Guarding Autumn (Crimson Point Security #3)

Chapter Twenty-Four

––––––––

“You believe this shit?” Tris said to him as they stood in the main plaza of the conference center watching the Air National Guard Blackhawks flying across the city. Decker was elsewhere with his own detail.

It was mid-afternoon. The VIPs were safe. The entire CPS team on site was currently on standby waiting to find out if they were needed to assist with more rescues before taking their VIPs to a private airfield close to the city.

“Nope,” Gavin said.

This whole thing felt surreal, their worst-case scenario models acted out in real time. His ribs throbbed where he’d taken a direct hit earlier, but at least there was no more tear gas in the air, and his eyes and lungs were fine again. Most important, Carly was safe. That was all that mattered.

People had the right to protest—peacefully—and this had been anything but. Innocent people had been hurt or killed in this fucking mess, and Carly had almost been one of them. Gavin had no sympathy whatsoever for the people responsible for the violence. The governor had made the right call in deploying the military.

The riots had finally been contained almost three hours ago. Numbers were still uncertain and changing by the minute, but so far hundreds of people had been arrested and removed from the area. An unknown number had been injured and at least three had died, two of them trampled in the densest part of the mob when the tear gas had been deployed, and the other from a baton blow to the head.

Now every emergency crew in the region was working alongside the military to mop up the mess. A column of dark smoke continued to rise into the clear blue sky from the roof of Autumn’s hotel. The fire was still burning, the delay in response caused by the protests allowing it to spread to three floors on the east side. Four crews were on scene battling it.

“Wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” Tris said, shaking his head.

“Heads up,” Ryder’s voice said over their radios. “The charter jets have arrived, flight plans filed, and have been cleared for departure. All teams move your VIPs there immediately. Update us with your movements and ETAs.”

“Copy that,” Gavin answered. He let out a deep breath, winced, and put a hand to his side. His right eye was swollen almost shut, and his lower lip throbbed.

Tris had patched him up a few hours ago with some butterfly bandages. The skin around the eyebrow was thin, so he might eventually need some stitches to hold the wound together and stop it from bleeding. But he’d deal with that tomorrow back in Crimson Point if need be.

All in all, he was lucky it wasn’t worse.

Tris glanced at the hand pressed to his side. “You gonna get that looked at?”

“Nah, just a bruise. Brick caught me in the ribs.” He had zero regrets about taking his vest off and putting it on Carly.

They headed back into the conference center together. A little more than an hour ago, they’d gone up to their VIP’s rooms and hurriedly packed whatever was inside in anticipation for the green light to leave.

Given the number of protesters who had flooded into the city center in spite of security measures and the level of violence unleashed by some of them, the organizers of the conference had pulled the plug. Rumor was they were apparently making plans to reschedule it in a smaller, richer and more exclusive city like Vale or wherever.

“What are you gonna do about Carly and Autumn?” Tris asked him.

He’d been thinking about them nonstop since leaving them in the ballroom. “I dunno. I need to talk to Autumn, figure all this out.”

He’d made it clear that he wanted a relationship with her, and Autumn knew how much he’d adored Carly before finding out the news. But he had no idea what she wanted now, or how she felt about suddenly finding out he was Carly’s father.

He didn’t even know how she’d found out. He needed answers to all the questions that had been circulating in his brain since she’d told him.

“Carly does look like you, bro.”

“You mean she looks like both of us.”

Tris’s mouth lifted. “Yeah, but I never rode the bony express with Autumn.” He grinned at the dark look Gavin shot him.

“The bony express? Where the hell did you even hear that one?”

“Come on, it’s funny as shit.” He sobered. “No way she would lie about something like that.”

“No,” he agreed. And she never would have told him if she hadn’t been sure. “I think it was a shock to her too.”

“She say how she found out?”

“No. But it explains why she was so twisted up when she got here.” Had she ever suspected at all? Even a tiny part of her? Or wondered maybe? She’d always seemed so convinced it was the other guy.

“How do you feel about it?”

“I’m...still absorbing it.”

“But you love Carly.”

“Fuck, yeah, I do.”

“And you still love Autumn too.”

He nodded. He’d been angry and in shock at first, thinking she’d hidden it from him all this time. Now that he’d had time to process it more and wasn’t in the middle of a life-and-death situation, he knew she would never do that.

