CHAPTER TEN
Thursday, July 27th
Brady sat in the conference room of TRG with Hunter as they both worked on their computers, finishing the reports for the case that they’d just finished.
Claire and Erin were going to join them as soon Claire was done analyzing all of Erin’s electronic devices. She’d discovered that Erin’s stalker had been tracking her through her phone, so she was setting up some bread crumbs to see if she could get the guy to follow them. Then they could trap him and hopefully add the final nail to his coffin.
Unfortunately, people who engaged in this behavior often eluded arrest by staying just this side of the law and were difficult to stop until they committed violence. That’s what Claire’s plan was trying to circumvent.
Brady’s experience with HRT had taught him that rescuing people after someone snapped was damn difficult. He’d been on too many ops to think differently, and he had no desire to be on the losing side when and if Erin’s stalker got ahold of her.
His time with the FBI had given him a front-row seat to all the lunacy that was out there, and he had a healthy respect for what people were capable of. Those who victimized others had all kinds of reasons for doing it and it wasn’t always for political or financial gain. Sometimes, it was plain old crazy that made people do weird and scary shit.
Which he knew was a politically offensive term for people suffering from any number of maladies. The structure and chemical makeup of people’s brains weren’t in their control, nor were the life experiences that caused psychotic breaks. A hundred reasons could contribute to people’s behavior, and it was often difficult to pinpoint the exact one that sent them over the edge into insanity.
Those were often the most difficult assignments because rescuing someone from the clutches of a person who had broken with reality was never easy. And as the lead sniper in his unit, it had often been his job to neutralize the person to save the victim. Looking through his scope into the eyes of someone who was mentally ill and deciding to take the shot was never one he’d taken lightly. Those experiences and memories stuck, so if he was going to have to remember pulling the trigger, he wanted it to be worth it.
Every shot he’d taken was filed away in a box in the back of his mind. A box he hardly ever opened. Processing that shit was next to impossible and the only thing that allowed him to live with those memories was knowing he’d been well on the side of good for every operation he’d been on.
And that wasn’t always the case for people in his line of work. He knew his brother Brock had struggled with the experiences he had when he’d been deployed as a Marine. As had many of the men from TRG. Spec ops men never came home unscathed from their time downrange, and truth was, he hadn’t either. But if he had to do it all over again, he would. His time with the FBI and HRT was some of the best of his life, and he’d still be there if his knee hadn’t shattered.
But such were the breaks when leaping from tall buildings in a single bound. Seemed he’d landed okay with the company he was keeping, and he was grateful to be a part of the work they were doing. Today, it looked like their work might be taken to the next level, and the guard dog duty they’d been performing for Erin was going to get serious.
Right now, the op was in Claire’s hands. Once she was done laying the groundwork, it would be up to him and the team to come up with a plan. When she had asked him to help her earlier with a program she’d been writing, he couldn’t believe it. Seemed his years of experience in dealing with stalkers were of interest to her. She had asked him all kinds of questions and had told him it helped as she wrote the parameters for her latest algorithm.
All those years working with top profilers had taught him a thing or two about the psychological makeup of someone who became obsessed, and Claire had found the intel useful.
The fact that he got to sneak in a kiss or two while he shared his insight was the cherry on top of the sundae he called Claire. Yep, he’d just compared her to a bowl of ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream and he wasn’t even embarrassed for himself. She was someone he wanted to devour and he wasn’t going to apologize for it. The slow burn of desire he’d been harboring for Claire had changed over the last week and a half, and he was now dealing with a five-alarm fire of desire.
Right now, it felt like he was in the grip of something bigger than him, and stronger. The more time they spent together, the more time he wanted. Last night had been a perfect example because when she’d told him she was going to go home after their swim, he was frustrated beyond words. He didn’t want the evening to end, and if he could’ve figured out a way to keep her at his house, he would have. And it wasn’t just because he wanted to become physically intimate with her. He would’ve been happy sitting on the couch smooching or watching something on Netflix.
All that mattered was that she was next to him. Which he understood was a little intense.
His phone buzzed with a text and he shook his head to clear his thoughts. When he saw Claire’s name, he read the text quickly and elbowed Hunter. “Claire and Erin are almost done and they’re going to be here in ten minutes. Claire’s got a plan she wants to run past us and Damian will sit in on it.”
“Roger that,” Hunter replied. “I invited Erin to go out to my folks’ horse farm this weekend. I thought she might want to get away and it would give Damian the weekend off. There is one road in and that’s it. I’ve got the place secured, so it would give her a chance to relax and not worry.”
“You got a thing for the actress?” He already knew the answer because Claire had told him what she’d observed. But it would be nice to hear the words from the man himself. Before Hunter could reply, the sound of the women’s voices floated down the hall. “You need backup, let me know.”
Hunter nodded and closed his computer. “Thanks, man.”
Glancing over, he noticed the cool competence that usually surrounded Hunter like a blanket was noticeably absent. It looked like the man had caught some feeling for Erin, which meant that protecting her was going to put every one of the things he’d learned as a Delta operator to the test. It was one thing to protect a stranger. It was a whole other if you had feelings involved. Which clearly Hunter had when he saw Erin enter the room. The speed at which he shoved himself out of his chair and made it across the room was impressive, and the way their eyes locked told anyone within a hundred feet that something was happening.
