Embattled Home (9 page)

Unable to help herself, she snorted. “I’ve heard that before.”

“But not from me.”

As she looked into his vivid blue eyes, she could see his determination to do what was right.

“How long would we have to be gone?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. It depends upon how quickly Duncan can get his contacts moving. It may be a week or it may be three months. Derek is after you and Mercy. You, for throwing him over. But I feel like he wants Mercy for some other reason.”

Lora blinked as a domino suddenly fell into place in her mind.

“She’s a partial stock holder. I thought it was strange when I signed the papers with him, but if the business is having problems, maybe he needs her leverage.”

Chad pursed his lips and nodded. “If he gains custody, he gains her shares, basically.”

Lora looked at her young daughter watching TV. “Why would he try to take her then? I would have to sign over guardianship and he knows I won’t do that willingly.”

He tilted his head. “So maybe he’s aware of that and he feels the only way to manipulate you is by force.”

Lora sank down to the kitchen chair behind her, her knees suddenly weak.

“Regardless,” he continued, “I think we need to get you out of Dodge. Make you disappear. Things are escalating. If Zeke and Killian hadn’t been here, she would probably have been taken.”

A shudder rippled through her. She couldn’t imagine losing her daughter to that man. The thought was enough to make her sick.

The solid weight of a hand settled on her shoulder and she tensed. But as soon as the weight was there it was gone again. “We’ll take care of both of you.”

She looked up at him and knew he believed he could keep her safe. Years of frustrated struggling came back to her, and for the first time in longer than she could remember she wanted to let somebody help take care of Mercy. The two of them had been constant companions for her entire life. It would be hard to relinquish some of that control, but she had a feeling she was over her head with Derek. If he wanted to take their daughter, she had no doubt he would try. And his mother would be right there trying with him.

“Okay.”

A bubble of tension eased in her spine. Chad smiled at her, bright teeth flashing, and she felt heat bloom in her cheeks. She clamped her jaw in desperation, sending pain shooting through the side of her head. Yes, he was cute, but men only brought pain.

Chad called Duncan,
in spite of the crazy hour. “Dude, don’t you ever sleep?”

The older man chuckled on the other end of the line. “I could ask you the same thing, smartass. What’s going on?”

Chad filled him in on the details, ending with tonight’s altercation. “I need to get them out of town. And we need to make this bastard squirm.”

“Agreed on both counts. Has she given us any usable information about his business?”

“Well,” Chad sighed, “the daughter is a partial stockholder. I think that’s the only reason why he wants her.”

“Hell.” The silence stretched on the other end of the line. “Okay, how many people do you need?”

Chad thought for several long seconds. “At least two. Maybe three.”

“We’ll make it an even four-man squad, that way you’ll have better coverage. I’d rather you have too many than not enough, and this is our fuck-up, so we’ll clean it up. I got your text about the female, and as long as you’re comfortable with Rachel as one of your four, you have my blessing to take her with you. And Zeke.”

Chad frowned. “I hate to take Zeke away right now. Preston?”

Duncan paused on the other end of the line. “Preston’s not on anything major. I’ll let him know. Who do you want for your fourth?”

“Flynn.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

The former SEAL was a bit of a wild card, but was a truly impressive fighter. He wouldn’t like it where they were going, but he would deal.

“Done, then. I’ll let them know they’re on. I’ll also start digging a little harder. I’ve got a buddy at the Federal Reserve Board that might be able to look into things.”

Snorting, Chad shook his head. “Why am I not surprised you have a buddy there? Seems like you have buddies everywhere.”

Duncan laughed. “Well, yeah. I served for a long time. You know that. Had a lot of men under my command. A lot of them have gone on to other careers. Hell, I’m meeting some of their sons now.”

Was that a note of sadness he heard in Duncan’s voice? Nah…

“So, how’s your bum?”

Duncan snorted. “Well, he’s got issues, but I think he’s reachable. I may have to be out here for a few days.”

“Okay, we’ll be gone by the time you get back. Do you want to know where?”

“Nope. The less I know the less I have to testify about. Just stay safe and keep our people safe. Keep your phone on you.”

“You know I’ll do all of that. Thanks, Dunc. You be safe too.”

“Will do.”

Chad hung up his phone slowly, details swimming through his head. The logistics of making six people disappear for an unknown amount of time would not be easy, but he knew he could do it. More importantly, he knew where he could do it.

Damn, he had a lot of phone calls to make. And very little time to do it.

*     *     *

When Duncan returned
a few hours later, he half expected Aiden to be gone. He pushed the door in and peered around the little corner to the bed. Aiden lay in the exact position he had been in before. It was as if he’d been so wiped out he didn’t have the energy to even shift.

Duncan could sympathize. It seemed like he never felt rested anymore.

Turning, he looked down the hallway to the waiting room. He could park in there for a little while, catch up on some emails. Planting his cane, he started for the room.

Aiden’s auburn-haired doctor walked out of one of the rooms a little ways down the hallway and turned to the right, her head tilted down to the clipboard in her hand. Since she was going the same direction he was, she hadn’t seen him, which was fine. It gave him a chance to check her out. Although with that long white doctor’s coat on, it was kind of a non-issue. The color of her hair stood out like a neon light though, curling down her back to below her shoulder blades.

