Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
Exhaustion engulfed Indigo. All she wanted to do was sleep, but then she would miss out on watching Wilt as he drove. A creeper move, though it didn’t feel that way.
Or maybe it was because the further they drove away from Jordan and Kyle’s place, the tenser he seemed to get.
Was he regretting the kiss they’d almost shared?
For a few seconds, she’d forgotten where she was, and her attention had been totally on Wilt. She could drown in the blue of his eyes. They were so bright and clear.
He’d pulled back at the last second, and as much as it had pained her that he had, she also understood that where they were wasn’t the place for them to indulge.
Although, with the way Greta and Jordan had smiled widely and winked at her, they seemed to think it might have been a great idea.
As much as she appreciated the support, she still had a job to do, and she planned to do it without giving them any reason not to employ her for future jobs.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, when another few tense minutes passed without him saying anything. He glanced at her, and the look he gave her answered her question. “There is, isn’t there?”
He gave a short nod and hit the brakes as the cars in front of them slowed down.
Had she received another message? She hadn’t looked at her phone much after the Rottnest Island leg of their trip. She hadn’t wanted to. The very idea of finding another threatening message had her skin crawling.
Or was he regretting the fact he almost kissed her? God, she couldn’t deal with that, if that was the case.
“What is it?” Did he think it was fun not to tell her?
“You got another message today.”
She blew out a breath, somehow relieved that it wasn’t to do with the almost-kiss. Yet, panic built in her because her other suspicion had come true.
Why her?
Why now?
Those were questions she’d asked herself before, and she still didn’t have a good answer for them.
“How bad was it? What did it say? Do I need to be concerned? Are you getting any closer to finding who this person is?”
The questions tripped off her tongue, and she supposed she shouldn’t have bombarded him with them, but she couldn’t help herself.
“I’ll answer them one at a time, starting with the last one. I like to think I’m getting closer to locating them. I need to sit and focus on it. As for being concerned, it’s not ideal there’s been another message. There were also photos of your shoots at Rottnest attached to it.”
Indigo inhaled sharply. “Could they have gotten them from the posts people put up?”
Doing a photoshoot in a public place guaranteed people took photos; she’d been tagged in many that first day.
“These were unique.”
“How?” She didn’t like the sound of that.
“They were taken from above, suggesting the person used a drone or something, to get them.”
This was getting worse, and she didn’t even know what the message was. She was going to take everything in her stride, though. She’d been through this once, she could do it again, couldn’t she? “What did the message say?”
“Similar to the first one, but they added they always know where you are.”
Indigo sat back in the seat and closed her eyes, letting everything Wilt told her sink in. “Does that mean everyone who is around me is in danger?” she asked eventually. Another thought hit her, one that didn’t sit well at all. “Or is it someone on the shoot with us?”
Wilt glanced at her again, his lips firm and his brow furrowed.
“It’s something I haven’t wanted to consider or say out loud, but given the photos I received, that’s something we need to consider.
I’m going to run a check on everyone again.
We’ve already completed thorough checks on everyone on the job, but given the circumstances. I’ll run another one.”
This was getting worse and worse. Who could she trust if not the people she worked with? “I can’t believe this is happening.”
A warm hand covered hers, giving them a squeeze. “You know I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She was grateful for his reassurance and his touch, one she missed when he put his hand back on the steering wheel. “I do, but things happen. And I won’t blame you if something did.”
“Stop! Don’t even fucking think that.” Wilt’s anger filled the car, but it didn’t scare her. Regardless of what he did for his career, there was no fear of violence from him. He wasn’t that type of person.
“I’m being realistic here, Wilt. I don’t think anything will happen, but if it does, then I know you’ll do what you can to ensure that it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Even to her own ears she sounded fatalistic. Not a good attitude to have.
“I’m. Not. Going. To. Let. Anything. Happen. To. You.” Each word enunciated clearly to get the message across to her.
He was driving, he didn’t need his attention split between assuring her and watching the road. A change of subject was needed. “What’s the thing you were going to work on during the flight, for your office? Or were you going to do the background checks?”
Okay, so maybe she couldn’t totally change it.
“I’ll leave the background checks for when we get to Broome.
What I was going to do–while not top-secret stuff, and I can’t go into all the specifics–– is check out some satellite images of the area my team members are going into.
