Chapter Seven
ANDRE’S GUT TIGHTENED into a knot. “Talk to me.” Man, he hoped this wasn’t as bad as he feared. The last thing he wanted to do was bring trouble to Riley’s life.
“My bots picked up a deep probe.”
“Target?” He prayed the trouble wasn’t from him. He didn’t want to be responsible for the break-in at Riley’s place. How could she trust him with her heart if he and his past brought trouble into her sanctuary?
“You’re the unlucky winner this time, buddy. Sorry.”
His hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Can you tell where the inquiry is coming from?”
“Your law enforcement career.”
He frowned. That surprised him. Andre paused. Unless the inquiry was connected to the terrorist cell he and his teammates brought down with the help of Riley and her Artemis team. “Who?”
“That I don’t know yet. I’m working on it. I should have an answer for you in an hour or two.”
Although he wanted to know what delay could be more important than Riley’s life, Andre kept his mouth zipped.
Zane Murphy was the best in the business.
If he didn’t have the information, no one would have it.
The man was amazing. Griping wouldn’t net Andre the information sooner, but it would cause some hard feelings between him and Z. That would not happen.
Not only that, Seth and Brent would tear a strip off his hide for his impatience. No one disrespected Zane and got away with it. “Call me as soon as you know anything, Z.”
“Copy that.” Zane ended the call.
Andre sighed and glanced at Riley. “I’m sorry.”
Her head whipped toward him. “For what?”
“Bringing trouble into your home. Literally.”
Riley frowned. “How did you do that?”
“I must have tipped the enemy off that I was crazy about you. I brought this trouble inside your house, Riley, and there aren’t enough words for how sorry I am.”
“You don’t know that you tipped off the enemy. How could you have shown your hand when we were deployed almost the entire month?”
“Nothing else makes sense.”
“Not yet. We haven’t finished looking into this, Andre. I could have messed up and led the break-in artists right to my house.”
“You’re not careless.”
“Neither are you. Why don’t we hold off on taking the blame for what may not be our fault until we have all the facts?”
He appreciated Riley’s looking on the positive side and expecting the best from him. Andre held up a hand. “You’re right. We’ll wait.” Wouldn’t change the outcome. He had a bad feeling about this, and those feelings usually panned out exactly as his gut warned.
“Where’s my calendar?” Riley smiled. “I need to write that down so I don’t forget this momentous occasion.”
He laughed. “All right, Sloan. I’m not that bad, am I?”
“No, but it’s a lot of fun teasing you about it.” After a beat, she sobered. “Andre, something is going on, and I don’t think it’s going to be a simple fix.”
“Why do you say that?”
She shrugged. “Gut instinct.”
Unfortunately, his gut said the same. “We’ll figure out what’s going on. We have the power of Fortress behind us. Not much stays hidden with Fortress on the job.”
“I hope you’re right.” She was silent for a moment. “I’m concerned about Christopher, too.”
Yet another situation that Andre had zero control over and wished he did.
Too many things could go wrong in the blink of an eye while law enforcement and child services investigated the allegations of child abuse.
“Same. Brent Maddox can work miracles, though. Look at the setup for the next few days. Somehow he convinced the ambassador to leave Chris and Rex with him and his family rather than turning the boy over as soon as we returned to Nashville.”
“I wonder how he did that.”
“I don’t know, but I’m glad he did. That gives Brent and Zane more time to figure out if our suspicions are correct.” He exited the interstate and headed into the countryside near Christiana, Tennessee.
“Where is this safe house? Do you know?”
“It’s between Christiana and Murfreesboro.
This is a cabin owned by a friend of Durango.
” The black ops unit was one of two units stationed at Personal Security International, the Fortress training school for bodyguards and operatives in Otter Creek, Tennessee.
“Fortress uses it occasionally as a safe house. I think you’ll like it. ”
“If it’s the cabin I’m thinking about, I’ve been here once. It’s a really nice place.”
“Probably is. I don’t think Fortress has a series of safe houses in this area.” He deliberately shifted the conversation to lighter topics. “So, Ms. Sloan, where would you like to go on our first official date?”
“I don’t really care. All I want is time with you.” She turned to him. “Maybe we can find something fun to do in Christiana.”
“Perhaps. We have to consider security protocols in whatever we choose. I’ll look around online during my watch shift and come up with a few options that will work.
