Chapter Twenty-Four
Mylene waited in the kitchen for the men to leave her house. Today was different. Nothing different had happened since Pham was arrested more than a year ago. But this time, the men who delivered groceries and task lists remained in her living room.
Unless Pham had ordered Mylene to be taken somewhere as a punishment, her schedule followed a strict routine.
Mondays and Wednesdays brought food and her weekly objectives.
The Friday deliveries included newspapers and magazines for her to study over the weekend.
She could see where her work had penetrated the public’s perception of an event or purpose.
Alternative facts threaded into flame-throwing discussions.
She could see how her work ripped families apart, tearing at the basic fabric of communities and trust. But she couldn’t stop.
Could she?
No. She didn’t know anything other than the instructions they gave her: study what didn’t work, avoid the same mistake twice, and find new places to fuel a public uproar. If not, Pham’s people would punish her.
How would they punish her now that Pham was behind bars and couldn’t watch?
When he brought Mylene somewhere as a punishment, she always thought he hurt more than she did.
He liked to bring her on family trips—with Angela Sorenson, the woman he used as a stand-in for his dead daughter.
Pham made Mylene watch Angela, maybe hoping she would imagine what her life would have been like with Mark.
No matter Pham’s intention, the pseudo-family trips never hit her as they did him. Her house of horrors was much worse because it was real. Mark was dead. Tabby was dead. Their murders were her fault.
Sawyer had spent the night in Angela’s bed and woken with her naked body draped over him. He hadn’t been this content in years. That bothered him, but he refused to let dark thoughts creep into this moment.
Sun peeked from behind the curtains. They hadn’t done a great job of covering the sliding glass door because they’d had no thoughts of anything after dinner except for getting naked all over again.
Angela stirred. He kissed the top of her head. She curled into his side and then stretched. “What time is it?” she asked.
He didn’t care. “Did you sleep well?”
Her smile was answer enough. “Like the dead.”
“You snored like it too.”
“I did not.” She tickled his chest. “You know I didn’t—”
He rolled on top of her, muttering, “Kidding,” amongst his kisses.
And just like that, he wanted her all over again. Sawyer barely had enough thought to slide on protection before he nestled himself inside her body again. This woman needed him as much as he needed her.
Last night was couldn’t-get-enough sex. This was lazy-wake-up sex. He didn’t want to pull orgasm after orgasm from her. Sawyer simply needed to be in her, to feel her, to watch her face, and see her breathe. He wanted to feel her pussy quake with the slow roll of his hips.
Her soft kisses mixed with quiet, needy nuzzles. Instead of digging her nails into his back, she wrapped her arms and legs around him and let his strength drive her into heaven.
Angela came and came. Finally, he didn’t have it in him to hold back. With their lips and legs tangled, Sawyer buried himself deep and let himself fall into her like he’d never let go before.
Afterward, they lay together. Not even the need for coffee pulled them from each other’s arms. His lips rested against her temple. How had he known her for this long without realizing what they would be like together in bed?
Their phones buzzed. He pinched his eyes shut. The real world was calling, and he didn’t want to answer.
Angela tensed in his arms. She wasn’t bounding out of bed either.
“Guess we have to get out of bed sometime,” he muttered.
Their phones rang again.
“Who will it be? Jared, Brock, or Parker?” she asked.
“I’ll start the coffee.”
“God, you’re a good man.”
He kissed her cheek and left her bed. Ten minutes later, they had coffee and a quick breakfast at the kitchen table and called Parker back.
“We have a problem,” Parker said instead of saying hello.
Sawyer grumbled. “Do you always call with problems?”
“Yeah—mostly. Did you not realize that?”
Sawyer ran a hand through his hair. This trip had been too easy.
Too good to be true. He should’ve known better.
He looked at Angela, who sat straight as a board.
Her breakfast spoon dangled in her hand over the ignored instant oatmeal.
He tried to remember that problems were expected.
Problems were what they fixed for a living.
This conversation wasn’t Sawyer’s first encounter with Parker’s all-work grousing.
It wouldn’t be the last. But this time, the unknown problem packed a hell of a sucker punch.
“Well, don’t kill us with anticipation.” Sawyer tossed an apple between his hands and tried to relax for Angela’s sake. “What’s up?”
“Intel analysts have picked up some chatter.”
