We headed south to Durango. If Frank was getting skittish, he wasn’t letting on, even as we continued to drive for what seemed like forever. Instead, he and Simon were just bantering back and forth in the front seat like it was just another day at the office.

For my part, I had no idea how to react.

If Simon had been sent here to get me, did that mean I was actually a target? Maybe not before, but perhaps now? I hugged myself more tightly, a small shiver going through my body. I didn’t know how to react to all of this and wasn’t sure what I should do.

And Simon? Thank God he’d arrived when he had. Otherwise, we’d have been shot down by those cartel guys, or worse.

Why were they coming after my father’s business like this? What did he have to do with them? Those guys were murderers, right? Like, really bad murderers?

Frank, though, seemed to be taking this all in stride, even with not being able to call and check in with his boss.

Now, as I looked at him, the resinous pine needles stuck to his jacket, I didn’t know what to think. It was like all this had shown him in a different light to me. I leaned forward. “Hold still, Frank,” I said, and went to brush a pine needle from his hair.  I laughed as he flinched a little from my touch. “I said to hold still.”

But when I was finished preening him, I looked down at myself. My clothes were ruined! My Lululemon pants had a huge hole torn in the knee, where the bleeding had already stopped. And my tank top? That was drenched in sweat, and covered in dirt and grime. I checked the rearview mirror and almost fell back from shock. I was a mess. I quickly ran my hands through my hair, ridding it of pine needles, twigs, debris, and grass.

Well, at least it wasn’t a bullet I was taking off my body.

“You okay?” Frank asked when he heard me huff.

“Don’t suppose there’s a Nordstrom on the way to our meeting, is there?”

Simon caught my eyes with his own unsmiling ones. “Sorry, ma’am. Not in the cards, I’m afraid.”

I slumped back into my seat, stifling a groan. No, they were right. I was being shot at. There were more important things to worry about than what I looked like. I wasn’t going to a gala or a music festival. I was meeting with my father.

At least, I was pretty sure I was. Who else would send security to pick me up? It would make sense if it were the case, and some other aspects would begin to fall together as well. Because, if what Simon was saying about the phones being hacked was true, it would explain why Father’s phone had been turned off so that I immediately received a voicemail. After all, I knew from personal experience that Father’s private jet could make the flight from New York to Colorado in only four or five hours, tops. He could have easily gotten here already if Barbara had told him what had happened overnight.

About an hour after we left my father’s cabin, we pulled into a nearly empty parking lot of what looked like had once been a strip mall, but had been converted into storefront offices. Only three vehicles were parked in the lot, and they all looked identical to our current one. Well, almost identical. The other three had their rear windows and no bullet holes.

“This it?” Frank asked as Simon parked the car near the front door.

“Sure is,” Simon said, twisting around in the seat to face me. “You ready, ma’am?”

I nodded. “Let’s see who our mystery man is.”

He grinned and slapped his knee. “Now that’s the fighting spirit I like to see.”

The three of us climbed out of the car, with Simon leading the way. Frank passed an eye over me as he fell in by my side. “You okay? You look like you just got chased through the woods by some crazy vatos with guns.”

“Figure whoever this is will understand. And, if they don’t, screw ‘em.”

Up ahead, Simon held the door open for us. Inside, bad neon bulbs illuminated the practically empty lobby and its vacant receptionist desk with white, sterile light. A hallway just past the piece of office furniture went around the corner and deeper into the building. The room was silent except for the distant sound of air conditioning blowing through the vents.

I stopped for a moment, letting my eyes adjust from the daylight to the office dimness. This was all just so surreal. What was I doing in a place like this? How had I gotten wrapped up in some cloak and dagger corporate espionage crap? I hadn’t wanted anything to do with father’s business, but here I was.

Great.

“Right this way, ma’am,” Simon said as he passed us up.

“Running a pretty slim crew, Simon. Saw three other cars outside. You got that many people hidden in here?”

“Oh, they’re out and about. Can’t have all our eggs in one basket, now, can we?”

Frank and I followed Simon as he led us down the hallway. Up ahead, standing just beside a conference room door, another security guard stood waiting.

“Frank, Ms. Maxwell, this is Mike.”

Mike nodded curtly, but didn’t say a word as we stopped at the door.

“Frank? Let me show you to an office where we have a secure line while Ms. Maxwell’s in her meeting.”

I frowned. “What? No, Frank stays with me. He’s come this far already.”

Simon shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ms. Maxwell, but I can’t let Frank in with you. He hasn’t been cleared by my employers. Like I said in the car, we’re under tight security on this, and that extends to him.”

“But I’m fine?”

“Of course. That’s part of the reason why you’re here, ma’am.”

“Well, what if I don’t want him to go?” And, I realized, I didn’t. Instead, I wanted him in there with me, wanted his hand clasping mine just like back in the cabin’s kitchen. Not because I thought he’d protect me from whatever was on the other side, but because he’d support me. Be on my side, no matter what.

“Then, I’m sorry, Ms. Maxwell, but we’ll just have to operate without your assistance in this matter.”

“Know what?” Frank interjected in his easy drawl. “It’s fine by me. I can guard my client just as well without knowing every single detail of what’s happening. Unless, of course, you guys got an armed Tejano band in there or something. Or a crazy Russky?”

Simon chuckled. “Certainly hope not. Means our security’s Swiss cheese. Cell phones would be the least of our worries, then.”

Even though my chest had tightened up a little, I still nodded. “Okay, Frank. Okay.”

“Simon, I’m sure you’ll brief me on everything I need to know to do my job, correct?”

“Absolutely, Frank. You know that.”

Frank turned to me, looked me in the eye. “Gonna be just fine, alright? You find out just what in the hell’s going on, and I’ll make some calls back to The Rock, okay? Let Mr. Frost know everything that’s going on.”

I nodded and watched as he and Simon walked down the hallway to a side office, disappearing through a door.

As soon as they were gone, Mike opened the door for me and I stepped inside.

I sucked in a breath as I looked around.

Not because of the room; the room itself wasn’t anything remarkable. There was a small, generically built windowless conference room with a broad table made of cheap, lacquered wood. Nothing fancy. Even the fake potted Ficus in the corner seemed like something that was just added because some office manager thought the room needed color. Across the back wall was a broad whiteboard that stretched fifteen feet or so, from one side of the wall to the other.

No, the reason I sucked in a breath of surprise was because of who was standing in front of the whiteboard at the head of the conference table.

“Hello, honey,” the bimbo said as she came over to me, her hands reaching out for mine. “I’m so sorry we have to see each other like this for the first time since the wedding. But we have a problem, Ashley. We have a very big problem.”