Chad watched, mesmerized, the t-shirt lifting as she reached, offering a glimpse of the bottom of her ass-cheeks. Blood now rushed to his dick and it took all his control to make it to her in time to take the vase from her hands. Standing right behind her, he groaned as her ass moved against his cock. Stepping back, he said, “Here, let me get it.”
“I’m pregnant, not incapable,” she said, turning to look at him. Now that she was close, she noticed the circles under his eyes, mirroring her own. “Did you not sleep well?” she asked.
Hanging his head, Chad chuckled. “I was up till the wee hours this morning looking up some things on the internet.”
“A case you’re working on?”
“Uh…kinda,” he replied.
Stepping away from him, she moved to the stove wanting to put some distance between them. Having him so close made it hard to think—and feel anything other than his strong masculine presence. “I was fixing some breakfast. Would you like some?” she asked.
“You haven’t eaten yet?”
His voice sounded strangely sharp. Looking at him over her shoulder, she saw his brow knitted as he frowned at her. “No. It usually takes a while for the morning sickness to pass.”
“Oh, right,” he said, the frown instantly replaced with a look of concern. “Have you seen your doctor? When do you go next? Have you had any other problems besides morning sic—”
“What are you going on and on about?” she asked, turning to face him, the spatula lifted in her hand as she stopped stirring the eggs in the pan.
“I just wanted to make sure you’re all right and taking care of yourself properly. Um…” he hesitated, “I know you need protein…and vitamins.”
Staring at him for a moment, she cocked her head to the side. “And just when did you become such an expert on pregnancies?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say I was an expert,” he muttered.
“What exactly were you looking up on the internet last night, Chad?”
He stepped forward, closing the distance between them, placing his hand on her shoulders, pulling her in closer, a sheepish expression on his face. “Okay, I was up most of the night looking up information on pregnancies…and birthing procedures…and babies.”
Nervously chewing her lip, she stood still. Stepping back again she found her process halted as his hands did not leave her shoulders. “Why?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“I wanted to know,” he admitted, shrugging his wide shoulders. “I want to know everything that you’re going through. Everything that’s happening.”
Putting her hand upon his chest, she felt his heartbeat pounding steadily through her fingertips. “Chad,” she began tentatively, shaking her head back and forth. “I don’t think tha—”
“Dani, I can tell you’re getting ready to throw up a wall. I told you last night that I want to move forward. Friends for now…if that’s all you’ll give me. More as we build the trust back up. And I want to be involved.”
“I thought we agreed to go slowly?”
“I know we did, but I can’t go at a snail’s pace when it comes to the pregnancy. If I’m involved, then I’ve got to catch up!”
Smiling, she bent her head forward until it rested on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her body. Kissing the top of her head, he said, “This is going to seem weird, but I actually came over to ask you to have dinner and here I am telling you how I spent last night learning all I can about the pregnancy.”
“Like a date?” she leaned her head back, pondering his request.
“Only if you want it to be. I’d like to take you out tomorrow night.”
She hesitated, wanting to agree. “I don’t know. I don’t usually go out on work evenings since I have to get up so early for work the next day.”
“How about if I told you it was an early evening? I can pick you up about five and I promise to have you home by eight?”
“Then I’d say I’d love to accept your formal invitation,” she laughed.
“Good,” he said. “I’ve got to go but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Chapter 9
“Aaron,” Dani called out, seeing her co-worker walking down the hall after coming back from the company’s cafeteria. “I found the information you were looking for.”
Smiling, he flipped through the report. “This is perfect,” he confirmed. “Just what I need to add to my presentation.”
“Good. That’s a copy so you’re welcome to keep it.”
“How did your evening turn out on Saturday?”
“Oh, that. I should apologize, Aaron. That man was an old friend and I know I left abruptly, but well…we had a lot to catch up on.”
Throwing his hands up, he said, “Hey, it’s all good by me, but I promised Melissa I’d find out the story.”