“I know what you said on the beach, but Marley was right. You’d be a great dad. Will be a great dad. For what it’s worth. And I’m already her favorite uncle because I’m fucking awesome, so...”

Shit, Gavin could still barely compute the dad part.

Of course, he’d thought about what his role with Carly would be like if he and Autumn entered a romantic relationship. But he’d assumed it would be like it already was, and supporting Autumn through the ups and downs of parenthood without having a ton of input since Autumn had done all the work up ’til now and Carly was her child.

All that had changed now, and the reality was hitting way differently. “Thanks,” he muttered. “Now leave it alone, okay?”

“Sure.”

Guards let them back into the building. They walked back to the stairs that led up to the second-floor ballroom. Inside, fewer than a hundred people were there waiting for further instructions.

“See you back on the coast?” Tris said to him.

“Yeah. Later, man.” Gavin alerted Cassie that he would be leaving the conference center in the next few minutes, then picked up his VIP and escorted him out to the tunnel connecting the center to the hotel parking lot.

Cassie pulled the SUV up mere moments after they emerged through the steel door. Only two routes were currently open to traffic leaving the city center.

Cassie turned out of the underground parking and drove toward the second one, heading east away from downtown. Gavin shifted stiffly in the front passenger seat as they turned onto a feeder route, the shoulder strap of his seatbelt rubbing against his sore ribs.

The military had checkpoints set up all along the route. Their vehicle cleared the first one on the way out of the city center and another before reaching the highway. Both sides were lined with a combination of military and police vehicles in each direction.

Gavin looked in his side mirror as Cassie merged into the long line of traffic leaving the city and crawled along. Behind them, Portland’s heart lay in ruins, plumes of smoke punctuating the skyline.

He and Cassie didn’t speak during the drive. In the back seat, their VIP made a series of consecutive calls to other conference members. Gavin tried to block out what he was saying, not wanting to listen.

He was exhausted. Had just found out he was a father. Had almost lost his daughter. Didn’t know how this was going to affect him and Autumn. Not to mention he was battered and bruised.

More than anything at the moment, he wanted this detail to be over with so he could get back to Crimson Point, have a long, hot shower and something to eat so he could settle his mind before going to talk with Autumn. He held off texting her, not knowing what else to say, and because it would be unprofessional while he was officially still on the clock with the client who had paid a shit ton of money for this detail.

Heavy traffic delayed their arrival at the private airport several miles outside of town by almost forty minutes. Gavin shoved down the impatience riding him, ruthlessly squashed the frustration that threatened to manifest itself in some road rage. Finally, they reached the turn for the airport.

Cassie drove right onto the tarmac where the Learjet was waiting with its cabin door open. Gavin stepped out of the vehicle, covering a wince and a groan as every bruise and aching muscle protested.

Maintaining his professional demeanor, he escorted his VIP to the bottom of the jet’s lowered staircase. “Have a safe flight, sir.”

“Thank you.” The man stopped him, reached back to dig in his back pocket, and pulled out a leather wallet. Gavin watched in disbelief as he withdrew a wad of hundreds and pressed them into his hand.

Gavin yanked his hand back, feeling dirty. “That’s not necessary.”

“Please, take it. You went through hell out there today, went above and beyond for me, and I’d like to show my appreciation and respect for the job you did.”

“Thank you, but no.” He stepped back before he could make another attempt. "Safe flight.”

“Then I’ll be sure to send your boss a glowing review of your conduct and recommend your firm’s services to my colleagues.”

Yippee. “Thank you, sir.” As soon as the VIP boarded, Gavin heaved a mental sigh of relief that the job was over.

He got stiffly back into the vehicle. “Not feeling so hot, huh?” Cassie said.

Honestly his mental and emotional turmoil were way worse than the rest. He’d meant what he’d said the other day at the beach.

What the hell did he know about being a father? With his military service, training courses, and deployments he’d only been around Carly sporadically throughout her life so far. He was Uncle Gavvy.

How the hell was she going to take the news? That worried him more than anything.

“Been better,” he admitted.

“Here.” She opened the center console armrest and took out a bottle of ibuprofen. “They’re extra strength. Take three.”

He made a face, decided suffering for no reason was stupid, and swallowed them with half a bottle of water.

“Ready to get the hell outta here and back to the coast?” she asked.

“Fuck, yes. Drive this sucker.”

