Luke
Luke
Prologue
F ive Years Earlier
Luke Tracy ducked into the alley, not sure if the two men who were following him were still behind him. If he was taking a guess, they were, but he wasn’t sure why they were still on his ass. He had picked up the tail after he left the bar, on his way back to base, and he knew better than to take trouble back to the Naval base he was stationed at. His commanding officer had already warned him to stop borrowing trouble and he had a feeling that the two guys chasing him down were major trouble.
He couldn’t just hide away in an alley. If he wasn’t back to base in the next two hours, he’d be written up for missing curfew and that was also a black mark against him that he didn’t need. For now, he just needed to ditch his tail and get back before anyone missed him—as if it was that easy.
“Jesus, Luke,” he chided himself, “get yourself together and think.” There had to be a way out of this that didn’t involve him calling his best friend, Ranger. The last thing he needed was to get his buddy involved in whatever shit he currently was tangled up in, but he was beginning to see that he had no choice.
“Fuck,” he whispered to himself, pulling his cell from his uniform. “Shit, shit, shit,” he grumbled as he dialed Ranger’s number and held the phone up to his ear.
“Lo,” Ranger answered on the second ring. “What’s up, man?”
“I’m in trouble,” Luke whispered into the phone. “I’m being tailed and I’m not exactly sure why.”
“Shit, Luke,” Ranger mumbled. “Where are you?”
“I just left the Taproom,” he said. It was a place that every guy from base knew well. The Taproom was practically their second home, and he knew that Ranger would know where to find him. “I’m about two blocks south of there in an alley, trying not to do something stupid like get myself killed.”
“How many guys are following you?” Ranger asked.
“I’m guessing about two, but don’t know for sure. And unless I’m willing to let them catch up with me, I’m betting that you’re going to have to settle for my guess here, man,” Luke said. He knew what his friend’s question would be before he even asked it. Ranger like to deal with the known—how many and what he was dealing with would be his next questions, and Luke didn’t want to find out those answers on his own. It was why he called Ranger in the first place.
“Fine,” Ranger said. “I’ll be there in five minutes, just lay low and try not to get yourself killed in the meantime,” he grumbled.
“No promises, man,” Luke teased. “Just hurry. And Ranger, don’t tell anyone about this. I need to figure out what’s going on before going to command with this.” Hell, he didn’t even know what “This” even was. Why would anyone be tailing him? The question was, were they watching him the whole time that he was sitting in the Taproom, or had they just picked up his trail and decided to track him down? But he was getting ahead of himself here. First, he’d have to figure out who was following him, and then, he’d let his mind wander as to what they wanted from him. Why was it that every time something like this happened, his brain immediately went to him being chased down by spies or some crazy scenario like that?
“I think he went down here,” a man loudly whispered at the street corner that led back to the alley. He was hidden in one of the back corners, but he knew that if they wanted to find him, all they had to do was put a bit of effort into it. There wasn’t anywhere for him to truly hide and all he seemed capable of doing was closing his eyes and saying a little prayer that Ranger would hurry the hell up.
“It’s a dead-end,” the other guy whispered back. “What kind of moron would block himself off down a dead-end alley?” If he wasn’t being hunted down for no reason, Luke would find their whole dialogue about him being a moron funny—but nothing about this was funny.
“I don’t know much about the guy, but from what the boss has told us, he’s not a rocket scientist,” the first guy said. At least he wasn’t calling Luke a moron like the second guy had. Still, the rocket scientist statement stung a bit.
“What does the boss want with him, anyway?” the second guy asked. “I mean, do we have any idea why we’ve been trailing this guy for days now?” Days? They had been tracking him for fucking days and he hadn’t even noticed it. Well, that made him definitely feel like a moron. How had he not noticed them following him around?
“No clue,” the first guy admitted. “All I know is that the boss called me tonight and said it was time to bring him in. Apparently, this guy has connections that can get the boss back his family, and he wants answers now.”
Who the hell was this “Boss” person that they were talking about and what did Luke know about his family? He racked his brain trying to figure it out when a government issued vehicle, which looked more like a damn tank, showed up in the alley. He heard the two guys cursing and Luke was pretty sure that they had taken off when Ranger showed up to collect him.
He ran down the alley, trying to stay in the shadows, and jumped into the front seat of the vehicle. “You couldn’t have brought something a little less inconspicuous?” Luke grumbled.
