Chapter 6
At the gate to the Parkman Ranch, a camera in the arched gate pointed down at them where they waited in the SUV.
Teller pressed a button to notify the ranch’s security personnel of their arrival.
Sachie had visited the ranch before to see Kalea. She knew it had a first-class security system. Still, she didn’t want to be there any longer than was necessary to come up with a plan to out her stalker.
The gate opened, and Teller drove the winding road over a small hill and through a stand of trees, finally climbing a rise to a sprawling ranch house.
As soon as they pulled to a stop, Kalea and Hawk came out on the porch. Kalea wore a maternity dress covered in a bright pink and green hibiscus pattern. She’d secured her long, wavy hair in a loose bun at the crown of her head.
Her heart full of love for her friend, Sachie climbed down from the SUV and hurried up the steps to hug her. “You look amazing.”
Kalea laughed. “Amazingly big?”
“Not at all,” Sachie said and then smiled. “Well, maybe a little. You are, after all, eight months pregnant. What I meant was you absolutely glow. How are you feeling?”
“Good,” Kalea said. “But I should be asking you that. What the hell is going on?”
Teller climbed the steps of the porch, carrying her suitcase and his gym bag.
Hawk reached for the suitcase with one hand and held out the other to shake Teller’s. “Thanks for responding to my call in the middle of the night.”
“I’m glad I did.” Teller nodded toward Sachie. “We don’t want to be here more than a night, but we could use some help coming up with a plan. I was hoping we could put our heads together with you, Hank Patterson and his computer guy, Swede.”
Hawk nodded and held open the front door. “Let’s take it inside and get you two settled. I gave Patterson and Swede a heads-up that we’d be calling them after lunch. They’re on standby to help us in way they can.”
“I had our chef prepare soup and sandwiches,” Kalea said. “We can eat in the dining room or take it all to the war room.”
“Though we haven’t had breakfast or lunch, I’d like to get Hank and Swede briefed as soon as possible,” Teller said.
Sachie nodded. “Me, too.”
“Then we’ll serve lunch in the war room,” Kalea said.
“Let me take your bags up to your rooms.” Hawk took the gym bag from Teller. “I’ll show you where they are when you’re ready to go up. You both know the way to the offices and the war room. I’ll join you in a minute.”
Kalea moved ahead of them. “I’ll let Ule know to move the meal to the Brotherhood Protectors outbuilding.”
“If it’s going to be that much trouble, we can wait to eat when we’re done in the war room,” Sachie insisted.
“Ule won’t mind.” Kalea smiled. “And I’ll make sure he has help.”
Sachie’s eyes widened. “As long as that help isn’t you.”
Kalea’s smile twisted. “I’ve been strictly forbidden to lift and carry anything heavier than a cup of tea and banned from riding and flying until after the baby is born.” She patted her belly. “I’m bored out of my mind.”
Sachie laughed. “Not for much longer.”
Kalea sighed. “I know, and I can’t wait for him or her to arrive.”
“You still don’t know what you’re having?” Sachie asked.
“Hawk and I decided to wait.” Kalea frowned. “Which makes choosing a paint color for the nursery impossible. But more on that after your meeting and lunch. Go. I’ll be out there soon.”
Teller and Sachie passed through the house and out the back door.
One of the outbuildings had been remodeled and equipped with state-of-the-art computers, satellite systems, offices, a war room and an armory.
“You’ve been here before?” Teller asked.
Sachie nodded. “Once.”
“Have you met Hank Patterson or Axel Svenson, aka Swede?”
“No, but Kalea talks about them all the time. She and Hawk have a lot of confidence in them and the rest of the Brotherhood Protectors around the world.”
When they arrived at the building, Teller pressed his thumb to a biometric reader. A moment later, a lock clicked. Teller opened the door and stood back to let Sachie enter first.
She led the way into the war room, where a long conference table took up the center of the room with a huge screen at one end.
Teller crossed to the array of monitors on one side of the room and touched a mouse. The monitors blinked awake from their sleep mode and brought up images from security cameras.
“Can you tell if anyone followed us?” Sachie asked.
Teller shook his head. “No, but they have a security team monitoring the access road at all times. They would alert Hawk, Kalea and Mr. Parkman if there was a breach or suspicious behavior around the property.”
Footsteps sounded from the hallway.
Sachie turned in time to find Ule, Mr. Parkman’s chef, carrying a large tray filled with sandwiches, utensils, bowls and crackers. Behind him came Hawk carrying a soup tureen, which he carefully set on the conference table.
