Gina gave him another hug and then introduced the two men. Joseph studied Ian carefully. Ian held his gaze steady and let the man come to his own conclusions.
Finally Joseph gave a small smile and held out a hand. “So you’re the one. Good to meet you.”
“Thanks.” Ian shook his hand.
“All right, guys, what’s the plan?” Gina asked as her pulse returned to normal.
The four of them walked into the den and settled onto the comfortable furniture to discuss what they needed to do next.
Ian spoke up. “Joseph, is there any way you can help us find out who to contact at First Spartanburg and Palmetto National banks? I know it’s Thanksgiving, but…” He shrugged. “I just feel like we can’t sit around eating turkey while someone out there is after Gina.”
Her brother nodded. “I agree. I’ve got some pull around here. Let me see what I can find out.”
He left the room and Catelyn turned to Gina and Ian. “You two are exhausted. Why don’t you go grab a couple of hours of rest while Joseph works on this? I’m sure he’ll let you know as soon as he figures something out. And I’ll be on the lookout for anything hinky.” She patted the weapon at her side.
Gina stood and ran a hand through her hair. “I’ll take you up on that. I had a few hours sleep in the car, but I don’t know the last time Ian slept.”
He waved aside her concern. “I’m fine.”
Catelyn gave him a stern look. “You’re not fine. Even Rangers have to rest at some point. Go.” She pointed toward the kitchen, the direction of the detached apartment.
Ian flushed and ducked his head. “Yes, ma’am.”
Gina knew he gave in so easily because he knew Catelyn was right. Even he had to have some sleep eventually. And now was the time to do it, with an FBI agent and a homicide detective in the house as protection.
He made his way from the den to the porch door that led outside. “Wake me if Joseph finds out something.”
Gina nodded. “We will.” Ian finally exited the house. She turned to Catelyn. “Are Mom and Dad terribly worried?”
“Pretty anxious, but Joseph’s reassured them that you’re all right, you’re just mixed up in a legal issue that needs to be solved.”
“Good. Has he got someone watching them? To make sure they’re all right, I mean?”
“Yeah, they don’t know it, but they’re under a 24/7 guard.”
A weight fell from her shoulders. The thought of something happening to her family made her stomach clench.
Catelyn took Gina by the shoulders and steered her toward the bedrooms. “Go, rest while you can.”
“Right.” Gina gave her one more hug and said, “Thank you so much for doing this.”
“I’d have been mad if you hadn’t asked.”
Ian awakened with a start, heart pounding, sweat running down his face. He’d been dreaming. He laid back with a grunt. All was quiet, the studio apartment still and cozy warm. Too warm. Getting up, he padded across the room to open the window. It cracked slightly and cool air rushed in. He noticed the bars on the outside of the glass and wondered who had felt the need for such protection. Which brought him back to Gina. Protection and his responsibility for keeping her safe.
He let himself begin to process all that had happened. He thought about the man he’d seen in the hallway at Nicholas’s house. Decked out in army fatigues carrying all the right hardware.
A Ranger. No doubt about it. Or if he wasn’t a Ranger, he’d been supplied with all the right Ranger equipment.
So, Mario had been right. There was a traitor in the unit. Maybe more than one. Although, one question that surfaced was whether the traitor was actually from Mario’s unit—or a different one? There was no way to tell at this point. The only thing they could do was watch their steps and cover their backs.
One thing was for sure: only someone with highly developed skills such as a Ranger—or some other branch of special ops—could have breached Nicholas’s security. The person would’ve had to have been able to get his hands on a set of blueprints of the house, acquiring not only the layout but also the alarm-system plans.
Only the attackers hadn’t counted on Nicholas’s justified paranoia. As a judge he received death threats on a regular basis. With a nephew and niece to protect, he’d personally installed his own secondary silent alarm. That was the alarm that had alerted them to the presence of last night’s intruders.
While Gina slept in the car, Ian had called Nicholas to check in. He’d learned that as soon as the attackers realized their prey had escaped, they’d left the premises as quietly as they’d approached. The authorities had tried to follow but were quickly left behind.
Nicholas was unharmed, having hidden in his private haven behind his house—something else that was not on the blueprints.
So, where did that leave him and Gina?
Who had betrayed them? How did they know where to find them?
Jase?
Mac?
He hadn’t told either of these men where he was going. His cell phone was encrypted, virtually untraceable.
So, how?
His mind clicked through the possibilities.
And landed on the only possible explanation.
The computer he’d used at Nicholas’s to access the decoding software.
The breath rushed out of him.
So, someone was tracking his movements, too, someone who had his information at his fingertips. Someone who knew he might access that kind of software. He hadn’t been tracked from Nicholas’s end; he’d been tracked through a secure software he’d used on numerous occasions.
This was not good.
A knock on his door had him pulling the gun from under his pillow and rolling to face the possible threat. However, he realized if the person on the other side of the door wanted to harm him, he probably wouldn’t have knocked.
“Who is it?”
“Joseph. I’ve got something for you.”
Ian shoved the gun back under his pillow. “Come on in.”
