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Davis swore. “That’s great.”
But it was what Joel and Connor didn’t say that had Ben’s nerves clicking to high alert. “No one checked on me.”
Joel winked at him. “Exactly.”
“Hello.” Jocelyn waved a hand in front of Ben’s face. “Still lost.”
“No one is searching for my house, which is a brand-new condo, one I got since leaving NCIS.” One whose ownership trail Joel and Connor had helped Ben bury through a corporation and a shell and whatever else they insisted on to keep his name off the title. “The search was for Davis’s house, where you are right now. It suggests the attackers don’t know about me and are fishing to figure out who you’re with and why.”
She winced. “But why me? I don’t know anything.”
“I have no idea, but we’re going to find out.” Connor glanced down at his notes. “We start with the clue about the first guy wanting something from you. That means we retrace your steps and, sorry to say, tear your life apart.”
Her body stiffened and she almost bounded out of her chair. “What?”
Ben held her down with a hand on her thigh. The reaction combined with the cryptic comment from yesterday about this not being her first experience with danger had him wanting to do some background searching of his own. “We need to know what we’re dealing with.”
“Whatever it is just happened, so I’m thinking this is about the last month, if it’s about me at all.”
Interesting how she defined the time parameter. Ben knew that meant something. There was something in her past she wanted to hide. With his personality, that was exactly where he now wanted to dig.
She deserved privacy, and a part of him wanted to discover things about her normally, like non-agents did. Over meals and while watching movies on the couch.
But life had been rapid-firing disasters at them from the beginning. He couldn’t figure out how to slow it all down now and double back.
And her past could hold the key to what was happening today. The way Joel eyed her, Ben knew he planned to call upon all of his search skills, which were considerable, to hunt this one down.
Ben wanted to be the one to find whatever was to be found about her. Give her some dignity in not having the whole group know, if that was her preference. So, he’d try to get answers from her, and if that failed, he’d step carefully and keep the search narrow. He owed her that.
“We’ll circle back to what we need to check in your past later.” Connor’s gaze traveled over the table. “You know what else this means, right? We’re on lockdown protocol. Pax and Kelsey move in with Davis and Lara.”
That was how the system worked. It was one of the many fail-safes they put in place. They drew in close, making it difficult for anyone to grab one of them. Ben was surprised Connor wasn’t insisting they all bunk with him. That was the usual rule.
More than likely had something to do with the pregnancy announcement. Lara would want to be home and tough-guy Davis would do backflips to make it happen. Connor’s decision to carve out an exception allowed them all to skip the arguing step.
Jocelyn leaned closer to Ben. “Who’s Kelsey?”
“Pax’s live-in girlfriend.”
Pax groaned. “She’s going to love this.”
“You want her safe,” Connor pointed out.
“And she’ll insist on opening her store.” Jocelyn opened her mouth, but before she could ask, Pax filled in the blanks. “She owns a coffee shop not far from the City Dock. We live above it.”
Connor’s hand balled into a fist. “No one goes to work unless you’re working at the Corcoran offices.”
“Wait a second.” Jocelyn pushed back her chair and stood. “Stop.”
Joel smiled. “I’m surprised you waited until now to jump in and say that.”
“I have nursing shifts. I can’t just disappear or fall out of rotation.”
Joel’s grin didn’t lessen one bit. “Use the excuse that you were attacked at home.”
“Since it’s true,” Davis said.
They were using the wrong strategy. Ben had been negotiating meals with this woman for weeks. She’d stick up for others before she did for herself. He had finally got her to say yes to a date when he pointed out the hospital staff had taken up a pool to see how many times he’d get shot down. He had no trouble using pity for the first date. After that, pity was off the table.
But the reality was, he wasn’t the only one on that side of the table with a rescue complex. “If someone is after you, they could follow you right to the hospital floor and endanger patients, other nurses, innocent visitors checking on sick relatives.”
