Her Covert Protector (Rogue Protectors Book 4)

by Victoria Paige

  “Anything else?” Gabby asked.

  Nadia turned in her chair to show them the message from ‘Harriet V’. “I don’t know why there’s something about this message that grabbed my attention.”

  “Because Harriet is apologizing, not bragging,” Kelso said, staring at the message again. “She wanted to help her mom. Is this about money? The ATM thefts?” He paused and tapped the back of Nadia’s chair. “We haven’t looked in-depth at the backgrounds of the employee roster of Hux Technologies.” He glanced over at Gabby. “Wanna go over them now?”

  Though they were able to get a warrant for the employee roster, it was tougher to get the personnel files on them, so CTTF decided to do their own data collection via their driver’s licenses or social security numbers. Any further background check would require the employee’s consent, especially medical records. But Nadia was confident the detectives would be able to infer information with what was readily available to them until a further warrant was needed.

  Besides, suspect number one was Cain Morris. John had provided his link to Maxim. The man had been low profile. No hits on a credit card or any online transactions. Morris probably had a separate identity ready and had vanished.

  “Yes, but my bet is it’s still Morris,” Gabby said.

  “But he’s not a hacker. He must have had help,” Kelso said.

  “Sisters? Brothers? Cousins?” Gabby said. “Harriet could be anyone to him.”

  “He’s got a sister,” Nadia said. She’d looked quite a bit into his background. “Estranged. Husband with three kids. An event planner.”

  “And his parents are both deceased, so it couldn’t be the mother Harriet is referring to.”

  “We’re looking at this wrong,” Gabby said. “Send all the files you have on personnel. Maybe we didn’t ask the right questions when we interviewed Morris’s colleagues.”

  Hux Technologies was in limbo. For a company that made millions, it had a very lean staff. A total of thirty people. Fifteen of them were his software engineers, but Ken was still the brains.

  “Many of them were told not to leave town while the investigation was ongoing. A few of them are already applying for jobs elsewhere,” Kelso said.

  Henderson took that moment to sprint into the lab. “You won’t believe who walked through our door.”

  Gabby and Kelso turned to their tac team leader.

  “Dmitry Vovk.”

  20

  “John, you can’t just walk in there.”

  Levi James grabbed his arm as he was about to barge into the building that housed the CTTF. When he received the call informing him that the head of the Odessa Order strode into the last place he expected the man to be, John dropped everything he was doing. He had Bristow pack up their shit, and they raced to get to Nadia’s place of work. It was a wonder that the highway patrol hadn’t pulled them over.

  He shook off Levi’s hand and began to prowl in front of their vehicle.

  “Just think. Whatever’s going on in there you do not want to show your face. You think he doesn’t have your picture and Bristow’s in his files.”

  John recalled the phones held to their faces when they’d been captured. It had been the most exposed he’d ever been. Bristow was conspicuously quiet, as if he understood his turmoil.

  It wasn’t that Dmitry Vovk was in CTTF.

  It was that Nadia was breathing the same air as that bastard, and he wanted her nowhere near him. “I’m good.” He threw up his arms to warn Levi off and scrubbed his face with his hand. “Text Gabby and Kelso that I’m outside.”

  He whipped out his phone to see if Nadia responded to his text about not going anywhere near the Ukrainian mob boss.

  Thank God, she responded. “Okay.”

  When he glanced up, Levi and Bristow were both staring at him. “What?”

  “What’s up with you?” Levi growled. “I know you’ve had a hard-on for Vovk for a while, so I can’t believe you’d blow our cover by rushing in there.”

  “Cover’s already blown. He knows who I am.”

  “Not as John Garrison. You and Bristow were traveling under assumed identities that your Ukrainian contact gave up.”

  John was rarely wrong. He was also rarely in a place ruled by emotions, by fear, and by his attachments. He never expected to be so sorely tested today. And yet he owed it to his team to know where his head was.

  “Nadia and I have a serious thing going.”

