GRAY WOLF SECURITY, Texas: The Complete 6-Books Series

by Glenna Sinclair

  “That’s pretty impressive. And something of a relief to know.”

  Ricki reached over and touched my hand. “We’ve got you.”

  Adam came running over then, climbing up into my lap, his thumb going firmly into his mouth.

  “You okay, baby?” I asked.

  He looked up at me with his big, blue eyes. “Where’s Daddy?”

  It caught me a little by surprise to hear him refer to Ingram as daddy. But it was nice, too.

  “I don’t know. I assume he’s around somewhere.”

  “We thought he was upstairs with you.”

  I shook my head, a little trickle of fear running down my spine. “No. I was alone when I woke.”

  Ricki stood, touching me briefly as she headed into the house. “I’m sure he’s here somewhere. Just let me go check with David.”

  I watched her go, noticing the tension that had suddenly come into her shoulders. That didn’t seem right. Was there something wrong?

  I stood and carried Adam to Karen. “Would you mind taking them upstairs for a few minutes?”

  “Of course not.”

  Karen took both boys inside while I paced the porch a little. David was with Ricki when they came out a few minutes later.

  “You don’t know where Ingram is?”

  I shook my head. “The last time I saw him was when I fell asleep after my bath last night.”

  “He didn’t come to your room after that?”

  “Not that I’m aware of.”

  David cursed quietly under his breath. “I bet he went after that guy.”

  “What guy?” I demanded.

  David looked at me, clearly not aware he’d said it aloud until he heard me respond. He sighed, running his hand over his curly, dark hair.

  “He told me what happened to you down in Galveston during the storm. We looked up these guys—Philips and James—and discovered one of them lives in Bastrop. I told him we’d send Elliot or Tony to talk to him, which I was about to do. But I’ll bet he went after him himself.”

  “He’s going to get himself hurt,” I said, brushing past David to go into the house. I don’t know what I was planning on doing, but I couldn’t allow Ingram to confront Philips or James on his own. Ricki grabbed my arms, pulling me back onto the porch.

  “You can’t go after him. What about Adam? One of you has to be here for that little boy.”

  “But he’s going to get himself killed.”

  “I’ll send Elliot anyway,” David said. “He’ll find Ingram and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid, okay?’

  I started to shake my head again, even though I knew these people were trying to help. But I needed to be there; I needed to be in control of something, even if it was an illusion. I needed Ingram not to put himself in a dangerous position so soon after I’d found him.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Ricki said softly against my neck.

  David touched my arm. “I’ll send Elliot. We’ll get Ingram home safe.”

  I watched him go, and then broke from Ricki’s hold, pacing the length of the long porch, fear grabbing a fierce hold on me.

  “He’s been gone from my life for five years. I can’t lose any more time with him. I can’t lose him again.”

  “I know.”

  “I can’t. I don’t think I can breathe if he’s not in my life.”

  “I know.”

  I shook my head. “You don’t know. You have absolutely no idea.”

  “Sure I do.” Ricki’s voice was so full of certainty that I had to look at her. She was watching me with understanding and a little grief burning in her eyes. “Did I tell you that David was once in a wheelchair? And that he nearly died trying to get out of it so that he could be the man he thought I needed?”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “Come sit down and I’ll tell you about it.”

  She gestured to the table we’d both just abandoned. I reluctantly took a seat and watched as she did too. And then I listened as she told me her story.

  “I was part of this group of hackers when I was at MIT and for a while afterward. My roommate, Arabelle, was part of it. She sort of drew me into it. And we did some amazing things…” She smiled softly at the memory of it. “And we inspired other hackers who wanted to do the things we did. And some…well, they became obsessed with it. And then I began this website and went legit using code that Arabelle and I had developed together about the time things began to fall apart for the others. We all sort of went out own way just as the FBI was closing in on us. They arrested her and convicted her. And then she died. A suicide for reasons no one but she and her husband knew.”

  Grief burned on Ricki’s face as she said those words.

  “I learned later that it was because she was dying of cancer. But I, along with many others, thought it was because of the FBI investigation and the jail time she got for some of our hacks. Including this woman who’d become obsessed with her…”

  I was quiet as I watched the past haunt this kind woman. I sat back a little, thinking about Ingram and how much it would hurt if he did such a thing to me. How could a man put his life at risk without telling the woman he loves? But then again, I realized Ingram had done that. He’d gone off to confront Philips or James without telling me where he was going. He was putting his life or his freedom at risk. And he was doing it without giving me the option to weigh in, to convince him it wasn’t the right thing to do.

  But would I leave him over such a choice?

  I’d like to strangle him, but then I’d hold him close and remind him why he should remain by my side for the rest of his life.

  “The two of you ended up together.”

  Ricki smiled. “Because we couldn’t stay away. I found myself sneaking into his physical therapy sessions and he saw me one afternoon, proving to him that I hadn’t given up. He staged this elaborate proposal in the park, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.”

