Chapter 15
Banging on the door startled Forrest awake. Jordana similarly bolted up, resulting in the top of her head connecting with his chin. Forrest cursed as the banging increased at the same rate as the pulsing of pain in his chin.
“Are you hurt?” he asked Jordana as she rubbed the top of her head.
“It’ll be fine. Sorry. I guess I’m still jumpy after the whole kidnapping thing. Do you think we’re in danger?”
Forrest didn’t bother grabbing a shirt as he walked to his bedroom door and opened it in nothing but a pair of athletic shorts. “I think if someone was here to hurt us, they wouldn’t be banging on the door.”
“Forrest!”
Forrest glanced around and saw that not only was it after twelve in the afternoon but Olivia was long gone. “Your wife isn’t here, Granger,” Forrest shouted as he unlocked the front door to find his brother-in-law standing there.
“I know. I need to see you and Miss Alves.”
Any thought of teasing fled when he saw that Granger was there as the sheriff, not just his brother-in-law. “What happened?” Forrest asked instantly.
“Kane is on his way. Get Miss Alves and we’ll fill you in.”
Forrest turned to see Jordana sticking her head around the corner. She looked worried and he hated that the morning they’d woken up ready to talk about their feelings had turned into something serious.
“We just woke up. Can you start us some coffee while we get dressed?”
Granger nodded and headed for the kitchen as Forrest strode to his bedroom. Jordana was waiting for him in the doorway, concern etched on her face. “Who is that? What’s going on?”
“That’s Olivia’s husband, Granger. He’s the sheriff here. He said Kane is on his way over and needs to talk to us.”
“What does that mean?” Jordana was clearly nervous as she absently twisted her hands.
“I think it means bad news. Let’s get dressed and find out.” Forrest reached out and wrapped his arms around her, bringing him to her chest as he hugged her. “Remember, you’re not alone. I’m here. My family is here. The town is here. We are all together in this.”
He could see Jordana struggling to stay strong, but she held it together as she dressed in borrowed clothes. She reached for his hand and he clasped his over her smaller one, hoping he was lending her strength. Jordana squared her shoulders and lifted her head even as her hand shook as he held it.
“Granger, this is my girlfriend, Jordana Alves.” Forrest basked in the quick smile she gave him when he called her his girlfriend and felt his heart expand with happiness. Even if reality was about to crash back down on them. “Jordana, my brother-in-law, Granger Fox.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am. My wife said great things about you.
She’s excited to get to know you more and I’m excited to get some payback and bust my brother’s balls.
” Granger gave Jordana a conspiratorial wink and Forrest couldn’t even be mad at him.
Granger had put up with a lot from them as they tested him to make sure he was good enough for their sister, but what they all got was another brother out of it.
There was a brief knock and then the door opened as Kane stepped in carrying his laptop. The joking from Granger was quickly forgotten at Kane’s frown and tightness around his eyes.
“What is it?” Forrest asked, wanting Kane to just rip off the band-aid.
“Let’s sit down,” Kane said, stepping into the living room and setting his laptop on the coffee table.
Forrest sat on the couch and Jordana sat next to him. She pressed herself against his side and waited to hear the news.
“Jordana, there was an assassination attempt on your father as he left his house,” Kane said, getting right to the point. “He’s not hurt. He was able to take cover behind the car door. In fact, he was the one who took out the assassin.”
Jordana jumped up to stand as her hand went to her heart. “I have to get back to Brazil and watch his back. He’s all alone. I can’t leave him like this. Even if he is a formidable opponent.”
Kane nodded and Forrest wanted to yell at him for agreeing.
The last thing Forrest would do would be to send Jordana back to Brazil where her life would be in danger.
“I understand that’s your initial reaction, and why I brought my secure laptop.
We’ll call your father shortly and get his opinion.
However, this bit of news may change your mind. ”
“What news?” Forrest asked, reaching up and giving Jordana’s hand a gently tug to bring her back to his side on the couch.
