To prevent that, and because Ford could see West’s face just fine and couldn’t believe Billy could withstand the combination of West’s size and scowl, Ford stepped in. “Last chance, Billy.”
“I didn’t . . .” West took a menacing step forward, and Billy slammed his eyes shut as he winced. “Okay, okay. I got paid.”
There, that was exactly what they needed. Accurate intel and confirmation. If they could get it by scaring the guy and not touching him, all the better. Ford just hoped he actually knew something. “We’re going to need more details.”
“I got an e-mail . . .” The details rolled out of Billy now. He spoke fast as his words ran into each other and the machines in the truck recorded them “They deposited money into my account and promised more if I did this one thing.”
“Who is ‘they’?” Ford asked.
“I don’t know.” Billy stared at Ford, but his scared gaze kept shooting to West, as if tracking his movements. “Whoever it was knew my bank information. The money actually did show up as the e-mail promised. Like, a minute after I got the e-mail, so I knew it wasn’t one of those Internet scams to get my account number then screw me. But I don’t know how they got it. I’m careful. Change passwords every month and all.”
Ford almost rolled his eyes. “Finish the story.”
“The next e-mail said there would be more money for me if I did the thing . . . I mean, filed the report.”
West took the guy’s dropped cell out of his pocket and shook it in the air. “Do you have access to your e-mail on your phone?”
“What?” Billy’s eyes narrowed as he looked at West’s hand, then the lightbulb seemed to go on. “Oh, yeah. You can get it on there.”
“So, you did this ‘thing’ and got paid again,” Reid said. “Then what?”
“Nothing. Got the last of the money and spent some tonight.” With each question, Billy’s gaze shot to the person who spoke to him last. “Look, it was no big deal. Just a statement about activity at an old warehouse. I figured someone was screwing an insurance company or getting back at a former boss or something.”
The patsy didn’t even know he was a patsy. That was just fucking sad to Ford. “You might want to know that warehouse blew up.”
“With us in it.” West had made it to Billy’s side before dropping that comment.
The rest of the color leached out of Billy’s face. “That’s not my fault. You have to believe—”
One touch of West’s hand at the right place on Billy’s neck and he passed out. Stopped mid-sentence and slouched down as far as the bonds tying him to the chair would allow.
West glanced over at Ford. “Think that’s the truth?”
“Unfortunately, but we should take him in for further questioning. Let Delta team take a shot at him. Maybe something can be done with the e-mails, a trace of some sort, but I doubt whoever left them was dumb enough to leave a trail.”
“I’ll handle the transfer to interrogation.” Lucas frowned at the sleeping man. “The car is outside. He’ll fit in the trunk.”
The plan was to leave the truck and take the equipment and Billy with them. They had a car and a smaller van, and protocol said they split up to head back in. Ford didn’t veer from it this time. “Take West with you. He can carry the dead weight.”
Lucas looked his makeshift partner up and down. “He has to get dressed first.”
West scooped his shirt off the floor. “You said intimidate him.”
“Not perform a striptease,” Reid mumbled before blowing out a long breath. “Okay, now what?”
Ford needed to call the Warehouse. Ward had listened in to the takedown and questioning but stayed silent. That meant he was thinking. So was Ford. “We now know someone is trying to wipe out anyone who might be following Trent. In this case, us.”
“And we know an operation works if there are a limited number of people who know it’s about to happen,” Reid pointed out.
That part ticked Ford off. It meant the mole theory was no longer just a theory. Someone on the inside could be working for Benton, and that set off a fiery explosion in Ford’s brain.
This all had a calculated feel. Like, someone with knowledge of operations and tactics was pulling the strings. Someone who understood Trent would become as much a target as a prize and moved in to buy him time. “We need to look deeper into Anthony Creighton’s background and contacts and see if he has the skills to pull this off.”
Lucas nodded. “He definitely has the money to pay the right people, and him being the owner of the waterfront property is too much of a coincidence.”
“Then maybe it’s time for you to meet Uncle Anthony.” Reid sounded far too pleased with the idea.
West laughed while he finished buttoning his shirt. “Think how much fun that family dinner will be.”
Ford didn’t find any part of this amusing. “Lucky me.”
11
SHAY CUDDLED closer to Ford and inhaled the clean fresh scent of his soap. Her back leaned against his chest. One hand covered his on her stomach while her other palm brushed up and down his blue-jean-covered thigh.
Sitting in between his raised legs, feeling the warmth of his arms as they wrapped around her, it all felt right. She loved the quiet moments with him. They didn’t get that many.
Last night he’d been called in to fix a server problem. Tonight they lounged on her couch watching an action movie where alien ships rose out of the water and took out most of the East Coast. Between the sound of his husky chuckle by her ear whenever something unbelievable happened on the screen, and the soft kisses he placed in her hair from time to time, she could stay there forever.
