Ryan chuckled; the tone John used to get his sons to behave had no effect on him.
“She deserves to know.”
I agreed. Being kept in the dark only made things worse.
Turning to John, I asked, “Can I see Nana Sue before I leave?”
“If Austin agrees, then yes.”
I made myself dizzy whipping my head around to beg, “Please?”
“Do we have the manpower to cover everyone?” Austin asked.
“We do, in fact, we have more. Kroupa just replied and said he’s on his way. Apparently, Blaszek told him to expect our call,” Jay said.
“Who’s Kroupa?” He didn’t work for SSI, or I would’ve heard of him.
“He’s Nathan’s SEAL buddy. He’ll help us protect your grandmother.”
“He’s bringing his dog, Havoc, with him. Is your grandmother allergic to dogs?”
“Why would he bring his dog? She’s not allergic, but won’t he be busy taking care of it?”
“Havoc is a SEAL K9; he’ll be working.”
Of course, he is. Just one more unbelievable thing happening in my life right now.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Nana’s voice yelled at me in my head.
I didn’t like being called out, but she was right. This guy was coming here to help me, and I was being a brat.
“Can you thank him for me?”
“Of course,” Jay said. “Maybe when this is all over, you can meet Havoc. He’s a beautiful Malinois.”
I recognized the breed name from that John Wick movie. They looked like German shepherds but didn’t act like any dog I’d ever met.
“Nana will love having a dog around.”
“I’ll schedule Matt and Kroupa to cover Mrs. Novac,” Jay said. “That’ll leave the rest of us to run the business and cover the safe house.”
“Jones said he’ll help any way he can,” Cate said.
Great, another name I didn’t recognize.
“Who’s that?”
“He’s my former FBI boss. I trust him with my life,” Cate answered.
“Did you ever trust the people who killed my parents?” I asked Austin.
“I never met them,” he admitted. “But according to their notes, your parents never did.”
“We all have co-workers like that, people who seem trustworthy on the surface but you feel a little twitchy around them,” Ryan said.
Everyone from SSI said, “I don’t,” or “Not me.”
“Maybe not here, but you’ve felt it,” Ryan argued.
