Chapter 12
Travis Reed, a tall, somewhat gangly but muscled man, showed up by morning. Reed stood at the door when Ephraim opened it, his stance military straight.
“Come on in.” Ephraim said and stepped back for the younger man to enter with his duffle. “I’ll get Sophie.”
As he stepped away to let Sophie know the other man was there, Ephraim noted Reed scoping the cabin. He’d take in all of the vulnerable spots, including that blasted sliding glass door, as well as any measures Ephraim and Sophie took to decrease the danger.
Sophie greeted Reed with polite curtesy, though Ephraim recognized the old hesitancy she’d shown with him at their first meeting.
“Want some coffee?” she asked and strode toward the kitchen area.
“Sure, thanks,” Reed said and walked further into the living area. “Hank said you were having some difficulty with a stalker?”
“Not a stalker,” Ephraim corrected and gestured for Reed to take a seat. “How much info has Hank given you?”
“Not a lot. I was in South Carolina when he called. Said you might need some help and you’d fill me in.” Reed accepted the mug of brew Sophie offered him and she retreated to grab two more. She handed one to Ephraim and joined him on the sofa, sitting close enough to him that Reed noticed.
“I used to do freelance work,” Ephraim said and set his cup on the coffee table in front of the couch.
“I wasn’t as discriminating as I needed to be about who hired me.
Things changed and I started working with the Brotherhood and did okay.
But a week or so ago, I got sidelined by someone, another paid man, I suspect, who was hired to take me out. ”
“Why?” Reed took another sip of his coffee.
“I figure it’s because I know something about one of my ex-clients that they don’t want spread around.”
“Got any idea who the client is?”
Ephraim huffed a breath. “Could be any of a handful of men. I do know one of the free lancers has been seen around the area, thanks to Hank and his efforts.”
“So, my job is—”
“To keep Sophie safe.”
“To help us find the guy,” Sophie said at the same time Ephraim spoke.
He glanced at her and she smiled. “I know we talked about being distracted,” she shot a glance at Reed whose expression was passive, but whose eyes were sharp.
“But I also know if there is another guy on duty, you’ll keep me safe. We need to look at the bigger picture.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Ephraim said with the old steel back in his voice.
“We’ll take care of it,” Sophie retorted.
Ephraim started to protest and she put her hand up to stop him.
“Look, we both know if you go out after the man and I’m still here or in a safe house or whatever you have up your sleeve, I’ll still be a target.
If not for him, then for someone who comes after him. ”
Ephraim felt a shard of fear hit his gut. God, why hadn’t he thought of that earlier?
“She’s right, especially if you don’t know who hired the guy,” Reed said then set the empty cup down. He waved away Sophie’s offer for more. “We need to do some planning.”
Ephraim leaned back in the sofa and silently cursed. They were right.
They made room in the living room for an air mattress that Reed insisted he didn’t need, then after he’d established his nest, he insisted on unpacking his duffle and organizing his gear.
“How long you been out?” Ephraim grinned at Reed’s abashed look.
“About six months. That obvious?” Reed pushed a jackknife into the lower pocket of his black cargo pants.
“Yeah. It takes a while to look like a civvie.”
“How long? Cause you haven’t gotten there, either,” Sophie chuckled at his surprise. “I could tell you were military from the beginning.”
“Huh,” Ephraim noted Reed’s grin. “Okay, you set, Reed?”
“Yes s--. Uh, yeah.”
“Let’s have a seat and figure out what we’re going to do.” He took both Sophie and Reed in with his look and went to the counter for a seat.
Sophie quelled her sigh of relief at his words. She’d been certain he’d not include her in a plan, with his overprotectiveness. But it seemed he knew her better than she thought he did.
She sat down with the cold cup of coffee she’d poured earlier, more as a fidget item than a drink.
“Could you get your laptop, Soph? We might need to make some notes.”
“Is it connected?” Reed asked and when Sophie confirmed she had wifi, he stood and went to his duffle and extracted a notebook. “Let’s use this instead.”
“I can access a VPN,” Ephraim said, obviously affronted.
“I know, but I’m a little paranoid about computers and the internet.” Reed said.