  Levi crossed his arms and glanced at Bristow, whose face was relatively neutral. “You knew?”

  The ginger-haired SEAL shrugged. “Garrison gets chatty when stuck in a dungeon about to be packed off to Siberia.”

  “Somehow I can’t believe that,” Levi said.

  “Ahhh, there were extenuating circumstances,” Bristow smirked. “But, it’s the first time I’ve heard him say it’s serious.”

  John debated telling them the exact situation, but Nadia wanted to keep it to themselves and she hadn’t told her father yet. He was going to respect that.

  “I’m new to this … thing.” Hell, he even couldn’t say relationship. “So, thanks for stopping me.”

  But both men had such irritating grins on their faces, John wanted to smash their heads together.

  Levi’s attention dropped to his phone. “They have Vovk in an interview room. Nadia’s already behind the one with a two-way mirror, observing and crosschecking Vovk’s statements. Figured you want in?”

  “Hell, yeah.”

  After a beat, Levi said, “One of their guys will escort you in.”

  “Be on the lookout,” John said as he started for the CTTF HQ. “And raise Roarke. It’s time to pull him into this.”

  “Shit, are you sure you want husband and wife on the case?” Bristow said.

  “It’s bound to happen sooner or later,” John threw over his shoulder.

  “He’s right about that,” Levi said to no one in particular.

  The Gray Wolf of Odessa sat on the opposite side of the two-way mirror. Chills went through Nadia as she stared at the man. His eyes were almost silver like he was blind. His hair was also threaded with more gray than black. His face was hewn in so many harsh angles it couldn’t be called handsome, but one couldn’t help but be fascinated by the feral edges that sculpted it.

  And he was huge.

  He should be called a bear more than a wolf, but Nadia could see how he earned his nickname. Vovk was a common surname in Ukraine, which meant wolf. His brother Maxim was tall, lean, and was the handsome one with a head of blond hair. Nadia had been sure they were half-brothers or not even related, but tracing their familial lines proved they shared the same parents.

  “Is it inconceivable that I would want my brother’s body back? Give him a proper burial?”

  “Understandable,” Gabby said. “But how exactly did you come into the country? There’s no record of your entry.”

  “I have friends in high places.”

  “And would these friends in high places know about the illegal activities of your brother?” Kelso asked.

  The Wolf smiled but didn’t answer.

  There were four Vovk brothers. Maxim was the youngest and the black sheep. The other two were entrenched in Ukrainian politics.

  Dmitry, on the other hand, was very private. Little was known about the forty-eight-year-old mobster since he withdrew from the public eye following the failed assassination attempt of Ukrainian presidential frontrunner thirteen years ago. The Order, a secret society, was implicated. What was known was that they defined the rules of the Ukrainian Brotherhood—a hybrid organization of criminal and legitimate business activities.

  The door to the observation room opened, and she felt John before she saw him. He took his place by her side. She glanced at him, but he was transfixed on the person in the interrogation room. Another chill passed through her. In profile, the iciness of John’s features was evident. As much as she’d seen him with a poker face, she knew this was not it.

  Cold fur
y radiated from him.

  “Has he said anything of consequence yet?” he asked.

  She returned her attention to the interview room. “No.”

  Kelso pressed, “Mr. Vovk?”

  “Am I under arrest here?” Dmitry asked.

  “Maybe. We have no record of you arriving in the U.S.” Gabby said. “Can we assume you came in through illegal channels?”

  “I did not.” Vovk’s smile was all teeth, reminding Nadia of the big bad wolf. “And it’s better if you keep your nose out of what you don’t know.”

  “Shit,” Garrison muttered. “They need to stop that line of questioning now.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Just text them.”

  Kelso received her message but continued to stare at Vovk for a few seconds longer. “Fair enough.”

  Gabby backed off as well, receiving the same message.

  For the first time, Vovk stared directly at the two-way mirror, gaze piercing. “Who do you have back there?”

  “Someone who can double-check if you’re lying,” Kelso said. “Why don’t you answer why Maxim ambushed my vehicle? Was the traffic incident yesterday payback for his death?”

