Chapter 2
“Brother, what the hell are you doing here this early? You just got back a few hours ago.”
Continuing to drill the camera above the door, Cannon answered his little sister without turning around.
“What it look like? I should have replaced these old ass cameras months ago.”
Capri shook her head and laughed before sliding past the large ladder her brother was standing on. He was almost completely blocking the entrance to their business, Porter Protects, but she knew he didn’t care.
Once Capri sat behind the desk in the lobby of their building, she turned toward her brother again.
“Old?” she asked. “Cane, you just bought those cameras less than a year ago. They have a three-year warranty.
Still focused on his task, Cannon said, “Those warranties don’t mean shit, Cap.”
Capri pondered arguing the point further but declined.
She knew exactly what this was. He had just finished a job in Los Angeles, protecting a pop star who had been receiving threats.
Not only had Cannon successfully protected the young lady, but he also identified the threat and turned him over to the authorities.
It had been a three-month job, but initially, they weren’t sure how long it was going to last, so his sister hadn’t lined anything else up for him after that.
Cannon hated not being busy. While for most people, being home was where they found peace and rest, for Cannon, it was the place where the silence became unbearably loud.
Whenever he wasn’t working, he was forced to think about things he’d rather suppress, and it was for that reason that he was already at the office.
When he couldn’t sleep, he fixed things, and this morning, those things were perfectly good security cameras.
Porter Protects was a security protection firm owned by Cannon and Capri.
Capri wanted to hire additional qualified protectors to expand their business, but Cannon had a hard time trusting people, so he refused.
In Cannon’s mind, they didn’t need to expand, because they made great money already.
Cannon’s previous special marine forces background made him more than capable of defending, and he charged exactly what he was worth.
It worked out because they usually took on high-value clients whose threats justified charging large amounts of money.
Their pockets were also always long enough to pay up.
That was one reason Capri was hesitant to tell Cannon about the job that came across her desk the day before. The payday wasn’t going to be as large as they were used to, and the job was a lot less exciting than his usual adventures.
Capri silently watched her brother work as she thought about how to present the job to him. Finally, she decided to go for it.
“You said you’re ready for a new job, right?” she asked.
Cannon paused his work momentarily before he chuckled and resumed.
“It depends on the job.”
Capri kissed her teeth. “Usually, you’re eager to take whatever comes across the desk. You’ve never said that it depended on anything before.”
Glancing at her, Cannon said, “And you ain’t ever presented a job with a question like that before.”
Grinning, Capri asked, “What do I usually say then?”
He laughed and cleared his throat. In a voice that was higher than his own, but nothing like Capri’s, he said, “I got one for ya, Brother.”
Capri burst out laughing. Her brother was one of the most serious and stoic people she knew, but she could always get him to let that armor down when it was just the two of them.
“Chile, please. You sound nothing like me, and I don’t always say that,” she said, lying through her teeth.
“Yeah, aight. What’s the job then, Cap?”
“An investigative journalist who writes for The Citizen’s Eye. Eli Hill called.”
Without hesitation, Cannon said, “No.”
Capri frowned. “You don’t even know what he wants you to do yet.”
“I know exactly what he wants, and I ain’t wit’ it. Reporters don’t listen, Cap. They insert their nosy asses in other folks’ business and don’t stop till they get themselves killed, tryna prove shit.”
Capri smirked. “You already know who he wants you to detail, huh?”
Cannon sighed and nodded.
Even when he wasn’t home, Cannon kept up with the news in his city, because everyone he cared about lived there. For the last few months, there was one byline that had shown up more than any other: Nahla Avery.
Cannon had never laid eyes on the woman, but after reading a few of her stories, he had determined two things: She was a damn good journalist, and she was nosy as hell.
Miss Avery had a habit of stirring up things that most people in the city felt were best left buried.
Cannon wasn’t surprised that she needed protection.
“That woman be chasing problems like they owe her money. I just know she collects a new enemy with every story she writes.”
“Yeah, but she’s exposing people and businesses that need exposing, Cane. I know you respect her work, because you’ve had issues with a few of the subjects of her stories.”
Capri was right about that. He hadn’t read a story of Nahla’s that he disagreed with, but still . . .
“I can’t protect somebody like that, Cap,” Cannon said, shaking his head.
He made a point of staying away from jobs involving people who ran toward fire. People like that made it difficult for him to do his job because they insisted on not being protected. He could already picture her ass running from him at every turn, to chase a new lead.
Nah.
Once Cannon took on a job, he got deeply invested in the person’s safety, and he would be damned if Nahla Avery was going to be weighing on his conscience because she got herself hurt or, worse, for not taking her own safety seriously.