“It was either this or my bike, and that thing makes a shit ton of noise,” Ranger defended.
“Yeah, and this tank is so quiet,” Luke joked.
“By the way, you’re welcome that I came to save your ass. I saw the two guys standing in the corner. I’m assuming that they were the ones on your tail,” Ranger said.
“Yeah,” Luke said. “I overheard them talking about me. They said that their boss wanted them to bring me in because I apparently know something about where his family is and how he can get them back.”
“His family?” Ranger asked. “You have any idea what they were talking about?”
“Not a clue,” Luke admitted. “But I plan on finding out. I think that we need to take this to command. I’m being followed. This wasn’t just a chance thing. They want to bring me in to talk to their boss, and I can’t let that happen.”
“Agreed,” Ranger said. “I’ll go with you to talk to the Commander. He actually likes me, and I’ll smooth things over for you to pave the way. You’ll need his help and going in there alone doesn’t always end well for you,” Ranger taunted.
“Fine,” Luke said. “I’ll take all the help that I can get at this point. Thanks, Ranger—for everything.”
Present Day
Luke wasn’t sure how the hell he was going to tell his new boss and his best friend that he was going to have to take a leave of absence, but he had no choice. As the law firm's new head of security, he couldn’t bring his troubles to their doorstep, but that was exactly what he was doing by just showing up to work. He wasn’t sure that Alex or Rod would understand, but he had no choice but to be straight with them and let the chips fall where they may.
He decided to just bite the bullet and head upstairs to Alex’s office and hope like hell that Rod was there, and that Alex’s cute new assistant would let him in to see both of them. He rode the elevator up to the top floor of the building and stepped off of the elevator almost running into the exact sexy assistant that he was just thinking about.
Ruby Grace was the exact opposite of his type. She was the kind of woman that he’d usually look right past if he was out scoping women, but he wasn’t. For some reason, Ruby turned him completely inside out and that wasn’t going to change any time soon. Her red hair and blue eyes were a complete turn-on for him and honestly, Luke never saw himself with someone like her, not that it mattered now. He was going to have to leave town, his job, and even sexy, little Ruby behind.
“Hey, Ruby,” Luke breathed, “you heading out?”
“No, just running to the restroom,” she said. “Can I help you?”
“Um, sure,” he said, thinking about all of the ways he’d like to ask her to help him out—most of them completely inappropriate. “I need to talk to Alex, is he in?” he asked.
“Yep,” she said. “If you give me just a minute to run to the bathroom, I’ll let him know that you’re here,” she said.
“All right,” he agreed.
Alex stuck his head out of his office and smiled over at Luke. “Hey, man,” he said, “come on back.”
“Sorry, Mr. McTavish,” Ruby apologized.
“Not a problem,” Alex assured. “You take all the time you need, in fact, feel free to head home early. I have an appointment at the doctors with Nova, so I’m going to skip out early too.”
“Thank you, Mr. McTavish,” Ruby said.
“Alex, Ruby,” he insisted. “I told you to call me Alex.” She nodded and disappeared down the hallway to the restrooms, turning back to smile at Luke as he watched her walk away.
Luke crossed the hallway and walked past Alex into his office. “Thanks for seeing me on short notice,” Luke said. “I didn’t mean to come up here and barge in on you.”
“It’s not a problem,” Alex promised. “Honestly, it’s a slow day. I knew that I was going to have to leave early today for my wife’s OB appointment.”
“Oh, yeah—I heard that Nova’s pregnant, congratulations,” Luke said. “Rod told me about him becoming an uncle when we went out for a beer last week. Is he around today, by chance?”
“Sorry, no,” Alex said. “He’s been in meetings all day.”
“I guess I can fill him in later. Listen, I need to take a leave of absence,” Luke said.
“Everything all right?” Alex asked. This was the tricky part. Did he tell his new boss that he had a feeling that someone was watching him and that he was in danger, or did he come up with something that sounded a little more believable? Luke hadn’t felt this way since he was being followed while stationed in South Korea, and nothing had ever come of that investigation.
“I’m not sure,” Luke admitted. “Last night, I found this note on my truck’s windshield on my way home.” He pulled the wrinkled piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Alex.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave town now, and no one else has to die,” Alex read aloud.
“Who has already died?” he asked Luke.
