Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Luna
I can’t hear what Daniil is saying since Rage’s phone is between his ear and shoulder, but he’s already moving, one hand holding his shoes, the other holding on to me.
I have long legs but his are longer and I have to hurry to keep up.
To his credit, he’s still talking to Daniil but he stops when we get to the sidewalk and we both dust the sand off our feet before putting our shoes back on.
“Come on.” He tugs my hand as we hurry back toward the restaurant.
“What happened?” I ask. “Courtney said another one of the girls died?”
“Another overdose. Absolutely not an accident. She tried to call Motor but he was in the shower and didn’t hear his phone.
She left a message saying the guy she picked up tonight was being super rough, she needed help.
An hour later, one of the other girls found her.
They called paramedics but it was too late. ”
“That’s awful, but if she’s already dead, why are we rushing?”
“Because Daniil wants me to do a little recon after the fact. The cops and coroner will be there for a while, and sometimes bad guys like to lurk, watch the aftermath of whatever they did. Spotting that kind of thing is something I’m good at.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll drive myself there, get out, and you can take my SUV back to your place. I’ll find my way home.”
I frown. “An Uber could cost you a hundred bucks!”
“Not me,” he chuckles. “That’s something the company will pay for.”
“Oh.”
He pauses as he hands the valet his ticket. “I’m sorry our night is being cut short, but I’ll make it up to you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I feel bad that another girl is dead.” I stare up at him. “This feels very, very personal.”
“It does. And I’ll bet Silver is pissed.”
“I guess Metal was right, that Layla wouldn’t have done that.”
“And they were right about Desi too.” He opens the passenger side door for me and helps me in before jogging around and getting behind the wheel. “I just hope I’m not too late to learn anything useful.”
“You really think by hanging around while the cops are there will help you find information?”
“It’s not guaranteed but more often than not, someone saw something. And when you’re talking sex workers and drug dealers, they’ll be far more willing to talk to a guy who hands them a couple of twenties than to the cops.”
“That makes sense.”
“You’re not trained to be in the field or I’d bring you with me.” He glances at me with a grin. “And with those sexy shoes on, you’d attract way too much attention anyway.”
I can’t help but smile. “Thank you. I think.”
“Believe me, it’s a compliment.”
“Speaking of being trained in the field…” I hesitate. “I had a thought, and it’s really not original, it’s just been on my mind. What would you think about teaching me, and any of the other girls who want to, how to fight?”
“Fight? Like self-defense?”
“Self-defense, kick boxing, things that would prepare us better to fight back in an emergency, and in my case, help me get into better shape. My hormones prevent me from having a flat stomach but they don’t prevent me from building muscle and getting strong.”
He’s quiet for a few seconds but he’s nodding. “I’d love to help. I’ll have to think about how to approach it. The truth is, self-defense is a bit different than what I do, and kick boxing is its own thing.”
“It doesn’t have to be kick boxing; those were just generic thoughts. I know Allora wants to learn to protect herself, and Courtney said she would be into it in a few more weeks, once she’s healed a bit.”
“I’ll talk to Grim and see about coming up with a plan.” He slows the SUV and pulls to a stop on a random corner. “Okay, we’re two blocks from the crime scene. You sure you’re okay taking my SUV and getting home on your own?”
“Of course. But won’t you need your car in the morning?”
He smiles. “You can come pick me up.”
I smile back. “Deal. And thank you for a lovely evening.”
“We’ll have a do-over as soon as we can.” He leans over and presses a quick kiss to my lips.
“Please be careful,” I whisper as he gets out.
“Don’t worry. This is just another day at the office for me.”
I can only hope he’s right.
There’s a box in front of my door when I get back to my apartment and I lean over curiously.
My name is on it but there’s no return address or anything.
I wonder if my elderly neighbor, Mrs. C.
, left me something. She bakes every so often and brings me treats.
Curiously, I open the box and stare in confusion.
This definitely didn’t come from Mrs. C.
There are a dozen black roses in the bottom of the box. They’re beautiful in a twisted way, and something I would normally get a kick out of, but this feels…off. I study every part of the box, trying to find a clue as to where it came from but there’s nothing.
I don’t know who sent them or why but a cold chill drifts down my spine.
There have been a lot of little things over the last few months.
The flat tire I got at the grocery store in April.
It happens but the guy at the tire place said the nail he found would have been difficult to penetrate the tire while driving.