“My pleasure,” she said with a sly smile.

They drove in silence to the I-5 and the turnoff for the coast, no talking or music. Gavin’s brain was stuck in a loop. Him. Autumn. Carly.

It went round and round in circles in his head, going nowhere. So he shut it down and let his mind go blank as he stared out the window instead.

Cassie was a good driver, confident and experienced. Gavin leaned his head back and let his eyes close. He dozed, then slipped under at some point, waking when the vehicle took a pronounced curve in the road.

“Time is it?” he muttered, blinking his good eye. The swelling in the right one seemed to have gone down a bit, because it was now open a slit.

They were on the coastal highway heading south. He could see the ocean, the setting sun hovering above the horizon as it threw glowing rays of orange and pink over the sparkling water.

“Almost nine. We’ll be back in Crimson Point in about twenty minutes.” She glanced over at him. “Everyone’s meeting at the Sea Hag for a bite and a beer. You gonna come?”

He checked his phone, saw the message from Tris with the invite. Nothing from Autumn, but she was no doubt busy taking care of Carly. “Yeah, I could eat.” He needed food, then the long shower before he saw Autumn.

When they arrived at the Sea Hag, the lot was full of company SUVs. Inside, the rest of the team was already there. Someone, probably Callum or Walker, must have paid the owner to close the place for them.

“’Bout time you two showed up,” Ryder called to them from the bar, holding three bottles of beer between the fingers of each hand.

“Saved you guys a seat,” Tris said, waving them over to a table near the plate glass windows at the back that overlooked the rolling waves as they crashed onto the beach.

Gavin went over, noticing the way his twin eyed Cassie as he pulled out a chair for her. She and Ivy were the only females in the place.

“Well, thank you,” she said. “Such a gentleman.”

“Welcome.” Tris sat beside her, and Gavin sat across from them. “You good?” Tris asked him.

“Yeah, fine.”

The other tables got up and mingled around the bar. Everyone started shooting the shit about the riots. Gavin refrained from joining in, too caught up in his head and not wanting to think about Carly trapped in that dangerous mass.

Then Ivy slid into the chair beside him, her eyes searching his in a way that made him feel like she was assessing him. Gavin wasn’t exactly certain what her story was, had only heard that she was a major badass with training that would put theirs to shame. He wasn’t close enough to her or Walker to know the details, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about her, and Teagan absolutely revered her.

Although everything he’d seen from her was enough to convince him that the rumors were probably true. “You look better than I thought you would.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “You were impressive out there.”

He shook his head. “Couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks.”

She made a face, waved it away. “No need to thank me. Just glad Carly’s safe.”

“Me too.” He was pretty sure he was going to have nightmares about losing her in the volatile crowd.

Ivy gave a nod, and there was something a little eerie about the way she continued to watch him. A bone-deep certainty that she suspected the true connection between him and Carly.

Which was nuts, because only Autumn and Tris knew so far, and he was sure Autumn wouldn’t have told her.

“You sure were great with her. She trusts you completely. And you went out there to find her without hesitating,” she said.

“So did my brothers.”

“But you led the charge.”

He shrugged, growing uncomfortable under her scrutiny. “Known her since she was a baby. Of course, I went after her.”

Ivy nodded thoughtfully, took a sip of her drink before continuing. “You know, life is funny. I didn’t know shit about kids before I came here. I’m pretty much the least maternal person you’ll ever meet, and yet here I am the stepmom of an amazing teenage girl. And not to toot my own horn like an asshole or anything, but I’m totally killing it, by the way.”

Gavin grinned, amused but unsure why she was telling him this, and starting to seriously wonder if she actually did know about him and Carly. He’d heard that she noticed things others didn’t. Maybe she’d figured it out on her own? “Yeah? I’ll have to ask Shae what letter grade she’d give you next time I see her.”

Ivy snorted. “A-plus, all the way. Anyway, as someone with a fair amount of personal experience where teenage girls who have suffered trauma are concerned, I promise you they’re a hell of a lot more resilient than you might think.”

Gavin stared at her, picking apart her words, including the underlying, unspoken confession he sensed she’d just given him. Ivy was notoriously private, and even Teagan didn’t know the details of her past. Yet here she was basically telling him that she had suffered some sort of trauma as a teen. Why? And what was it?