Duncan was actually surprised he was even vaguely interested. It had been so long since he’d had even the faintest hint of curiosity. Had to be the red hair.

The doctor paused and knocked gently on the door to her left. As she stepped into the room, she glanced up, her gaze catching on his for the barest second before she disappeared from view.

Duncan paused. Had he actually seen the flash of awareness in her eyes? Or had he imagined it? She knew he was walking behind her—the sound of his cane on the floor had a distinctive sound from his feet.

Shoving into motion again, he shook his head. There was no damn way she’d looked at him like that. And even if she had, she was a damn baby. There was no way he’d consider touching that.

T
hey all met
at the office. Though it was four a.m. in the morning, Mercy was bright-eyed with excitement as she looked around curiously. Lora, on the other hand, had gone into mother-tiger mode. She surveyed everyone with suspicion, if not outright alarm. When she caught sight of a stone-faced Harper lounging in the meeting room, trimming his nails with his knife, she paled and shifted to the opposite side of the table, tugging Mercy along behind her. She settled into a spare chair in the corner with Mercy on her lap.

Rachel, the new hire, thrummed with excitement though she never moved. Chad held his hand out to her as she stood. “I’ve not had the chance to meet you yet. Chad Lowell.”

She grinned at him, shaking strongly. “Rachel Searles. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for the chance to do this.”

At first glance, Rachel seemed pretty and open. Her honey blond colored hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and she was dressed in fatigues and a T-shirt. Then he realized how strong she was. The woman was stacked with muscle. Not so much to lose her femininity but definitely enough to intimidate most men. If she hadn’t been standing in a group that was all over six feet and moderately to heavily built, in Harper’s case, she would have dwarfed most average men.

Chad motioned to the others in the room. “Have you met the other yahoos?”

She nodded, her golden eyes darkening just a bit. “I have.”

Flynn cleared his throat. “Can we get some details now or what?”

Glancing at the belligerent former SEAL K9 handler, Chad fought a grimace. He had hoped some of the attitude would wane if Flynn were given something more challenging than the computer work he’d been doing. He’d been hired a few months ago, with conditions. Flynn struggled with PTSD like they all did, from losing his K9 in the war, but his felt different for some reason. Chad couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly, but it was unsettling. The counselor swore his treatment had progressed.

The darkly-bearded man stared at him hard, as if daring him to say something about his attitude.

Chad motioned to Lora and Mercy sitting behind him. “We’re on a security detail until further notice. We’re bugging out because the perp, a former client, has tried to acquire the target, his daughter, twice now.” He smiled at Mercy, determined to keep her calm and protected. “Duncan needs time to manage the sitch on this end.”

“Where are we going?”

Glancing at Rachel, he hesitated. “I’ll tell you when we get there. The less people that know where we are the better. You were aware of that when you signed on for this operation, right?”

She nodded. “Yes, sir. Sorry.”

Flynn snorted. Rachel turned to look at him, but didn’t say anything.

Chad wondered what kind of an idiot he was throwing this crew together.

“Cash transactions only. No cards. This guy has ties to the financial world, so we’re not going to make it easy for him to track us. We’ll take two vehicles. Harper, are you up to driving?”

The other man nodded, expressionless as always.

“And I’ll take my truck. It’s a long drive, boys and girls, so be prepared.”

Lora looked shell-shocked. He wanted to reach out and reassure her, but they needed to get going. “Are you okay?”

She blinked at him. “What about my job and my house? My car?”

Chad had left directions with Shannon on what to do, but he hadn’t told Lora. “We’ll inform your job what’s going on, to a certain extent. If they hold your job until this thing is overgreat. If not, we’ll set you up in another position. Mercy’s school will also receive a note about the situation, with directions to contact us should somebody inquire about you or her. The house will be locked up and we’ll make sure your vehicle will be stored in your garage. We’ll take care of your bills right now. If you want to jot down a note to our receptionist with your account numbers and the names of the companies for your utilities, it would make our job that much easier.”

Lora’s mouth had dropped open. “You can’t do all this. Nobody can. These are my responsibilities.”

He nodded. “I know. But we don’t have time to hang out waiting for you to tie up loose ends. He’s tried to…” he paused, looking pointedly at Mercy, “twice now. And I’m not so sure that your ‘anniversary visit’ wasn’t the first attempt.”

She sank back in the chair and tears came to her eyes. The thought had obviously not occurred to her.

Chad gave her a minute to gather herself, aware of the others in the room. He turned to look at them. “Get your gear together.”

They moved at all once, though Flynn tossed him an aggravated look as they left the room.

Chad knelt down beside her chair on his good leg and dared to reach out to touch her elbow. “I’m sorry I can’t give you more time to adjust to this, but we need to go. The sooner we go the safer you’ll both be. Let me worry about the details. You take care of her.”

He ran his finger down Mercy’s nose, tapping on the end, and she grinned at him. “We have to go on a trip. Are you ready? And Handsome?”

She nodded and slid from her mother’s lap to step closer to him. “That man was kind of scary.”

“Which one?”

“The one with the dark hair.”