Chapter 23
August 31 st
5:39 P.M.
“Huh.”
Connor looked over at Becca to find her glancing at her phone. There was something in her expression that he wasn't sure he liked.
It had been a great week. They’d taken things easy and spent time recovering, most of that time naked and in each other’s arms. When they weren't doing that, they were working with his brothers, continuing to comb through any scrap of intel they could get their hands on in their search for answers.
Which is what they were doing right now.
Pizza boxes were strewn over his kitchen counters, and on his table. Surrounded by plates of pizza and cans of soda were papers, laptops, and tablets. The more the danger surrounding his family grew the more desperate for answers they all got.
He was ready to jump headlong into the future with Becca he’d always dreamed of. He wanted to be focused on that, on getting to know each other again, sorting out what Becca would do about her job, and making this home more both of theirs than just his. He wanted to be able to propose and start planning for their future, but instead, it felt like they were trapped in quicksand that little by little was pulling them all down.
It had to end, and they were all doing everything in their power to make it end and yet they were moving so slowly they may as well not be moving at all.
“What's wrong?” he asked, shoving his chair away from the table and crossing to where Becca stood in the kitchen. She’d gone to get herself another drink but obviously stopped when someone called her. “Who is it?”
Her dark blue eyes were confused when she looked up at him. “It’s a guy that works for the charity. He was with us in Cambodia.”
“I don’t remember there being another worker in Cambodia. I thought it was just you and Isabella.” When Becca winced at the mention of her missing best friend, Connor smoothed his hand up and down her arm and tugged her into an embrace. While Prey was working on doing everything they could to locate who had taken Bella and where she’d gone after being snatched from the village, so far they were yet to make any progress. She was doing her best not to let worry over her friend ruin this time of them reconnecting and repairing what had been damaged, but Connor knew Becca was struggling to allow herself to be happy while her best friend was in danger.
“Sorry, didn't mean to bring up Bella. But who is this guy and why didn't I meet him when I was in Cambodia?” He hadn't spent long in the village, but he would have known if there was another worker there.
“John was getting supplies that day,” Becca replied.
“Getting supplies? So he was conveniently not in the village when it was attacked, Isabella was abducted, and you and Connor were taken and almost killed?” Cooper asked, clearly skeptical about the timing.
As was he.
It didn't feel right, although there was no evidence yet to suggest it was anything more than coincidence.
“Well, it wasn't convenient, at least I don’t think it was,” Becca told Cooper, but there was a thread of doubt in her tone.
Did she really doubt this John guy or had they planted seeds of doubt in her mind?
“One of us always did the supply run once a fortnight. Up to the nearest town. It usually took about a day. He left after you showed up, and …” she trailed off then looked up at him with wide eyes. “I don’t remember seeing him after we got back to the village, and we were gone for well over twenty-four hours. You didn't even know he existed so he mustn’t have been there.”
“What’s his full name?” Jake asked, shifting his laptop to the kitchen counter and looking at Becca expectantly.
“It’s John Jones,” she replied. When he quirked a dark brow at her, she shrugged. “Okay, so the first and last names are kind of common, but it’s not like it’s John Smith or anything.”
“How long has he worked for the charity?” Cole asked.
“Not long. Actually, not long at all.” Becca lifted her hands and rubbed at her temples as though she were getting a headache.
Stress.
Too much of it.
His poor girl needed a break, so she could process everything she’d been through these last few weeks and begin to deal with it, but they weren't going to get a break until they could eliminate the people out to get them.
“How long is not long?” Cole pressed.
“Umm … Bella and I had been in Cambodia for around two years. We had a guy working with us, older, almost seventy, really nice, had been in the Peace Corps when he was younger. Then his elderly dad got sick, and he left. We were supposed to get another guy as a replacement, but at the last minute, he pulled out and we got John instead. He’d been there for a little over a month I guess.”
“So right around the time that I was in Egypt and met Willow and we took down Tarek Mahmoud,” Cooper said, slinging an arm around his girlfriend.
“Not a coincidence,” Willow added.
If it was possible, Becca’s already wide eyes widened further. “You think that someone was already investigating you all and linking me to Connor because of our past, then somehow got the man who was supposed to come to back out so they could send their own person to … what exactly?”
Tightening his hold on Becca, he tucked her head under his chin and without thinking, reached out to grab the penis plushie Becca had taken to carrying around with her like a security blanket and pressed it into her hand. Immediately, she began to stroke it almost compulsively along her cheek and he knew exactly what they’d be doing if they were alone right now.
If that was true, and that’s what they’d done, then these men were truly diabolical.
It felt like they would never be safe again, but they couldn’t back down. Not when they were finally making a little bit of progress toward proving their parents were not traitors.
“How did this guy act? How did he make you feel? Were you comfortable around him? Did you trust him?” Jax fired off questions at Becca, who shivered in his arms. No wonder knowing potentially she was being watched all this time. She’d been so vulnerable, and he hadn't even realized it.
“I … didn't like him. Bella didn't either. She said he was creepy, and we didn't understand why he was there. He didn't seem to like Cambodia, or the people, or his job. We wondered why he’d even signed up for this kind of job if he didn't like it.” Tilting her head up she gave him a worried look. “He asked me out a few times, but I always said no. It was Bella’s turn to do the supply run, but he insisted it should be him after you showed up. Said I needed the support of my best friend. But, Connor. I didn't tell him anything about you. So how did he know I would need support? I mean, I guess I made it obvious we had a history, but … I don’t like it.”
“Me either, moonlight,” he said, holding her tighter and trying to convince himself she was there and she was safe.
“Why is he calling me now? Should I call him back?” Becca asked.
“Call him back,” Cade answered.
Becca nodded but looked anxious about the idea, and Connor found he couldn’t force her to do anything that upset her, especially after all she’d endured because of her connection to him.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” he assured her, ignoring his big brother’s glower as he smoothed a lock of hair off Becca’s face and tucked it behind her ear.
She looked up at him, gratefulness in her eyes, determination too. It grew as she took in the five other men and two women standing around them. Then she gave a decisive nod. “I can do it. We all need this to be over.” Lifting her arm, she unlocked her phone and brought up the list of recent calls. After drawing in a deep breath, she clutched the penis plushie in one hand while pressing John’s number with the other.
“Becca,” a whispered voice answered on the second ring.
“John. Sorry I missed your call, what did you need? If it’s about when things will get up and running in Cambodia again the answer is I'm not sure yet.”
“No, it’s … I … Connor Charleston, you know him?”
“Yes. Why?”
“I think his sister Cassandra is also my sister.”
What will Cade Charleston sacrifice when his daughter is targeted? Find out in the fourth book in the action packed and emotionally charged Prey Security: Charlie Team series!
Vengeful Lies (Prey Security: Charlie Team #4)