Chapter 1
Weeks later Rory walked back into the compound, surprised at how easily he had fit in. He had a duffel bag over his shoulder and a second travel bag in his hand, his trusty hat perched on his head. He’d been looking forward to getting back since he left. Some jobs were like that. And it had taken way less time than he’d expected to look at the compound as his place. Everyone had been open, friendly. Accepting. After an initial few days of wandering the compound, he’d been put to work with a vengeance. And he’d loved every minute of it.
He’d been part of a dozen jobs since he’d arrived. He loved the diversity, the change of pace, and, most of all, he loved being busy. It had helped put his time on the ranch in perspective.
Somehow in the last few weeks he’d found another calling, showing him once again the adaptability of the human spirit. Thankfully …
Still, he looked forward to walking inside and seeing the puppies. One in particular. That dratted puppy had found the hole in his heart and had filled it with her saggy jowls and her face washes with her huge tongue and her loving acceptance. He’d named her Rose without realizing it.
She was just too incredibly sweet to be believed. She still slept with her mom, and, so far, Alfred, Levi and Ice had managed to keep the puppies on the main floor and not up in the bedrooms on the second and third floors. But he wondered how long it would be before that changed.
They were trying to avoid having all six adopted away from the compound. Anna, who ran the rescue center around the corner and had brought the puppies here, had been by a couple times, and Rory had had a chance to meet her. So many people were in this compound—it was not only a family, it was an extended family. He likened this group to the big Italian and Greek families. Except all the members of this family were relatively the same age, which made it a unique experience.
They could set up their own baseball team or soccer team or football team. Considering a recreational spot in the backyard had been mapped out as part of the new development, Rory wondered if they should form a water polo team. He loved water sports himself. Ice and Levi were putting in tennis courts and a swimming pool, plus a hot tub and a field for a good scrimmage. He laughed at the term. Maybe it had more to do with the thought of taking Rose out there. He had to stop thinking in terms of her being here permanently.
He knew she would be adopted. She was too adorable not to be. He walked into the kitchen area and smiled. Alfred caught sight of him just as he set a big platter of muffins on the table. With a scolding finger, Alfred said, “Don’t touch.”
“Oh, you’re a cruel man, Alfred,” Rory said with a smile. He glanced around. “If nobody needs me right now, I’ll head upstairs and grab a shower.”
“Good idea. Coffee and muffins in thirty minutes.”
“I’ll be back.” He walked through the kitchen to the big hallway leading to the elevator but stopped and turned to look at Alfred. “How are the puppies?”
Alfred’s face beamed. “They’re doing great. And, yes, Rose is wonderful.”
“I’m sure she is,” he said with a smile. “I know I shouldn’t get too attached, but it’s pretty hard not to.”
Alfred nodded. “I’m feeling that way myself.”
“Any word from Anna as to their futures?”
“Not yet. But she’s done pretty well adopting out most of the animals that come through her place.”
“I know. Sadly, I know.”
Refusing to look in on them yet, Rory picked up his bags and headed to his room. Once there he stripped down to his skin and stepped into a hot shower. By the time he was cleaned, shampooed, shaven and dressed again, he’d used up all of his thirty minutes before breakfast. He looked at his dirty laundry and shrugged. It would wait until later. He stepped outside his room and saw several women who lived in the place walking down the hall. They stopped and smiled at him.
“Are you back in Houston for now?” Sienna asked.
He nodded. “I think so.”
“Have you seen the puppies since you got back?” Katrina asked.
“Not yet. I’m just about to head there,” he admitted with a sideways grin. “It’ll be hard to let them—Rose in particular—go.”
“I know. We’re working on Ice and Levi to let us keep two.”
“Like anybody can agree which two,” he scoffed. Inside, he had to admit it was a hell of a good idea—as long as Rose was one of them. “If you convince Alfred that he needs them, you know they would give in then. He’s the one who looks after them the most anyway.”
“Not to mention they’d be good company for him.”
“Right, like he’s alone at any point,” Merk said, joining them. He smacked Rory on the shoulder. “You’re getting all the easy jobs lately.”
“I am,” Rory said. “Not a bad way to get my feet wet though, I suppose.”
“This is small stuff,” Sienna said. “He’ll get hit with some of the tougher ones. I know a lot of different jobs are coming across our desk right now. Not exactly sure what’s happening, but I suspect people will be leaving today or tomorrow.”
Merk looked at her with interest. “Anything I might want to snag?”
“It’s not like you get your choice,” she said gently.
Merk just gave her that grin. Rory knew Merk did get his choice. That was the benefit of having been here since the beginning. Merk, Stone, Rhodes and Levi. They were Legendary Security. By now Levi and Ice had to have at least sixteen to eighteen men working for them. Every one of them had a life partner—except Rory. That really sucked. But, if his partner could be little fluffy Rose, he’d be good.
Instead of taking the elevator, they all walked down the big wide staircase and arrived on the main floor together as a boisterous happy group. That was what Rory liked. As they all walked into the dining room, the puppies came out from the kitchen. Instantly they were picked up and cuddled. Their little yelps filled the room.
Levi walked in, straight to the coffeepot, poured himself a cup before looking at Rory. “It was a really bad idea to foster these guys, wasn’t it?” he asked.
Sienna chuckled. “Not necessarily. Everybody needs love.”
“Uh-huh,” Levi said. “We aren’t keeping them,” he warned.
Ice walked in. Seeing Levi with a cup of coffee, she poured herself one too. She had barely put it on the table before she opened her arms and one of the puppies was handed to her. She cuddled it close and scratched its chin and around its eyes. The puppy obligingly licked her face and every other body part it could reach. With a wink to the other ladies, she dropped the puppy into Levi’s arms. “Don’t be such a grouch,” she said. “Love a puppy.”
