She pulled the plate toward her. “Clear him?”
“Yes.”
“No.” Look at that, she could be Joe Friday, too.
He paused with his sandwich halfway to his mouth. “No, what?”
“No, I’m not good with that.”
“I don’t care.” He took a bite out of the sandwich.
“You don’t care?”
He nodded as he ate.
“What difference would it matter if you cared or not? You don’t get a say in who I see.” Yes, her voice was rising. Damn it, she didn’t really want to have coffee with Gary, not when the pinnacle of hotness was flaming in all his nuclear goodness not four feet from her, but damn it, nobody told her what she could and couldn’t do.
She lifted the sandwich and took a bite to keep herself from letting the rant bottled up inside her loose. Oh, goodness. Damn, that was good. She pointed to the sandwich. “Yummy.”
He shook his head as if reorienting himself to the shift in conversation. “Thanks, and you need to take a look at the situation from my point of view. If you go out with someone, that gives them access to Jackie and Deacon. Running a simple background check on a stranger isn’t unreasonable. Besides, he’d never know about it. Unless, of course, he has something to hide.” Gabriel took another bite of his sandwich and reached over and grabbed her chip bag.
She watched as he deposited a handful onto his plate. “I don’t like being told what I can and can’t do in my personal life. I’m pretty damn sure getting permission for who I date was not a requirement for my job with Deacon, and if it is, I’m going to hire a lawyer, because that is not right.”
“If he has nothing to hide, you have no need to worry.”
“What if I have something I’d just as soon not release to the public?”
“What? Like your speeding ticket at the age of fourteen? Or maybe your almost arrest, along with fifteen of your high school buds, for public trespassing? Yeah, you’re a real public menace,” he snorted.
Anna dropped her chip onto her plate and narrowed her eyes at the sexy man who was obviously trying to make her mad. “Okay. One, that trespassing thing was a frame job. I was a senior in high school, and we all got hauled down to the police station. Our parents were called, and the charges were dropped. Old Mrs. Zornby wanted us all arrested for being at the annual Senior Skip-night Bonfire. How were we supposed to know she’d bought the Fosters’ land? The cranky old woman could have said something when we were building it, but no, she waits until we light the darn thing. Who does that? How does a person get that mean? Two, that speeding ticket shouldn’t still be on my record. I haven’t received a single ticket in fourteen years and three, how in the hell did you find out about the bonfire?”
The tall drink of sexiness blinked at her before he cleared his throat. "Wow. I obviously hit a nerve. Okay, I ran you through NCIC–”
“What is that?” She pointed the chip she’d picked up at him.
“National Crime Information Center, it’s a database for criminal–”
She gasped, “Oh, my Gawd. You think I’m a criminal.”
“No, I don’t think you’re a—”
“You totally do! You totally think I’m, like, dangerous!”
“I already told you I don’t…” He stopped and pressed his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. “It’s standard procedure to ensure the safety of—”
She lifted her arm and pointed at him. “See, right there, you think I’m dangerous!”
“Woman, the only danger you pose is to my sanity.” At his growled words, Anna snapped her mouth shut. Well, she could take care of that little problem for him, couldn’t she? “Totally good to know. Let me fix that for you, okay? See yah, Tiger.” She spun on her heel and headed out the door that Deacon had opened for her no more than five minutes ago.
“Anna, you need to let me know if you are going to see anyone.”
She spun at the door. “You really think that is going to happen?”
“I know it will.” He crossed his arms, making his jacket seams scream again.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Then you obviously don’t know me. Shove that up your criminal check thingy why don’t you? Why in the world did I ever think you were something special?”
His eyebrows shot heavenward, and she realized she’d said the last words out loud. Awesome. Just fucking awesome. She spun and headed back to Jackie’s room. Who needed lunch? She could stand to lose a few pounds anyway.
His hand grabbed her arm in a vice-like grip. She spun and tried to pull away from him. “Do not touch me.” Under any other circumstances, she would be thrilled to be this close to the man, but not now. Nope. The man was, like, a total ass. Like. She mentally rolled her eyes.
He didn’t let go. Instead, he crowded her up against the wall. Dark gray eyes narrowed as he stared at her. A vein in his neck throbbed and his jaw clenched before he ground out, “Stop hissing at me, and stop thinking that any of this is about you. I’m protecting your friend from a serial killer. Do you get that? He’s tried to kill her twice. I’m making sure he doesn’t succeed when he tries again because, believe me, he will try again. If that means offending your misplaced sense of entitlement, then too fucking bad.”
Anna’s gut dropped some twenty-odd floors to the lobby below her. Damn it, he was right. She’d been acting like an ass. She dropped her eyes, not wanting him to see the tears of humiliation that were forming. She wasn’t this person. What in the hell was happening? Why had she let his words tip her apple cart? She could admit when she was wrong. Drawing a deep breath, she lifted her eyes. “I’m s—”
“Gabriel—” A deep voice interrupted her.
Anna peeked around the broad shoulders in front of her and immediately tensed. “You!” she gasped. The asshole from the lobby this morning held the door to the kitchen open.
“What in the hell is she doing up here? Damn it, I’ll get someone here and have the control center call NOPD.”
