Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
WYATT
Letty inquired as they stepped out of the cottage. “Do you think Rhea will have more information?”
“She’s ex-Navy Intel. I’m sure she’s found more.” He pivoted at a noise in the marsh and picked up his pace to the Jeep sitting in the gravel pull-off, near the marsh road.
Letty had almost reached the passenger door as Wyatt spoke. “Stop.” He moved to her. His hand closed around her elbow, firm enough to halt her mid-step.
Letty blinked. “What…?”
Wyatt crouched, already scanning beneath the chassis. The sun glinted off something wrong. “Don’t move,” he said, voice low and controlled.
She froze.
The brake line hung loose beneath the Jeep, the cut clean enough to catch the morning light, and Wyatt’s jaw locked as the last piece slid into place. This was not vandalism, bad luck, or some random act. Someone had meant to trap them here.
“Wyatt?”
He straightened and met her gaze. “Someone doesn’t want us driving anywhere.”
Her breath hitched, but she didn’t panic. “How can you be sure?”
“The line was cut with something sharp.”
She absorbed the information like a researcher. “Is this linked to the boat fire?” Letty asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “And your investigation.”
She swallowed. “I haven’t shared that with just anyone.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Wyatt said. “Someone knows you have something.”
He pulled out his phone and snapped several photos before stepping back into her space without apology, close enough that she could feel the control in him, the kind that sharpened instead of frayed when danger got personal. “You’re not alone anymore, and that’s not negotiable.”
Her chin lifted. “You always this bossy?”
He met her stare. “You already know my answer.” Something flickered between them: heat, fear, something neither of them named. Wyatt motioned her back toward the cottage. “Pack essentials. We’re walking.”
LETTY
Letty stood on the dock next to Salt they’ll deliver.”
“I’m starving. Got a menu?”
Wyatt sat just outside the room, listening to the women. He stood up and grabbed the menu off the cork board as he walked into the room. “Here.” He gave the menu to Letty.
“Where’d you come from?” Rhea inquired.
“I’m not letting the Doc out of my sight. I heard you guys talking about food, so I grabbed the menu.”
Thirty minutes later, the group sat around the large table devouring simple bar food that tasted like a four-course meal. Letty beamed. “I love fried appetizers.”
Rhea nodded. “Perfectly fried…”
“Shit!” Someone bellowed from downstairs. “Fire!”
Wyatt was on his feet and down the stairs in the blink of an eye. He rounded the corner as Jackson finished putting out the fire with the extinguisher.
“The trash can was on fire.” Jackson stepped back. “Don’t know how it got started.”
“Okay,” Wyatt answered.
Cal strolled up behind him with Rhea and Letty on his tail. “How’d someone get this close?” Cal flicked his head at Wyatt. “Surveillance?”
Jackson walked over with a tablet showing a hooded figure in jeans tossing a flaming rag into the trash can by the door. “I can’t make out his face.” Wyatt grimaced. “Check for another angle.”
Jackson flicked through footage on the screen, shaking his head.
Cal’s phone buzzed. “Looks like the councilman wasn’t in the car.”
Letty straightened her posture. “So, if our theory is correct, whomever is doing this is trying to intimidate Pike.”
Wyatt donned a pair of nitrile gloves and picked up the trash can. The smell of chemical set his teeth on edge. “The accelerant burned fast.” Wyatt dumped the contents on the steel table just inside the door.
“I’m going to ops for a bigger screen.” Jackson walked away.
Letty turned her focus to Wyatt. “This intimidation is meant for me.” Letty stood with her arms wrapped around herself.
Wyatt turned to her. “They want you too afraid to continue.”
Letty’s voice softened. “Well,” she said, tipping her head, “that’s rude of them. I had plans tonight.”
“You’re not funny, Doc.”
“I’m coping.” She shot back.
Wyatt exhaled with restraint, forcing his temper back into its box. “We need to move your files. Secure them. Multiple locations.”
“I already did,” she said. “I sent all the info to my cloud, encrypted and time-stamped.”
He studied her. “You plan ahead.”
“Disasters reward preparation.”
He nodded once. “I’ve lined up a new place for us to stay.”
Letty’s eyebrow lifted. “Does it have safe parking?”
“It does. No one will be able to get to you.”
Smoke lingered on the first floor as Wyatt walked her to the metal table to scrutinize the contents of the trash can. This happened on my watch.
Letty stood with her arms folded tightly across her chest. “Acetone.”
Wyatt sniffed the can. “A lot of it. They must have soaked the cloth in it. I’m surprised it didn’t burn their hand.”
The comms chirped with Cal’s voice. “The perp knew where to avoid the cameras. They wore a hoodie and gloves and moved fast.”
Letty mumbled. “That was bold.”
“Reckless, but he had to have been around to see the cameras or got intel from someone else.” Wyatt focused on the burned trash.
Letty whispered. “You said you found us a safer place.”
“I did. It’s an inland property Cal keeps off public records.”
Letty leaned into him. “You didn’t think you should discuss this with me in advance?”
His jaw flexed. “I wouldn’t push it, Doc. I’m angry.”
“At me?” Letty’s voice rose.
“No, at whoever thinks they can scare you.” He paused.
“You don’t have to take this personally.”
“I do.” He stepped closer until the air between them thinned, and her pulse fluttered visibly at the base of her throat, quick enough that he noticed and controlled enough that he knew she was still standing there by choice. “No one is touching you,” he whispered. “Not like this.”
She let out a breath that trembled. “Wyatt…”
He leaned in before she could finish. The movement wasn’t rushed nor practiced, just smooth.
His lips brushed hers, slow and deliberate.
It wasn’t a claiming, just soft pressure as she inhaled and her fingers curled into the front of his shirt.
For half a second, he deepened it just enough for her to respond, and then he pulled back.
She gasped as his forehead almost touched hers. “I’m not letting this touch you.”
Footsteps approached from the direction of the boat bay. “Hey!” A team member called out as he got to them. “If you two are done pretending that a burned trash can is romantic, I’m ready to follow you to the safe house.”
Wyatt didn’t look away from her as she mumbled. “Your team has terrible timing.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “They do.”