“Are you sure only your wife wants the gossip?” she laughed. “Well, tell her I’m fine. And it was nice to catch up with Chad.”
“So I take it you want me to tell Melissa that she doesn’t need to try to set you up with anyone else?” he inquired, barely able to hide his smile.
Tapping her cheek with her finger as she pretended to ponder his question, she grinned. “Tell her that I’m off the market…still not looking for anyone.”
*
The Saints gathered around the conference table, poring over the intel provided by Roscoe Barnes from the ATF and Mitch.
“Right now, they’ve identified a recruiter in our area. Habib El-Amin. Male, thirty-two years old. American, although his parents came over from Iraq.”
Luke sent Habib’s information to the large white screen on the wall as well as to each man’s tablet. “Here is his account profile with the Geeks2Gether dating site.”
The silence around the room was thunderous, until the laughter broke out. Cutting through the tense meeting, the name of the dating site drew chuckles from most around the table.
Luke looked offended, saying, “Hey, you have no idea how hard it is being a computer nerd in an alpha world. I should know.”
The others looked over at Luke, seeing his tall, muscular frame. Built more like a runner than a football player, he was nonetheless not what they would describe as hard-up when it came to dating.
“You hardly fit that category, bro,” Bart laughed.
“Yeah, easy for you to say,” Luke grumbled. “Who used to go home with the most gorgeous woman from the bars…or more than one?”
Remembering his life before he met Faith, Bart had the grace to blush. “Aw hell, man. Don’t remind me.”
“I’m just saying that there are a lot of geeks, many introverted, who don’t have the same ease of meeting women that some of you do. It makes them much more susceptible to look for online dates. Add on to that, they have the skills these terrorist recruiters are looking for.”
Cutting through the jocularity, Jack asked, “His profile is male, so I assume he’s recruiting female computer experts?”
Wiggling his eyebrows, Luke replied, “Not necessarily. He also has this profile.” With a click of his fingers on his laptop, he brought up a female’s profile, complete with false picture and personal information. “He uses this one as well, to look for males.”
“Okay, I gotta ask the question, Luke,” said Blaise. “If these recruits are such computer geniuses, how is it that they can’t figure out he’s not who he says he is?”
“I wondered the same thing, but it appears that Habib is using state of the art encryption programing. Anyone trying to see if his profiles on the dating site are real are going to come up with the information that he wants them to.”
“So what do we do with this?” Marc queried.
“The latest recruit he seems to be going for is Robbie Carter from St. Louis.” Putting up the info on Robbie, Luke continued, “The problem is that I can see from the site what Habib is doing, but I’ve got no idea if anything’s happened yet. I’ve gotten into Robbie’s financial account and can see where some money has been transferred in.
But then it gets buried in encryption again.”
Chad asked, “What does the ATF want us to do?”
“Once we get a lock on who Habib is targeting, then we’ll go pay a visit to the recruit. Luke will be able to decipher their computer codes if we can obtain the info directly from their units.”
“I take it those trips aren’t exactly sanctioned officially,” Cam laughed, fist bumping Bart, both loving clandestine missions.
“We’ll take the first one,” Bart grinned.
The others chuckled as Jack just shook his head. “We’ll divvy them up when we get the go-ahead to proceed.” Looking back at Luke, he said, “Who else is in our sights?”
Luke, caught in the middle of a swallow of hot coffee, spluttered as he tried to speak. After his coughing fit, he looked up sheepishly and answered, “It appears that Habib works with Fazan Darzi and Abdul Nagi. Who they work for is still a mystery but I’m trying to unravel it with Mitch’s FBI assistance.”
“Do Fazan and Abdul do the same thing that Habib does with the dating sites?” Blaise asked.
“Yep,” Luke agreed. “I’m working on finding the other links between them all and who the hell is the leader they are reporting to.”
“And Adam Turner? How does he fit into all of this?” Chad asked, his jaw tight with irritation.