Gabriel’s head snapped toward the man while still holding her arm. “What are you doing up here, McNair, and why in the hell would you call the police?”
“I came up to get you because you’re not answering your pager, and that’s the woman who tried to access the building this morning. I put an annotation in the incident log.” McNair stepped into the room and let the door swing shut behind him.
“This is Anna Harriger. She’s the RN hired to care for Miss Brenner. Miss Harriger has been approved, and the EALs were screwed up this morning. It has been corrected.” Gabriel still held her but moved in front of her and blocked her from the other man’s line of sight.
McNair’s bitter laugh rang out in the silent kitchen. She heard it and popped her head around Gabriel. “She’s a menace.”
Anna narrowed her eyes and growled back, “Yeah, well, you’re an asshole.”
“Enough.” Gabriel’s snapped words got both of their attention. “Craig, I’ll be down as soon as I show Ms. Harriger the duress system we put in place in the apartment. My pager works fine, I didn’t respond because I was busy. If it was an emergency, you should have prefaced the number with 911, as is protocol.”
The man across the kitchen glared at her. Anna smirked at him and stuck her tongue out.
McNair’s eyebrows shot toward the ceiling before he shook his head. “Mark my words. That woman is going to be trouble.”
“Pot, meet kettle.” Anna shot back. She wasn’t trouble.
“Both of you, stop it. Craig, I’ll be down directly. Anna, stop baiting him.”
“I wasn’t! He’s–”
“Hush.” He lifted a finger at her and then snapped his head toward the other man. “Did you need anything else?”
The man’s expression tightened, and he glared at her. His eyes traveled to where Gabriel was holding her. He shook his head and spun on his heel, swirling out of the room and sucking all of her emotion out with him.
“I think for the short term you and Craig shou
ld avoid each other.” Gabriel dropped his hand from her arm.
“He hates me.”
“Hate is a strong word.”
She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head, staring at the door. Somehow, she didn’t think so. She knew people. That man? He was … well, the word that came to mind was evil.
“Let’s finish our sandwiches, I’ll show you the duress buttons in the apartment, and then you can get back to Jackie.”
Anna glanced back at the massive island in the middle of the kitchen. Food didn’t interest her any longer, but that didn’t mean Gabriel wasn’t hungry.
She walked over and stood in front of her plate. “What would happen if I pushed a duress button?”
Gabriel picked up his sandwich. “An armed response from our headquarters two floors down would ascend on this place.”
She watched him eat and played with the chips on her plate. “Is there a chance the man who is after Jackie could get in the building?”
Gabriel shrugged. “We’ve done everything we can to ensure that he doesn’t, but being prepared for the worst-case scenario is a necessity.”
“Deacon wants me to live here in the building.” She wasn’t sure why she’d offered that information.
Gabriel shifted and cocked his head. “On the sixteenth floor?”
She nodded. “That’s what he said.”
“I think that would be a very smart move.” Gabriel finished his sandwich as she put back the food she’d retrieved from the refrigerator. He helped her clean the mess they’d made and glanced at her almost untouched plate.
She shrugged. “I can’t eat when I’m upset.”
“Craig upset you?”
She lifted her eyes to him before she dropped them and shook her head. “Yes. No. I mean before he came in, you upset me and rightfully so. I wasn’t thinking of Jackie or Deacon; I was totally thinking of myself. I’m not usually like that. It won’t happen again.”
Gabriel put his hand under her chin and applied gentle pressure until she lifted her eyes again. “I’ve watched you with your patients. I know that little scene wasn’t typical, but I couldn’t allow you to fly out of here half-cocked. This is a dangerous situation. We are taking appropriate measures to keep everyone safe. Your CPA has to be checked out if you’re going to be seeing him.”
Those gray eyes seemed to bore straight through her. Intense. So damn intense. She blinked and pulled her chin away from his touch. She wasn’t going to have coffee with Gary. He wasn’t someone who would hold her interest, but Gabriel didn’t need to know that. “Okay. If I go out with him, I’ll clear it through your security team first. So… how about you show me the buttons I need to push.” She waggled her eyes at him.
He chuckled as he extended his arm back toward the kitchen island. “Somehow I don’t think you need any help pushing anyone’s buttons.”
She spun on her heel and walked backward as she spoke, “See, I’m easy to read. What can I say, I’m an open book.”
He shook his head. “No, Anna, you’d like people to think you are, but we both know you are much, much more.”
Anna gazed across the few feet that separated them and listened as he explained the duress button. He thought she was more than she let people see? No, what the extremely sexy man failed to see was that she was so much less than she pretended. So much less.
Chapter 13
Gabriel grabbed the clipboard as it was offered to him when he entered the control center. “Mr. McNair is in the conference room waiting for you. He has the overseas updates.”
“Thanks. Who’s in charge of the billeting on the sixteenth floor?” He scanned the messages attached to his sitrep briefing. There were no updates from any sectors in the United States, but that wasn’t surprising. Not with this bastard. He’d call Delacroix, and the dynamic duo of Harvey and Olsen after he dealt with Craig.
“St. James is the logistician on site. I just saw him not too long ago.”
