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“You’re dismissed. Go back to the bunkhouse.” Simon removed the man from his list of concerns with a flick of his hand. He turned to the man he normally could count on to get a job done. “Todd, you stay here.”
Todd kept his attention forward, never looking at Grant as he slunk away.
“He lied about leaving. I thought he was going back to the dining hall,” Todd said once the door closed behind him.
More excuses. Simon was not in the mood. “He was your responsibility.”
“Yes.”
“You failed me.” Words Simon knew would race Todd to the edge of reason.
The man craved acceptance more than most. He’d grown up alone and lost his only home when an injury sidelined him in the middle of his top-tier security career. Simon took him in and invested the time his company refused to give him.
Bottom line: Todd owed him and knew it.
Todd visibly swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“You need to fix this.”
Todd nodded. “I can work on his training and impose some discipline on Grant.”
It was too late for that now. Simon had other plans. “Maybe there’s another way Grant can help us with Ms. Pike.”
Todd frowned. “Sir?”
The more Simon thought it through, the more he liked this alternative. There would be some loss and a need for retraining, but he’d get a lot more in return. “It’s time to send Lindsey Pike a message.”
Todd’s frown didn’t ease. “Okay.”
“We’ll use Grant to do it.” Then she would be right where Simon wanted her—trapped.
Chapter Six
Lindsey left home the next morning well before dawn. Holt had laid down all sorts of rules and regulations the night before. Talked about the places she could go and how she needed a bodyguard with her at all times. Generally bossed and pushed, even threatened to take her gun.
Not her favorite characteristics in a guy.
She’d nodded, gone to bed and beat him out of the house that morning. She knew he’d have to use the bathroom sometime. When he did, she took off on her hour-long drive into the mountains. She had a feeling the note of explanation she left would not make her return run any smoother.
She turned into the unpaved drive and went as far as she could in a car. The path led to a small cabin tucked into a round of towering trees. This place didn’t have an official address. She’d discovered the hard way on a previous visit that it didn’t have a working bathroom.
None of that mattered. She needed to see the man inside. Roger Wallace, nineteen in age but far younger than that in terms of social skills. He’d spent years at New Foundations. He’d moved in there with his uncle long after she got out. He was her first rescue. And he’d missed two check-ins.
She turned off the car and parked it by the gate. Once again she took out the burner phone and made the call. Left the emergency code...then waited. After a few minutes ticked by with no reply, she started walking. This was not the place one traveled without an invitation, but she knew the markers.
Before she rounded the first turn, she heard it. The rumble of an engine and the crunch of tires over gravel. Relief raced through her. Glancing back, she expected to see Roger’s beat-up truck. Instead of blue with a smashed-in front fender, she saw a familiar black. Clean and shiny with Holt taking up the front seat.
She winced. Actually winced. Then she saw the expression on his face and had to fight the temptation to step back.
He slammed the door and stalked up the path toward her. Stepped over the gate without breaking stride and headed right for her. She knew she needed to shout out a warning about booby traps, but she doubted he’d hear her over the anger whirling around him. He came at her in a straight line, his attention never wavering and his frown growing more severe with each step.
She jumped on the offensive. “How did you find me?”
“No, Lindsey.” He stopped right in front of her with his hands on his hips and the fury radiating off him. “We aren’t doing it this way.”
She could hear the tremble of anger in his voice. Not that the eyes flashing with fire didn’t give him away.
But something about him verbally throwing elbows and insisting on always getting his way put her on the edge. He used that tone, and her immediate reaction was to deny him whatever he demanded. Since that felt juvenile and they did wade deeper into danger with every step, she treaded carefully. Went with a stall. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“You were attacked.”
She hadn’t exactly forgotten. “I remember.”