Every pair of eyes turned toward him. “Not sure,” Jack answered honestly. “But it appears that his name was mentioned in conjunction with Habib. Only once, but still…it bears investigating.” Jack pinned him with a glare. “And Chad…you’re not working on that angle. I’m having Blaise and Monty follow up on anything related to Adam.”
“What?” Chad exploded.
“You know you’re not able to be objective,” Marc said, putting his hand on Chad’s shoulder.
Blaise spoke up, “Monty and I’ll work to find out what was going on, man. Don’t worry…we’re not out to get him.”
Sucking in a frustrated breath before letting it out slowly, Chad nodded. He was not happy, but understood this was the way the investigation needed to go.
The Saints moved to their workstations, each delving into unraveling the links between Adam, Habib, Fazan, Abdul, and the Geeks2Gether website.
*
Pulling into her driveway, Dani parked close to her house knowing the grocery bags were heavy. Reaching into the back seat, she grabbed the four bags, looping them on her arms, along with her purse and briefcase. Lugging them to her front door, she wondered why she did not just make two trips instead of carrying them all together.
Opening the door, she stumbled in, managing to set the bags on the floor as she went down on her knees in a pile. “Dammit!” she cursed. Pushing her hair from her face, she sat on her ass and pulled her black pumps off her feet. Tucking her feet under her, she pushed off the floor and stood. As she bent to pick up the bags, her eyes moved across her living room. Something’s wrong.
The furniture stood in place, the pictures on the walls, the knick-knacks on the mantle. It looked undisturbed…only not quite right. Leaving the grocery bags on the floor, she walked in her stocking feet into the room. Glancing down at the rug under the sofa, she noted the deep impressions in the carpet where the sofa had been moved and not put back exactly in place. She looked at the pictures hanging precisely straight on the walls. Adam’s voice came back to her from the first time he was in her apartment. Girl, you can’t hang pictures straight to save your life. Every picture in your house is slightly skewed.
Someone had looked at her pictures…or behind them, and then straightened them before leaving. Tip-toeing back to her purse, she bent and slipped out the handgun she kept with her. Moving to the kitchen through the small dining room, she noted the straight pictures on the wall there as well. Opening her drawers, she ascertained they had been rifled through as well. The scissors she used last night were pushed to the side, not in the front where she remembered she left them.
Her heart pounded as she quietly sucked in a deep breath. Holding the gun steady, she moved to the hall by the kitchen leading to the two bedrooms and bathroom. Checking first to make sure there were no intruders, she tucked the weapon into the waistband of her skirt as she carefully looked into her bedroom. Same thing. Pictures hanging perfectly straight. Bedcovers tucked neatly. I’m neat, but not that neat.
Anger burned into her at the thought of someone in her house, pawing through her things. What the hell were they looking for? As she opened the second bedroom, used for storage, she stopped short, her mind whirling. The boxes had been opened even though they still had tape on them. She observed the tape was loose as though pulled opened and then pressed back. Lifting the tops, she noticed the books and notebooks were not stacked as orderly as she had left them. Storage unit searched? House searched? Thoughts of calling the police flew through her mind but she dismissed them.
Nothing was taken. No real evidence that someone has been here other than my intuition. Yeah, the cops’ll love that. She thought of Chad, biting her lip in indecision for a moment. He’s an investigator…at least he’ll take me seriously.
Walking to the front door, she grabbed her purse and placed her gun inside before pulling out her cell phone.
“Hey, Dan—”
“Chad? I’ve had an intruder in my home,” she blurted out.
“What the fuck?” he roared. “Where are you?”
“I’m here. I’ve checked it out. No one is here now.”
“Babe, get the hell out of the house and drive somewhere public,” he ordered.
She heard people’s voices in the background and wondered if he was still at work. “I’m not leaving my house, Chad,” she argued. “It’s clear, but I—”
“Fuck, Dani. Then lock yourself in and we’re on our way,” Chad bit out.