Ivy gave him an understanding smile. “Take it from me, Carly’s gonna be just fine.” She set a hand on his shoulder. “And so are you,” she added, standing and giving his shoulder a squeeze before walking away.

“What was that about?” Tris asked, leaning toward him.

He honestly had no clue. “She was just asking about Carly.”

Tris nodded, eyeing Cassie again as she talked nearby with Donovan and Walker, who curled his arm around Ivy’s waist. Walker was former intelligence. A logistical wizard, keeper of secrets, and an expert at extracting them. Maybe that’s why he and Ivy had clicked so well.

Tris finally noticed Gavin watching him watch Cassie. Gavin raised his eyebrows in silent interest, flinched when it felt like the right one might split open again.

Tris lowered his beer a bit and blinked at him blankly. “What?”

“You tell me, bro.”

“Nothin’ to tell.” But his gaze was on Cassie as she came toward them.

“Hey. Any update on Carly?” she asked as she pulled up a chair between him and Tris and sat down.

Gavin shook his head. “She’s at our place with Autumn, probably crashed out by now.” Marley and Warrick had come to get them in Portland and drive them back to Crimson Point hours before he and Tris had left with their VIPs.

“Tucked all safe in a nice warm bed, thanks to you.” Cassie smiled and clapped him on the back. “You were amazing today.” Her gaze slid to Tris. “You too.”

Tris flashed her a grin, practically fucking blushed. Jesus. “Thanks.”

“How long have you guys known Autumn, anyway?”

“Forever,” Tris answered. “Since we were five or six.”

“Five,” Gavin corrected automatically. He remembered the exact moment he’d first laid eyes on her.

He and Tris had been new to the area, new to the school and knew no one. On the first day of kindergarten Autumn had walked into the classroom with her long blond hair in a braid down the middle of her back and sat at the desk beside his. At lunchtime, he and Tris didn’t have anything to eat, having wolfed down their bananas and yogurt Marley had packed them at recess.

When he’d come back to class, there was half a ham sandwich and a cookie sitting on his and Tris’s desks.

He’d bristled, embarrassed that someone had noticed them not having any lunch and felt sorry for them. Autumn had returned to her desk and stared straight ahead at the blackboard, but he’d caught her darting a sideways glance at his desk to see if he’d taken the food.

He’d known it was her. But he was hungry so he tucked the food away in his desk for after school and ate it on the way home. She walked beside him, a secret little smile on her face that told him he’d been right. But he decided he didn’t mind.

“Want to be friends?” she’d asked.

Just that easy. He’d understood even then that people’s actions showed who they were. Not their words.

She was kind. Had gone out of her way to be nice without making a big deal out of helping him, been mindful of embarrassing him. “Okay.”

And the sweet little smile she’d given him in reply made him feel like maybe he wasn’t so out of place after all.

A chair scraped over the scarred, dark hardwood floor, pulling him out of the memory as Decker spun it around and straddled it. He scanned Gavin’s face briefly, then said, “What was the story on that guy who got Carly behind cover?”

“Been wondering that,” Gavin said.

“We can ask Ivy to see if she can get a good shot of the guy on video,” Cassie said, shoving another couple of fries into her mouth. “I’m dying to see her work her magic in person, actually.” She lifted an arm to wave her over.

Ivy sauntered back toward them. “You called?”

“We were wondering if you could get us a good look at the guy in the gas mask who pulled Carly from the hostage-taker,” Cassie said.

“Let’s find out,” she said, whipping her phone out of her back pocket and taking the empty chair. She pulled up something, did whatever forbidden, hackery shit she had up her sleeve, and two minutes later they were all watching footage of the riots from the security camera feeds around the entrance to the conference center.

“There she is,” Ivy said, tapping Carly’s little red head poking above the crowd as she rode on someone’s shoulders.

Gavin sat motionless, his gaze locked on the screen as he watched more tear gas get deployed near Carly and the man carrying her. The guy stumbled, and that protester bastard grabbed her, holding her in front of him.

He was aware of the tension in his muscles, aware of the rage building again, realized he was holding his breath as the guy in the gas mask appeared in the background. He had on what looked like a vest from a construction site.

A tense standoff between the two men followed. Gavin had missed that part when it had happened. And their body language during the interaction was telling. “They knew each other,” Gavin said.

“Sure looks that way,” Tris agreed.

“Hundred percent,” Ivy said.