Joseph opened the door and stepped inside the small studio house. He had a tray of food and a thermos of coffee. Ian felt his mouth start to water and gratefully took the burden from Joseph’s hands. “What’d you find out?”
Joseph took a seat in the desk chair and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I called the bank managers and had them go in and look up the information for me.”
Ian grimaced as he took a sip of coffee. “Bet they loved that.”
Joseph shrugged. “I told them a woman’s life was on the line and they were pretty willing to help out.”
“And?”
“And Mario did bank there, but he didn’t have a safe-deposit box at either one.”
Ian frowned. “That’s odd.”
“Then the only thing left to do is to go to my place and let me go through Mario’s things.”
Both men turned at the sound of Gina’s voice. She stood there, looking small and vulnerable, her dark curls unbound and wild about her head.
Ian swallowed hard, nearly choking on the coffee he’d just drunk. Dressed in baggy jeans with fashionable holes and a pink, long-sleeved T-shirt, she was beautiful.
She was also barefoot.
“Don’t you ever wear shoes?” he blurted.
One dark brow reached up to disappear underneath a black curl. “Not if I don’t have to.”
“How’s your foot?” he asked, referring to the place she’d cut during their mad dash from their attackers.
She wiggled her toes. “Fine. Sore but fine.”
Joseph’s gaze ping-ponged back and forth between the two, and when Ian finally turned his attention back to Gina’s brother, speculation gleamed in the man’s eyes. Ian just smiled.
“Well?” she asked.
Ian blinked. “Well what?”
“Are we going to my house to see if we can find something in Mario’s things about a safe-deposit box?”
“Yeah. Let’s do that.”
Ten minutes later, they were in the car and on the way across town to Gina’s duplex. Located on the ground floor, it shared a wall with the house next door. There were two units per building.
Ian pulled into her parking spot as per her directions and shut off the car. “Stay here while I check it out, okay?”
“You think someone might be watching?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone on the way over here. I circled the block twice, but that doesn’t mean someone isn’t keeping an eye out in case you come back.”
Gina shivered. “Great.” She handed him the key and stayed in the car while he went inside. The fact that he simply pushed the door open instead of using the key didn’t bode well for what she was going to find inside. She’d left so fast two weeks ago she hadn’t even called the police, although the crime-scene tape across her door indicated her neighbor or someone else had. No wonder Joseph had been so worried. The police had no doubt contacted her family to ask if they’d seen her.
Guilt stabbed her. She should have called them sooner than she had.
Ian waved to her from the door. She could come in.
The grave look on his face added to the dread already churning in her gut. She got out of the car and met him on the small front porch. “How bad is it?”
“Pretty bad.”
“Irreparable?”
“No, probably not. Do you rent or own it?”
“Own. I’m a Realtor, remember? Renting is like a sin,” she teased, although there was no lightness in the act and the smile slid off her face almost before it had a chance to form.
“Right. Then the police probably did their thing and left. No landlord to worry about. Although, I would have thought they’d have locked the door behind them.”
Gina slapped a hand against her mouth and muttered around her fingers. “My poor family.”
“Joseph took care of all that, right?”
“Yes, he just sounded so frantic when I called him from Nicholas’s house.”
“Of course he was crazy with panic. You’re his baby sister. If it had been Carly…” He didn’t bother to finish and merely shook his head.
Anger at Mario shot through her and she fisted her fingers. “Boy, I wish Mario was alive so I could give him a piece of my mind.” Then guilt hit her and she bit her lip. “Of course, if he were alive, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
Sympathy coated Ian’s features. “Are you ready to come in?”
She scuffed a toe against the sidewalk and looked up at him. “I guess I’ve delayed it long enough, huh?”
“Yeah. Sorry, it’s pretty ugly.”
Squaring her shoulders, she took a deep breath and stepped inside. Ian placed a hand on her lower back and guided her forward. The first shiver that zipped up her spine had nothing to do with the destruction before her and everything to do with the man beside her. The second one shook her entire being. Pictures had been slammed to the floor. Tables, chairs, lamps were overturned. Couch cushions slashed, the insides leaving a trail of white stuffing all over the floor.
“I can see now why Joseph was so frantic,” she muttered. “When he saw this, he must have freaked.”
“Freaking is putting it mildly,” a voice behind her said.
Gina whirled to see her brother standing in the doorway. He sauntered in, his relaxed posture a direct contrast to the rage simmering in his eyes. “Thought I’d see if you guys needed any help.” He waved a hand toward the devastation. “I was going to call in someone to come clean it all up, but the police didn’t want to release the scene quite yet. They were still working on some stuff and thought they might come back here. And I didn’t want to mess anything up if there was a clue to your whereabouts.”
His didn’t say the words outright, but she could see he’d been terribly worried about her. “Thanks, Joseph. I’m going to be fine as soon as we catch whoever’s after us. And I’m really sorry I didn’t call sooner.”
“I know.” Hands in his pockets, he came farther in and shot a glance at Ian. “Anyway, after you left the house, I got to thinking you might need some backup.”
“Catelyn sent you.” Gina gave him a small smile.
