“This place is set up to run as a secondary location. It’s not intended as a safe house, but it’s the only one that isn’t connected to Reed Security.”
“I don’t understand. If Sebastian bought it, how is it not connected to Reed Security?”
Hunter punched in a series of keys once the elevator opened and then went through a series of scans. “He didn’t use his name.”
The elevator doors opened and a bright, freshly painted interior lit the open space. It was very modern and very masculine.
“There are rooms upstairs, enough for everyone at Reed Security and a few guests. This floor is designed as an operations floor. Cap would probably kick my ass if he knew I allowed you in here, Knight.”
“I’ll send him a thank you card. Let’s get to work. We have a lot of shit to sort out.”
Garrick walked past me like I didn’t even exist. How did this man go from stalking me to pretending like I didn’t exist? I just didn’t understand what was going on in his head. I followed Cole, Hunter, and Garrick back to a room that looked like a conference room. Garrick pulled out a folder and started spreading papers across the table.
“I’ve read up all I could on what happened after I took out the three men responsible for the deaths of all those soldiers. I’m guessing the government didn’t want it known that I had escaped because they kept the whole thing pretty quiet. So, I went to see an old friend of mine who’s still serving. According to him, everyone thinks that I’m in Leavenworth. I don’t know how the hell they did it, but according to the documents he gave me, I am currently residing at the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Leavenworth.”
“That would mean a lot of people are being paid to keep your escape a secret,” Cole said.
“Why would they go to all that trouble? Why wouldn’t they want people out looking for you?” Hunter asked.
“That’s what I want to know. What makes me so special that they wouldn’t have had the whole fucking military out looking for me after I murdered those men? They were distinguished officers.”
“Someone didn’t want you talking. Maybe they figured if they didn’t chase you, you wouldn’t tell anyone what was really going on out there. You’d go live your life, and you did,” Hunter said.
“But in order for that to happen, whoever gave the order not to look for me already knew what was happening. They would be complicit in those soldier’s deaths. We need to find out who was in charge of the investigation and sending me away. That’s probably who’s after me. I must have fallen on their radar and now they’re worried,” Garrick said.
“I’ll get ahold of Cap. He can have Becky dig up anything we need,” Hunter said as he pulled out his phone.
“No,” Garrick cut him off. “I don’t want to pull anyone else in on this. Especially Reed Security.”
“Why? You know we can help. Hell, I’m already involved.”
“This is my business. Reed Security doesn’t deal with this kind of shit.”
“I think you should call Sebastian,” I said, turning to Hunter.
“No one asked your opinion,” Garrick snarled.
“I have just as much right to say what we should do as anyone else. I didn’t want to be involved in your shit, but you dragged me into it when you started stalking me. I shot a man today,” I almost shouted. My voice sounded slightly hysterical, but based on everything that had happened today, I was pretty sure a little hysteria was okay. “I held a gun for the first time and killed a man. That’s not who I am. I don’t live in your world. I shouldn’t have to deal with men coming after me just because I’m unfortunate enough to know you. So, you do whatever the hell you have to do to make sure that I can get back to my life, and that includes letting other people help you.”
His dark eyes narrowed in on me and I could feel the anger rolling off him. If I didn’t know how infatuated with me he could be, I would swear he was seconds away from ripping my head off. Of course, maybe that had all changed since the last time I saw him.
“Fine. For now we’ll ask Becky for help, but let’s keep things low key. I don’t want all of Reed Security getting involved until we know more.”
“I’ll call her now,” Hunter said, walking from the room.
“I need to check in with Alex.” Cole walked out of the room, shooting me a look that had me glaring at him. He was leaving me to clear the air with Garrick and I wasn’t too happy about that right now.
“Let’s get one thing clear right the fuck now. You don’t have any say in my business and if you ever try to dictate what I do again, you’ll regret it.”
“You dragged me into it when you started stalking me. I didn’t ask for this.”
“Just because I had an obsession with you doesn’t give you free reign. If you get in my way, don’t think I’ll hesitate to remove you.”
“You said you would never hurt me,” I said, trying to hide the quiver in my voice. He stalked toward me and suddenly I didn’t like the fact that I was alone in the room with him. Right now, he was downright terrifying.
“That was when you were mine. You made it very clear that you don’t want me in any way. That means you no longer deserve anything from me. Including my protection.”
I hadn’t realized that he was backing me up until I hit the wall and it became clear I had nowhere to run. He raised his hand and placed it around my neck, squeezing just enough to scare me.
“Then why am I here?”
“Because Cole and Hunter brought you. Don’t get any ideas that I’d be so stupid to involve you in anything in my life again.”
He released me and walked out of the room. My knees shook as I realized that I had taken too many liberties with a killer.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Knight
“IS IT DONE?” Cole asked.
“It’s done. She doesn’t have any illusions anymore that we could ever have something. I’m pretty sure she thinks I want to kill her now.”
