Halfway Between (7 page)

They arrived at the new house and all of them should have learned by now when Noah and Dallas were involved, it wouldn
’t be a hole in the wall like they were accustom to when on a mission.  House would be an understatement to the gated and walled mansion they pulled into. 

Hell, thanks to Jolly and Steve, they had to practically give their next born to get in the gate.  The guards who were situated at the entrance asked for IDs then called to speak to someone in the house, they had to stand in front of a camera one by one and were told to stare directly into the lens.  Whoever they were looking at would then confirm or deny their identity.  Freaking cool if you asked Drake, it didn
’t have to be a hole in the wall dive to be undercover.

Finally, they were allowed inside the gate and when they saw the house, even Harper who had been trying to act as if she lived like this every day stopped and gazed at the huge house.  The front had white pillars, and the entire front of the house was a for lack of a better word
—a showcase.  As they drew closer, you could see behind the pillar windows.  There were couches, chairs, and a small garden in the entryway.  They were shocked at the extravagance of the house.  They could also see one huge man standing at the front door, with his arms folded and legs apart.  It took them a moment to realize he was the leader of the men they were going to be collaborating with.

“
Good Lord, really the dads need to fucking learn the word moderate.  I swear, ask for a cupcake, then you get a huge cake you can never finish.  They overdo everything,” Alex snorted.

“
Dads?” Harper asked. 

“
Yeah, Noah and Dallas are my fathers, and Bailey is my mother.  The rest of my family is basically the same.  They live in a ménage, and it works.  Never come after one of them or you face the whole fucking family.  They are a bit scary.  However, the only thing I have ever asked for is that they are happy.  My mom would shout it from the rooftops how much she loves both of my fathers the same and with a fierce devotion.  It was the way I grew up, so it seemed natural when Slone and I came back into contact with each other, we made the commitment to share one woman, Sable.”  Alex shrugged.

“
Isn’t there any jealousy between anyone?" Harper said curiously.

“
Hell no, it takes both of them to control my mother.”  Alex laughed and got out of the car.  "It's the same with the rest of us who are in ménage relationships."

It made her think, but only for a moment, she didn
’t have time to actually process anything because the next half an hour her world got turned upside down again.

They got out and introduced themselves to the towering man.  His name was
‘Tank’, that was it, never expanded at all, which gave him an air of mystery.  He admitted he was retired FBI, and Harper wanted to know what division he was in, but she was a bit too overwhelmed by his size to actually do anything but nod.

They were led through the house, which was spectacular inside as it was out.  They each had their own bedroom with an office built in a small separate room that was attached.  There was one main office on the ground floor, which she could only explain as being like frickin' NORAD, it had so many bells and whistles.  Monitors mounted on the wall were running information they had received.  Drake and Jessie were drawn to the screens and began speaking in geek before her eyes.  She was impressed by their knowledge.

The men got right down to business.  Introducing the rest of the team, they were all previous FBI and knew their shit.  Joel insisted on being in the room, and was sitting in a comfortable recliner in the corner that was provided.  The nurse they hired checked out both him and Drake with quick deliberation. 

Harper sat back and listened.  Tank strode up to her and smiled.  She instantly liked him more. 
“Ma’am, these are yours,” he said quietly but it was loud enough to draw attention from everyone in the room.

“
Uh…okay?” she said, looking down at a large envelope with a lawyers stamp on them.

“
They are from the bosses' lawyers.  Basically, these are notarized documents that when it is safe, this home will be listed in your name under Bret Forensic Consulting.  The keys and info are all in there, maintenance and upkeep as well as pay for your employees have been set up in a corporation under your name.  The total holdings are in there.  If you have any questions here is the card for Bailey and Noah, they are the administrator of the fund for right now.”  Tank laughed at her mouth hanging open.

“
There they go, should have known they would do this.”  Alex laughed.

“
Huh?” Harper said stunned.

“
Honey, you saved one of their boys' life, they take care of their own.  Don’t argue or mom gets a little snappy,” Alex drawled. 

Harper shook her head and then went and sat down at the table.  She wanted to put her head between her legs because this shit just didn't happen
—at all.  Who were these people?  She glanced and Drake and Joel were watching her closely, as if they knew she was having a freak-out moment.

She stared at a dot on the wall for a few moments when suddenly both Drake and Joel were in front of her pulling her up. 
“Come on, darling, they are a force to be reckoned with, let's get this sorted out now,” Drake said.

Harper could only nod as they led her through the door and into the library.  She collapsed yet again in a chair and just stared. 

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” Joel asked, putting a hand on her leg. 

Drake sat on the other side and did the same thing. 
“Hey, talk to us.”

Harper sat for a second and then finally gathered enough brain cells to speak. 
“Who are these people?  No one does that, like no one—ever.”

Drake chuckled and named Dallas and Noah
’s company.  Her eyes grew, everyone knew their names. 
Shit, this is who Alex’s family was
.  They were in Forbes every year, close to the top of who is who.  She never knew they were in a ménage, but it didn’t surprise her seeing the rumors that flew about the two men, but it made a lot more sense.  He explained they adopted all of them over the years, and Bailey considered them part of the family.  She referred to them as their boys, if they ever needed anything it would suddenly appear, it was a little freaky how they knew so much about them.