“We may need to do some research,” Sophie said, amazed. This guy was several years younger than she was, and she’d grown up with the internet second nature.
“Okay, but humor me,” he smiled at her and she noted his quiet good looks. This guy could blend in with the best of them, she figured and wondered what he’d done in the military.
They ran through the incident on the beach as well as the events leading up to today. When Ephraim explained the incident in the grocery store, Reed complimented Sophie on her actions. “You took a risk, but it paid off.”
She shrugged, uncomfortable with the praise. “It could have easily turned out wrong.”
“Yeah, it could have.” Ephraim said, his tone somber. “Which is why you’re here.” He nodded at Reed.
“Tell me what you know about Curtis Wood,” Reed said.
“He’s ex-military, like us. Spent about twenty years in the army, made specialist and is skilled in combat infantry. Made sergeant a couple of times but got busted back for fighting. Not sure how he stayed in all twenty years but left with a full discharge.”
“Was he in the middle east?” Reed asked, making some squiggles on the paper.
“Yeah, several tours. Got busted back during one of them for fighting with the locals.”
“What are you writing?” Sophie asked, leaning across Ephraim to gaze at Reed’s notes. His face flushed and he fidgeted a second before answering. “It’s shorthand.”
“What?” she asked, eyeing the weird little swirls and squiggles.
“Shorthand. My mother was a court reporter and used this all the time before she started using a stenograph machine. It’s a way of making notes.”
“And they’re not readable by the average person,” she said with a grin. “I get it.”
He shrugged. “She taught me when I was in school. I used it when I took college classes to take notes. It’s faster than writing the whole word and I guess I liked the novelty of it.”
“Well, it works for you, for sure.” Ephraim said, shaking his head. “I remember one of my foster mothers being a secretary and doing that. I’d look at the notes she’d transcribe at night on the computer and couldn’t read any of it.”
“It takes a little study, but not much.” Reed said, his flush still high. “Let’s get back to this Curtis guy. You think he’s the one trailing you?”
“Pretty sure. He’s worked as a freelance security and protection guy for about ten years. He’s older, but still in good shape, if I remember. And, if he’s in this area in the middle of winter, he’s not on vacation.” Ephraim said.
“Let’s look at the list of ex clients you have.” Reed said and frowned at Ephraim’s head shake.
“I don’t think it’ll do any good until we get Wood.”
“But we need to know the possibilities.” Reed argued and Sophie realized a little supremacy war was going on.
Ephraim scratched his chin then shook his head again.
“We’ll only be wasting our time.” At Reed’s objection he continued.
“Look, I understand you want to cover all the bases of research. But with the kidnapping attempt, I think Wood is getting impatient to get the job done. If we spend time researching the clients, we lose time finding Wood.”
“We still need to address those men,”
“There are a couple of women on the list,” Sophie inserted and watched Reed’s surprise with a small spurt of satisfaction.
“Okay, men and woman,” he groused.
Sophie decided this battle needed to come to an end. “What if we send the list to your boss and have him research them? Ephraim, he found out about the man who’s been following us pretty quickly. Don’t you think his resources are bigger than ours?”
The men looked at her and then both nodded. “I’ll send Hank the list I have and ask him to look into them.” Ephraim stood and walked over to the other side of the room to call his boss.
“You think that’ll work?” Reed asked and Sophie shrugged. “I think we need to make some progress, and I also think you two ex-soldiers were going to argue for another thirty minutes.”
He grinned then made a couple more squiggles on his notebook. “Stubborn runs in my family.”
She shot a look at Ephraim, “His too.”
Ephraim joined them at the counter with a laugh. “I told Hank what you said, and he told me you might need to become a consultant, Soph.”
She smiled in return then sobered. “So, what is the plan to draw this guy Wood out?”
“Draw him out?” Ephraim frowned at her, his eyes narrowing. “We don’t need to draw the guy out; he’s been on our tail every time we go out in public. I’m surprised he hasn’t found your house.”
“And why do you think he hasn’t?” Reed asked. “You haven’t made an effort to remain anonymous, have you, Ms. Brown?”
