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“I think it would be safer to send Miley and a couple of the boys.”
“Safer? Maybe a little, but Anabella left some tells and will be able to tell us if anyone has gone through her place, and if so what, if anything, is missing.”
King nodded. “You up for it, Anabella? You don’t have to go if you don’t want.”
“No, I want to help. Besides, I’ll be with Cerberus and what could be safer than that?”
King chuckled and shook his head. “Good for you. I told Alicia I want her here at the building.”
“Not trying to be difficult,” said Anabella, “but why not tell that to Miley.”
“Two reasons,” answered Coop. “The first is that Miley is a field operative and Alicia isn’t. But the second reason is more compelling.”
“And it is?”
“She’d kick my nuts back up into my body cavity,” King said with a ghost of a smile. “I will leave you in Coop’s capable hands and go home to have a fight with Samantha.”
After he left, Anabella turned to Coop. “What are they going to fight about?”
“With Blackwood involved, we’ll move the partners and families of our people out to a big estate we have that functions as a fallback position and safe house. Samantha will not be pleased.”
She lowered her voice. “I thought he was the Dom, and she had to do whatever he said.”
Coop chuckled. “In theory that might work for some couples. With others, it’s only in the bedroom or the club or just sexually. Each dynamic is specific to each of those who are in the dynamic. In practice, it rarely works that smoothly.”
“I thought D/s couples never argued, because the Dom had the final say.”
“Again, in theory he or she does. But D/s couples have their own struggles. I just think D/s gives them a framework to work it out. And don’t let the books fool you, all D/s couples have their own rules just like all vanilla couples.”
“You don’t look down on vanilla couples?”
“Not at all,” Coop said with a shake of his head. “As long as both parties are getting out of it what they need, I think people should do what makes them happy. I know myself well enough to know that I need the control inherent in being a Dom. That and being able to care for my partner to see to her needs is what makes me feel good about myself, like I’m more than just cannon fodder.”
“Did you ever feel that way?” she asked, sounding concerned.
“Often. It wasn’t until I hooked up with the SEAL unit that Fitzwallace recruited to join Cerberus that I started to feel I deserved more.”
Coop kept a close eye on Anabella as he dispatched the first team to surveil her house and ensure the area was clear. He agreed that she would be better able to alert them if anyone had entered her house, and if so, if anything had been taken. But as time passed, the normally animated Anabella got quieter and quieter. They drove onto the street from Cerberus’ secured parking, and drove around the corner to pass by the entrance. The doors were riddled with bullet strikes and crackling spikes, but the doors had held. They’d need to get new ones, but it was nice to know the doors had done their job.
Anabella sat in the back of the SUV, staring out the window and not speaking at all. If asked a direct question, she would answer non-committedly in as few words as possible. He could hear her ragged breathing and when she spoke it was with a hitch in her throat. She held her hands in her lap and seemed to be trying to keep them from shaking. The fear emanating from her was palpable. He didn’t blame her; the drive-by had to have been terrifying for her.
They pulled up in the driveway behind the other SUV.
Anabella shook her head. “I can’t do this,” she whispered to no one in particular. “What was I thinking? I’m an accountant, not some kind of industrial spy.” She turned to Coop. “We have to leave. We have to get far away. Make a deal with Blackwood. You need to relocate me; I need a new identity.”
“Calm down, Anabella,” he said in a soothing tone as he placed his hand on her forearm. “Just take a deep breath and listen to the sound of my voice. If you don’t want to go in, we’ll go back to Cerberus and you can make a list. We can send someone for your things. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
She looked at him, sheer panic written all over her face.
Coop took one of her hands in his. “It’s all right. We’re secure. The SUV is armor-plated and has bulletproof glass. Nobody can get to you. If you decide you don’t want to do this, we can absolutely relocate you. That’s your call. See that plumbing van over there?”
“Yes, that’s a catchy corporate name and logo. I’ve never heard of that company.”
“That’s because it only exists as a fake address and phone that is answered by Cerberus. We don’t have a single plumber in the firm. That’s one of our surveillance teams. They’ve been sitting on your loft since before the drive-by. If there were anything even a little bit out of place, they’d have called in and we would never have come.”
Anabella looked at his face, a blank look staring back at him as she let the words sink in. She shuddered and then seemed to come back into herself. It was as if she had been offline and was now being restored. She reached for the door handle, and he pulled her back.
“We talked about this. You don’t get out of any vehicle until one of us comes to help you out.”
