Chapter Eleven #2
God help him, maybe he did too. He shouldn’t want to touch her, hold her, listen to her soft breath, but maybe a hug—from Natalie—was exactly what he needed.
Natalie relaxed into Ford’s hard, warm embrace. His strong arms around her soothed the restlessness that had been eating at her all day. Waiting for him, and for news of Henri and Blitz, had been excruciating. Keeping to herself during the drive too. Herculean feat, that.
She trusted very few men in this world. He belonged to that small club and she didn’t want to build more walls between them.
More like she wanted to scale him like a wall, but that option was off the table. He’d made that more than clear. With a sigh, she slipped out of his arms. “We should eat.”
He let her go far too easily.
Twenty minutes later, they’d finished off their ham-and-butter sandwiches on baguettes—a popular French pairing that Henri had introduced her to—and she was back on her computer. She couldn’t stop a little whoop of joy when she spotted a post from Dallas Markham, the Night Herons’ tech genius.
The first was a legit response to someone’s question about how much sunlight cilantro needed. The team maintained semi-active profiles with genuine questions and responses to appear like normal, active forum members.
Soon after his first post, Dallas had responded to hers under his username.
TexasTom: Is this a joke?
“Good news?” Ford asked, drawing her gaze to where he sat on the couch reading a book with Blitz at his feet. If he was good looking in operator mode, he was even more painfully handsome like this, pretending to be relaxed, his hyper-vigilance dialed down to an eight.
She couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face, or the sense of relief that sifted through her like sand. “Yes. Dallas responded.” Even better, according to the green dot next to his handle, Dallas was currently logged into the forum.
Ford crossed the tiny room and stood next to her. “Mind if I look over your shoulder?” Even the way he heated the surrounding air couldn’t distract her. Much.
“Don’t trust me?” She infused the words with as much playfulness as possible.
He sighed. “Sorry, I’ll—”
“No.” She grabbed his forearm, fingers tingling from the contact even after she let go. “It’s fine.” She needed him to trust her fully, and letting him in on her conversation might help. “Stay.”
Ford hovered behind her, but her heart pounded for a different reason as she reread the message from Dallas.
TexasTom: Is this a joke?
He should’ve asked how long she’d been gardening to determine if she was under duress, but Dallas was clearly trying to decide if she was for real without providing the normal test question that someone might get lucky and answer correctly.
She had to overcome his disbelief, and reassure him she had full control.
SecretGardener49: No joke. I’ve been gardening for 5 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this.
Three weeks ago some kind of bug attacked my plant, messing it up pretty good.
But I may have exaggerated the extent of its demise.
It’s currently under a net for protection.
I think my other plants might need nets too. Do you use them?
If she had a gun to her head, she would’ve claimed two years in the garden.
Natalie held her breath. Dallas might not actually be watching the computer right now. It could be minutes or even hours—
TexasTom: I’m glad there’s a chance of recovery for your cilantro. Bugs are the worst. I had an infestation in the garden a few weeks ago, and I’m not sure I’m fully rid of them. Haven’t tried netting, but I’ve separated the plants to prevent physical contact.
It sounded like the Night Herons had been compromised somehow, which would explain how the gunman found her and Emma at the condo in Lucerne. Maybe Ford hadn’t overreacted when he had Nat declared dead.
Rustling behind her betrayed his impatience. “You guys sound more like spies than journalists.”
She forced herself not to look up him. The part of her that didn’t want to deal with the fear and stress that was currently her life would never want to look away. The part that worried for her friends wasn’t willing to risk it. “There’s a lot of overlap these days.”
In her case, though, more than usual.
TexasTom: Gotta tend to my peonies now. Hope to chat soon.
“That’s it?” Ford asked.
Nat smiled, enjoying being the calm one for a change. “Patience.”
Within seconds, she received a private message from TexasTom with the link to an anonymous chat room. Once inside, they exchanged another round of code to establish their identities and that neither of them was operating under threat.
Dahlia: Thank God you’re alive! HOW?? Are you safe?
Natalie warmed at Dallas’s queries under the new screen name.
Narcissus: I’m with an old friend, a protector who faked everything. I’m safe for now, but there’s still a threat to the birds. Someone figured out I’m alive and is looking for me, even though the people we thought were behind the attacks are gone.
If she could just pick up the phone and talk to Dallas, that would be so much better. Faster. But this was the safest way to communicate right now. She tapped her fingers on the table, her own impatience growing.
Dahlia: You read about what happened to E? We’re being cautious, but hoped that was the end of it. I’ve been monitoring our systems heavily, we’re sweeping for surveillance regularly, and we’ve stopped active work temporarily.
Natalie frowned. It was good they were taking precautions, but it pissed her off that someone could force them into hiding.
Narcissus: I saw the news. Tell Mama Bird it’s imperative to stay vigilant. It’s not over.
Not that Gretchen needed to be told to protect her team, but she didn’t have all the facts either. The Night Herons couldn’t let down their guard or assume they were anonymous anymore.
Dahlia: Who can I reveal your status to? Baby Bird already knows. She’s been watching the forums and alerted me to your message.
Baby Bird? Did he mean Reese, Gretchen and Laura’s youngest daughter?
They all knew her, but she had always been on the periphery of the group, mourning her older sister, heavily protected by her moms, and younger than the rest of the team.
But she kept the books and ran the shop—and knew that it was Night Herons headquarters—so she’d been a fixture in Nat’s life for years now.
How odd that Reese was the first from home to learn that Natalie hadn’t died. In fact, after spending three weeks in hiding, wishing she could reveal her status to friends and family, Natalie suddenly felt reluctant to enlarge the circle of those in the know. Both for her safety and theirs.
Narcissus: Okay. You can tell the Mamas.
Maybe E, if you guys think it’s necessary.
The fewer people who know, the better for all of us.
It might be more dangerous than not. I only got in touch to ensure you stayed on guard.
Also, can you have Mama warn my family…maybe say that I had acquired sensitive info that someone might come looking for?
Actually, convince them to get protection or do it without them knowing?
She and her team were always careful, but they hadn’t truly thought their identities were at risk of being discovered like this.
Or that they might be endangering their loved ones.
Price’s attack on Emma changed that, as did the man currently tracking Natalie.
Until she discovered who was on her tail, everyone was under threat.
Dahlia: Roger that. I’ll pass it on. What kind of help do you need?
She needed a distraction from her life. But more than that, she needed her life back.
Dallas might be able to help with that part.
She gave him the information Ford’s contact had provided about the man who came looking for her at the hospital, including a still photo and some security camera footage.
Narcissus: We need to figure out who he works for.
Dahlia: I’ll see what I can do. I might know someone who’ll help without questioning things. Let’s do twice-a-day check ins, okay? How about 8a and 8p your time?
At nine hours behind, that would make it on the elevens for him.
Narcissus: Perfect. I’ll do my best, but don’t freak until it’s been 24 hours. My Internet is unreliable.
They signed off and she added recurring check-in reminders to her burner phone, already missing the connection to her team. Even if she were in trouble though, what could Dallas do?
Nothing.
For now, she and Ford were on their own.