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“No? That’s my private laptop and my phone.” Toni stalked over, incensed. “Give them to me.” He’d been so great up to now that she’d actually found herself trusting him, but she should have known better. What was he looking for? Dirt he could dish to a tabloid? He wouldn’t be the first employee to sell her out for a payday. And just like every other time, she felt vulnerable and exposed and so very stupid for having fallen for the act again. This time was even worse, given how much she’d started to like him. When would she learn?
“I’m just looking out for you,” he said calmly. “Checking for viruses, bugs, malware, spyware, stuff like that.”
“Part of your comprehensive ‘service’, huh?” She attempted to wrangle the laptop from his grasp, to no avail. “I don’t remember hacking being on your résumé. Nor would I have agreed it was necessary, if you’d bothered to ask. I have excellent firewalls, thanks so much. And you don’t have the passcode for my phone, so no luck there, I guess.”
She gave up on trying to get the laptop back. He was stronger than her and clearly wasn’t going to let go before he was good and ready. Fine, then. She’d end this the direct way. “You’re fired. Get your things together and get out of here before I call security and have them throw you out.”
“Fired? You don’t mean that.”
“Like hell I don’t.” Beyond niceties now, she glared at him. “Tell me who you are and what you’re really doing here.”
Spencer looked at her. “I’m Spencer Nixon, and I’m here because you hired me to be your bodyguard.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Would you choosethatas a pseudonym?”
She growled in frustration. How could he joke at a time like this? “Not your name. Your reason for being here. Why the hell would a former Navy SEAL want to babysit a nobody like me?”
“You’re not nobody,” he growled. “You’re the head of a successful charity foundation, and you’re Coran Williams’s daughter.”
Right. Of course. He wasn’t the first guy who’d hoped to get to Coran Williams through Toni, nor would he probably be the last. “Got it. I understand. You’re using me to get to my dad.”
“Not in the way you think.” Spencer shook his head and scowled. “Believe me, you don’t understand at all.”
“Then explain it to me,” Toni said. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’ve been sitting here hacking into my personal computer and trying to access my personal phone records. Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t be calling the police and reporting you right now.”
Her instincts had told her he was up to something, and she should’ve listened, dammit. She made a grab for the computer again, only vaguely aware of the strange look on Spencer’s face, like a dog alerted to a high-pitched noise no one else could hear. She ducked instinctively at the exact moment Spencer lunged, grabbing hold of her and toppling them both to the ground, her laptop and phone clattering to the floor between the lounge chairs.
For a moment, she was frozen in shock. As angry as she was at him, she hadn’t thought that he would hurt her physically. Had she been wrong about that, too? But no, he wasn’t trying to hit her or choke her, he was…shielding her?
Seeming to read the confusion on her face, he gestured up to the wall. “Look.” He pointed to an oddly round hole just over his shoulder. A bullet hole, she realized, just as another round whizzed past them. Adrenaline surged through her veins. Debris rained down, and Toni yelped, ducking her face against his warm, solid shoulder. “We’ve got another shooter!” Spencer hissed.
6
After hustling them both inside and away from the windows, Spencer stared at the prickly woman across from him—all crossed arms, indignation, and shaky voice—and sighed. This was not how he’d pictured his morning going. He’d gotten up before dawn, showered and dressed in his best business attire, then hurried out to run through the hard drive on her computer for any hints as to where Coran Williams might be holed up or any possible direct connection on her end to SHEEPSKIN. He’d also gotten into her phone to scan her texts. He’d thought he’d given himself plenty of time. He knew she didn’t have anything on her schedule until late in the day and figured that she’d take the opportunity to sleep in, especially given the time change. Obviously, he’d been wrong.
Telling her about his real mission hadn’t been part of his plan, but now it seemed he didn’t have a choice. Toni needed this trip to succeed for her foundation almost as much as he needed to find her father, so maybe telling her the truth would work out for both of them. Plus, her electronics had come up totally clean. There was no indication in her records or her data that she was anything other than exactly what she appeared to be: a hardworking, dedicated woman who was committed to her work…and who had no idea of the mess that her father was involved in. But on top of the hard data, there was just something about her. Something that made him want to take a leap of faith. To offer her the truth and see if she was worthy of his trust. “You know I’m a SEAL.”
“Former SEAL—or close to it.” Toni shifted her weight on the cold marble-tile floor. They’d crawled into the interior dining room and now sat against opposite walls, eyeing each other. At first, she’d headed straight for the phone. She’d said she wanted to call down and report the shooting, but Spencer had gotten the sense that when the hotel’s security came, she’d ask them to escort him out as well, so he’d asked that she wait and hear him out first. “According to the news reports, your team was put on probation pending the completion of the investigation into the death of your teammate, Nick Matthews.” At his steady stare, she continued. “I did some investigation of my own before hiring you. Right now, my father’s paper is the only one coming straight out and accusing you of anything, but that may not be the case for long.”
“There’s nothing former about my SEAL status.” He mimicked her defiant posture and held her gaze. “They can’t take any punitive measures against us until they determine our guilt—which they haven’t, and which theywon’t,because we’re not guilty of anything. The real killer is still out there, and my team is going to find him, no matter what. And we have authority to take action, once we do. A high-ranking Navy official ordered us on the down-low to discover who was really responsible.”
Toni shook her head. “I don’t understand. Are you saying there’s some kind of…conspiracy? That someone’s trying to cover up what actually happened?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Her gaze lowered, a frown drawing her dark brows together. “So that’s why you took this job as my bodyguard? Because you’re working on some secret mission for your team?”
“Yes.” Spence’s tense shoulders relaxed a tad. “I need to find your father.”
Toni snorted. “You and half the planet.”
“I’m serious. You said it yourself—his is the only paper that’s shouting that we’re guilty. Why do you think that is?”
For a moment, she just stared at him. “Are you… Are you saying that myfatheris involved in this conspiracy somehow? How does that make any sense? He’s a publisher. What would he have to do with some SEALs on a mission halfway around the world?”
“That’s what I want to find out,” Spencer replied. “But here’s what we’re working with so far. We think he’s involved in a covert operation called SHEEPSKIN. The NSA brief described it as a data network that’s being used to organize terror cells around the world and coordinate attacks. My team has reason to believe your father knows intimate details about this network.”
