Dark Warrior Untamed (21 page)

He’d disappeared completely, which was more disturbing than if he’d still been lurking around. Maybe she should have asked his name, but then there was no guarantee he’d have told her his real one. She was probably blowing everything out of proportion, but having the solid iron gate between them now felt darn good.

Inside the house, she could hear deep voices coming from her office. Good. She could tell them about the guy outside.

The small office was overflowing with testosterone. Grey was at his computer, his expression fierce as his fingers flew over the keyboard. Sandor was hovering near Grey’s shoulder, pointing at the screen, while Ranulf leaned against the corner of her desk and watched them.

To her surprise, Sean was there, too. He was focused on cleaning his nails with the point of a nasty-looking knife. But from the tilt of his head, she suspected his attention was really on the three adult Talions.

“Morning, Piper.” Ranulf nodded at her as he pushed up off her desk and moved closer to Grey.

“Good morning. Looks busy in here.” She sat down in her chair and booted up her own computer.

As soon as she spoke, Grey stopped typing long enough to smile at her. “Sorry about the crowd. We’re
trying to track down our hacker. He’s a slippery bastard.”

“Him? You know it’s a guy?”

Sandor answered without looking up. “Not necessarily, but it would match up with the bombing. It’s always possible the bomber is a woman, but most of the time that’s not the case.”

Which reminded her. “When I was coming in a few minutes ago, a guy was standing across the street watching the house.”

Suddenly, she had four pairs of glowing Talion eyes intensely focused on her every word. She cleared her throat uncomfortably and kept talking.

“He wasn’t sneaking around or anything. In fact, when he saw me coming, he came up to me. He said he was studying the architecture in this part of town for a class project.”

“That sounds likely enough.” Sandor had clearly lost interest, turning his attention back to the computer.

But Grey was still listening. “Something about him bothered you?”

She nodded. “The quarter ends next week. If he’s just starting his project, the timing is all wrong. I looked back a couple of times as I walked away. First he checked out another house down the street, but when I was waiting for the gate to open, I looked one more time and he’d left. I don’t know if he took off running or if he ducked into someone’s yard.”

Grey started to get up. “I’ll go check him out.”

But Sean was already pushing through the crowded office toward the door. Ranulf blocked his way.
“Where do you think you’re going?”

Sean didn’t back down. Oddly, he sought out Grey’s approval. “Let me be the one to go. Any of you would stand out too much. He won’t even notice me, so I’m less likely to spook him. I can trail him for a while to see where he goes.”

Sean turned to Piper. “What’s he look like?”

Grey gave her a slow nod.

“He’s about five-ten. Dark blond hair, cut long in the front, shorter in the back. He was wearing cargo pants with a dark blue T-shirt that had some logo on it.”

“Got it. I’ll be back.”

Sandor reached out to stop him. “Sean, wait. Do you have your cell?”

The boy rolled his eyes. Of course he had it. No one his age would be caught dead without one.

“I’ll check in when I’ve got something to report.”

Ranulf pegged the kid with a hard look. “Don’t do anything stupid. Right now we don’t know that this guy is anything other than what he says he is. Check in often. Call for help if you need it. If he spots you, haul ass back here, but don’t lead him to our front door unless you have to. Got it?”

Sean grinned at the Viking. “Yes, mother.”

Then he took off before Ranulf could do more than sputter. Piper managed to keep a straight face, but neither Grey nor Sandor tried to hide their amusement.

Sandor looked pleased. “Sean’s going to make Kerry one hell of a Talion. God knows he’s got enough attitude for it.”

Ranulf wasn’t ready to be placated. “If he lives
long enough. If he keeps smarting off like that, it’s doubtful he will.”

It was fun to pick on the Viking, but Piper was worried about Sean out on the streets. “Will he be okay out there?”

Sandor poured himself a cup of coffee. “Don’t let Sean’s age fool you. He’s been on his own for years and knows the streets of Seattle like the back of his hand. Even with all our experience in tracking down rogues, Sean managed to evade Ranulf and me for an embarrassing length of time.”

Grey concurred with him. “The kid’s a street rat, and smart to boot. I’d tell you not to worry, but you will anyway.”