When the aliens outmaneuvered the military for the hundredth time on screen, Ford slid his free hand over hers, trapping it against his leg and entwining her fingers. “You feeling any better about Trent?” he asked.
Now there was a subject that could chase the calm right out of a peaceful moment. “Not really. Each day that goes by without contact makes me more nervous for him.”
She and her cousin had set a new record for noncommunication. Trent hadn’t come up for air, and she refused to believe any project could keep him that enthralled for that many days in a row.
“What is your uncle thinking about all of this?”
She wished she knew. Anthony had never been all that transparent. He made his fortune conducting quiet commercial real estate deals in back rooms. By negotiating and refusing to back down. He’d raised Trent the same way, skipping the emotional support and even the negotiating and going right to demands and high expectations. “Anthony says it’s fine, but I can see he’s starting to worry, and he never worries.”
“How?”
She turned a little to get a better look at Ford’s expression. “What?”
“How can you tell?” He lifted their joined hands and kissed the back of hers. “My dad is the strong, silent type. He says about three words at a time and I never know what he’s thinking. If he were worried, I have no idea how I would tell.”
“Your mom must love that.”
“They’ve been together for thirty-six years, so I’m guessing she’s used to it by now. But it drives me crazy. I have to fight the urge to go through his papers and check his medication bottles just so I have some idea what’s happening.”
Ford traced his thumb over the back of her hand. The soothing gesture had her falling boneless against him. She had to struggle to concentrate on the conversation and not turn around and straddle those impressive thighs.
They got so few moments of sitting and relaxing that she wanted to savor them. “You ever do that?”
“The medicine thing? More than once.” Ford pressed his lips against her temple. “I know it’s sucky behavior but sometimes you have to dig a little to find the truth. To make sure everyone and everything is okay.�
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She tried to imagine the open land Ford grew up on. He’d described his Montana hometown as having three stop signs and four churches. Properties stretched for miles and the days started early. Hardworking people who thought a traffic light would ruin the farming community.
She’d grown up outside of DC in Virginia horse country. Her mom rode and her father wore a suit all the time. For some reason that was her most vivid memory of them. She never thought of them together or of the family trips mom insisted dad take them on. When Shay closed her eyes and tried to conjure up the smell of her mother’s perfume or the sound of her dad’s voice, she found the details had faded.
Her memories were limited to moments and pieces of conversation. She pictured them now as she’d seen them back then, through a young girl’s eyes. Dad coming home late and mom standing in the kitchen in her riding boots. That and the night her uncle came to pick her up early from a sleepover at her friend’s house with a policeman at his side.
Photos helped her with the timeline of life back then, but Anthony never talked about losing his sister. It was as if he cried at the funeral and then packed his emotions away forever. All of them.
She lived with the agony of loss that lessened over time but never fully disappeared. With the guilt of not being there when they died because she insisted seeing her friends was more important than some stupid play. Life spun on and the sadness crept up on her every time something happened where she would naturally call her mom, but she survived.
“Anthony is always so in control and solid. He doesn’t stray from his schedule much at all. Like, I could tell you where he is during the day just by the time.”
“Hmm.” Ford’s brief hum rumbled through him and into her. “Sounds rigid.”
“He is, but he’s always been good to me.” She nibbled on her top lip as she tried to decide how much to say.
“I would hope so.”
It struck her as oddly disloyal to talk about Anthony, and so hard to describe him without making him sound tough and cold. That’s not how she viewed him and not how he ever treated her. “You see . . . oh, I don’t know.”
Ford turned her slightly until his eyes met hers. “What is it?”
Maybe it was the warmth of Ford’s body or his calming touch, possibly his low voice that vibrated through her when he spoke. Something made her want to talk, to spill her worries and share.
The sensation was so foreign to her. Her last boyfriend taught her to hold it all in. Devin acted smooth and talked about loving her, but every conversation was calculated to get something out of her. To get him closer to Anthony. Closer to the money.
With Ford, she never felt that tug of insecurity. If he cared about her uncle’s money, he’d played it so cool she had no clue. He was too busy working to even notice. And that was a problem.
She shifted and had to smile when Ford snagged her legs and dragged them across his lap. “That was smooth.”
“I thought you’d be more comfortable talking this way.”
More like she was one move away from trying that straddling move she’d been thinking about since they sat down. But first, the worries. “Well, for the last week Anthony has been making calls and leaving work. He’s disappeared for hours at a time. There’s nothing on his calendar and he comes back distracted and frustrated.”
“I think I’m lost again.” Ford smiled. “How would you know what’s happening at your uncle’s office?”
“I talk with his assistant, Andrea, all the time. She keeps me updated.” That came out a bit more stalkery than Shay liked, but with Ford she didn’t feel the need to weigh her words. Including him lessened her anxiety.
Sharing was not easy for her, thanks to Devin and the limited ties she kept in her personal life. But from the beginning, letting Ford in resulted in him seeing more of her, knowing more about her. The reality didn’t cause panic to bounce around inside of her, which was a nice change.
