Frost Security: The Complete 5 Books Series

by Glenna Sinclair

  But, just like in any job, you end up meeting a lot of people who work in the same industry as you. And, like any industry, you end up drinking with them a lot. Some of the time it’s because they’re good, interesting people. But most of the time it’s because no one understands your job like someone in the thick of it right alongside you.

  Hell, even if you work in insurance, normal people just aren’t going to understand what you’re bitching about. They won’t commiserate, won’t sympathize with just how awful your day was. No, if you want that, you gotta find other people in the biz.

  That’s how I knew Simon. We hadn’t exactly bonded over bullets flying over our heads or anything, like I did with the guys in the service. Just shots of cachaça going down our gullets—and, of course, bitching about the lady of the house making passes at us to piss off her husband, or their daughters acting like spoiled little brats.

  He was a good guy, as far as I knew. We’d never been in a scrape before together, not like this, but at least his evasive automotive maneuvering skills weren’t rusty. He’d pulled off that reverse switch like a pro.

  Simon looked up at Ashley in the rearview mirror. “Ms. Maxwell?”

  She glanced up and met his eyes warily. “Yeah.”

  “Simon Falkowski with Eagle Eye Security. I’m here to pick you up, ma’am.”

  I looked at her and gave her a shrug.

  “Me?” she asked, shaking her head. “Why me?”

  “Because someone’s paying me to deliver you in one piece, ma’am.”

  “Who?” Ashley asked as we took the final turn of the drive. The gate loomed ahead of us.

  “Not at liberty to say, not yet.” He looked at me pointedly. “Pretty sure you’re cool, Frank, but can’t be too careful with this kind of thing. You understand, right?”

  “I think we have a right to know who’s contracting you,” Ashley said as he pulled up to the number pad and deftly entered the six-digit passcode. “I think I have that right, at least.”

  “Ma’am, just as soon as we have you somewhere secure,” he replied as the gate came to life and began to swing open.

  “Hey, Simon, she’s mine. I’ve got this one with my company.”

  He cast me a sidelong look, then turned back to the road with a nod as he pulled up the drive to the highway. “You working?”

  “What? Think I’m getting shot up for fun?”

  “Hadn’t heard you were back in the biz, thought you cut out after, well, you know…”

  Together, we checked the road both ways. No black Tahoes, no black Suburbans. Nothing either way. We looked like we were in the clear.

  I shook my head as I gave him the thumbs up on my side. “Came up here and got certified with a private security firm. Protection, PI work.”

  “Oh yeah? Knew you’d pull yourself back up after all that. Can’t keep a good man down.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence. That’s beside the point, though. She’s with me and I wanna know where we’re going, or you can let both of us off at the next cabin up here. We’ll catch our own ride into town.”

  He sighed. “It’s against protocol, but fine. M Three Investments is the one footing the bill on this one.”

  I furrowed my brow and twisted back to look at Ashley. “That mean something to you?”

  She smiled broadly, nodding like this was the best news she’d heard all day. “Yes, thank God! That’s my father’s company! Did he send you?”

  “Can’t say, ma’am. But we’ll be able to tell you everything once we arrive at our destination.”

  She settled back into her seat, her arms crossed.

  I pulled my phone out and settled down into my seat as well. “Drive on, then, I guess. Hi-yo, Simon, away.” I pulled out my phone to call Peter and let him know what was up.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Simon said, frantically glancing over at me as I put the phone to my ear. “The fuck is that, Frank? Fuck no! Put that shit away!”

  “What?” I asked, alarmed.

  “You positive that phone’s clean?”

  I blinked. “Yeah. I mean, I think so. Our IT person checks them every week. Never had an issue before.”

  “Are you one-hundred percent sure? Whoever we’re trying to keep Ms. Maxwell away from is tracking cell phones, taping conversations, monitoring social media, the works.”

  “Man, I’m fine.”

  “Has it been checked today?” he asked. I didn’t respond. “Well?”