I’m going to try and see if I can get some more intel for them, so they have a better idea of the lay of the land so they’re not surprised and have plans for every contingency. ”
There wasn’t any indication in his voice that he wished he was going with them, even though their past conversations suggested he did.
“Do you do that all the time? Before you go away, that is?”
The sign for the airport flashed past them, soon they would be surrounded by others, and their ability to keep this conversation going was slim. There was no way Wilt would want to talk about this around the rest of the group.
“Yeah, we generally have at least four or more different plans in place for any trip.”
“Why so many?” It seemed excessive, but what did she know about how things like that worked?
“Because nothing is predictable when you’re going into hostile environments. It’s better to have more plans than not enough.”
“Surely, it’s impossible to cover every possible outcome. How would you know what’s going to happen?”
Wilt pulled into a parking spot and turned the engine off.
“True, we can’t know every little detail, but after doing what we do for as long as we have, we’ve seen a lot, and had to pivot quickly to avoid danger, so we use those experiences when we’re planning.
Nine times out of ten, shit hits the fan anyway and we have to make something up on the fly. ”
He spoke about what he did so casually, as if it wasn’t a big deal, but for someone like her who benefitted from the shit they did that kept her and everyone else in the world safe, it was a huge deal.
“Thank you for all you do,” she said quietly.
He shrugged. “I’ve been out of the Army for a while now, but thank you.” He glanced at his watch. “We need to go.”
Indigo didn’t want to be surrounded by people, she’d much rather it just be the two of them. “You’re right. We don’t want to keep everyone waiting.”
Afew hours later after landing in Broome, Indigo looked out over the ocean from her room at the resort they were staying at. Like Rottnest Island, they were in individual bungalows with views of the famous Cable Beach.
The place was owned by one of Jeffrey’s good friends, and it was luxury personified as well as eco-friendly. Everything about it, from the toiletries to the white fluffy robes hanging in the wardrobe, were high quality.
She’d stayed in a lot of places over her years traveling the world, but this place was the best one, and would be hard to top.
There was a light breeze, and the sand glowed a pearl white beneath the moonlight, tempting her to sink her feet into the soft grains.
The next day was a day for everyone to decompress and relax. Take advantage of the spa in the resort. Or take a leisurely walk around the town and visit the stores.
Indigo planned to sleep in and then relax on the front porch of her bungalow. She had her Kindle, and it had been a long time since she’d lost herself in a book.
Tonight though, she was going to answer the call of the beach and take a short walk.
After the initial shock and fear of receiving another threat, she decided she wasn’t going to give the person the satisfaction of seeing her afraid.
She wasn’t going to stop living and enjoying the piece of paradise they were in.
Some might think she was being reckless, but she trusted Jeffrey and this resort to be safe. Not to mention Wilt was in the bungalow next to hers.
She closed her eyes, remembering the moment at the vineyard. When he was so close to her, she could see the different shades of blue in his eyes.
He’d told her he would change his plans of working on the plane to spend the time on the flight talking to her, and he’d kept his promise.
She found out more about the men he worked with, how they were brothers to him.
He also told her how they’d met their significant others, and the trauma some of them had gone through.
He’d finished with how he’d been injured when his friend Andy’s partner, who’s their office receptionist, had been taken.
There was more he wasn’t saying about his injured shoulder, and she hadn’t probed, even though she’d wanted to. But the grimace he gave when he lifted her suitcase made sense.
“Can’t sleep?”
She startled, and looked across to find that Wilt was standing on his porch too.
He’d changed into shorts, and his shirt was open, giving her a good look at his impressive chest. She wasn’t surprised to see he sported a six pack.
Doing what he did, he would need to keep himself in tiptop physical shape.
She’d got a glimpse of how fit he was on Rottnest, but had walked away from him.
“Not really. I was thinking of going for a walk. Do you want to join me?” Perhaps it wouldn’t be as contentious as the one they’d shared on Rottnest, although that had ended with them kissing.
“I’d like that. Give me a second to check my computer, and then we can head off.”
“I don’t want to keep you from your work. I know you have a lot to do.”
“I wouldn’t have agreed if I didn’t want to join you.”
“Okay.” How could she argue with that?
As he disappeared into his bungalow, she wiped her hands down her shorts. She looked nothing like the model she was, but she didn’t need all the accruements that came with her job to impress Wilt.
And she wanted him to see the real Indigo.