More tear gas deployed near them. The asshole holding Carly fell. The newcomer grabbed her, immediately spun around and rushed in the opposite direction, one hand reaching up to pull off the gas mask.

He had to be a protester. Why else would he be there, let alone with a gas mask on? He’d come prepared.

“There,” Gavin said the moment the mask left the guy’s face, the video showing the back of his head. “Can you get a different angle?”

“It gets spotty from here,” Ivy said. “There are only a couple of blind spots in this area, and he finds one of them. There’s an ATM on the corner there. Just a sec.” She tapped the screen, typed a bunch of commands into whatever program she had, accessing other feeds. “Maybe this one...”

The new feed captured the unlikely rescuer carrying Carly toward the concrete barriers lining the west side of the street but only showed the back of him. Most people in his situation would have panicked and gone into self-preservation mode, worried only about saving their own ass.

Instead, this guy had protected Carly. There was zero hesitation in his movements. He had reacted instinctively to the situation, making the decision not only to confront the other protester and rescue Carly, but then immediately take her to safety behind cover. Law enforcement training? Military?

“Whoever he is, he knows what he’s doing,” Cassie commented, snatching a fry from Tristan’s plate. He twitched but didn’t protest, and it spoke volumes. Tristan had a thing about people taking his food, probably something to do with going hungry as kids sometimes, but whatever.

Turning his attention back to the footage on Ivy’s phone, Gavin was sure their good Samaritan had professional training.

Ivy tried a couple more angles, but they couldn’t get a good view of his face. “What’s that on his vest?” It looked like a symbol of some sort.

Ivy worked her magic, narrowing and tightening the focus until it became clearer. “P, I...S?”

Gavin punched it into his phone along with the word Portland, and found the symbol within moments. “Pacific Industrial Solutions. It’s a commercial construction company based in Portland.” He looked up at the others.

Decker swallowed a sip of beer, set his bottle down on the table. “One of us should go talk to him.”

“I volunteer as tribute,” Cassie said. “I’m heading back there in the morning anyway. I can find out where the jobsite is and take a look around, see if he’s there before I head back.”

“I’ll go with you,” Tristan announced.

Cassie looked at him in surprise. “Really? Ryder and Callum don’t need you here?”

He shrugged. “The guy risked his life to protect Carly. I wanna find out who he is and thank him. It’s the least we can do.”

“Plus, he knows the guy who put Carly in a chokehold,” Gavin said. “I want a name to give the cops.” And make sure that bastard got what was coming to him.

Decker nodded in approval. “Damned right.”

“Okay then.” She pushed her empty plate away and stood, looking at Tris. “I’m leaving at oh-six-hundred. Want me to pick you up?”

“I’ll meet you at HQ.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “What? You don’t want me knowing where you live or something?”

“I’m staying at Marley’s tonight.” His gaze shifted to Gavin. “What about you?”

“Not sure yet.” Depended on how things went with Autumn. He shot off a quick text to the temporary burner phone he’d bought her.

In Crimson Point. Will head over in a bit to check on you guys.

She had been through a lot today too, had to be exhausted, and hashing things out with him was probably the last thing she wanted right now. But they had to talk, and it couldn’t wait. This was too important. There was too much at stake.

Decker rose. “I’m heading home. See you guys tomorrow night?” he said to him and Tris.

“Sure.” Gavin stood as well, stretching his sore muscles before saying goodbye to the others and heading for the door.

Outside, the salt-tinged sea breeze whipped over him, clean and refreshing, clearing his head. He stepped to the edge of the building when Tris waved him aside. “Give her a chance to explain everything,” his twin said quietly.

There was no mistaking who he was talking about. Gavin nodded. “Course I will.”

“I mean, this is what you wanted all along, right?”

He inclined his head. But he’d imagined it happening a lot differently. “There’s no guarantee she’s going to give me a shot.”

“She will. Message if you need me. Otherwise, good luck, and I expect a full debrief in the morning. And remember what I said earlier about the dad thing. You got this, asshole.” Tris clapped him on the side of the arm and started for his vehicle.

Gavin stood there alone for several minutes, staring out at the restless, rolling ocean, trying to get his thoughts together. He wanted answers to the zillion questions racing around in his head. Wanted Autumn and Carly worse.

Turning away from the water, he started up the hill for the CPS building where he’d left his truck, mentally gearing up for the most important conversation of his life.