Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Ian drove like a madman on cocaine. He’d raced to his car and just started the engine when Mike called him, telling him they had an emergency—Brody was in the restaurant’s office with a blonde woman Mike didn’t know.
But Ian knew instantly who it was and thanked the stars above for his teammate.
He didn’t know how Egghead knew Angie was in danger, but he was thankful the geek had her in hiding.
Another call had come in less than two minutes earlier than Mike’s.
The screen read ‘Unknown,’ which was common in his business with all his contacts who preferred to remain anonymous.
Throwing down the pen he’d been using to do some monthly accounting, he picked up his cell and answered it. “Sawyer.”
“Daisy Duck is fucked. Get her out of there.”
The line went dead, and he’d shot out of his chair, grabbed his gun, and took off running.
Athos was the caller, and the stupid passphrase meant Angie was in danger.
Ian’s heart was pounding out of his chest as he jumped into his car.
Then Mike called, and Ian almost didn’t answer his phone. Thank fuck he did.
He pulled up behind Donovan’s and laid on the horn twice, desperate to see his angel and ensure she was unharmed.
The back door to the bar opened as he hit the lock release on the door handle next to him.
Brody rushed Angie toward the SUV and almost threw her onto the rear seat before diving in after her.
“Stay down.” He didn’t need to say the words because his teammate knew the routine and soon had Angie lying across the entire backseat, covered with his own body. Without looking back, Ian hit the gas, getting them out of there as fast as possible.
Fifteen minutes later, Brody had filled him in about what happened, and they were almost at the private airstrip where Trident’s small jet was kept.
When he finally felt it was safe, he told the two they could get up, then looked into the rear-view mirror to prove to himself Angie was alive and okay.
Her confusion was evident as she whipped her head around while looking for familiar landmarks. “Where are we? I need you to take me to my emergency storage unit so I can get out of town.”
Pulling into the tiny unmanned airport, he didn’t answer her until after he drove into a hanger, and the rolling door came down behind them thanks to Jake, who he’d called on his way to Donovan’s.
Jake, in turn, contacted their pilot, a retired Air Force captain, who they had on retainer, and another associate, who’d be waiting at their destination with a vehicle for them.
He threw the car in park, leaped out, opened the rear passenger door, and hauled Angie into his arms. He hadn’t realized he was crushing her until she told him she couldn’t breathe, and he reluctantly released her.
“Ian, what’s going on? Why are we here? I need to get my stuff and get out of Tampa.”
“I know, Angel, but your plans have changed.” He didn’t need to look to know Brody was getting the plane set so they could take off as soon as their pilot, Conrad Chapman, known as CC, got there and did the last-minute pre-flight checklist. Jake was outside, making sure no one sneaked up on them.
Ian was confident they weren’t followed, but he had to ensure the men at her house hadn’t somehow tagged her with a tracking device.
He popped his trunk, retrieved a scanner, and ran it over her entire body until he was satisfied she was clean.
The scanner had beeped when it had gotten to her sneaker, but a specific frequency code showed it was one of the Trident trackers Boomer had hidden in her shoes.
He’d have Brody check her laptop before they left, but if she had it, her phone would be left in the vehicle.
She was baffled and began to panic. “What are you talking about? What are you doing? I have to get out of here!”
Taking a deep breath, he blurted out, “Goofy has a crush on Minnie Mouse.” Shit, he felt fucking ridiculous saying that. What was with Athos and his bizarre Disney passphrases?
“What did you say?”
Her fingers covered her mouth as she stared at him in shock and stepped backward.
Away from him, damn it. It was obvious she’d heard him, so he didn’t bother repeating it.
“Athos was afraid something might go wrong on his mission, so he asked us to watch over you and get you someplace safe if something happened.”
The betrayal he saw in her eyes was more than he could take.
“He what?” Her voice was shrill, hurting his ears, but he knew he deserved it.
“You’ve been… what? Babysitting me? I don’t know who I’m more pissed at, Jimmy or you.
Is that why you asked me out and why you’ve been spending so much time with me?
Did Jimmy ask you to? Oh God! Is that why Brody was so interested in my life and always checked on me? Why he wanted to be friends?”
“Yes, he was checking on you to make sure you were safe, but being your friend was Brody being Brody.”
He ignored her gasp of outraged disbelief as the side door to the hanger flew open, and CC barreled past them on his way to the plane, not bothering with pleasantries. The man knew this was urgent and acted accordingly.
Ian kept his eyes on Angie’s horrified ones and waited until the pilot was out of earshot again.
“And no, it’s not why I asked you out. I asked you because I couldn’t fight my attraction to you anymore, and I very much wanted to get to know you better.
If you believe anything, Angel, believe this.