Brady watched Claire walk in behind Erin and motioned her to sit next to him. When she slowly walked over, he felt a smile break across his face. His girl was wearing jeans and a flowered top and he’d never seen anyone so pretty in his life. Running his hand along his cheek, he realized he wasn’t much different than Hunter. Though he’d never accept the smitten kitten label. That was bullshit.
He was just a wolf who recognized his mate. In his mind, that sounded a lot better and it was something he could live with.
Standing, he pulled out the chair next to him and waited until she sat down. “Hi, darlin’.”
“Hi, yourself.”
“What have you been up to?”
“This and that.”
When she gave him a small smile, he felt like smooching her good and hard. “I was thinking we could grab some dinner after work. Maybe try the Saint Street Inn. I heard they have some great food.”
“Really?”
Leaning back, he gave her a smirk. “Honey, I can wine you and dine you with the best of them. Just ‘cause we’ve been low-key doesn’t mean that I don’t know how to show you a good time.”
“I’ve been having a good time already.” She looked down at her jeans and shrugged. “I didn’t dress up for someplace nice.”
“I don’t think we need to dress up. I heard it was casual.”
“Maybe. Depends on how the rest of my afternoon goes.”
“I’ll check in at the end of the day and we can decide then.”
When she relaxed, he knew he’d done the absolute right thing. Claire had somehow associated dating with hard work. So, easy breezy was going to become his middle name.
If he kept what happened between them relaxed, then she was going to soon become attached without even knowing it. So, relaxed he was.
***
Claire opened her computer and let the scent of Brady wash over her. Which made her feel strangely calm and happy. It also was turning her on, which was not what she wanted to happen in the middle of a workday. “Scooch,” she said as she rolled her chair to the side.
“Why?” he asked as he moved his chair in her direction.
“You’re crowding me.”
“Really? I thought you liked me close. When we were in the pool last night, you liked me swimming right next to you. In fact, we were like two French angelfish. Swimming side by side, always touching.” When she raised an eyebrow, he shrugged. “So what? I like nature shows.”
“We are not angelfish. We are coworkers who must maintain some semblance of professionalism in the office.”
“Did you know that angelfish mate for life? They live, travel, and hunt in pairs. In fact, they act as a team to vigorously defend their territory against neighboring pairs. That could be us,” he said with conviction.
“We are not striped fish living in the western Atlantic. We are people living in Lafayette.”
“Fine,” he responded and moved his chair half an inch. “You want space? There you go.”
When she saw that was all the give he had in him, she pulled up the program she’d been working on and decided to leave it be. The more she retreated, the more he was going to chase. And while the concept was flattering, it wasn’t anything she needed to encourage. “Should we call Quinn and have him join us? He’s going to have to approve of the scheme—I mean, plan—that I’ve come up with.”
“Speaking of schemes, you ever going to tell me what you, Lilly, and Erin were cooking up the other day?”
“I told you we’re working on some ideas for a screenplay that Lilly is writing for Erin.” Running her eyes up and down him, she shook her head. “You have a very suspicious mind.”
He pushed his chair back and stood. “I know, but I’m not that far off the mark when it comes to Lilly. The only reason she avoided juvenile hall was that my brother thwarted her more creative ideas. The thought of the three of you hatching something has me nervous.”
“We’re hatching a blockbuster movie.”
“If you say so,” he replied as he walked over to the wall and pressed the intercom to let his boss know that he could join them.
When Quinn walked into the conference room, Claire gave him a wide smile. Her cousin had given her a place to land after she discovered that working for the CIA wasn’t what it was cracked up to be, and she was deeply appreciative. She’d been recruited right out of college and had lasted four years before she discovered it wasn’t the place for her. When Quinn told her to come home and join his company, she had been more than ready. “I think I’ve got something that’s going to work,” she said to the assembled group.
“Just waiting on Damian,” Quinn said as he checked his phone. He’s taking advantage of our gym and should be done any minute.”
“I need to give him some time off,” Erin said to no one in particular. “I hadn’t expected to stay in town as long as I have and it’s not fair to keep him here away from his family. He’s got some guys he can send in to relieve him and I’m going to tell him to do that.”
Hunter sat forward and shook his head. “I’ll take over your protection.”
“We can run a rotation so not all of the burden falls on you,” Quinn commented.
“No burden,” Hunter said decisively.
Damian entered the room and Claire decided to start laying out her plan. Once they had it, they could decide how they wanted to proceed. “Let me give you all an overview of what we’re up against.” Pulling up a page of notes, she cleared her throat. “Alvin Wilson is our man of interest and if I had to guess, I’d say he’s about ready to escalate his attempts at contacting Erin. He’s hacked her phone, which is easier than completing The New York Times crossword puzzle, and he’s tracking her movements through her GPS locator. He’s viewed and saved all the data on her cloud and has enjoyed listening to her voicemails and reading her texts.”