“
Listen, when that whole thing happened with the team overseas, when everyone died.  Bailey was frantic, not only for Alex, but for all of us.  She understood that most of us had little family, what we did have was brought to the hospital in Germany where we were recovering.  Hell, Tulu, Mason's mom, is like the grandma to the entire family these days.  They welcome only those whom they see worthy of being in the fold, and I hope you are prepared because by you saving Joel and me the other day, you are in that fold,” Drake said.

“
And what does that exactly mean?” Harper said cautiously, it had to be too good to be true, they wanted something from her.  But she needed to know the playing field before she could even make her next move.

“
When our parents were killed, mine and Brian’s, Ginny, one of Alex’s aunts, stayed with us for a month to make sure everything was settled.  Her and her husband, Andre, went through the entire process with us, made sure we had counseling, settled paperwork, and hell, Ginny went shopping for us and cooked our meals.  But the love they shared came at a time when we needed it the most.  I will be forever grateful,” Joel said.

Drake leaned over and opened up the envelope that Tank handed to her.  Silently he looked through the papers and he grinned when he saw the information.  How the fuck did they do it he didn
’t know, but he would be forever grateful to them.  He handed her the papers and began to explain to her and pointing out the major points to get her panic out of the way.

“
Okay, this first one is the promissory deed to the house.  It shows this is your business headquarters.  See they rezoned it so you wouldn’t have issues.  They promise to actually set up a different section on the backside where your employees can stay overnight in rooms, if you are on a huge case.  Some of these rooms will be turned into office space, only the second floor will be private, there are plans to turn it into your sanctuary.  They also included the cook, the maids, and the chauffer in this agreement.  Look at the bottom, there is nowhere to sign, this is a gift, and will only require your signature if you decline the offer,” Drake said.

Harper stared at the documents and allowed Drake to explain, her heart was beating so fast, the only thing she could think of was how the hell would she be able to pay the taxes, and the electric bill on this monster. 

“The next paperwork is your business they formed for you.  Bret Forensic consulting.  This is the business plan for your approval.  Obviously, this is the main location of the business, however, the actual headquarters is located in Healing, Wyoming, where on the land that Alex owns they separated a good chunk of land and are building a house with a separate office.  That way you have somewhere to go when you need to get away.  They do give you an option to refuse this part, and are more than willing to take back the land and move everything here.  They are just giving you options.  They have the number of employees you would need to get this up and running, and they have set up your startup account.  This is the balance as of right now,” Drake said and pointed to a number that Harper couldn’t even fathom, there were too many zeros.  The account was solely in her name, and there was a black visa in the file already, just needed to be set up. 

She couldn
’t move, she couldn’t breathe.  She just stared at the number.  Ten million dollars as a startup fund, were they fucking out of their minds?  She had no idea how to run a business, she didn’t have a degree in that.  Of course, they thought of everything as Drake continued to explain, she already had an accountant, and business manager, and five other employees just waiting for her to tell them where she wanted them stationed.  Either place was fine with them.  She had all of their contact info, but right now, it was Noah and Bailey who were listed as contacts to help set this up, they only needed the word and the business would be set up and running for when this shit was over.  Fuck, they even included a resignation letter to the police department if she needed it.

“
I need a few moments here, guys.  This is too much,” Harper whispered.  Both men sat quietly, not leaving but just allowing her to think.  Her brain wouldn't process all of this information at this moment, she finally had enough sense to take the papers and begin at the start to figure this out.

In the war room, as it was now dubbed, even if Harper owned the place they didn
’t care.  Thane stood at the main screen and allowed his eyes to follow the search he started.  With access to all of the files they finally needed, maybe they would see something everyone else missed.  The computer was running probabilities that certain missions were connected to this.  So far, they had found the bombing, and Marie’s death.

“
Boys,” Vince said, coming in from the room where he was making phone calls for the last few hours.  “I have a clue.”

All of the men stopped, they hoped that meant they were going to finally find out why he was brought into this.  Mason pushed a button and told Drake to get his ass back in there.  It was moments before the three people walked into the room.  They could see that Harper had been crying, but the two men stood by her side, even though Joel looked like he was going to fall over, as they stopped and waited to hear what was going on.

“I found her,” Vince said grimly.

“
What is going on?” Thane demanded.

“
Amani Faisal, the Ambassador of Rhutain is no longer the name of the woman I knew, apparently she legally changed her name and was offered the Ambassador's spot in the US Embassy of Rhutain right here in San Diego.  She has been here for twenty years give or take.  There was a situation in her home country where several death threats and attempts were made on her, so the US offered to help and they brought her here, so she was not in the public eye so much.  Her name is Amani Moghodan, she has one son that is here with her.  Previously he was stationed with the NATO armed forces as a high-ranking official when he decided he wanted to help his mother here.  NATO gave him permission to retain his status and be assigned here at the embassy.  I can’t see there is anything shady in what is going on with her.  However, she is the woman I gave the blanket to, and her son has to be the one that was born, the timing is right.  His name is…” Vince said.