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“All set,” she said, looping her purse strap over her shoulder.“I just need to be back by four-thirty so they can pick up their orders.”
“We’ll make it happen.”Lucas rested a hand on the small of her back as they passed through the shop and out the front door, only pausing long enough to switch the sign around to CLOSED and lock up.
The drive to the boat factory didn’t take long.Lucas pulled into the newly paved parking lot and shifted into park.
Felina stared at the building, shaking her head.“I haven’t been out here since they finished the remodel of the old factory.Wow.It looks modern and chic.And you can really make boats inside?”
Lucas laughed.“Nothing fancy, just aluminum skiffs.Hank invested in new metal fabrication equipment and the technology to automate much of the work.He liked the idea of maintaining the building’s heritage.But the heart of the building is the Bayou Brotherhood Protectors war room and offices.”
He led her through the boat factory and paused at a door where he pressed his finger to a pad and scanned his eye in a biometric reader.The lock clicked, and the door swung open into a hallway that lit up as they moved through it, passing several doors along the way.
“Behind these doors are storerooms containing electronics, body armor and communications equipment, as well as an armory equipped with an array of weapons we might need for whatever mission we’re assigned.”
“Are you anticipating a war like the preppers up in the northeast?”Felina asked.
“Not necessarily,” Lucas said.“The Brotherhood Protectors have been known to deploy to hostile locations in other countries as well as here in our homeland.Having the right equipment on hand allows us to mobilize on short notice.”
“I didn’t realize all of this was here or that your team could perform such a wide variety of missions.I guess I thought you were just a security firm that provided bodyguards for celebrities or politicians.”
Lucas grinned.“We’ve done that, too.Hank hires former military guys who are highly trained in special operations.We have skills most civilians don’t.”
“I feel guilty that I hired you for such a silly assignment.Pretending to be my boyfriend to get the matchmakers off my back seems like a waste of your skills.”
Lucas shook his head.“We’re still not tasked at full capacity.Besides, no assignment is too big or too small.I think we’ve hired out as security for a kid’s birthday party at the same time as we’ve stormed a compound up north that was kidnapping people and training them as assassins.”
“Seriously?”Felina stared up at him.“Okay, I definitely feel bad for hiring you to be my boyfriend.”
“Don’t feel bad.It turns out you needed more than a pretend boyfriend.With a murderer on the loose and the break-in, having a protector isn’t a bad idea.”
They emerged from the hallway into a large room with a conference table in the middle, a large video monitor at the end of the table, a wall of whiteboards and a bank of computers and monitors.
Remy stood behind a man with broad shoulders and sandy-blond hair who sat in front of an array of monitors, his hands on a keyboard.
As Lucas and Felina approached, Remy glanced up.“Fortunately, we had a sleeve-like device we could slip the disk into that fits in a port on the computer.Unfortunately, the disk is password protected.”He nodded to the man at the computer.“This is Landry Laurent, former Navy SEAL and the most tech-savvy member of our team here in Louisiana.We have a couple of other computer gurus at other locations we can tap into when we need more technical prowess than we have here.Landry, this is Felina Faivre.”
“The flower shop girl.”Landry shot a smile over his shoulder.“Our man Lucas has been trying to get your attention since we arrived in Bayou Mambaloa.Nice to meet you.”
Lucas’s cheeks heated.“Thanks, man.”
Landry grinned.“Just the facts, man.Have him show you his room at the boarding house.I’ve never seen so many flowers in a bachelor pad.”
Felina chuckled.“I thought he was buying them for his girlfriend.”
“In a way, he was.”Landry gave Felina a wink.“Can’t knock the man for persistence.Although some women might have mistaken persistence for stalking.Tomato, to-mah-to.Whatever you want to call it, I’m not making much headway on this password.”
“What have you tried?”Lucas asked.
“Gaither’s birthday in a variety of combinations.His business address in New Orleans—again, in a variety of combinations.His phone number, first name, last name, middle name and combinations of all three.We don’t know if he has a pet or what his favorite sports team is or we’d try that.We could be here until we’re old and gray and not guess his password.I’m about ready to hand off to Swede, our computer whiz at our main headquarters in Montana.”
“Gaither was a private investigator,” Felina said.“Who are some famous private investigators?”
“Sherlock Holmes,” Remy said.
Landry’s fingers flew across the keyboard, trying several combinations of the name.Each time, he got an immediate response of “Invalid Password.”Finally, he shook his head.
“How about Hercule Poirot?”Lucas offered.
Landry’s brow twisted.“You know Agatha Christie?”