  “Things do work out sometimes.” I gestured toward the coffee pot. “When’s the baby due?”

  She blushed, something I could see was not a common occurrence for a woman like her.

  “I’m barely six weeks. I haven’t even told him yet.”

  I touched her hand. “Thank you. Thank you for sharing your story and for being here for me during this difficult time. I hope I can repay the favor someday.”

  Ricki inclined her head slightly. “I’m sure you will. These things seem to come around more often than they should.”

  I squeezed her hand and smiled. “But we’ll be optimistic.”

  She smiled. “We will.”

  I left her sitting there and made my way back into the house. I wanted to see my son, to hold him close and pretend that everything hadn’t just fallen apart. But as I reached the top of the stairs, Karen suddenly came out of nowhere.

  “Can I talk to you for a second?” she asked.

  “Of course.”

  I led the way to my room, gesturing for her to go in first. When I closed the door and turned to face her, I found her holding a knife, the point inches from my heart.

  “Karen—”

  “He’s gone after Carl, hasn’t he?”

  I tilted my head slightly, trying to keep up. “Carl?”

  “Rear Admiral Carl Philips? You remember him, don’t you?”

  Of course I did. The man ruined my life when he made me lie on the stand.

  “How do you know him?”

  Karen just shook her head. “Do you really think it’s a coincidence that you found the perfect nanny at just the right moment?”

  She was right. I had wondered. I searched for a nanny for weeks after I decided it was time to move out of my parents’ home and go back to work. He was just over six months old and still nursing. I needed someone who understood my concerns and who could conform to my needs. When I met Karen, she seemed like a Godsend. She’d been sitting outside the employment office, frustrated with the lack of opportunities; and I was coming out, elated to have found
a job, but worried about finding someone to care for Adam.

  I always thought of it as some sort of play on karma. Was it more than that?

  It seemed obvious now.

  “We’re going to go downstairs via the back stairs. And then we’re going to take one of those SUVs they have in the garage and you’re going to drive us to Bastrop. Do you understand?”

  “What about Adam?”

  “He’s fine. We don’t need him.”

  Relief didn’t exactly flood me, but it was there. I didn’t want my son hurt and I got the impression that this—whatever it was—was not going to end well.

  I closed my eyes and said a quick prayer. Then I turned and the led the way out the door, hoping that this fiasco would at least reveal the truth once and for all.

  Chapter 15

  Ingram

  I drove through the night and stopped at a little hotel just outside Bastrop. I drove past the house twice before I finally settled in for the night, formulating my plan and running it over in my head again and again. It was a miracle I got any sleep at all with all the thoughts going through my head. I was going to end this thing one way or the other. Tomorrow. This would be over tomorrow.

  When I woke late in the morning, the first thing I did was to make a phone call to the number that was listed under Philips’ address on David’s computer system.

  “Who is this?” Philips demanded the moment he picked up the phone.

  “Who do you think? We should meet.”

  “Porter.”

  “Do you get off on threatening young, pregnant women? Frightened, pregnant women?”

  “I had no clue that she was pregnant at the time.”

  “Would that have changed anything?”

  Philips was quiet for a second. Then he chuckled. “No. It wouldn’t have.”

  “There’s a diner downtown. Megan’s. Meet me there at noon.”

  I didn’t wait for an answer because I was afraid if I did, I would lose my temper and tell that asshole what I really thought of him. He thought he could just walk over people, do whatever he wanted. He was mistaken. What he did to Bailey—what he almost did—was unforgiveable. I couldn’t let it happen to her or to any other woman. Never again.

  I thought about Bailey and Adam as I prepared my equipment. I wondered what they were doing this morning, and what they did when they realized I was gone. I wondered if Adam understood what it meant when he called me daddy. I wondered if he would, one day, be proud to call me dad.

  I wanted that. I never knew who my dad was. I never had anyone in my life who gave a damn what happened to me, at least not until Bailey and her father. I wanted my son to know who I was—and that I’d done this for him.

  He would know, wouldn’t he?

  Philips was sitting at a window booth when I walked into the diner. He was dressed in civilian clothing, but they were so clean and well pressed that he might as well have been wearing his dress blues.

  “Admiral,” I said as I approached his table.

  “I’m retired now. But I guess you knew that.”

  I slid into the seat across from him, trying not to let him see how it made me feel to set eyes on him. He made my stomach turn over, made me want to throw up all over this table, all over him. He made me want to turn and run out of this diner.

  “Ensign Porter. Dishonorable discharge granted after serving five years in the brig for assaulting a superior officer.”

  I glared at him. “And what was it that finally encouraged you to leave? A scandal involving a young assistant you simply couldn’t keep your hands off?”

  “She overreacted to a little touch on her ass. When I first entered the Navy, that sort of thing was par for the course. Women today are simply too sensitive.”

  “Or have they just gotten the legs to stand on to shut assholes like you down?”

  Philips shrugged. “It’s a thin line.”

  Again, the urge to lose what little food sat on my stomach was almost too much to resist.