What’s happened between us has been one hundred percent real. ”
She shook her head in suspicion and took another step back. He gritted his teeth because they didn’t have time for this. “I’ll explain everything on the plane, but we need to get in the air and away from the people after you.”
“Why should I trust you?”
The question hit him square in the chest and almost knocked the air out of his lungs.
It was hard to regain his composure, but somehow, he managed it.
“Three reasons. One—Athos trusted me to take care of you. Two—I knew the passphrase, and there’s only one person who could’ve told me that stupid thing…
a person you trust more than anyone else in the world. ”
Fuck, it killed him to say that, but it was true.
They hadn’t reached the point in their relationship where she trusted him one hundred percent, and he’d just taken three giant steps backward on that journey.
“And three—because I care about you. You’re my submissive, and it’s my responsibility to keep you safe. ”
He reached for her arm, but she pulled away and snarled, “Don’t touch me. I swear, Ian, if you touch me right now, I’ll scratch your eyes out. And I’m not your submissive. Not anymore.”
Fuck! As much as he wanted to prove her wrong, now was not the time. Biting his tongue, he gestured toward the jet. “Okay, fine. If you don’t want me to touch you, then get on the damn plane. The longer we stay here, the greater chance whoever is after you tracks us down.”
He counted to three, and she still hadn’t moved beyond crossing her arms over her breasts while giving him a dirty look. Athos had been right—she was stubborn when she was angry.
He took a step forward and gave her one last warning in his deepest, firmest Dom voice.
“Angel, if you don’t get on the fucking plane, I’ll throw you over my shoulder, carry you on, and tie you to a fucking seat.
And once we’re safely in the air, I’ll spank your ass until my hand falls off, and you won’t be able to sit for a week. ”
As pissed as she was, she obviously recognized the genuine threat as well as the worry in his voice.
Despite the fact he’d lied to her—they had all lied to her—she had to know he would keep her safe until they could locate Jimmy.
After she was reassured her best friend was okay, she would probably kick both of their asses… and maybe Brody’s too.
She threw her hands in the air. “Fine! I’ll go with you, but don’t touch or talk to me unless it’s absolutely necessary. And I want to know everything that’s going on. No more keeping me in the dark like some shrinking violet who can’t take care of herself because I won’t stand for it.”
Not giving him a chance to respond, she spun around, grabbed her laptop from where it sat on the backseat, and stormed over to the stairs leading to the interior cabin of the small jet.
She glared at Brody, who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs when he took her computer.
She didn’t respond to him when he told her he needed to check it for tracking devices.
Instead, she crossed her arms again, waiting as he scanned it and then nodded to Ian that all was good.
The geek wouldn’t turn it on until they reached the safe house, where he could scramble any signal the computer might send out, which could be used to find their location.
Ian would’ve preferred to leave it behind, but he knew all her work was on it, so he made the small concession.
Without a word to anyone, Angie took her laptop and stomped up the stairs, disappearing into the cabin.
Jake heard the plane’s engines start up and approached Ian, who was still standing next to his SUV, trying to get his emotions under control.
Devon and Ian had filled the rest of the team in after Athos had left the office that day.
Jake stopped in front of him. “Dev, Boomer, and Marco are headed to Angie’s to see if they can find any prints or anything the agents may have left.
They’ll review the surveillance footage to get stills for Brody to send through his facial recognition software.
Dev is also calling in reinforcements for the compound and to keep an eye on Jenn and Kristen.
He’ll assign someone to sit on Angie and Brody’s houses.
If the agents aren’t stupid, they’ll be able to connect Egghead to Trident without much effort.
Once we know what’s going on with Athos and the compound is secure, Boomer and Marco will be ready for whatever we need. Dev will stay and hold down the fort.”
Ian nodded. His team knew what needed to be done, and he trusted them to do it.
Brody walked over to join them and handed Angie’s disassembled phone to Ian, who tossed it through the open back door of his vehicle before slamming it shut.
Wisely, neither man said anything more to their boss, who was beyond pissed and terrified Angie’s life was in danger.
He should’ve never agreed to keep the protective measures from her.
It was too late now, so the best he could do was guard her with his own life and try to regain her trust. He’d worry about everything else later.
Whether she wanted to admit it or not, he was still her Dom, and she was still his submissive.
They had a signed contract, and he would hold her to it as long as possible.
He just prayed she wouldn’t decide to walk out on him because of this.
He wasn’t ready to let her go yet, and, God help him, he wasn’t sure he ever would be.
Brody boarded the plane, with Ian following, and pulled up the stairs as Jake raised the hanger bay door.
After the jet taxied out into the open, the overhead door was shut, and Brody let the stairs down again for his teammate.
Less than five minutes later, they were airborne, and Ian let out a sigh of relief.
His angel was safe for now, and he planned on keeping her that way.