  “Not fucking today,” I spat. “Look, I just need to check in with my boss, that’s all.”

  Ashley leaned forward. “What’s wrong? Why can’t Frank call his office?”

  “Ms. Maxwell, you have to understand, this is serious business. You saw those guys back there? Your cabin being broken into last night? This is all just the tip of the iceberg here. We’re dealing with some serious high-threat instigators, and they’ve proven themselves pretty damned capable, to put it bluntly. This isn’t the only property of your father’s that was searched in this way. It seemed like a coordinated effort.”

  I growled, but stuffed my phone back away. “You got a secure line I can use where we’re going?”

  “Absolutely,” he said. “Soon as we get there, Frank, you can call whoever the hell you want. Promise.”

  “Good.”

  “In the meantime, though, I’m going to need you both to take the batteries from your phones.”

  I went to protest, but he just raised his hand.

  “Some of the stuff these guys have been capable of, we’re talking CIA, covert level. We’re doing maximum counterintelligence here. Defcon one, terror threat level red. Got it?”

  “Defcon one?” Ashley asked from the back seat. “Isn’t that low?”

  I turned around a little. “The Air Force is weird. We just try to avoid them.”

  She cracked a smile at that one. “Well, I don’t even have my phone. I forgot it back in the cabin when we ran from those guys.”

  “Then just you Frank. Look, do you want those guys blindsiding us?”

  “Fine,” I grumbled, popping the battery from my phone. “Happy?”

  “That’s better,” Simon said. “Thanks.”

  I glanced back at Ashley, and we exchanged a quick look. My eyes shielded from his view, I looked sideways at Simon, asking her what she thought of him.

  She nodded a little, raising her index finger. Even after just the short amount of time with her, I knew what she meant. She was reserving judgment. But, even with her holding back her yea or nay, I could see she was mildly relieved he’d been contracted by her father’s company.

  But the question still remained—who within the company had hired Simon’s organization? Her father, Mr. Martin Maxwell himself? Or someone else? And what were those cartel guys after?

  Chapter Seventeen - Ashley

  We headed south to Durango. If Frank was getting skittish, he wasn’t letting on, even as we continued to drive for what seemed like forever. Instead, he and Simon were just bantering back and forth in the front seat like it was just another day at the office.

  For my part, I had no idea how to react.

  If Simon had been sent here to get me, did that mean I was actually a target? Maybe not before, but perhaps now? I hugged myself more tightly, a small shiver going through my body. I didn’t know how to react to all of this and wasn’t sure what I should do.

  And Simon? Thank God he’d arrived when he had. Otherwise, we’d have been shot down by those cartel guys, or worse.

  Why were they coming after my father’s business like this? What did he have to do with them? Those guys were murderers, right? Like, really bad murderers?

  Frank, though, seemed to be taking this all in stride, even with not being able to call and check in with his boss.

  Now, as I looked at him, the resinous pine needles stuck to his jacket, I didn’t know what to think. It was like all this had shown him in a different light to me. I leaned forward. “Hold still,
Frank,” I said, and went to brush a pine needle from his hair. I laughed as he flinched a little from my touch. “I said to hold still.”

  But when I was finished preening him, I looked down at myself. My clothes were ruined! My Lululemon pants had a huge hole torn in the knee, where the bleeding had already stopped. And my tank top? That was drenched in sweat, and covered in dirt and grime. I checked the rearview mirror and almost fell back from shock. I was a mess. I quickly ran my hands through my hair, ridding it of pine needles, twigs, debris, and grass.

  Well, at least it wasn’t a bullet I was taking off my body.

  “You okay?” Frank asked when he heard me huff.

  “Don’t suppose there’s a Nordstrom on the way to our meeting, is there?”

  Simon caught my eyes with his own unsmiling ones. “Sorry, ma’am. Not in the cards, I’m afraid.”

  I slumped back into my seat, stifling a groan. No, they were right. I was being shot at. There were more important things to worry about than what I looked like. I wasn’t going to a gala or a music festival. I was meeting with my father.

