Chapter 31 #2
He stared at her, disappointment lighting those expressive eyes of his.
“I thought you were braver than this. I was obviously wrong, but I’m not giving up on you, Daisy Montana.
Not by a long stretch. One day, you’ll realize I’m more than just a good fuck.
” He flung open the door, and there stood Special Agent Crabtree.
Jordan shouldered past him and then stopped, turned, and gave him a look.
Crabtree held up his hands in surrender. “I’m simply following orders.”
Jordan pinned Crabtree to the wall with his finger. “Anything happens to her, you die, understood? Wait for me downstairs.”
Crabtree found his spine. “I can’t. The rods are due to arrive in less than an hour, and the director gave me strict instructions—”
“I bet she did. Send me your route. I’ll be right behind you. And I will be contacting the director, so expect backup.”
The other man nodded nervously. Jordan strode away to where Alex Parker and Payne Novak stood talking at the other end of the corridor.
Crabtree adjusted his tie. He looked pale and tired. The charcoal gray suit and cheery burgundy tie were decidedly at odds with what she was used to from the Feds she generally interacted with, but he was armed and supposedly well-trained.
“The others are downstairs and ready. They’re waiting. Let’s go.”
She pulled the door closed even as she watched Jordan keep his back to her. She’d hurt his feelings. She’d disappointed him. Worse, she’d disappointed herself.
She’d jumped off a burning building, but couldn’t risk the idea of opening herself up to a love affair?
Was she really that big of a coward?
Er, yes.
Should she go to him? Tell him she thought she was already in love with him, and it terrified her?
“Come on,” Crabtree urged impatiently. “I’m sure Krychek will be along shortly.”
Reluctantly, she turned away from Jordan. She needed time to clear her head and sort out her thoughts. To figure out how to navigate the future, even if it meant she might get her heart snapped in two again.
Crabtree headed straight for the elevator, and for once she didn’t balk. Today, she was going to face her fears and start taking a few chances.
Jordan fumed in silence.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked.
“Apparently, Director Rhodes wants Daisy’s lab to complete the fuel rod install today.”
“What the hell?” Novak scowled.
Jordan dialed Mac, but it went straight to voicemail. He tried Rhodes next, and the same thing.
“Do you have a vehicle I can use to shadow Daisy? I figure I can wait outside the facility if I can’t get clearance. Not as if Bocharov is likely to be there if he’s on I-64.”
Novak shook his head. “Nothing we can spare, sorry. We’re leaving in five minutes to the airfield. We plan to land ahead of him and have highway patrol set up roadblocks so we can contain him without too many civilians being in the area.”
“How sure are you that this is him?”
Alex showed an image captured at a stoplight.
“Sure looks like him,” Jordan agreed. He itched to go after the bastard, but Daisy was his priority now. He refused to be distracted, even by the man who’d killed his family and tried to kill her. He had faith in his teammates. They’d never let him down.
Florence Cisco appeared out of the stairwell. “Hey, what’s happening?”
She had a set of car keys in her hand.
“You have a vehicle?”
She nodded. “Borrowed something from the Field Office here. I have to remove all the sensitive equipment from the van and drive it back to The Center then return the vehicle tomorrow.”
She tossed the keys in her hand, once, twice. The third time he scooped them out of the air before she could catch them.
“Hey,” Cisco complained as she reached for the keys, but he held them out of her reach.
“You know you’d rather spend the day watching Daisy’s back than moving equipment.”
Cisco grunted. “Only if you help me lug boxes later.”
“Deal.” He looked at Alex. “You coming with us or going with Novak?”
Alex pulled a face. “As exciting as sitting outside a nuclear power station all day sounds…”
“Yeah. I know. Boring as hell.” He tried Mac again. “Fuck. Anyone spoken to Mac today? I can’t get through to the guy.”
Novak shook his head and muttered something that was possibly unflattering.
Jordan frowned. “Seems weird to fast-track the installation rather than delay it, under the circumstances.”
“Nuclear fission waits for no man,” Cisco joked in a deep voice.
“I guess. You see Regan today?”
She yawned, and he noticed the dark circles under her eyes. “He’s being moved out of the ICU this morning.”
“That’s good.”
“Still under armed guard.”
Jordan nodded and frowned harder. “So why send Crabtree of all people to escort Daisy and the others to Moses Lake.”
Alex frowned. “Crabtree?”
“Yeah, he was just here.”
“Did you try calling Daisy’s advisor?”
“Why would I?” Jordan asked.
Alex shrugged. “Not sure. Okay, I changed my mind.” He addressed Novak just as the rest of Gold Team piled into the corridor. “I’m going to hang with these two. See if I can use the time to poach Cisco to come work in the private sector.”
“Like you do.” Jordan smirked as they all headed downstairs.
“Dude, I’m the boss. I get to spend my time however I want to.”
“So you spend your time doing what Special Agents do, but without being paid?”
“When you put it that way…” They were heading out of the hotel’s back door, following Cisco and the guys before they jumped into the Suburbans.
Novak tossed him three flak jackets and handed him a bunch of spare ammo. “Just in case.”
“Appreciate it.” Jordan wondered how he’d cope with leaving these guys who’d taken the place of his family. It wouldn’t be easy, but he’d do it for Daisy. If she wanted him. If she was prepared to take a leap.
“Let’s follow Crabtree out to the reactor site and hope the director sends approval by the time we get there.”
“Better to ask forgiveness than get permission?” Alex joked as he slid into the driver’s seat of the Ford Expedition SSV before either Jordan or Florence had the chance to do so. “My favorite idiom.”
“Shotgun!” Cisco raced around the hood.
She missed the way all the operators of HRT braced and looked around for the danger.
Jordan shook his head and climbed into the back seat with the equipment. “I’m gonna keep trying Mac and the director. Cisco, you got a lock on Daisy’s phone?”
She nodded and pulled it up on her laptop.
“She know you’re tracking her?” Alex sped out onto the street and headed north.
“Hell, no.” It would be another nail in his coffin.
“I warned her not to hurt you yesterday,” Cisco confessed.
“What did she say?”
Cisco looked over her shoulder. “That you were more likely to be the one hurting her.”
Jordan sank despondently into the leather seat. “Could have fooled me. She’s like an armored tank. She won’t trust me.”
“Keep showing up. Keep showing her you’ll stick,” Alex advised.
“She’ll come around,” Cisco agreed.
“I hope so.” Jordan blew out a ragged breath. “I really hope so.”
But what if she didn’t?
He swallowed his emotions and did his job.