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“And are you any closer to figuring out who this group is?”
I hadn’t mentioned to the man that we were working with the idea that this was a more pointed attack on the Harringtons or maybe even Lake. I should have informed my employer of my suspicions, but I highly doubted the old man would have listened. Robert had his own ideas, and, until we had proof, no one was spilling theories.
“We’re still working on it. The list of known enemies your assistant sent over, while impressive, gave us nothing in the way of leads.”
“If she’s not safe there, then lock her away somewhere that is. I’m sure you have safe houses in the middle of the ocean or something equally clandestine. Figure out who is doing this and stop them before I have to plan a funeral.” The line went dead and I just looked at the phone for long moments, wondering how a man who cared so little could be paying so much for protection. A funeral might have been cheaper.
“Okay, boss, reading your emotions only works with one Harrington. What happened with Eagle?” Fitz was studying my features carefully, obviously a bit irritated that his friend was once again a stoic mask to him.
“Nothing of consequence. He needed to feel some power in the moment and he got that. I’m not exactly sure why he thinks we own clandestine islands in the middle of the ocean, but I have a feeling John Landow was exceedingly complimentary in his review of us.” I pocketed my phone and watched the monitors again, making a point to skip over the library in order to focus on anything out of place. I noticed Evan Turner standing at the edge of the yard nearest the property line, his head tilted slightly as if he were studying something off screen.
He’d been assigned perimeter detail after I had brought him into the library to chew him out for insubordination. The man had done little more than apologize, expression so blank that I could have been looking in a mirror. Apparently Turner had picked up more than just job training while working with me; the younger man seemed to radiate calm indifference yet still held respect as he’d apologized.
“Are you getting too entangled with the client, Turner?” I’d asked, jaw clenched so hard I was surprised I hadn’t chipped a tooth.
“No sir, I simply hesitated because I was doing my job.”
“How does your job include ignoring my command to leave?” In all honesty, it was almost as if I were listening to the beginning of one of Kasey’s snarky jokes. But the response from the other man had me frozen to the ground in a mix of shock and self-reproach.
“Because my job is to protect Lake Harrington, sir. When you nearly tore an iron gate off a stone wall, my conflict was pretty obvious. I was worried I’d need to protect her from you.”
After a weighty silence, where we just stared each other down, I had sent him on perimeter duty, though not without a nod of respect for him to call out an obvious issue. I’d known Kasey had probably been listening in, since the tech wizard was also a first class eavesdropper, but there was no snarky response about me leaving the room having my ass handed to me by Turner. Instead I’d gone about the day working with our personal team to attempt to track the theft of the Prius as well as sweep the property for bugs again.
But here Turner was now, seemingly distracted by something out of view of the camera and I couldn’t ignore the turning in my stomach telling me this was something important. I strode from the room tapping both Fitz and Cabot along the way, hearing their footsteps as they followed down the hall and down the porch.
The younger guard was already facing us as we approached. “What is it, Turner?” Cabot asked, posture neutral except for his hand positioned ever so carefully near the gun holstered to his hip.
“At first, it was nothing, but I was trying to pay attention to the treeline, thinking maybe someone had rigged a camera higher up.” He gave a small shrug and continued. “Then I noticed that.” He turned and pointed to the trees that worked as a natural wall between the main house and the former guest house.
“What? There’s no visibility from that house to here through the trees.” Fitz looked between Turner and us. He didn’t catch it, but we were looking grim as we gazed in the direction that had been pointed out.
“Son of a bitch,” Cabot muttered before running back toward the house.
“That branch is cut, Fitz. It's not a direct line from the windows, but it sure as shit makes for the perfect view from the roof.” I spun and followed Cabot back to the house as we initiated full lockdown on the property for the second time in little more than a few hours.
“Uh, we got a problem, Deck,” came Kasey’s voice from my earpiece.
“Yeah, I know.”
“I heard the conversation,” Kasey continued as if he still needed to explain. “And I just finished re-examining the son that is staying at that property. The one owned by his parents.”
“Spit it the fuck out, Kase.” I was already in the house and in the command room grabbing a bullet suppression vest from the wardrobe we’d hijacked from another room.
“They don’t have a son!” Kasey said, almost frantic. “But they were supposed to be staying at that house for the summer. Theirdaughtersaid they left for the Hamptons last week.”
“We’re going to talk about how this got by you, but right now we need local PD if there’s a hostage situation.” I couldn’t focus on any reprimand when my body and mind were shifting to strategy and war.
“Decker, I can’t find where this identity originated due to an entire lifetime of a papertrail. The only reason I know he’s a fake is because I called their fucking real kid and got it from the next of kin herself.” After a deep breath, Kasey continued, “And local PD is also bringing in the closest tactical team, and a few feds… you know, because of terrorists.”
“ETA?”
“Ten minutes.”
CHAPTER 11
LAKE
Iwasn’t sure I could fold in on myself any further but somehow sinking into the chair and becoming one with the furniture was very appealing at that moment. I was sure rocking at this whole “living with a killer out to get you” thing. I hadn’t quite realized how much I’d taken for granted while being among the world. Moving with crowds and making myself stand out had always been my own wall against the world, and now it was nothing more than a bullseye on my back.