“Good. If it were a different time, you might have been perfect for her, but I’m not willing to take that chance right now with all this shit raining down on us.”
I nodded, knowing that he was right. I was the last thing that Kate needed. When she told me she killed a man, I was shocked. Cole and Hunter had left out that little piece of information. I didn’t want that for her. Kate was no killer and she would have only done it if her life was in serious danger. That made it even worse, because I had told her she wasn’t safe at the clinic because of druggies, but she was in way more danger now.
“I’m not sure that’s true. I don’t know that I was ever worthy of a woman like Kate. She’s something special.”
Cole looked at me assessingly and nodded. “She is and she deserves someone that will fight for her. I see that in you. Hell, you stalked her. I’m not sure that I’m okay with that, but I can see how much you love her. Like I said, if it was another time..”
“Whoa. I never said anything about love. I’m sorry to break it to you, but obsession and love are totally different things.”
“Are they? Huh. Guess I was reading you all wrong.”
He walked away, leaving me very confused. I couldn’t tell if he wanted me with Kate and he was testing me or if he was just trying to get a read on where I stood. Hunter found me a few minutes later while I was still trying to figure out what the hell Cole was getting at.
“Alright, I talked to Becky. She said she has to run everything past Cap. It’s protocol, but she agreed to talk him into letting us handle things until we know more. She said that she should have something by morning. I say we get some shut eye. This place is locked up tight.”
“That’s what you thought of the Reed Security building. Anything can be penetrated if you know what you’re doing.”
“Relax, man. No one even knows we own this building. I have alerts set to go off on all our phones if even a squirrel crosses the sensors.”
“Still, I think I’ll stay up and keep watch.”
“You�
��re just as stubborn as you were ten years ago.” He sighed and headed back toward the conference room. “Wake me up in four hours. I’ll take over watch.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. I looked out the window, not seeing anything that even pointed to danger, but I couldn’t let go of the feeling that if I dropped my guard for even a few hours, I would end up dead. I looked over my shoulder as I heard Kate’s voice behind me. Cole and Hunter were guiding her to the elevator to take her upstairs.
I stared out the window and thought about what Cole had said. If it was a different time, maybe I could have something with Kate. But perhaps the reason I craved Kate so much was because she was the good to my evil. She balanced me out and made me feel like a little bit of my soul was still salvageable. I knew that there was no redemption for someone like me. I was beyond any kind of salvation. I had killed so many men throughout the years that a woman like Kate shouldn’t even want to be in the same room as me.
I still couldn’t figure out what drew her to me. Was it the whole danger thing? She didn’t seem like the type of woman that was attracted to danger. In fact, she pretty much seemed like she just wanted to live a calm, normal life. Something I could never give her. Cole had been right. I needed to keep her at a distance and make sure that she never wanted to be with me again. I would only end up hurting her or getting her killed.
✯✯✯✯✯
“Alright, Becky did some digging and she found the name of the officer pushing through your trial. His name is Daniel Marks. He was the commanding officer to Walters, Smith, and Jensen, the men Knight killed while in the military,” Hunter said to all of us. Kate was upstairs and we didn’t think she needed to be in on this no matter how much she insisted.
“Correction, Hudson killed.” I looked at everyone, wanting them to keep it straight who they were talking about. Garrick and Hudson were two totally different men in my mind. “Just trying to keep it all straight for everyone.”
“Right. So, anyway, Marks pushed for Hudson,” Hunter paused for effect, “to receive the highest sentencing possible and it seems he also had some pull with the prosecutor, which is why no one ever wanted to hear your arguments.”
“That doesn’t matter. I deserved the sentence I got. Anyone else would have received the same. All this proves is that Marks wanted justice for his men,” I said.
“And I would agree, but that’s not all Becky found. She dug into the accounts of your superior officers and noted the amounts that were the same in all accounts. They were never large sums, but they were deposited on the same dates with all three men and they were always for the same amount. Then, she looked into Marks’ accounts and noticed that he was receiving payments on the same dates, but for twice the amount. That means he was in on it and probably the mastermind.”
“So, this is all him. He’s the one that’s coming after me. Revenge for screwing up his business.”
“Not necessarily,” Hunter said cryptically. “After the men died, he started receiving payments that were double what he had previously been receiving.”
“What’s odd about that? It makes sense, if the men are dead, he receives their cut,” Cole said.
“Right, but then he would have received all the money, but he wasn’t. So, where is the last cut of the money going?”
“He had to have someone take over for the men that died. Whoever took over is his new ally,” I deduced.
“Nope. Becky looked into them. They’re all clean. If they’re in on it, they’re not getting paid.”
Cole looked through the papers and ran a thumb along his lip. “Maybe Marks got tired of paying people off and decided to use threats instead.”
“Becky looked into that also. If he has something on them, we’re not seeing it,” Hunter said. “So, what do you want to do from here, Garrick?”
I was silent as I considered my options. No matter what way I looked at it, we weren’t going to get the answers we wanted unless we went to the source. “I need to get to Marks and find out what’s going on.”
