe you can convince her to sell that place. It’s falling apart around her.”

  Anger tightened in Ty’s chest. “Maybe I’ll help her fix it.” Picking up the basket, he showed that he was leaving. If Pete tried to stop him, things would get ugly. The cop remained puffed up for show, but stepped aside.

  Ty headed straight to the checkout counter, still heated. The cashier was chipper and he couldn’t match her enthusiasm. If Pete and the police had been listening to Mariana all along, she wouldn’t be in this mess. She could’ve been hurt or killed, and Pete’s answer was for her to sell. She was still in danger and Pete’s biggest reaction was when he figured out Ty was staying with her.

  After lightening up for a little small talk with the cashier, Ty saw her stare out behind him with some trepidation. Ty collected his bags, thanked her and headed out of the store. One glance back confirmed that it was Pete looming toward the back of the store, trying to bore a hole in Ty with a hard look.

  By the time Ty was in his car, Pete must’ve been talking trash about him to the cashier, building an ally to keep an eye out. Petty and personal. Instead of working to strengthen the community around Mariana, and anyone else who might be threatened.

  A minute later, Ty parked in front of Sydney’s shop and walked inside to find her and Mariana behind the counter, sharing a worried expression. “You already heard about it?” he asked.

  “What?” Mariana furrowed her brow.

  “My neighborly conversation with Pete at the hardware store.”

  Sydney let out a sound of frustration. Mariana came around the counter to him, concerned. “Was it bad?”

  “Pete’s a lightweight.” Still, the anger hadn’t completely gone away. “He just said that you should sell your place.”

  “Son of a... I don’t have time for his...” Mariana ran her hands through her hair in frustration. After a shuddering breath, she reset and turned to Sydney. “Tell him what you saw.”

  The other woman kept her voice low, glancing out the window. “White guy with a shaved head, over six feet tall. Dark jeans, heavy shoes, jacket over a T-shirt. He walked past Mariana’s shop a couple times, looked in the glass door in front.”

  The description sounded like the man whom he fought in the parking lot. “Time?”

  Sydney checked a slip of paper on her counter. “Eleven thirty-eight and twelve twenty-two.”

  It didn’t click. Mariana looked like she was troubled with the same thoughts. “That’s when we were at the Hanley Group.”

  Ty tried to sort the information. “It’s when we were there and after we left.” So how connected was the bald man to the developers? “Thanks for keeping an eye out, Sydney.” Even if he couldn’t figure out how it all fitted together, just having pieces to work with helped.

  “It’s all logged on an online document.” Sydney hadn’t lost her concerned expression since he’d arrived. “I didn’t see him come and go, so no car to track.”

  “This is all good info,” Ty reassured her. “Are you feeling safe?” It wasn’t fair to leave her exposed while she was helping them. “Is there something you ne
ed here?”

  She smiled her thanks. “Warren’s picking me up after work.”

  “Excellent.” He started toward the door. “I have to do some work in the orchard.”

  Mariana first went to Sydney, gave her hand a squeeze, then met Ty at the front of the store. The afternoon would be leading into evening soon, and he needed the daylight.

  Back in the car, Mariana explained that nothing had changed at her store. No progress with the police, and the insurance company was still getting some things sorted before the cleanup. The path to her orchard grew more familiar. He drove on instinct and took in the aging sheds that lined one side of a road, rusting tin roofs and doors that had pulled from their hinges on rotting wood.

  Mostly, he wanted to stare at how the late sun caught in Mariana’s brown eyes. They looked like polished stone, something mysterious from deep in the earth. She gazed out, sharp. Unbroken, even after all she’d been through.

  He parked outside her house and she got out to look back down the long road. “No ambushes.” Toro hurried out from behind the house. His tail thumped against the car as he received his welcoming pets.

  Ty pulled the hardware store bags from the trunk. “I got some insurance against that.” He headed toward the house. “But I can’t risk this suit.” Mariana unlocked the front door and Toro clicked his claws up and down the inside stairs while the two of them changed into work clothes. Ty still wore his sidearm.

  Back outside Toro settled into an easy gait between them for the climb up through the orchard. In boots, jeans and a T-shirt, Mariana walked much more confidently on the land than she did in San Jose. Ty pulled out three spools of heavy-gauge wire from the hardware store bags. “Will it hurt the trees to wrap this around them?”

  She inspected a strand from the spool. “Not temporarily.”

  If the problem with the Hanley Group wasn’t fixed quickly, there’d be no way to win. That corporation had more money, more resources. A sustained assault on the house with just him and her defending would finish them.