Impatient, Sawyer set the apple down and frowned. “About?”
“Angela’s location.”
He exchanged looks with her. Not many people could announce her travel with this kind of speed.
Sawyer assumed the Senator had told the ex-boyfriend.
There was the FBI special agent. No one from inside Titan would have known enough to share, but even if they had, that wouldn’t have been a concern.
They were trustworthy. “Her location as in ‘Angela is Stateside’? Or her location as in ‘camped in a safe house on Emerald Isle’?”
“Closer to the latter. Intel says North Carolina.”
“What the fuck?” His eyebrows arched. That kind of information was more than whispers from the FBI’s offices. “How does that happen? Her mother?”
“I don’t know. It could be a couple of things.”
Angela set down her spoon. “Like?”
Parker sighed. “Anything from someone you spoke with this past week to perhaps the Senator has a security breach in her communication network. The intel’s kind of fuzzy. Not to mention we’re a few hours behind. They have a tactical advantage. But we need to take it as a serious and immediate risk.”
Sawyer tossed the apple again. His mind raced to map the possibilities. “So we need to go?”
“Go where?” she asked. “We haven’t talked to everyone on our list.”
“There’s a silver lining,” Parker said. “If they’re talking about you, that’s something we can look and listen for. If Mylene Hathaway is alive and anywhere close to you and they put two and two together, they’re going to do two things.”
“What?” Angela asked.
Sawyer felt a churning in his gut. “Move Mylene and go after you.”
Tension washed over her expression. “Neither of those sound helpful.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I guess you’ve run the statistics on the likelihood either of those will happen?”
“Yup,” Parker confirmed.
“I’m not going to like it, am I?”
“Nope.”
“Wait a minute.” Angela perched on the edge of her chair. “This is great news. They’re changing their behavior. That opens us up to a chance for them to make a mistake. If they make a mistake, we can swoop in and find her.”
“I don’t know about swooping,” Sawyer grumbled.
“But I’m right, aren’t I?” she asked.
A shadow passed along the outside of the closed blinds.
Sawyer’s stomach dropped. He turned off speakerphone and pressed the phone to his ear, holding a finger up to his mouth.
“We might have company. Call you back.” He ended the call.
His gaze swept the windows for the shadow. “I need you to sit still and be quiet.”
“But—”
“Ange—” He shook his head. “Quiet. Don’t move.” Carefully, he padded to the kitchen window and tried to peer out the edge of the drapes. He had no line of sight.
Sawyer’s ears burned to hear who was outside.
Someone who’d accidentally stumbled up to the wrong beach house would have made his day.
If it had been a property manager who had an incorrect beach house address, they would have tried to jam their keys into the door.
Neither of those situations had been the quiet shadow that made the hairs on his arms stand at attention.
He opened a kitchen drawer and retrieved the handgun he’d spotted after they’d first arrived.
A Titan Group safe house was well-armed if a person knew where to look.
Another bonus feature of the safe house was the multiple ways in which they could see their surroundings.
Nondescript mirrors hung on the walls. Windows overlooked the points of entry.
There were several ways to exit each floor.
The décor on the deck offered reflections to check angles.
Angela’s chair scratched the floor as she pushed from the table.
He lifted his hand. “No one has a shot on you if you stay put.”
Her lips parted, but she didn’t protest.
Sawyer quietly inspected their exterior surroundings while mentally kicking himself in the ass for dropping his guard. His primary responsibility in all of this was Angela. No matter what they’d agreed to work on, her safety was the priority.
He didn’t see anyone else, but he also didn’t see the person who had just skirted by the window. Even though he had a good look at the house’s exterior, he certainly didn’t have a thorough one.
When Sawyer made his way back to the kitchen, he saw Angela waiting in her chair, frozen in place.
“I think there’s only one of them,” he said.
Her eyes darted to the windows and door. “But there could be more?”
“Possibly.” He wished he had a better view of their surroundings. “They likely have several ideas that they’re following up on.”
“Maybe he thinks no one is home,” she offered.
“Doubtful.” Upon reading her body language, he added, “The grill’s been used recently.
Depending on when they first pinged the house as a possibility, they’ve seen the car move.
” He had always checked their surroundings when they left and when they arrived.
Sawyer consistently scanned for tails when they were out.
It wasn’t as if he’d been negligent. Just not on high alert.