She wondered if either of the other two men noticed the knowing smile Grey gave her. Even if it hadn’t given them away, her blush probably would. She turned back to her computer.

“Any weird e-mails today?” she asked.

“Not for any of us. We hadn’t gotten around to checking yours yet.”

She quickly logged on to the system. As soon as her in-box appeared on the screen, her good mood did a serious nosedive. Again. Dear God, the entire first page showed the same sender, “1xploshun,” with “Future Pyrotechnics” in the subject line.

“Grey?”

Before she had time to point at the screen, he was beside her, one arm around her shoulders and his other hand holding hers. Energy was running hot under his skin and the same was probably true for Ranulf and
Sandor.

“Are you going to open it or not?” Sandor sounded far calmer than Piper felt.

She deferred the decision to Grey. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

“We don’t have a choice. If we had ignored the second one, Hughes would be dead.” Grey’s jaw twitched as he gritted his teeth. “Make sure you both can see the screen. This bastard makes his handiwork disappear after he delivers the message.”

“We’re ready.”

Despite the air conditioning, the room was stifling with all the heat pouring off the three Talions in full warrior mode. Piper braced herself for whatever the hacker had planned and clicked on the first e-mail.

Her screen lit up with a picture of an all too familiar sight: Ranulf’s pristine 1940 Packard convertible. Then the car silently exploded into a million pieces as a single word appeared at the bottom of the screen:

“BOOM!”

“W
hat the fuck?”

Stunned by the explosion playing over and over on the computer screen, Piper wasn’t sure which Tailon had spoken. Not that it mattered. No doubt they all had the same reaction. There was enough anger in the room to temper steel.

Grey asked the one important question. “Where’s your car, Ranulf ?”

When the Viking didn’t immediately answer, Piper dragged her attention from the fragmenting picture to him. It was difficult to tell if he was actually processing anything. She reached out to touch his hand.

“Ranulf. Where’s the car right now?”

If he didn’t answer, she’d go look out the front window herself to check. But he blinked a couple of times and shook his head.

“I left it up on the mountain. We drove the SUV back.” He stood up straighter. “If the bastard got past my protections, then we’re dealing with a major power. Although, if someone
was
messing with my wards, I’d feel it even from here. In all the years I’ve lived up there, the only one who got past them without being tied up in knots was Kerry.”

Sandor leaned in closer. “Can you tell where the picture was taken? Your house and garage can’t be seen from the road. Besides, you’ve buried the title to that property so deep only someone with a lot of time and a big shovel would be able to trace the ownership back to you.”

Piper hit the “Print” button, hoping the catch the image intact before it disappeared. Luck was with her. She handed a copy to Grey and another to Ranulf.

“It was taken out in the driveway. The bastard snapped the picture through the front gate. The top’s down, so most likely it was right before Kerry and I left for the weekend.”

Ranulf crushed the paper in his hand and threw it in the wastebasket. “What if he followed us up to the mountain?”

“Don’t worry, Ranulf.” Grey’s stone-hard expression matched Ranulf’s. “We’ll get him.”

“Easy for you to say, Danby. Your wife isn’t the one who likes to drive that car. What if he planted a bomb in it while Kerry was out with the kids? As much as we’d like to, we can’t protect them from everything.”

Grey straightened up to his full height. “We will keep our Dame and her people safe, Ranulf. This rogue will die. This I vow.”

Grey laid his hand over his heart, covering the brand just above it. Sandor repeated the words, his hand on his bicep, while Ranulf clasped the Thor’s Hammer around his neck. As soon as they were done, Grey pulled a gun out of his desk drawer and clipped it
to his belt.

He held out another one just like it. “I’ve got a spare if either of you need one.”

“Thanks,” Sandor said, looking awfully proficient as he checked it out.

Ranulf shook his head. “I’ll get mine out of the gun safe when we’re done in here.”

Ranulf stepped back, giving Piper more space. “No one goes unescorted until this is resolved. I hope your men get here fast, Grey.”

“More are on their way. I’ll have someone posted around the clock by tonight.”

“Good.”