“If you’re caught, there’s no way you’ll get away this time,” Hunter said.
“I know, but if I don’t find out what’s going on, nobody is safe. He’s coming after me even though I’ve been gone for years now. He wants something from me and I need to know what. I need to do some recon and find out his habits. I’ll make a plan and go with it.”
“Do you want some help?”
I shook my head. “No, I’ll handle this on my own. Why don’t the two of you head back? I can’t keep you here when you have other responsibilities.”
“And what about Kate?” Cole asked.
“Kate stays with me,” I answered before I had a chance to think about it.
“Do you think that’s smart?” Cole asked. “She’s not going to like staying away from her work while you handle your shit.”
“The fact is that she’s safest with me.”
“I’m not sure that’s true. You’re the target,” Cole grumbled.
“I’ll stay behind and sort this out with you. Cap would have my ass if I left Kate alone with you.”
“What? He still doesn’t trust me?” I said with a smirk.
“Well, you did hold his pregnant wife hostage and try to destroy his company,” Hunter said.
“There is that. I suppose a vase of flowers wouldn’t go very far to smooth things over.”
“Not unless you want them shoved up your ass.”
“Cole, I need you to go back and find someone to take over running Kate’s practice. Make sure that everything is running like a well oiled machine. When this is over, I want Kate to still have a life to go back to. And keep Sean from asking too many questions. That guy could cause a lot of problems for me.”
Cole huffed and shook his head. “You don’t know Sean that well. I already asked him to back off you. He’s not going to do anything to cause problems unless you bring shit into his town.”
“I’ll try and keep it out as much as possible. Don’t want to piss off the local LEO’s.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but you’re going to have one pissed off woman on your hands. I’m not entirely sure that leaving her with you is the best decision.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt her. I swore to you that I would do everything possible to keep her safe and I meant it.”
Cole slapped me on the back and laughed. “I was more worried about you. Kate’s not a violent person, but I think in your case, you might want to hide your weapons.”
✯✯✯✯✯
I couldn’t help myself. It had been too long since I had watched her and I couldn’t stop the urges that flowed inside me. I couldn’t have her any more, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t pretend she was mine while I had her with me. I snuck into her room and sat down in the corner chair, watching her chest rise and fall as she slept. This was one of the things I loved to do, but she didn’t know it. For months, I snuck into her house and sat in her room as she slept. It was a little creepy, I’ll admit, but there was something about her that had me mesmerized.
I had pretty much blown any chance of ever keeping her in my life and while I knew it was for the best, I couldn’t help but wish things were different. She was the type of person that was genuinely good. She wanted to help others and believed that anyone could be given a second chance. I wanted that from her. I wanted her to look at me like I was worthy of redemption, but I knew it was too late for that. She knew too much about me and knew there was no going back.
There was still a lot I had to do before she would be safe and chances were that she would witness some of my work. It would all be over after that. She would see me for the killer I was and she would decide that she truly needed to move on from me. I would have to watch from a distance as she found some schmuck to date and eventually marry. She would have kids and probably never think of me again, but at least she would be alive. If I had to give her up so that she never had to worry about the dangers of my world, I woul
d do it in a heartbeat. But I would always be watching and I would always have my gun handy in case whoever she chose got out of line.
She stirred in bed and I knew that was my cue to leave. I couldn’t have her wake up to me in her bedroom. She would know that my earlier performance was bullshit and it would ruin everything. I snuck out of her room and glared at Hunter as he leaned against the opposite wall and grinned at me.
“Come on. We’ve got work to do.”
✯✯✯✯✯
“I can’t believe we brought her along,” Hunter grumbled from the passenger seat. “You realize that if she gets caught she would be an accomplice?”
“We won’t get caught. We’ve been watching and I know what I’m doing. Believe it or not, I’ve done this before.”
“Why couldn’t I just stay back at the safe house?”
“Because, we’re driving hours from there. If something happened, we wouldn’t be able to get to you to save that pretty, little neck,” I told her with as much menace as possible.
“You could have let me go back with Cole. He would have protected me.”
“You’re my responsibility. Besides, I don’t trust anyone but me to make sure you’re safe.”
It was true. I knew that her cousin was well trained, but I would have seen the attack on her house coming a lot sooner and she would have never had to pull the trigger. He kept her safe, but I could prevent her from ever doing anything like that again.
“That’s so noble of you, considering you’re the one that got me in this mess,” she grumbled from the backseat.
“Alright, boys and girls. Here’s the plan. Hud and I will go in and get our boy. There’s minimal security at his house, so it should be easy in and easy out. Kate, you wait in the driver’s seat for us to come out. If you see anything suspicious, you take off. Don’t wait for us. We’ll meet up with you back at the safe house.”
“I can’t believe that I’m going along with this,” Kate said.
Knight: A Reed Security Romance (Reed Security Series Book 4) Page 15