Capri sighed. “I’m sending you the file anyway. Mr. Hill says she’s traveling to Lyle for the weekend to follow up on a story about corrupt police or something. He’s worried and wants her to have subtle protection while she’s there.”
Cannon remained silent until he finished installing the camera. He then climbed off the ladder and stood in front of his sister’s desk. With folded arms, he tilted his head as he stared at her.
“She don’t know nothin’ about this, does she?”
Capri grinned. “Nope. Which means if she finds out, she’s gonna hate it—and you.”
Cannon shook his head. “Did you already accept the job, Cap?”
Her guilty smile told Cannon all he needed to know.
“You said you wanted another gig, Brother, and this is a good one. Does the fact that she’s a little curious mean she doesn’t deserve protecting?”
Cannon didn’t answer right away, but they both knew what he was thinking. Instead of saying so, he asked, “You good, though? I missed you.”
Capri smiled softly.
“I’m good, Brother. Me and Granny missed you too.”
He nodded. “I’ma go check on her in a few. You said you emailed me the job?”
With her smile stretching wider, Capri nodded silently.
Without another word, he turned and headed to his office, pulling his phone from his pocket on the way down the hall.
Once he made it to his office, he sat behind his desk and opened the latest email from Capri. For a minute or two, he just stared at the subject line:
Client: Nahla Avery.
That evening, Cannon sat on the sofa in his living room. The television was on the sports channel but was muted. He was too busy staring at another photo of Nahla Avery.
Earlier at his office, it took him a full ten minutes to scroll past her picture in the email Capri sent, and now that he was home doing more in-depth “research” on her, he couldn’t get past the image results from his internet search.
The woman was gorgeous.
Her mocha-colored skin was smooth and vibrant, and every feature on it was perfection. Her wide, round eyes, small button nose, and full brown lips were all fighting for his attention, and it was proving very difficult for him to pull his focus from her face.
Her file mentioned that she used to work for a newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, so Cannon had to force himself to click away from her pictures and find some of her old articles.
The things she covered in Atlanta made all her recent work look like child’s play. She had covered some serious stories in the past, and Cannon was beginning to understand who Nahla was, even though they had yet to meet.
Her pattern was clear. Nahla went in too deep, too fast. A couple of her older stories seemed to get cut short because she obviously reported her findings too quickly.
The drug story, for example, started as a high-energy, extremely revealing series.
Still, the story fell flat when she reported that a “mid-level player” in the ring had been arrested then later died in his cell.
Cannon was sure the ring gave police a scapegoat and relocated when they realized Nahla was getting too close to the truth.
If she had waited to publish, she might have gotten a little further into the hierarchy of the criminal enterprise.
Honestly, she had been blessed not to have been the one they disposed of.
Other stories ended in similar fashions. He knew people—soldiers—like her before, and the fates that many of them suffered made his jaw tighten as he thought about them.
After reading more of her Atlanta articles, he went back to her latest one, the one that had Eli Hill nervous for her.
Cannon didn’t doubt that there was plenty of corruption and scandals happening in Lyle, but Nahla clearly viewed potential threats there as small fish compared to the subjects she had encountered in the past. Cannon knew better.
It was so much easier to get away with things like handling an annoying reporter in a small town like Lyle. She clearly needed protection—from outside threats and possibly herself.
Just as he closed the article, his phone rang.
Eli Hill.
“Mr. Porter,” Eli said as soon as the line connected.
“Mr. Hill.”
“Your sister let me know that you agreed to look out for Nahla this weekend. I just wanted to give my thanks personally.”
Cannon smirked. There was a tension in Eli’s voice that made it clear he had something else to say. Instead of helping Mr. Hill beat around the bush, Cannon decided to get to the point.
“That’s not all you called to say, though.”
Eli laughed. “Your sister said you were discerning. I just wasn’t sure if you were aware of the nature of the job. Nahla is a great kid, she’s just—”
“Ambitious and reckless,” Cannon said, finishing Eli’s sentence.
“Uh, . . . yeah, precisely. I just wanted to give you a heads-up. If she senses she’s being followed, she’ll definitely try to give you the slip. I didn’t tell her I hired you, because that would only make your job harder, so—”
“I understand, Mr. Hill. I need to be discreet while tailing her.”
Letting out a relief-filled sigh, Eli said, “Yes, that’s exactly it. Thanks again for doing this.”
“It’s my job. I’ll check in with you on her status by the end of tomorrow.”
With that, Cannon hung up. He pulled up her file again, for no reason other than to stare at her photo a minute longer.
It was a professional headshot, and in his opinion, it gave off the perfect vibe for someone in her line of work.
Instead of smiling, her expression was serious; her eyes, determined.
As angelic and doll-like as her face was, in this photo, she looked like a woman whose bite was much worse than her bark.
Cannon would be able to confirm that soon enough.