It looked like someone drove it in there.
But there was no way to prove that and I chalked it up to random fuckery.
Again, that shit happens. It’s not my first flat tire.
But there’s also been the weird knocking. A bunch of voice mails with nothing but a weird, eerie silence. I honestly hoped it was all teenagers, or scam artists, being little assholes.
With this strange box of flowers, I can’t ignore this anymore. This isn’t something a random teenager would do. And a telephone scam artist wouldn’t be able to get into my building to leave a package at my door.
Daniil moved political mountains to get me out of witness protection without making it official.
I’m still Luna Gallagher, whose real identity is hidden away in WITSEC, but now I’m hidden right out in the open.
He told me not to worry about the details, that he took care of everything, but I do worry. I have to. It’s part of my life.
A life that now includes a smart, handsome bodyguard who said he’d already guessed that I was in WITSEC. And he doesn’t care.
I care, though.
I have to think about all the people I care about if my identity is blown. I pissed off some really bad but powerful people back in the day.
Daniil promised he would protect me, make sure they never found me.
I trust him but he can’t control everything. He’s the kind of man who’s used to getting his way, much like Rage, but some things are out of their control.
Rage would probably grunt if I told him that, and the thought makes me smile as I change out of my clothes, put my hair in a bun, and wash my face. I start humming Trisha Yearwood’s song, “She’s in Love With the Boy” as I do my nightly facial routine and brush my teeth.
I try to distract myself by thinking about Rage and the kiss we shared tonight.
It was delicious. Thinking about his big hands touching me makes my skin tingle.
I hoped he might come home with me, but I understand the job.
I’ve spent quite a few nights working until two or three in the morning.
It doesn’t happen often enough for me to anticipate it, like tonight, but it’s not rare either.
For the time being, Daniil and Courtney are growing the business slowly because they knew they would need some down time once the new baby came.
Even so, there’s plenty of business, but they’re mostly small, local jobs in and around Southern California.
Most of the crew is married, and the married couples all have children, which is something we all discussed in detail as we set up the company.
Everyone is dedicated to Shadow Security, but also to their families.
Mark and Lana Garrison have two daughters; Kendall is nine and Kerry is seven. He’s a retired Marine and Lana has her own Public Relations business, so they have a busy household.
Ron and Bobbi Marshall have four children.
Julian is nineteen and is Bobbi’s son from a previous relationship, but Ron adopted him.
Ron’s sister died before he met Bobbi, and he got custody of her two-year-old daughter Samantha.
He and Bobbi have had custody of her since she was two, and now she’s twelve.
Together, they also have a six-year-old boy named Will and an eight-year-old girl named Penny.
Eric and Delilah Lopez have a thirteen-year-old boy named Elias, from Eric’s first marriage, but no children together.
Gossip around the office insinuates that they’re separated at the moment, even though she moved down here with him.
I haven’t met her yet, but my understanding is that they’re in marriage counseling.
Chris “Chaos” Brenner is single. He’s quiet and introverted most of the time, unless he has an opportunity to make a nuisance of himself.
At the moment, there are eight of us that make up Shadow Security: Daniil, Courtney, Grim, Rage, Mark, Eric, Ron, and me.
Chaos hasn’t signed on as an owner, so he’s currently an independent contractor trying to decide what he wants to do.
That leaves two slots open for ownership.
Daniil and Courtney were clear that they wanted a group of ten; he and Courtney would own twenty percent of the company together, and eight other people would own the remaining eighty percent.
If, in the future, we opt to bring on more people, it will have to be voted on as a group and we’d decide exactly how to do it.
I love that idea, as well as the idea that I’m part of something bigger than a job and a paycheck. Bigger than a hacker with a record who couldn’t work in cyber security any other way.
At some point, I doze off on the couch and wake to a light but firm rapping on my front door. My heart is immediately in my throat and I sit straight up, grabbing my phone.
It’s happening again.
I get up, grab my phone, and tiptoe to the door.
Looking out the peephole, I don’t see anything.
Because of the new baby, Daniil hasn’t had a chance to install the new camera and security system so I’m feeling vulnerable, despite how badly I want to throw open the door and catch whoever it is in the act.
Instead, I open my phone, dial 911, and then wait, ready to press the Send button at the next sound. I press my back against my door, trying to still the beating of my heart.
But there’s nothing.
Just a long, heavy silence.