  At least, I was pretty sure I was. Who else would send security to pick me up? It would make sense if it were the case, and some other aspects would begin to fall together as well. Because, if what Simon was saying about the phones being hacked was true, it would explain why Father’s phone had been turned off so that I immediately received a voicemail. After all, I knew from personal experience that Father’s private jet could make the flight from New York to Colorado in only four or five hours, tops. He could have easily gotten here already if Barbara had told him what had happened overnight.

  About an hour after we left my father’s cabin, we pulled into a nearly empty parking lot of what looked like had once been a strip mall, but had been converted into storefront offices. Only three vehicles were parked in the lot, and they all looked identical to our current one. Well, almost identical. The other three had their rear windows and no bullet holes.

  “This it?” Frank asked as Simon parked the car near the front door.

  “Sure is,” Simon said, twisting around in the seat to face me. “You ready, ma’am?”

  I nodded. “Let’s see who our mystery man is.”

  He grinned and slapped his knee. “Now that’s the fighting spirit I like to see.”

  The three of us climbed out of the car, with Simon leading the way. Frank passed an eye over me as he fell in by my side. “You okay? You look like you just got chased through the woods by some crazy vatos with guns.”

  “Figure whoever this is will understand. And, if they don’t, screw ‘em.”

  Up ahead, Simon held the door open for us. Inside, bad neon bulbs illuminated the practically empty lobby and its vacant receptionist desk with white, sterile light. A hallway just past the piece of office furniture went around the corner and deeper into the building. The room was silent except for the distant sound of air conditioning blowing through the vents.

  I stopped for a moment, letting my eyes adjust from the daylight to the office dimness. This was all just so surreal. What was I doing in a place like this? How had I gotten wrapped up in some cloak and dagger corporate espionage crap? I hadn’t wanted anything to do with father’s business, but here I was.

  Great.

  “Right this way, ma’am,” Simon said as he passed us up.

  “Running a pretty slim crew, Simon. Saw three other cars outside. You got that many people hidden in here?”

  “Oh, they’re out and about. Can’t have all our eggs in one basket, now, can we?”

  Frank and I followed Simon as he led us down the hallway. Up ahead, standing just beside a conference room door, another security guard stood waiting.

  “Frank, Ms. Maxwell, this is Mike.”

  Mike nodded curtly, but didn’t say a word as we stopped at the door.

  “Frank? Let me show you to an office where we have a secure line while Ms. Maxwell’s in her meeting.”

  I frowned. “What? No, Frank stays with me. He’s come this far already.”

  Simon shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ms. Maxwell, but I can’t let Frank in with you. He hasn’t been cleared by my employers. Like I said in the car, we’re under tight security on this, and that extends to him.”

  “But I’m fine?”

  “Of course. That’s part of the reason why you’re here, ma’am.”

  “Well, what if I don’t want him to go?” And, I realized, I didn’t. Instead, I wanted him in there with me, wanted his hand clasping mine just like back in the cabin’s kitchen. Not because I thought he’d protect me from whatever was on the other side, but because he’d support me. Be on my side, no matter what.

  “Then, I’m sorry, Ms. Maxwell, but we’ll just have to operate without your assistance in this matter.”

  “Know what?” Frank interjected in his easy drawl. “It’s fine by me. I can guard my client just as well without knowing every single detail of what’s happening. Unless, of course, you guys got an armed Tejano band in there or something. Or a crazy Russky?”

  Simon chuckled. “Certainly hope not. Means our security’s Swiss cheese. Cell phones would be the least of our worries, then.”

  Even though my chest had tightened up a little, I still nodded. “Okay, Frank. Okay.”

  “Simon, I’m sure you’ll brief me on everything I need to know to do my job, correct?”

  “Absolutely, Frank. You know that.”

  Frank turned to me, looked me in the eye. “Gonna be just fine, alright? You find out just what in the hell’s going on, and I’ll make some calls back to The Rock, okay? Let Mr. Frost know everything that’s going on.”