“I reached out to my contacts after I heard the news. Jordana, there’s a contract out on your father.” Jordana’s body briefly shook with a sharp shiver. “There’s also one out on you.” This time Jordana froze as Kane turned to Forrest. “And surprisingly, there’s one out on you too.”
Forrest went rigid as Jordana gasped and moved as if she were going to protect him from any assassins coming into the house. “Me?” Forrest was stunned.
“That was my reaction too,” Kane told him.
“That doesn’t make any sense. None of the men sent to kidnap us escaped. So no one was alive to tell the boss I was ever there. How would anyone in any kind of criminal operation even know who I am?”
Kane was nodding. “We know exactly why there are contracts on Mr. Alves and Jordana. However, now we need to figure out why they’re on you and whether or not it’s connected. I reached out to all my contacts there and no one has a clue. I’m out of ideas.”
Jordana frowned. “Didn’t Tuka say the men were also looking for the American when they attacked the village? How would they know you were there?”
Granger cleared his throat, getting their attention. “I know someone who could help.”
“Who?” Kane and Forrest asked at the same time as Granger pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
The phone rang on speaker and then a gruff voice answered. “Faulkner.”
“Ryker, we need some help.” Granger gave him a short rundown of events and the line was quiet.
“I do a lot of shipping in and out of Brazil. Let me see what I can find out.” Then Ryker simply hung up. Forrest knew Ryker enough to know he had extensive contacts. You didn’t become a billionaire shipping magnate without them.
“Should we bring Peter Castle into this?” Forrest asked of their FBI agent friend.
Granger shook his head. “Peter and Karri are getting married next week. Let’s not bother him with this. My department can take the lead as long as you two stay in Shadows Landing.”
“How did I not know they were getting married?” Forrest asked. The FBI agent and the restaurant owner had been engaged for a while now, but hadn’t seemed in a rush to get married.
“Kind of hard to send an invitation to the ,” Granger said dryly.
“They waited until Peter reached a work anniversary so he’d get more vacation time.
When he got it, they decided there was no reason to wait.
They gave everyone a month’s notice, so I’m guessing your invitation is sitting in the pile of unopened mail over there.
Skye is flying down all of Karri’s Wolf Clan Onondaga Nation family and Peter’s Bear Clan family from the Oneida.
It’s going to an epic party. Hopefully this film crew will be out of here by then. They’ve been a huge pain in my ass.”
Forrest glanced at the lopsided pile of mail on the sideboard. He’d have to go through it soon because he didn’t want to miss the wedding.
“Wait for Ryker,” Kane told them. “Let’s see what he can find out. Then we’ll make a joint decision. Jordana, are you ready to call your father?”
Jordana shifted until she was on the edge of her seat. She bounced her knee nervously to the point that it was making the laptop jiggle. “Yes, please.”
Forrest rested his hand on her thigh to try to calm her nervousness.
The knee bouncing stopped as she leaned into Forrest while Kane started the secure video call.
A moment later the black screen turned to full color.
The Brazilian flag was framed and hanging on the wall behind a robust man in his fifties with a hint of silver to his dark brown hair, but only at his temples.
He was dressed in a military uniform and looked as if he could enter the battlefield at any moment .
. . and win. His face was hard, his eyes serious, but when he saw Jordana his whole face changed.
He smiled and the tension in his face vanished.
“Jordana!” he said happily before speaking in Portuguese.
They both did and Forrest loved to see how happy Jordana was to see him.
Her father meant the world to her and he knew it made her feel better to see him doing well, even after having that minor hand surgery the other day.
The man was . . . well, even Damon would be impressed.
He would be an intimidating father-in-law.
Forrest paused as the idea slammed into him that that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted Jordana forever and that meant the scary-ass man smiling at his daughter would also be family.
Forrest gulped when Mr. Alves’s eyes suddenly moved down on the screen and narrowed. “You must be Forrest Townsend,” Mr. Alves said in English.
“Yes, sir. It’s very nice to meet you. Jordana has told me how much you mean to her.”
“And apparently how much she means to you too since you have your hand on my daughter’s thigh.”
“Dad!” Jordana gasped at the same time Kane and Granger chuckled.