  A waitress—a middle-aged woman who reminded me a little of Annie—came up to our table.

  “What can I get you boys?”

  Philips looked at her and quickly dismissed her with one quick glance. “The club sandwich and water.”

  “Just coffee.”

  She looked almost sympathetically at me. “Let me know if I can get you anything else.”

  She walked off, a little swing of her hips dismissing Philips as readily as he’d dismissed her. I liked it. Liked her.

  “Did Bailey send you here? Did she tell you what she’s learned about us in her little investigation? Does she realize that she barely touched the tip of the iceberg?”

  He didn’t seem too concerned about talking too much. I watched his face, wondering if he was tired and ready to give up or if he really believed he had too much on me for me to turn him in.

  Probably the latter. He was an arrogant son of a bitch.

  “She didn’t drink the wine. If she’d drunk the wine, we wouldn’t have had to take her into the bar like that, and you never would have seen her with Carmichael.” Philips shook his head. “I told Carmichael to keep his hands off her until we were upstairs.”

  “Did you know about her and me? Did you know we were married?”

  “Not until the day before the court martial. If I had, I would definitely have kept her out of the bar.”

  “But you would have raped her anyway?”

  Philips smiled. “She’s a fine piece of ass. We couldn’t pass that up.”

  My hands turned themselves into fists without conscious thought. I leaned forward and lifted them up where he could see them. But I caught myself in time, kept myself under control. He laughed.

  “You want to kill me, brother? Don’t you know I’ve already got the better of you?”

  “Carmichael’s dead.”

  “I’m aware. The Galveston Police Department already called me to let me know. They’ve already issued a warrant for you. Someone will be knocking on your door very soon.”

  “They won’t find me there.”

  “No. But they’ll figure out where you are soon—especially when I drop a dime to let them know exactly where you are. It’s the Wild West Inn, right?”

  “How many others were there?”

  Philips sighed as though my question bored him. “I don’t know. Every leave, every convention or ball, there was a new girl or two. James kept track. You might go ask him.”

  “Why? Couldn’t you get a woman on your own?”

  His eyes narrowed slightly. “I could get any woman I wanted. Even that old bitch back there complaining about me right now. All I have to do is turn on the charm. But what’s the fun in that?”

  “What is it you like about it? The sex? Having the other guys there?” I leaned forward again, watching his face closely. “Did you like watching the other guys fucking them? Is that what it is? A little latent homosexuality going on there?”

  He turned red, a vein in his forehead threatening to explode.

  “Shut the fuck up!” he demanded.

  I shrugged. “I can’t imagine what else is exciting about sharing a girl with two other guys.”

  “Because you’ve never done it. There’s something brilliant about having a girl who’s just been fucked by someone else. Something mental going on.” The color changed on his face and he got this almost dreamy look in his eyes. “Sharing is something my mother always taught me was a good way to make friends. It’s also a damn good way to get off. You should try it sometime.”

  “I like my women consenting.”

  “What makes you think they didn’t consent? They took that first drink, didn’t they? And they agreed to meet with us, agreed to visit whatever bar or restaurant we always met them in. That’s consent in its own way.”

  “Not when the invitation comes from a commanding officer.”

  “My rank was just a plus,” he said, as though it didn’t matter. But every one of his victims—as far as Bailey had i
mplied—was a member of the armed services. A person with a lower rank than his. His rank did matter.

  “So you would drug these women and then take them back to your room. Did you ever take them to your home? Or do this on board ship?”

  “A couple of times. There was this one woman—a chief petty officer—who came to my quarters more than once during an especially long tour. And there was another woman, a petty officer, who came to my apartment on more than one occasion.”

  “And it never occurred to you that what you were doing was wrong?”

  He shrugged. “The rules have changed. Like I said, when I first joined the Navy, touching a woman was not a crime. But now? Everyone’s so fucking sensitive about shit like that.”

  “There might be a reason.”

  He waved his hand, dismissing that thought. “We had fun.”

  “And Bailey? The threats you made to force her to testify against me? Was that fun?”

  He laughed. “It was, actually.” He shook his head, the laughter still rolling off his tongue. “She was so frightened when I walked into that courtroom. And when I heard the words coming out of her mouth—like it was me up there speaking—I was over the moon. Do you know how much power it gives you to know you can influence someone’s behavior that way?”

  “Why? Why did you do it? Why make her lie?”

  “Carmichael. He was afraid the truth would tarnish his career. Instead, Bailey made him look like a fucking stud!”

  I nodded, anger like you would not believe building in my chest. He ruined my life, made me hate the only woman I’d ever trusted, the woman I loved more than anything I’d ever known in my life. And, to him, it was all a joke.

  I was a joke.

  The waitress returned with his sandwich and my coffee. She asked if we needed anything else, her eyes on me only.

  “We’re good,” I said. “In fact…”

  I stood, flicking my nail against the top of his sandwich, sending a piece of toast flying across the table.