Disconnecting, Dani walked into the kitchen after dumping the grocery sacks on the dining room table. She wanted to get a drink but, unwilling to touch anything, she grabbed a water bottle from one of the bags. Sitting down on a kitchen stool, she looked around, tossing her long hair over her shoulder. Stewing, she sat, her left leg crossed and swinging wildly. The fury was overwhelming at the thought of intruders. Well, they snooped in the wrong house, she vowed.
*
Chad’s tires squealed in the driveway as he barely stopped the truck before hurtling himself out. Marc, on Chad’s heels, with other Saints right behind, pounded up the front steps. Throwing open the door, they charged in. Not knowing what to expect, Chad came to an abrupt halt seeing Dani sitting on her kitchen stool, legs crossed, wearing a sexy-as-fuck black pencil skirt with a pale blue blouse, sipping water as though she were at a bar tossing down a martini.
“Babe?” he said, crossing the room to her.
Tilting her head to look at him, she glared. “Chad, I’m so fucking mad someone was in my house, I could spit nails!”
Laughter sounded from the doorway and when her eyes looked at the men standing behind Chad, she lifted her eyebrow in question.
Marc threw up his hands in supplication, saying, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Turner, but you are no damsel in distress, are you?”
Taking Chad’s hand as he helped her down from her stool, she cocked her head to the side as she approached the wall of men. Big men. Wow. Are all the Saints this big?
She saw their eyes assessing her living room, seeing it appear normal. “Before you ask, no, I did not touch anything. But someone has been here and I’m the only one who would have noticed.”
A tall, bearded man approached, his hand outstretched and shook hers firmly. “Jack Bryant, Ms. Turner. I own the Saints. This is Marc, Jude, and Bart.”
She nodded at each man and then turned her eyes to Chad. “I didn’t know who else to call. I knew the police would blow this off.”
Chad walked over, pulling her in into an embrace. Resting his head on the top of hers, he felt the warmth of her body close to his. “Okay, Dani, tell us what happened.”
“This is not actually the first thing that has o
ccurred…it’s actually the second.”
“What the hell? And you’re just now telling me—”
“Whoa, buddy,” she said, pulling back away to look at his face. “Until a couple of days ago, we weren’t even speaking.”
Taking a deep breath, he nodded. “You’re right. Sorry. Please tell us what’s going on.”
“I’ll start with today. I confess that when I got home from work, I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, so I didn’t realize anything untoward until I entered. One of the things my husband used to say was that I always hung pictures crooked on the walls. I never really thought about it, but he was right. My pictures always hang a bit crooked. I notice it now, but still never straighten them. Every picture in this house is straight. Every single one. As though someone looked behind each one and then without realizing they were crooked to begin with, they straightened them when they finished.
She watched as the men’s gazes roamed the room…and the doubt they had. “Your reaction is exactly why I didn’t call the police.”
Tiptoeing over to the sofa, she pointed down. “The sofa was moved and not placed back exactly where it had been so the dents in the carpet show.”
Chad and the others moved into the living room to see what she was talking about and she saw the dawning in their expressions.
“In the kitchen, my drawers and cabinets are not exactly the way I left them. I went to the grocery store today because I was low on some items. I was looking in my cabinets this morning to check my canned goods. I had the vegetables in the front because that was what I was focusing on. If you care to look, you’ll see that my soup cans are closer to the front.”
“Every room the same?” Chad asked, anger pouring off of him at the idea of someone in Dani’s home.
“Yeah. I armed myself and searched the house first. Once I knew it was secure, I did a more thorough search and discovered that whoever was here, did a good job of covering their tracks…but not to me.”
“You did an armed search?” Bart asked, a grin of admiration on his face.
Dani looked at him, seeing his panty-melting smile. He would turn many heads, she guessed, but had a feeling the big guy was now spoken for. She often found herself thinking of what people’s lives were like…especially after several of her unwise decisions.
Sacrifice Love: Saints Protection & Investigations Page 8