  Vovk’s attention swung back to the detectives. “This is what I intend to investigate after I bury my brother.”

  “We’re doing the investigation, Mr. Vovk. It would help if you cooperate,” Gabby said.

  He leaned forward and sneered. “Then who murdered the rest of my brother’s men? The news said the Colombian gang. My brother had no problems with them.”

  “Yes, but the Ukrainian Brotherhood does.”

  “There are many factions—” he started.

  “And your Order oversees them,” Gabby cut in. “So don’t tell me you don’t know shit about what’s going on.”

  The Gray Wolf leaned back in his chair, flicked his eyes to the two-way mirror again and then said, “Is that what your analyst tells you?”

  Nadia froze.

  John moved closer to her side. Their arms almost touching.

  “Face it, Mr. Vovk, after what happened with the bioweapon fiasco a couple of weeks ago where several of the Brotherhood were arrested, your secretive society isn’t a secret anymore. Is your brother an assassin? Sent to terminate everyone who was involved in exposing the Order? Is that why Maxim went after Kelso?”

  “You know nothing about the Order,” Vovk spat and surged to his feet. “We are done here. Either charge me with something or let me go.” He looked directly at the two-way mirror again. “And tell your analyst to be careful where she treads.”

  Shit! Nadia’s hand flew to her throat.

  “Son of a bitch,” John bit out.

  “That seems like a threat,” Kelso said, then added. “And we never said our analyst was a woman.”

  The Gray Wolf grinned and walked around their table and approached the double mirror. “Nadia Powell. I am a man who likes knowing what he is walking into.” He turned to face Kelso and Gabby and chuckled derisively. “So paranoid. Your names are on the LAPD’s organizational chart.”

  Nadia exhaled a brief laugh. “Oooh, that man is good.” She glanced at John. “I don’t want to be locked in a room with him.”

  “That’ll be over my dead body.” His eyes never left Dmitry until the crime boss left the room.

  “John?” He looked at her and she was frowning. “Did I miss something?”

  He gave a shake of his head. “No. It’s good. He just wanted to get a rise from the detectives.”

  “Okay.”

  “Bristow and I will continue our work here. Fill me in on what you’ve found.”

  Her Nerd Lab had a full house. After Dmitry left, Bristow and John set up shop in one corner. Kelso was behind Nadia as she typed away on her keyboard, scrolling through her messages in the chatroom.

  “Sally Davis is on Huxley’s software development team. I have a note here that you interviewed her right after Ken was murdered,” Nadia told Kelso.

  The detective stared at the photo on screen. Brunette. Big-framed square glasses. Bangs and straight shoulder-length hair. “I remember her. I visited her house. She was distraught actually.”

  “Did you ask her about Cain Morris? It’s not in your report.”

  “She didn’t say anything relevant. I did remember her saying that she was worried about losing her job with her mother in the hospital.”

  Nadia scored the report and saw his footnote about it that Sally hardly had any interaction with Morris.

  “She’s quite shy,” Kelso continued. “Not a people person. One who liked to fly under the radar. Typical nerd.”

  “Hey, are you bashing my people?” Nadia interjected. “I’m not anti-social.” Saying that, her attention flew back to the screen. “Wait a minute. I know her.”

  “From where?”

  “Huxley’s party. John?”

  Garrison came up behind her while Bristow took to her side with his laptop on his arm.

  “Do you recognize her?”

  “She looks familiar. She was in that crowd surrounding Huxley.”

  “Yes, the one who asked about StreamCon.” She glanced at Kelso. “Definitely my people.”

  The detective rolled his eyes.

  “Why are we looking into …” John squinted closer at her screen. “Sally Davis.”

  “We’re looking into possible perps who may be in a financial hole,” Nadia told him. “I flagged a possible legitimate claim of responsibility from a Harriet V. Kelso pointed out that Sally Davis’s mother is in a coma at the hospital and is on dialysis. Calls to Sally go to a disconnected phone.”

