I hated lying to Laney, but if I told her I’d been sent to protect her, she wouldn’t trust me and worse, she would become reckless and get herself hurt. But I couldn’t leave her alone to face these bastards when they showed up again, and they would. It took exactly five days for insurance to come in and investigate, and another ten to get the paint and water damage fixed so Laney’s house was back to normal. In that time things had been quiet.

 A little too quiet in fact, which left me worried and on edge. And halfway to driving the good doctor up the wall.

“Bennett you’re being ridiculous!”

“Because I want to come along with you?”

She shook her head, red hair spilling in sexy waves around her shoulders. “If you wanted to come with me because you wanted to spend time with me, as my date, then I would say yes. But you just want to play the protective hero, so no.”

I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her, smelling the sweet watermelon scent of her hair. “But I do want to spend time with you.” That was both a problem, and the perfect solution to keeping her safe, but tonight her stubborn insistence made me mad.

“I’m sure you, do but that isn’t your sole or primary motivation.” She turned in my arms, big blue eyes so expressive and unable to hide what she felt. Right now she felt affection, desire and irritation, all of it aimed at me. Then she pressed her lips to the corner of my mouth, so achingly slow I gripped her hips and pressed her into the mirror. “Ben, please.”

“I love the way you say my name when you’re all hot and bothered.” There were plenty of things I loved about her, and the main one would take her away from me tonight.

“I’ll say it all evening, once I get back.” She used her sexy little ass to pushed me back and turn to spritz perfume on her pulse points. “It’s just a dinner at Mr. Austin’s house with his wife and several other professors. The only way I’d be safer is if I were here with you.”

“Exactly. What will happen if these fuckers come for you at Austin’s house?” What really worried me was that at least two of the people at the dinner tonight were suspects, and I still hadn’t gotten a moment alone with Howard or Austin. They could easily have someone waiting to ambush her. “At least let me drive you and pick you up.”

She grinned in the mirror and turned back to me. “That’s a deal, Mr. Atlas.”

I drove her to the home Ryan Austin shared with his wife Kathleen because I wanted to check the place out even though I promised not to stick around and case the place. Though I couldn’t tell her the truth about why I was really here with her, I wouldn’t lie about anything else. If I could help it.

“Have fun Dr. Watson.”

She grinned and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek. Fucking adorable. “I will do my best and you, please stay out of trouble. I’ll call when I’m ready to leave.”

I circled the block twice before parking a few houses down. I wasn’t spying, I just wanted to see if anyone else lingered in this nice suburban neighborhood. The block was filled with cars but they were all empty, so after fifteen minutes of waiting, I went back home.

And called Commander Mahoney. “Tell me you have good news for me Atlas.”

Mahoney sounded happier than he normally did. “I wish I did sir. But I had a long talk with Dr. Stevenson and I believe it was premature to remove Austin from the suspect list.” I explained her theory that this research would take Laney away from Stanford.

“That Claire is one smart chickadee. You know I worked with her last year in the Sudan with her water pumps.” He was momentarily lost in thought. “Check out Austin then, but be discreet.”

“Of course, sir.”

“And above all else, keep Dr. Watson safe.”

I planned to do everything in my power to make damn sure that was the case. “Will do, sir.” After the call ended I turned off the lights and went upstairs to change into workout clothes. Exercise was as ingrained into me as discipline, but it also helped me think, and right now I needed to see through the muddled thoughts weighing me down. I had just slipped on my sneakers when a thought occurred to me. Laney wasn’t at home and the leak would know it, which meant someone could take another run on the house.

I knew they wanted the research more than they wanted Laney hurt. So I turned off all the lights and went to my car, parking it on a street several blocks over before making my way back to the house and slipping in through the back door.

Then I waited in the dark.

Nearly an hour had passed when I heard the sound of someone jiggling the doorknob and trying to pick the lock. I sprang into action, hiding behind the partition that separated the living room and dining room from the kitchen. My gun was at the ready but I hoped I didn’t need it. I would make this fucker talk one way or another.

He slipped inside and turned to the right where a table sat behind the sofa and rifled through the papers Laney kept there. I heard drawers open and close at the small desk to the left of the door. But I knew he planned to make his way to the basement, so I waited for him to pass me. When he finally did, I wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled back so he was unsteady on his feet.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing in here?”

He grasped at my arms, trying to loosen the grip but I had four inches on the asshole and at least thirty pounds. “Let. Go.”

“I don’t think so. Tell me what you’re doing here.”

“I’m not gonna hurt you man, I just want the lady doctor’s research. That’s all.”

I laughed. Like I was afraid of this puny asshole. “Who sent you?”

“I don’t know, just some guy in a suit.” He sighed and finally gave up his attempt to break free. “He said it was in the basement.”

Too bad I knew it wasn’t. “Not good enough.”

“I don’t fucking know, man!”

“Then I suggest you get the fuck out and don’t come back. Next time I see you I’ll shoot first and ask questions later.” I dragged him to the door and pushed his ass out, waiting in the shadows to see which car he got into. Not surprisingly, he jumped into the passenger seat of a dark four door sedan. A team, even if it was just two, it meant it was a professional get up. But the scrawny asshole had said a guy in a suit.