” The one thing he would never do was risk Riley’s safety.
If he disappointed her, Andre would make it up to Riley later and do what he could to ease the feeling of being closed in.
“Good plan.”
Thirty minutes later, he parked in front of a three-story cabin. “What do you think?”
“What’s not to like? This place is enormous, just like I remember.”
So even with four of them inside the cabin, she shouldn’t feel hemmed in.
Relief flooded Andre. Thank goodness. His woman was as tough as nails, but Riley needed freedom to thrive.
He’d give her as much freedom as he could.
Something told him there would come a time when her freedom would have to be curtailed for her own safety.
Andre exited the vehicle and circled the hood to open Riley’s door. She stood on the asphalt driveway and studied the cabin. “I’m glad Fortress sent us here. This place is enormous enough to house both of our teams if necessary.”
“Let’s hope we won’t need the full might of Echo and Artemis.” If they did, he and Riley were in deep trouble.
Together, they unloaded their gear from the cargo area and slipped the duffel bags over their shoulders. At the front door, Andre input the code to unlock the door and deactivated the alarm system.
Riley sighed. “This is as gorgeous as I remember. Durango’s friend has great taste in homes.”
“From what I understand, he inherited the place from his grandfather.” Andre headed toward the stairs.
“Come on. One advantage of arriving first is that you have the pick of the rooms.” When they reached the second floor, he said, “Choose the most protected room, Riley. If someone breaches our security here, I want them to have a great deal of trouble getting to you.”
“You could also be a target.”
He thought about that for a minute, then shook his head. “Not yet. Someone is looking for me, but that doesn’t mean he’s found me yet. My primary concern is you and your safety.”
She stared. “We’ll choose the two best-protected rooms.”
His heart turned over in his chest at her decree because that’s what her statement was. Riley wasn’t giving him room to argue with her. “As long as I’m close to you, any room is fine.” If nothing was available, Andre would happily sleep on the floor in the hall in front of her room.
He also planned to lay some welcome-to-the-neighborhood surprises that would give them ample warning of a perimeter breach. No one would get to Riley unless they went through him first, and he was hard to kill.
His mouth curved as he followed Riley. She decided on the corner room at the end of the hall, the perfect place to defend her.
Andre walked in behind her and looked around.
Nice. Very nice. He could get used to living like this.
Too bad it was only temporary. He looked into the spacious bathroom and had his first case of shower envy.
The large shower sported rain shower heads and multiple other heads from three walls, one long bench, and built-in shelves for soap and shampoo.
“Wow.” Riley walked to the center of the bathroom and spun in a slow circle, taking everything in. “When I was here before, I didn’t see the primary suite. This is unbelievable, Andre. You could bathe a family of Golden Retrievers in here all at the same time.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, you could.”
“This is my new goal for my house. A bathroom like this one.”
“You’d either have to lose most of your bedroom or do some demolition to knock out the back wall to build a bathroom like this one.”
“Either way, totally worth it.” She rubbed her hands together. “I can’t wait to try out that shower without the dogs. So, which bedroom are you choosing for yourself, Andre?”
“The one next to yours.”
“It’s small.”
Andre shrugged. “Don’t care. I’ll only be in there to sleep. I need little space.”
His phone signaled a text message. He glanced at the screen. “Iona and Elias are here.” After setting down his Go bag and equipment bag in his room, Andre descended the stairs.
Their teammates waited for them in the living room. “So Zane and Brent put us in Rod Kelter’s cabin, huh?” Elias slid his Go bag from his shoulder. “Wonder what we did to deserve that special treat.”
Iona headed for the kitchen. “Did either of you check the food supply?”
“We’ve only been here five minutes.” Riley followed her team leader to the back of the cabin. “Have you seen the en-suite bathroom?”
“Nice, isn’t it?”
“I want a bathroom exactly like that in my house.” Riley’s voice faded as she walked farther away from Elias and Andre.
Elias inclined his head in the direction Riley had gone. “How is she?”
“More upset than she’s willing to admit.” Andre dragged a hand down his face. “Part of it is my fault.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Freeing Riley from her captors required taking her out the way I came into the room where they were holding her.”
“Which was how?”
“Ventilation system.”
Elias stared. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. It was the best way to reach her without having a horde of terrorists on my six.”
“How did you fit in there?”