  “Which hospital?” Bristow asked.

  “Downtown Medical,” Nadia answered. If there was going to be unlawful hacking into medical records, she’d leave it to John’s team.

  “Hold on a sec,” Bristow said.

  Nadia sat back and waited. “It’s handy having spooky friends.” Kelso snorted behind her.

  After a few minutes and lots of patience, Bristow finally said, “Seems like a bill payment came in this morning. They were overdue for a while.”

  “The evidence is circumstantial,” John said.

  “Then I’ll pay Miss Davis a visit and maybe some of her neighbors.” Kelso was already walking toward the exit. “Yo, Woodward!” he called to his partner as the door to the Nerd Lab slid closed and muffled his words.

  “Okay, what else have we got?” John said.

  “Nadia, have you started tracing the IP where that ‘Harriet V’ message came from?” Bristow asked.

  She shook her head. “It’s almost impossible to trace since it came in through the Onion router. I’ve attached an IP tracer for the next time ‘Harriet V.’ logs into the relay chat,” Nadia said. “But if she’s on Huxley’s design team, she’d be prepared for that.”

  “No need.” Bristow grinned and moved closer, as though conspiratorially. “I thought John had given you the keys to the kingdom.”

  “What?” Her brows furrowed.

  “I was going to, but then you spoiled the surprise, knucklehead,” John said dryly.

  She swiveled around and glared at him. “What surprise?”

  21

  “NSA Level One! I can’t believe you were holding out on me!”

  John swallowed a smile as Nadia grumbled at him. They left the CTTF headquarters after his revelation. Bristow followed behind them in the Expedition. While Kelso and Gabby pursued the Sally Davis lead, Levi continued to trail Dmitry. His last message to John was that the Order boss left the county coroner’s office and went back to his hotel.

  Nadia checked the database. Maxim’s body was scheduled for release tomorrow morning.

  “You didn’t require that kind of access before,” he told her.

  “So the rumors are true! Intelligence agencies are slyly funding some of the servers on the ToR network.”

  “I’m not confirming or denying.”

  “John!”

  “All I’m saying is you
have a backdoor to trace that IP, but we need to use my network access to get to those servers.”

  “Does Bristow have access?”

  “He’s an agency contractor. Of course he does.”

  “And I’m what exactly? Your side piece?”

  He cast her a brief glance of amusement. “You’re so sassy today, and you can’t blame the caffeine.”

  “Maybe it’s the lack of caffeine, so be warned.”

  John barked a laugh and caught himself. His unrestrained laughter sounded so foreign to him that it left him bemused. He gave her the side-eye again, his mouth still threatening to break into a grin. And then he let out a breath.

  Driving down Sunset Blvd and then making a turn into Westwood, he was hit with an epiphany. He adored this woman. Every single quirk, every bit of her personality—even if she appeared to have several. But who didn’t? John certainly did. That was why he connected to her immediately. Add to that her intelligence. He derived immense satisfaction in feeding her appetite in shiny things of the technological kind. Which was why he wanted to punch Bristow earlier for spoiling his surprise.

  As they approached her apartment, a tiny pinch of guilt nagged at him. The look on Clyde’s face imprinted in his mind. The man’s face lit up when he saw Nadia this morning and started to dim when John brushed him off.

  Fuck. What was wrong with him? These things hadn’t bothered him before, but then again, they were usually people who were used to it or humans of the unsavory kind. But those four men in the apartment mattered to Nadia. John cared about her and by extension, he should include them. But was it a hardship? No matter how grudgingly he hated to admit it, he was growing fond of those meddling old farts, even the big Scotsman who would rather see John hanged, or drawn and quartered given a chance.

  “We should tell them tonight,” he said.

  “I’m not going to pretend to misunderstand what you mean, but you meant my pregnancy.”

  “Yes. I didn’t think you’d want to wait to tell your dad.”

  “Normally, people wait four weeks to tell family and twelve to tell the rest of the world.”