  I nodded and watched as he and Simon walked down the hallway to a side office, disappearing through a door.

  As soon as they were gone, Mike opened the door for me and I stepped inside.

  I sucked in a breath as I looked around.

  Not because of the room; the room itself wasn’t anything remarkable. There was a small, generically built windowless conference room with a broad table made of cheap, lacquered wood. Nothing fancy. Even the fake potted Ficus in the corner seemed like something that was just added because some office manager thought the room needed color. Across the back wall was a broad whiteboard that stretched fifteen feet or so, from one side of the wall to the other.

  No, the reason I sucked in a breath of surprise was because of who was standing in front of the whiteboard at the head of the conference table.

  “Hello, honey,” the bimbo said as she came over to me, her hands reaching out for mine. “I’m so sorry we have to see each other like this for the first time since the wedding. But we have a problem, Ashley. We have a very big problem.”

  Chapter Eighteen – Frank

  “Frost here.”

  “Hey, Peter. It’s me.”

  “Jesus Christ, it’s good to hear from you, you son of a bitch! Hold on, let me get away from the crowd.”

  “The crowd? What crowd?”

  “The one at your client’s cabin. One more second, I don’t want Peak or either of his deputies hearing anything if I can avoid it.”

  I waited a moment, figuratively twiddling my thumbs. I sat in an office empty of everything but the small desk in front of me. It didn’t even have one of those crappy inspirational quotes hanging on the wall. There’d been a laptop when Simon showed me in, but it went right out the door with the security agent who left so I could use the phone. Before he excused himself, Simon had assured me the room had been swept for electronic surveillance.

  Not that it mattered. I wanted to keep things brief and vague. No telling who was listening in, since Peter’s phone hadn’t been checked in a while.

  “Alright, I’m clear. Speak, O’Dwyer. What the fuck’s going on here?”

  I laid it out for him as simply, but fully, as I could. The cartel, the shootout, the rescue by Simon from the cabin.

  “Where have you been?”

  “Can’t say just yet. Guys I’m with
are worried about electronic surveillance. I’ll tell you when I see you next.”

  He grumbled. “This phone should be clean.”

  “They’ve asked us not to use anything unless it was swept this morning. Was it?”

  Peter grumbled again. “Fuck. These cartel guys mean business, don’t they?”

  “Yup. How bad is the place?”

  “What do you think? You and the girl got shot at by four armed gunmen with automatic weapons.”

  “Figured they might’ve cleaned up after themselves, is all. Not a chance though, huh?”

  He chuckled. “Exact opposite. One of the two guys you wounded, at least I’m going to assume it was you unless you tell me Ms. Maxwell is a crack shot, dropped a line of rope and a set of cuffs. Guess they didn’t count on you being there.”

  “A smash and grab?”

  “Looks like it.”

  I mulled over his words for a minute. What did they want with her? Ransom? But all the way up here? Not sure how much we should discuss over the phone, I changed the subject. “Any word on the other deal? The guy at the hardware store?”

  “Shook our tail.”

  I raised an eyebrow and spun around in the chair. “No shit? That good?”

  “Yes, sir. That good. We might have something else on him soon, though. I’ll fill you in when you get back.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Peak wants to talk to you.”

  “Fuck.”

  “And the girl.”

  “Motherfuck.”

  “I’ll put him off till morning, but it’s pretty clear from the way we laid out the evidence, though. You guys weren’t the aggressors, that you’re just on the run because, well, all this. We shouldn’t need to bring in the lawyers or anything.”

  “Got it.” If Peter said not to worry, I knew not to worry.

  “I’m thinking of bringing Matt home earlier than planned. We may need all paws on deck.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about it, Pete. These guys, I think, have it handled on the cartel side of things. Whatever the guys want or whatever’s going on, it’s bigger than us. We just need to worry about the client, and between the four of us, we should have it handled.”