Instead of removing his hand, Forrest simply nodded with the same serious expression on his face that her father had. “She means everything to me, sir.”
More rapid-fire Portuguese was spoken between Jordana and her father before her father gave Jordana a slight nod.
“I appreciate you taking care of my little girl.” That earned him an eye roll from Jordana.
“Your brother speaks highly of you too. Is Kane there? I’d like to see him after all the calls we’ve had. ”
Kane and Granger came around to the back of the couch and introduced themselves. “I’ve told them about the contracts on their lives,” Kane told Mr. Alves. “Jordana wanted, of course, to come home as soon as she heard about the attempt on your life.”
“I’m working hard to get to the bottom of it,” her father told them. “Jordana, the safest place for you is far away from here. However, I worry since there’s also a contract on Forrest, they will find you in Shadows Landing.”
“With all due respect, sir,” Granger told him, “this isn’t our first rodeo. We’re pretty well trained as a town to protect each other.”
Her father looked stressed as his jaw flexed while he was quietly thinking. “Can I have a moment alone with my daughter?”
“Of course,” Forrest said, standing from the couch.
He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a small squeeze of support.
“We’ll be out back with Blackbeard.” Forrest turned to the screen and looked down at her father.
“It was very nice to meet you, sir. I swear, with my life, I’ll protect your daughter. ”
Similarly, Kane and Granger said their goodbyes and followed Forrest out to the patio. Blackbeard screamed his hello as he happily munched on some food.
“I can’t believe you brought a goat home,” Kane muttered as Blackbeard sauntered to the fence and butted his head against it.
Forrest reached over the fence and rubbed behind his long floppy ears before moving to scratch his chin. “He’s a good goat. Aren’t you?” he asked Blackbeard, slipping into baby-talk. “Who’s a good goat?”
Blackbeard screamed excitedly.
“I bet your neighbors freaking love you.” Forrest turned to see Damon walking around the side of the house. “I heard the goat and figured you were either back here or I’d do everyone a favor and feed him to Bubba.”
Blackbeard lowered his head and rammed the fence as Damon walked by. Damon didn’t jump, but Forrest saw the quick twitch of his eye in surprise and was going to find a goat treat for Blackbeard.
“Rowan sent me over to check on you two since he texted you this morning and hasn’t heard back,” Damon said, pretending Blackbeard wasn’t staring at him with those unnerving goat eyes.
“We were woken up by these two with news that Jordana’s father had an attempt made on his life. He’s talking to Jordana right now.”
Damon frowned and glanced inside.
“That’s not all,” Kane said, telling Damon about the contract on both Jordana and Forrest. That really caused Damon to frown.
“I don’t like that. Maybe we should move you to a safe house.” Damon crossed his arms and pursed his lips.
“Safe house?” Forrest chuckled. “You own motorcycle shops. You don’t run black ops.”
“I know, but I could put you in an apartment over my New York shop and no one would get to you there. The whole area is policed by biker gangs.”
“Yeah, we’ll I’m the police here and we have gators that eat bad guys.” Granger actually seemed offended. “And we’ve probably been in more shootouts than those so-called gangs.”
That earned Granger a twitch of amusement from Damon’s top lip. “Fair point. What can I do to help?”
“We’re going to increase patrols, especially at night. The documentary should wrap up before the end of the week and that will free me up more. If you want to help, you and your brothers can help keep an extra eye on Forrest’s place.”
Damon nodded and Forrest knew it would be done.
It didn’t matter that Forrest was perfectly capable of protecting himself and Jordana.
You didn’t become a survival expert and an engineer in the field without knowing how to take care of yourself.
He was pretty sure his family saw him as singing happy songs and planting trees in a field full of butterflies, when most of the time there was staunch opposition to what he was doing, protests, and sabotage.
Forrest let it go though. It wouldn’t matter what he said, Damon was in full big brother mode and nothing was going to change that.
“Call Rowan and let him know you’re alive.” Damon held out his phone. Again, there was no point in arguing with him.
He glanced inside and saw Jordana was still talking to her father, so he took the phone and called Rowan.