“I’m thinking we may need to close ranks.” Grey glanced at Piper. “At least Sandor and Lena. Me and Piper, too. Otherwise we’d be spread too thin to be effective, especially while we’re out tracking down leads. I don’t want any of us out there alone.”

“Sounds good,” Ranulf agreed. “I’ll let Hughes know to expect company so he can get rooms ready.”

Grey nodded. “Good. Once everyone’s tucked in safe, we’ll do some patrolling. Maybe we’ll get lucky and catch the bastard sniffing around the area. Which reminds me, Sean hasn’t checked in. Give him another ten minutes and then yank his chain.”

It was Piper’s first experience seeing the Dame’s Talions prepare to … to what? The answer to that question was terrifying in its simplicity: They were going to hunt the bomber down and kill him.

“Isn’t it Detective Byrne’s job to bring whoever is behind this to justice?”

She knew the minute the words left her mouth that she’d asked the wrong question. Three warriors stared down at her with nearly identical looks of incredulity.

“Hell, no!” That came from Ranulf.

Sandor joined in. “It’s not his job.”

Grey finished. “Byrne might dispute that point, but too damn bad. We will track down the renegade, and when we do, we’ll suck the life out of him, leaving nothing but dust.”

The imagery was too much. “Okay, I’m out of here. You’re scaring me.”

They all were, but she directed the comment at Grey. When he made a move to stop her, she feinted to the side and darted past him into the hall. He went to grab her, but jerked his hands back when she dodged him again.

She kept her distance. “Keep your hands to yourself.”

“Fine, I will.” He shoved his hands in his pockets as a sign of good faith. “I was just trying to make sure you weren’t going to leave the house alone.”

“I was going to see if Kerry needed any help.”

“Good idea.”

Even though she was trying to escape, he followed right behind her. She wheeled around to face him, prepared to do battle. It was hard to keep her voice low, but she did her best.

“You know, I
can
actually make it all the way to the dining room on my own. I’ve done it hundreds of times. Ask anybody.”

He snuck around to block her way. “Why are you
running from me?”

“It isn’t just you I’m running from.” She pointed past him toward the office. “E-mails about bombs and exploding cars are bad enough. But do you guys have to go all Three Musketeers on me? Because, really, all you needed were plumed hats and swords to make the whole picture complete.”

When Grey didn’t budge, she threw her hands up in the air. “Don’t you get it? You even sent Sean out on the streets to play D’Artagnan. This might come as a shock to you, but I signed on to assist Kerry, not to hang out with the Kyth’s answer to the Special Forces.”

“Damn it, Piper, this is my job. Most of the time we do let the local police handle things, but they’re not equipped to handle a renegade on a rampage.” He stepped closer. “And don’t go all us-versus-them on me. You’re Kyth, too. You know this is how it has to be.”

“I get that. And you’re right.” Not that she liked to admit it. She brushed her hair out of her face. “This is all new to me, and the thought of you three dusting some guy scares me.”

Grey’s hands were seething with dark swirls of energy but he was gentle when he touched her face. “Damn it, Piper, that bastard tried to kill you and Hughes. He’s threatening our Dame.”

He pointed down the hall to where the other two Talions were surely hanging on their every word. “Ask Ranulf and Sandor what happens when a renegade goes unchecked. How many people have to die before you think we should be let off our leashes to do the job?”

It was all too much. As a Talion warrior, Grey was clearly capable of great violence. But in truth, she was more afraid
for
Grey than
of
him.

What could she say? “I just want all of this to go away.”

“I’m not a magician, Piper. But you have my word that I will keep you safe, and this
will
end.”

Grey flinched at the powerful emotions Piper was throwing at him. He would never read her thoughts without her permission, but right now he didn’t need to. Her feelings were loud and clear. It didn’t surprise him that she’d been horrified by her first experience with Talion warriors preparing for battle.

Maybe she would have been able to process it all better if she wasn’t emotionally involved with one of them—him.

“Go talk to Kerry. She’s been where you are right now, and recently. See what helped her deal.”

He held out his arms, hoping Piper would at least accept that much comfort from him. She barely hesitated before she slammed up against his chest.

“I don’t mean to be a total wuss, Grey.” She sniffled a little, and then let out what sounded like a giggle.