He shrugged, “The only person that I can think of is my older brother, but he’s been dead for almost five years now. He died in a hiking accident.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but this note makes it sound as though someone was murdered. Do you know of anyone who was murdered?” Alex asked.
“No,” Luke admitted. “No one that I’ve known personally. I’ve also had a feeling like someone’s been watching me for weeks now. I can’t pinpoint one instance, it’s just a feeling. But now, with this note, I’m starting to feel that maybe my instincts were right.” He was being honest with Alex—he didn’t know anyone who had been killed personally, but he had seen many men and women killed during his time in the Navy. He just didn’t think that their deaths were pertinent to their conversation. The only person from his personal life that had ever died on him was his brother, Jack, and he wasn’t murdered.
“Anything else?” Alex asked.
“Nothing tangible. I just think that it would be best for me to take some time away from the office to try to figure this all out,” Luke said.
“Did you go to the authorities about this note, yet?” Alex asked.
“No,” Luke admitted. “I mean, I thought that I’d be able to handle this since I am in security. I just don’t want my trouble tracking me down at work. Whoever left this note had to come on company property to do so. I hate that my problems are touching your firm, Alex,” he said.
“First, you need to check the security cameras to see if we got any footage of the person leaving this on your truck. Second, you’re not taking a leave of absence. That’s bullshit and I won’t let you walk away from the firm to try to save us. If someone’s coming for you, we’ll figure this out together. Hell, I’ll increase your security staff to help out with this issue, Luke.”
“I can’t ask you to do that, Alex,” he insisted.
“You didn’t ask, I’ve offered. Consider it a done deal, Luke. You’re my brother’s best friend. I’ve known you for years now, and I won’t let you handle this problem alone. I say we call in the cops and give them this note as evidence,” Alex said.
“Be sure about this, Alex. You have a lot of employees and I’d hate to put any of them in danger,” Luke said.
“I’m sure,” Alex said. “I’ll help you put together a larger security team in the morning. Until then, call the cops and tell them about this note. I can’t stick around. If I miss this appointment, my wife will kill me.”
“No, you should go. I’ll turn the note over to the authorities in the morning. I’d like some time to comb through our security footage before involving them. Maybe we’ll be able to take care of this issue in-house and not have to involve them at all,” Luke said.
“All right,” Alex said. “Fill Rod in when you see him next, but don’t spread this around the company. I don’t want mass hysteria about having to come to work every day from the employees. Keep this quiet.”
“Right, boss,” Luke agreed. “Thanks for listening,” he said.
“Any time, Luke,” Alex said. “Keep me in the loop.”
Luke nodded and left his office only to run into Ruby again. She had her bags and was ready to leave for the night. “Heading home?” he asked.
“I am,” she agreed. He wanted to ask her who she’d be going home to, but he knew better than to ask employees personal questions.
“You?” she asked.
“I think that I will,” he said. “It’s been a long day. You mind sharing an elevator?” he asked.
Ruby giggled, “Well, it does have a twelve-person capacity, so sure,” she teased. What was it about Ruby that had him so tongue-tied and saying all the wrong things?
“Right, thanks,” he breathed. When the doors opened, he waited for Ruby to step in first, and then followed her on. The doors closed and she cleared her throat, watching the numbers light up over the top of the door as the elevator descended. He took the opportunity to look at Ruby, really look at her, and God, she was adorable. She wore Converse with her skirt and dressy blouse. Her red hair was pulled back in a messy bun and her thick, black glasses were falling down the bridge of her nose.
“Can you please stop looking at me like that?” she whispered, turning back to look at him.
“Looking at you like what?” he asked. Sure, he had been caught, but playing dumb was his only option.
“I can see you out of the corner of my eyes, Luke. You were looking at my outfit.” She turned to face him, almost standing toe to toe with him. “Listen, I know that I’m odd. Heck, I’ve been called a nerd more times than I care to admit, but I won’t let you make fun of me too.”
“I wasn’t going to make fun of you, Ruby,” he assured.
“Then, why were you looking at me like that?” she asked.
“Because I think you’re hot as hell and I was trying to memorize you right now, at this moment, until I get to see you again.” Her little gasp made him rock hard. The elevator doors opened to the lobby, and he loved the way she watched him as he stepped off.
“Have a good night, Ruby,” he said. She watched him until the elevator doors closed on her again and he smiled to himself. He’d finally gotten up the nerve to talk to the new girl, and as far as he was concerned, it had gone well.