Ford gave her thigh a gentle squeeze. “As I said, sometimes you have to sneak around to get the information you need.”
“Thanks for getting what I’m saying and not thinking I’m creepy.” The easy acceptance confirmed what she already knew—Ford was worth the risk of trying again.
“Never.” His palm slipped up her back, under her shirt. “Any chance whatever is bugging your uncle is not a work thing or a private thing?”
“Like what?”
Ford closed one eye as he winced. “Not to hit on a potentially touchy subject, but could he be dating someone? You know, maybe sneaking around because he’s worried you or Trent might not approve?”
“No.” Not a touchy subject but not possible either. In reality she thought both Anthony and Trent could stand to let their good looks work for them and enjoy more interesting personal lives. Concentrating on something other than work might ease some stress. She knew from her time with Ford that the concept worked for her.
“That’s an emphatic response.”
She didn’t bother to explain how Anthony focused all his attention on the office now that her aunt was gone. Since Ford appeared to be made from the same mold, and close to her uncle on the workaholic scale, she let the topic drop. There was no need to start down a road that could lead to arguing. Not tonight.
Right now she had a bigger problem. “I’m going to contact the police if we don’t hear anything concrete from Trent by tonight.”
“Hmm.”
There it was again. Humming twice in two minutes was never a good sign. It was the sound men made when they thought women were making wrong turns. She wasn’t a fan. “Just spill it.”
Ford laughed. “Your mind-reading skills aren’t working?”
“They’ve been spinning overtime on Trent and failing miserably.”
“Right, sorry.” Ford placed a quick kiss on her lips but pulled back before it deepened. “Maybe wait on calling in the police on Trent.”
“I have.”
Ford brushed a hand over her hair as his eyes softened. “I know, but Trent is an adult.”
That sounded like some sort of guy thing. A groan rumbled in her throat but she cut it off before it could wind up.
She tipped her head back, balancing on his arm and staring at the ceiling. “Now you sound like my uncle.”
“From your tone, I’m not sure that’s a compliment.” Ford touched her chin and brought her head up to face him again. “I’m just saying Trent might not appreciate the babysitting when he comes home.”
Clearly, Ford sided with Anthony in thinking they had to tiptoe through the minefield of Trent’s fragile male ego. Her fears burrowed deeper. Right to his safety and their failure to step in and ensure it. “Don’t you get it? I’m worried something happened and he won’t be able to come home.”
“I know, babe.” With his hands on her hips, Ford turned her until she hit that straddling position and stared him down eye-to-eye.
The term of endearment threw her off and had her brain cells scrambling. The delivery, so low and caring, with the softness of a caress, pushed past her frustration. She’d seen him sweet and hot and sexy, but this sounded almost loving. The way her heart hammered in response had her bouncing between excitement and terror.
Before she could pick one, Ford continued. “Look, I know some people who have contacts. I can make some calls and see what I can find.”
The offer snapped her out of her stupor. She slipped her palms up his arms and settled them on his shoulders. “Are you being purposely vague?”
One of his eyebrows lifted as he pulled her tighter against his body. “Well, I do have some computer skills that can help in situations such as these.”
“You’d hack for me?” It was wrong and an invasion of privacy, but the offer came from a good place. A caring place. For some reason that made her almost giddy. She’d heard friends talk about getting hit with this
wave of happiness and feeling as if light poured through them. She’d had no understanding of the sensation . . . until now. “Interesting.”
“But?”
“No buts. I’m not the kind of woman who says no to solid help. If you can do something, please do it, just be careful not to get in trouble, and try to limit the information to what’s necessary to confirm Trent’s safe.” She’d deal with the angry cousin fallout later.
“Guess that means you don’t want to know about his porn collection, assuming of course a guy his age would have one.”
“God, no.” Trent was an adult, but there were things she didn’t need to see.
But she did want to know about Ford’s needs and maybe fulfill one or two. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in for one of those burning kisses that would have her touching her lips hours later in memory.
With only an inch between their mouths, he pulled back, pressing his head into the couch cushions. “We do need to talk about one other thing.”
He got so many things right. She hoped he wasn’t taking a sharp turn into wrong. “Uh-huh.”
His hands soothed up and down her back, slipping under the edge of her T-shirt to caress bare skin. “I’ll be gone for about twenty-four hours. I’ll be in town but I have to help a company move. That means breaking down the system and bringing it back up as fast as possible so they don’t lose precious work hours.”
The news plowed into her. He walked in and out of her daily life, and she knew to expect that with his job, but that didn’t mean she liked it.
She tried to smile but the corners of her mouth refused to lift. “If you say so.”
“Hey.” He cupped her check and forced eye contact again. “This is me trying to let you know what’s going on so you don’t think I just disappeared without warning.”
The words mattered. So did the pleading for understanding in his eyes.
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