“Sophie,” she prompted and shook her head. “I don’t put my personal business on social media, but I do advertise my cleaning business.” At Ephraim’s worried look she reassured him. “It’s an email address. I have a cell phone, don’t share that with anyone other than my clients and my friends.”
“And your house? Is it in your name?” Reed asked and she nodded.
“So, why hasn’t this guy done some research and found your address? Or followed you to the cabin?”
“He tried to when he followed us in town,” Sophie said and explained in more detail the twists and turns she’d made when she’d driven home from the police station.
“Still,” Ephraim tapped his fingertips on the counter. “If I had the job, I’d have found the address in no time. You don’t hide from the public, even if you don’t spill your entire life on one of those media pages.”
She glanced around the room, her stomach suddenly feeling queasy. “Could he have been watching us here?”
“No,” Ephraim assured her with a hand on her arm. “I haven’t exactly been up to par, but I haven’t lost all my skills. Every time I’ve been outside, I’ve looked for evidence of another person on the property, nothing. And even when I’m inside, I’ve been alert.”
She remembered the times he’d sat in front of windows in the dark, unable to stand because of his balance issues, but still on guard.
“So, what is the man thinking, not covering the house?” Reed asked and Ephraim shook his head. “Don’t know.”
“Does this make a difference?” Sophie asked and when they looked at her, she continued. “Well, we want to draw Wood out. Does the fact that he’s not followed me to the cabin make a difference in that plan?”
“Probably not. And we don’t want to lure him here.” Ephraim said firmly. “I don’t want him near her place.”
“Right. Let’s make a plan.”
Sophie stood, “First, I’m making breakfast.”
They ate the bacon and eggs, along with homemade biscuits and gravy and generally talked of the army. Sophie listened avidly as they talked of basic, specialized training, and trying to adjust to a civilian life after years of regimentation.
“I was awfully glad to get on with Hank’s group after I got out.”
“How’d you hook up with him?” Ephraim asked as he pushed his plate away and reached for his coffee. “Everybody I know comes in from a recommendation, including me.”
“A recommendation,” Reed laughed. “A guy from my hometown recommended me. He was the reason I joined up in the first place.”
“What did you do in the army?” She didn’t know much about the military, Sophie realized.
“Intelligence, Battlefield, to be exact.”
Ephraim’s brows raised and then he nodded, approving something Sophie didn’t know about. “You don’t use computers, but you worked in intelligence?” Ephraim asked with a grin.
“I use computers when I have to, but I prefer not.”
Sophie shook her head. “I’m glad I just clean houses.” She stood and started collecting the dishes. Both men helped clear the dishes and then, while she washed, Ephraim dried and she saw Reed locate the broom and sweeping the floor. “I think I like the training you guys got.”
Reed grinned. “This came from my mom.”
They made quick work of the cleaning and then sat back at the counter to plan their strategies.
Sophie listened as plan after plan was discarded as being too man heavy, requiring too much manpower, too long in the making, and too much risk to bystanders.
Finally, impatient and a little exasperated at the complexity of the proposals, she interrupted.
“What about a breakup?”
“A what?” both men asked.
“A breakup.” She said and suddenly, the idea that had popped into her head made so much sense. “Wood thinks Ephraim and I are lovers. Why don’t we play into that and stage a breakup?”
“What good would that do?” Ephraim asked.
“We follow that up with me storming off in a huff and Wood following me.” At their protests, she held up her hand.
“Obviously, Wood is focusing on me. In the grocery store, he could have followed you, Ephraim. Instead, he approached me and tried to take me. I think he wants to use me to get to you.”
Reed nodded. “It makes sense. He passed on an opportunity to get to you.”
“No.” Ephraim said.
“Yes.” Sophie retorted. “I’m tired of looking over my shoulder. I’m tired of worrying about going to my job. What if he goes into one of the houses when I’m working?”
He stared at her in consternation. “I don’t like it.”
“I know,” she laid her hand on his forearm. “I don’t really, either, but if we do this we can both move on.”
She looked down when his gaze turned on her and wished she had something to fidget with. She didn’t want to think of him leaving her little cabin, her town, but he had a life he needed to get back to. One that wasn’t compatible with hers.
“What do you want to do?” Reed asked Ephraim and he grimly nodded. “Let’s stage a breakup.”