That was helpful information, even if all my suspects wore a suit.

***

“What has your smile so bright?” I had just come home from an interesting visit with Dr. Howard. The man was a pompous prick, totally impressed with his own perceived brilliance and jealous as hell of Laney. But I couldn’t tell whether or not he had anything to do with the men who’d come after her. Even the Commander had shown his surprise that the last intruders were Americans, but we both agreed they were obviously freelancers. Not government sanctioned. They were good but not that good.

Laney looked up at me from her laptop and even her eyes smiled when she looked at me. How could a man not try to slay every dragon that came after a woman who looked at him like that?

“I’m done.”

“Done?”

She nodded. “Done. Last night after you were fast asleep I went back down to my lab to work out something I’d been thinking about for the past few days. It was the last hurdle to clear, and now it’s done. Well, done is relative. The numbers worked out and my simulations held up, but now comes the hard part.”

“Real life?”

She grinned. “Yes.” Laney stood and wrapped her arms around my waist. “This means I can present my dissertation any day now.”

 I nodded. “That’s great. Can I call you Dr. Doctor Watson then?” Her laughter was the sweetest sound, hitting me right in my chest as I inhaled the sweet watermelon scent of her fiery hair.

“No but I do have a question I want you to answer. Honestly.”

I frowned and took a step back. “Haven’t I always been honest with you?”

She nodded but uncertainty swam in those blue depths. “I think so.”  Taking another step back she dropped back to the sofa. “You think someone in my department, or at least from the university, told those guys about my research and that’s why they’re after me?”

Shit. I took the seat beside her and dropped my head back on the sofa. “Yes.”

“Now that my research is complete I need to show it to the committee and prepare to present it. What do you think will happen when I present my dissertation officially?” Those big blue eyes were so filled with concern, begging me to tell her what to do. Begging for comfort.

“Defending it isn’t the problem. Once you submit your research to the committee it will be out there and likely find its way into the hands of the people who’ve been chasing you.” I didn’t want to scare, her but I needed her to understand the situation.

“What do you think that means?”

“I don’t know Laney.”

She stood and began to pace. “Okay. Do you think I will be in more or less danger by submitting it to the committee?”

“I want to say less but I can’t be certain. Once you hand it to the committee, that will make it pretty clear who the leak is, right?” She nodded and stopped pacing, staring at me for a long moment before she paced again.

“Not necessarily. I mean the committee consists of several people, and any one of them could be the leak. Or more than one of them.”  I could tell the moment she realized what she’d said. More than one of her colleagues, people who had known her since she was a little girl could have betrayed her.

“Hey, come here.” She settled beside me and laid her head on my shoulder. “We don’t have to figure it out tonight, but we do need a plan.”

“So I should hold off on defending it? Maybe I should publish it first. Since I’m not looking to get rich maybe that will diffuse the situation. Probably not, but I can’t just not publish it.”

She had to publish it. That was the only thing I knew for certain. “Laney.” She stopped and looked at me. “You’re familiar with the troubles in the middle east? How often scientists are kidnapped and murdered?”

“Okay so you think I shouldn’t publish it?”

“I think you should absolutely publish this Laney. It’s brilliant and you’re brilliant too. This will change the world and we both know that.”

“Thanks” she gave a shaky smile.

“But we have to be smart about it. Pack a bag.” I couldn’t help but smile at how she turned and took the first four stairs two at a time and then stopped, turned back to me. “Why?”

“We need to get out of here for a few days, maybe a week. Or more.”

“Where will we go?”

“First stop is San Diego to speak with my Commander.” He would have a better idea how to handle this and then we could move on to the next stop.

“And after that?”

“We’re going to take a road trip. To Virginia.”

Laney didn’t say much after that, just busied herself with packing a small bag of clothes and toiletries. The woman knew how to be efficient, wasting no space with unnecessary items. Just the basics. We drove all night, stopping for gas just once. She’d been so nervous that she refused my offer of road trip snacks and insisted we both have fruit, and carrot snacks to keep our minds sharp.

“Junk food leads to a junk mind,” she said robotically, skin pale and hands shaking.

“Fine,” I told her with a wry grin, “but when this is all over I plan to load you up with plenty of grease, fat and sugar.”

“You have yourself a deal Bennett Atlas,” she told me, losing the battle with a smile at the edges of her mouth. After a couple hours on the road she finally turned to me and sighed. Heavily. “How is your Commander going to help me?”

This was the problem with lies, even those of omission. They eventually came to light and people got hurt. But still, I couldn’t risk that her anger over a lie might force her to do something irrational. That might end up with her getting hurt. Or worse.

“Commander Mahoney is not only the most respected in any branch of the military, but he’s in charge of any and all issues that pertain to new energy, free energy and any other energy related issue that could impact America.”

She let that thought roll around in her mind for a few minutes, watching as the scenery passed in a blur. “I’m starting to think that maybe meeting you wasn’t as serendipitous as I would have liked to believe.”

There. She’d given me the perfect opening to tell her the truth, to explain that I had known about her research for more than a year and had been sent to protect her when the threats became more credible. But I didn’t.

“We can talk about that later. Now we need to work on setting a trap for the leak.”