“Which means he’s making a plan,” Brady commented.
“Exactly,” Claire responded. “Brady and I worked together earlier and I wrote a program based on the information he gave me. I hope I’ve come up with something that is going to work. Tracking him through his phone, bank accounts, and GPS on his car puts us in a reactive position.”
“Which is not where we want to be,” Brady said decisively.
“So, I’ve got a program running on Erin’s phone that is feeding information to Alvin. I’m trying to lure him out and see what he does with it. I’ve got various phone calls going out and fake voicemails coming in. Pictures are going to be posted by Erin’s assistant to follow the trail we’re setting. I’ve got the GPS ready to take him on a trip across the country.”
“So, you’re testing his willingness to get close, despite the restraining order?” Quinn asked.
“Yes. I want to see what he does as I feed him info. I’ve got her in Vegas right now, staying at the Wynn. We’ll post some photos later and see if he takes the bait.”
“If we can lure him close enough then we can nail him and hopefully get rid of him for good,” Damian said. “This guy has been taunting Erin for years and we would like to put an end to it once and for all.”
“I’m willing to be bait if it means I don’t have to worry about him anymore,” Erin said firmly.
“No way are we putting you out there. The team will come up with something that lets this guy self-destruct without you anywhere near him,” Hunter said.
Quinn knocked his knuckles on the table. “Sounds good. Claire, do your thing, keep me in the loop, and let’s see what we get by Monday. After we have some intel on how the guy is going to react, we can adjust and come up with a solid plan.”
“Perfect,” Claire said. She leaned in front of Brady and high-fived Erin. “Let’s nail this sucker.”
“Yeah,” Erin responded.
When Claire sat back and watched the men exchange glances, she knew they were not too sure, but it didn’t much matter to her. As long as she could track Alvin’s every movement, they had a shot at ending this for Erin. Which she really wanted to do, because having a constant threat was no way to live. If she could help end this, then she would be happy to do whatever it took.
***
Claire sat across from Brady on the patio of the Saint Street Inn and felt like laughing. He was struggling with his choice for dinner and she figured it was because the menu didn’t have more than one or two things he recognized. The place was cool and had a hipster vibe that she guessed wasn’t Brady’s thing. “Did you find something that looks good?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m going to try the steak and frites. Can’t go wrong there. What about you?”
“I’m going to have the roasted chicken.”
“Looks like neither one of us wanted to be daring with our choices.”
“I thought about the roasted pumpkin curry, but decided it might be a bit much.”
“I have no idea what that is,” Brady commented. “All my years out of state didn’t make me much of an adventurous eater, no matter how hard I tried.”
“How many years were you in Virginia?”
“I went up right after I graduated from college, so six years. I lived in a little apartment not far from Quantico and enjoyed the hell out of my time up North.”
“We lived about an hour apart for several years. Wouldn’t it have been funny if we met up there?”
“What?”
“I went to work for the CIA after I graduated from college. In 2011, I went up to Langley and took all the tests and then joined the company.”
“I had no idea,” Brady responded incredulously.
“It was really exciting when I started and then it became all-consuming and depressing. I lasted about four years before I discovered it wasn’t someplace that I wanted to dedicate my life to.”
“Damn, woman, we are some kind of super-operator, super-spy couple.”
Throwing her head back, she let out a laugh. “We are not even close to that. We are Southerners who happened to spend time working for the government.”
“I take it you didn’t really enjoy the spook business.”
“I was never a spook. I worked in a dark office surrounded by computers, figuring out ways to gather and hack information that would serve some mission I never completely understood. I was a low-level grunt and I never really got a sense of the big picture, so I never knew if what I was doing was making a difference.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that about Langley. I had about the opposite experience. I was on the front lines for most of my career. If I wasn’t fast-roping out of a helicopter, then I was doing a HALO jump out of a plane. Every time I put my life on the line, I knew what it was for.”
“I never put my life on the line, and all my hours spent inside the building never gave me much of a feeling of satisfaction. If I had spent my career there, I might’ve eventually found out what I was working toward.”
“Two very different approaches with two very different environments,” Brady responded. “Still, it’s cool that you worked there.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Shrugging, she looked across the patio. The waitress approached and they ordered their meals and drinks. After the woman left, she saw that Brady was studying her. “What?”
“Nothing,” he replied as he picked up her hand and held it. “It’s just that I’m glad we met here and not up in Virginia.”
“Why?”
“Because I wasn’t ready to be in a relationship when I was up there and I am now. If I’d met you too soon, I might’ve blown it.” Looking around the small restaurant, he grinned. “But here we are, back home, and I’m more than ready to make sure you fall for me.”
A nice, soft, swoshy feeling filled her chest as she stared into his eyes. “My goodness, Brady.”
“Don’t fight it, Claire. Just accept it and enjoy the ride.”
Their drinks were delivered, and she lifted hers and waited. “Here’s to coming home and finding someone unexpected.”
He clinked their glasses together and winked. “I’ll drink to that.”
As she took a sip of her drink, she thought about the possibilities and wondered if any of them were going to come true. It sure would be nice to think she had a chance at something with Brady that could last.