“Have him send the assignments for the apartments to me. I require an additional billet. Tell him not to move anyone into the quarters until I approve the assignments.”
“Roger that.”
“I also want an update on earpieces and radio communications. On second thought, have St. James in my office in thirty.” He needed to work some acquisition issues for his overseas transportation. The Secretary of Defense owed him a big favor, and he was going to call it in. He needed transport aircraft. For two C-5’s and a couple of refuelers, the DoD would net a healthy, legal donation from Guardian—always useful for Department of Defense operations Congress couldn’t publicly fund.
“Yes, sir. Anything else?”
“Are the cameras in the stairwell up?”
“Yes, sir, but we are still working on the angles. We have blind spots.”
“I’ll review them after I meet with St. James. Sometimes acknowledging the limitation is all we can do.” He handed the man the clipboard. “Put this on my desk, please. I’ll return those calls as soon as I’m done with St. James.”
He opened the conference room door. The lights were out, and a slide projected onto the wall. He took in the information. “Shit.”
“Exactly my sentiment,” Craig responded. He lifted his hand, and a laser pointer circled three red dots. “Teams one, two, and three are in jeopardy of being cut off.”
“Latest intel said the Libyan forces weren’t in that area of Chad.” He sat down and scanned the rest of the information contained in a folder on the table.
“We have hopes that the French-backed Chadian forces will push the Libyan forces back. We’ve reached out to contacts in France. David Xavier may have to make a move.” Craig shot him a quick look.
Gabriel nodded. His mother lived in France, and if need be, the Xavier fortune could provide an enticement to move the slower-paced country’s political machine. He wouldn’t make that call unless he had no other option. His life as “Gabriel” was separate and distinct from his birthright, and he meticulously ensured it stayed that way. Although they had their differences, he trusted Craig with his life. They’d been through hell together and, in doing so, forged an unshakable and unquestioning trust.
“Let’s work through our other options first. Have the missions been completed?”
“Teams one and two have completed their mission and, by my orders, are heading back to help team three. Three is currently in possession of a family of six they are extracting. The father is a scholar with a unique theory of some kind that the people at CERN are very interested in, something about particle acceleration theories. We are being paid three million to get them all out safely.”
He swung his attention to the three teams designated by dots on the slide. “Have they been detected?”
“Not as of the last check-in. The team lead seemed to think they had a plan. The communication was cut short.”
Gabriel sat back and stared at the map. “Twenty-one souls.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, this is what we are going to do. Get Kenneth Southerland on the line. We’ve been asked to take care of a situation in the Middle East. We are going to do a one-fer.”
“One-fer?” Craig looked up from his notepad.
“One-for-one swap. I’ll take care of the problem Southerland has in the Middle East, and in return, he’s going to get with the CIA and get our people out of there.”
“The CIA? They don’t play with others.”
Gabriel smiled at the screen. “They will play with Southerland. Their operatives caused the mess in Israel. Southerland and the CIA get my people out of Chad. Guardian pacifies the Mossad, which makes Southerland look damn good here in the States, and the situation in Israel goes away for the CIA.”
“How are we going to defuse whatever has the Mossad spinning?”
“You and I will go in and do what we do best.”
“Now, you’re talking. When do we leave?”
“It will take at least three weeks to get my informants on the g
round and get intel back to us. We are a month out from deployment, five weeks from resolution. Let Southerland know. Get our people out of Chad, ASAP, and in five weeks, the FBI and CIA’s problems in Israel will be gone.”
“This is what you’re fucking brilliant at, man. Why in the hell are you dabbling in this personal security shit here in the States?”
He closed the file in front of him. “Because my gut tells me Guardian is needed as much, if not more, in this capacity.”
Craig sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. “I hate this domestic shit.”
“You didn’t have to come.”
“The hell I didn’t. Wherever you are, I am. You know that. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you’re safe.”
He closed his eyes and nodded. Yeah, he knew it and never questioned it. He drew a deep breath and stood up. “You are a good friend, Craig.”
The man chuckled humorlessly. He squeezed his shoulder on the way out of the conference room. He squinted at the bright florescent lighting in the hall. St. James was standing outside his office, reading through a folder.
“Graham, thanks for being punctual.” He walked into his office, and his logistics officer followed him in.
“Not like I’m far away. We are in tight quarters here. Speaking of which, here is the layout for the quarters assignment. Craig has already blessed it.”
He took the proffered paper and glanced through it. “No, this won’t work. Miss Brenner’s private nurse, Anna Harriger, is moving in. Put her here and slide everyone down. There is still an apartment free across the hall.”
“Here?” The man tapped the apartment number he’d indicated.
“Yes. Is there a problem with that?”
St. James pursed his lips, shaking his head. “No, I don’t have a problem, but you might.” He tapped his finger on the name assigned to the quarters next to his. “He put himself there.”
“Move Craig across the hall.”
“These two apartments connect.”
Gabriel lifted a brow and stared at his logistician. “And?”
Graham eyed Gabriel briefly and then cleared his throat. “And I’m going to guess that isn’t my concern.”
Gabriel (Guardian Defenders Book 1) Page 13