One side of his mouth tipped up in a half smile. “Yeah, but I was thinking it anyway. Even though I’d already informed the captain you were all right, I called him on the way over here, and he said since you’d turned up, he wouldn’t hold the scene anymore. You can do whatever you need to now. So—” he rubbed his hands together because it was chilly in her place “—what’s first?”
“My laptop. Maybe Mario left something on there. He knew my password.”
Ian’s lips slid into a wry grin. “If he wanted to put something on your laptop, he wouldn’t need your password.”
Gina gave a self-conscious laugh. “I guess not.”
With the guys on her heels, she walked into her bedroom—and gave a shriek when she saw the devastation. Black fingerprint dust coated every surface. Her pillows had been slashed, drawers pulled out and thrown across the room. Her vanity mirror was shattered…and her poor laptop—it lay broken in two pieces: the screen was on her bed and the bottom part that held the keyboard clung precariously to the edge of her nightstand.
Stuffing down her growing anger, she grabbed the keyboard, flipped it over and looked at the bottom. “They took the hard drive.”
Ian sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “You know, that’s just stupid. It took some work to get that hard drive out of there. Why wouldn’t they just take the whole thing? Why risk being caught?”
Joseph’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like this.”
Gina paced. “You think it means something?”
“Yeah.” Ian nodded, mouth tight in a grim line. “I think it means they did all this destruction as a message. It’s overkill, unnecessary.”
“So, what’s the message?”
He gestured to the gaping hole in the keyboard where her hard drive had once been. “They want you terrified. So scared you can’t think straight.”
“I’d say they’re on the road to success there,” she muttered.
“This stuff is too deliberate.” He walked over to her chest of drawers and leaned down to pick up an empty picture frame with shattered glass. “What was in here?”
She gasped and felt the color drain from her face as she bolted to his side to snatch it from his hands as though she needed to confirm the frame was empty. Joseph grabbed her elbow. “What is it, Gina?”
“Why would they steal a picture of me holding Marianna and Ethan’s baby? It was from the day he was born. We were all at the hospital and taking turns holding him.” She looked up at Joseph. “You took that picture.”
Ian and Joseph exchanged a glance, and Joseph immediately pulled his phone from his pocket. Nausea made her weak, the fear spinning through her veins set off uncontrollable trembles. “They’d hurt a baby?” she whispered.
Ian closed his eyes and shook his head before answering. “Yes, unfortunately, they would—if they thought it would advance their cause or force you into helping them find what they’re looking for.” He caught her before she fell. “Come on.”
Leading her back into the den, he lowered her to the couch, doing his best to soothe her fear. “Sit here and catch your breath. Joseph’s on the phone with Ethan right now. They’ll have an entire police force of protection surrounding them. They’ll be fine.”
She appreciated his efforts, but the words bounced off her brain; they couldn’t seem to soak in. Please, dear Lord, protect them. Gathering her strength took everything she had in her, but she straightened her spine and comforted herself with the knowledge that Ian was right. Ethan had a whole slew of friends who would watch out for baby Stefano and Marianna. Now it was up to her to help stop whoever was making these threats against her family—and trying to kill her. “We have to find them, Ian. We have to keep them from…” She stopped and drew in a deep breath. “Mario’s stuff. Let’s go through
it and see what we find.”
His eyes sharpened. “You don’t think the people that searched this place found it?”
She shrugged and stood on shaky knees that were only slightly more steady than when she realized that picture was missing and what it might mean. “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t think so. I have everything packed away in a chest that’s outside in my storm cellar.”
Hope brightened his eyes. “Storm cellar?”
“Sure, it came with the place. Come on. The key is in here. At least it was.” She pushed open the door leading into her kitchen—and gasped as she took in the sight of more destruction. Her refrigerator had been pulled away from the wall and thrown to the floor. It lay on its side, door open, its meager contents strewn about. This, on top of the computer, stopped her cold. More nausea churned within her for a moment and she just stood there, staring at the appliance, getting herself under control once again.
Warm hands settled on her shoulders and pulled her around into a gentle hug. “You can do this, Gina. You’re safe and your family is safe.”
“They wrecked my home,” was all she could think to say. And it wasn’t the material things she was so shattered about—it was the invasion of privacy, the stripping away of her security. It was her escape from the world…. Or it had been.
“We’ll put it back together. You’ll see. We’ll do a little cleaning, a little dusting.” He paused. “Some new furniture and a nice Christmas tree right there in the corner by the window. It’ll be perfect again.”
“Ian’s right,” Joseph said, stepping into the room. “I wanted to clean up the mess, but, like I said, didn’t want to go messing with anything until the scene was cleared. Fortunately, you didn’t have much in there to spoil so the place doesn’t stink. If you guys want to head down to the cellar, I’ll start cleaning this up.”
Gina pulled her head from the comfort of Ian’s chest, turned and searched the dark eyes that looked just like hers. “Did you warn Ethan?”
“I did. He’s taking care of things on his end. Let’s take care of things on ours.”
Ian gave her one last squeeze, and Joseph’s speculative gaze made her blush. She pulled away from Ian’s arms. Arms she could get used to having around her. Grateful for his support, she took strength from the fact that she wasn’t in this alone. Moving to the last drawer on the right-hand side of her dishwasher, she opened it.
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