Kalea brought up the rear with a roll of paper towels. “See?” She held up the roll with a grimace. “They wouldn’t let me carry anything heavier than a cup of tea or a roll of paper towels. Way to make a girl feel useless.”
“We’re headed into the last couple of weeks of your pregnancy.” Hawk slipped an arm around his wife’s waist. “We only want what’s best for the health of you and the baby.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head.
Kalea snorted. “What about my mental health? I’m a doer. I need to be doing.”
“When that baby comes, we’ll all be doing,” Hawk reminded her. “You can help Ule lay out the food for everyone while I bring Hank and Swede online.” He stepped away from Kalea and joined Teller at the computer.
Sachie helped Ule and Kalea arrange plates on the table, ladle soup into bowls and uncover the selection of different types of sandwiches. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since the night before.
Her gaze went to Teller.
He turned in time to capture her glance with his.
A surge of awareness rippled through Sachie.
The man really was good-looking in a quiet, brooding way.
She wanted to know more about him and his statement that he’d never had a permanent home.
What was his background? She knew so little about him.
That didn’t seem to matter. She trusted him to keep her safe. Hell, he’d saved her life once already.
The large screen at the end of the monitor flickered to life with the matching desktop image of what was on the computer monitor in front of Hawk and Teller. The display flickered, and the faces of two men appeared who seemed to be talking, though no sound accompanied the movement of their lips.
A moment later, their voices came through loud and clear.
“Can you hear me now?” the dark-haired man asked.
Sachie nodded.
Teller and Hawk joined Sachie and Kalea at the table.
Hawk pulled out a chair for Kalea. She sank gratefully into the seat and reached for one of the sandwiches. “You’ll have to forgive us for eating in front of you,” she said to the men, joining them virtually. “If you were here, I’d offer you a plate.”
“Thank you, Kalea,” the dark-haired one said. “Not much longer, is it?”
“Three to four weeks,” she said. “How are Sadie and the little ones?”
“Sadie’s doing great. She’s on hiatus until the end of the year,” the man said. “Emma’s going to preschool this fall, and McClain is walking.”
“That’s great.” Kalea smiled and turned toward Sachie. “Sachie, the dark-haired man on the left is Hank Patterson. The one on the right is everyone’s favorite computer guru, Axel Svenson aka Swede.”
Sachie dipped her head. “Nice to finally meet you both. I’ve heard so many good things about you and the Brotherhood Protectors since Hawk arrived in the islands.”
“Glad to hear it,” Patterson said. “We try to provide the help people need.”
Sachie gave the man a weak smile. “Like me?”
Hank nodded. “Yes, ma’am. How’s Osgood working out for you?”
Sachie glanced across the conference table to Teller. “Good,” she said. “He saved my life in his first five minutes on duty.”
“I’m glad he was able to get to you in time,” Hank said. “Perhaps you could fill us in on what’s happened thus far. Start with why you moved from Oahu to the Big Island. Hawk tells us you had issues there.”
Sachie gave Hank a brief description of what she’d experienced on Oahu and her move to the Big Island to escape the threats and start over.
“I thought I was past it when I woke up from a bad dream, saw a face in the window, discovered my car windshield smashed and someone trying to break into my cottage.”
Teller picked up from there, relating how he’d come into the house, chased the assailant out the back door and then came back to look for Sachie.
“That’s when I made first contact with your Brotherhood Protector,” Sachie’s lips twisted, “and tried to kill him.”
Hank chuckled. “I’m glad you didn’t succeed.”
“As am I,” Sachie said. “He took a bullet for me a minute later.” She nodded toward Teller.
“Just a flesh wound,” Teller said and continued with the message on Sachie’s cell phone, their arrival on the street where Sachie’s office was burning to the ground, their conversations with the police and fire chief, the message scratched into the side of his SUV and their search on the security camera footage.
“And that’s how we came to be at the Parkman Ranch,” he finished.
Hank’s brow furrowed. “Tell me again what the messages said.”
“You failed me,” Sachie said. “On the cell phone and on the car.”
“With the added note of Now you will pay on the voicemail message,” Teller said.
“You’re a counselor who works with troubled teens?”
Sachie nodded. “I’ve worked with teens to help them with PTSD from abusive environments or who have addiction issues. I’ve worked with the police to remove children from unsafe home environments.”
“Could your stalker be one of your patients?” Hank asked.
“I wasn’t sure when I was in Honolulu, because there was never a message, just actions. I was working through some issues of my own.”
“Hawk told us,” Hank said softly. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”