She took the mug from his hand so he didn’t spill it and turned her back on him just so he could spend a few minutes with the puppy. Rory watched and laughed. Ice knew exactly how this worked. Rory pulled up a chair, sat down and put Rose on the floor. She wandered off, looking for something to chew. Lately it had been somebody’s shoe underneath the table. No matter where they sat, the puppies looked for footwear to chomp on. Ice handed Rory a cup of coffee. He looked at it with surprise. “Thanks.”
Bailey entered with two platters of muffins. She looked flushed from the heat of the stove. Rory glanced over at her and smiled. “Thank you.”
She laughed. “You haven’t even tried them yet. Maybe they’re awful.”
“I haven’t eaten anything from you and Alfred that wasn’t wonderful.”
She smiled.
Dakota joined her. He snagged a muffin off the tray in her hands, kissed her on the temple and said, “Thanks, sweetie.”
She rolled her eyes at him and handed the tray around. “They are not just for you.”
When a vehicle drove up, Stone’s voice was heard over the PA. “The vet’s here.”
That just added to the excitement. When Louise walked in, Rose waddled over to greet her. Louise picked up the pudgy puppy, chuckled, gave her a good scratch and said, “I figured if you were too close to Alfred, that you’d gain weight very quickly.”
As it happened, Alfred walked in with a platter of some fancy Danishes.
Rory laughed because it seemed such an appropriate time for her to complain about Alfred’s rather wonderful cooking.
“Am I interrupting something?” Louise frowned.
Ice walked over with a big smile and a puppy and said, “Absolutely not. We’re just having coffee. Will you join us?”
“I’d love to.” Louise sat down and asked Alfred, “Any problems with the puppies?”
With a proud fatherly smile he shook his head. “They’re doing just lovely.”
“I can see that.” Louise checked over the puppy in her arms while Ice retrieved a cup of coffee for her. “This one looks healthy.” She handed her off to Rory and said, “You’re still here, are you?”
Rory laughed as he juggled the furry ball of love in his arms. “Yeah. I’m adjusting.”
“This place is a zoo,” she said with a laugh. “But it looks like you’ve settled in fine.”
“I’m adapting.” He chuckled and hugged Rose. Maybe the excitement got to her, or maybe she hadn’t had enough sleep, but she’d given up squirming to curl into the crook of his neck and fall asleep. He just held her close.
The vet gave him a knowing look.
He nodded. “I know. It’ll be painful to let her go.” He cuddled her close, not ready to put her in her bed with her siblings.
Drinking his coffee, enjoying being at the compound, he settled back. The conversation shifted from animals to security before shifting lightning fast to muffins, pool engineering and back to renovations. He loved that here. Myriad topics were always covered on the go. Immense brainpower was housed here, and intelligent debate was everywhere. He loved the stimulation and openness. Only after the coffee did Rory realize something was bothering Louise. As soon as the idea caught hold, he studied her carefully, noting the pinched look on her face, the tense grip on her cup of coffee. He didn’t know her well, but she seemed ill at ease. As if she wanted to say something but didn’t feel she should.
“Is this just an animal visit, or is something else behind it?” he asked in a low voice.
She glanced at him and then quickly away.
“A lot of people are here with a lot of skill sets, if you need help.” He leaned in closer. “And it’s confidential.”
*
Silence fell in the room as others tuned in. Louise looked around nervously, yet she only saw curiosity and acceptance. She settled into her skin somewhat. She hadn’t planned to talk about this, but, having seen this place, knowing the people, there was just something secure and dependable about them.
“I don’t even know what I need.” She winced because that would only bring on more questions. “It’s probably a matter for the authorities anyway.”
Ice was seated on the other side of the table. She leaned over and asked, “What’s a matter for the authorities?”
“I think somebody is mixing up the wrong drugs for animals.”
Silence returned as everyone stared. “What do you mean?” Levi asked, his voice stern.
Louise took a deep breath. “I got a shipment of drugs from my usual supplier but with different labels on them. When I asked the driver about it, he couldn’t give me a decent explanation. He hurriedly grabbed the case from my arms and reloaded it on the truck. He apologized, saying it was a wrong shipment. Then he was gone damn fast.”
It was probably a mistake to bring it up, but she couldn’t let it go in her head. At least Levi’s team would let her know if she was making something out of nothing. “The thing is, he left one of the cases behind. I tracked it back to the company and called them. They said they didn’t know anything about it. How it was obviously a mistake. I took a closer look. The medicine looked to be in the company’s packaging. As if somebody had opened the packages, dumped the contents of the bottles, filled them with something else, then resealed them.”
“Is that possible?” Ice asked.
“I never thought about it until I ended up with this case. So I’d have said no before, and now I feel like I need to say … maybe,” she admitted.
“What made you think the wrong drugs were inside the containers?”
Rory’s tone was calm, without making it sound like she was making this up. She appreciated that. As such it was easy to answer. “I used to sell a lot of veterinarian supplies. So I do know the company’s products. Plus I use them for my own work. The one I opened had a different texture to the powder. I checked with the company, and they confirmed they haven’t changed their formula. I don’t know if it was my imagination, but I don’t want to use the drugs, just in case, and now I can’t get it out of my mind.”
“Do you still have them?”
Louise nodded. “Yes.”
Silence once again fell in the big dining room. Even Alfred, who just arrived, froze midstep with a tray of something else delicious looking in his hands.
Louise looked around the room and asked, “Why?”
“Several reasons. First, if something is wrong,” Levi said, “we want to make sure the drugs aren’t administered to animals. What color is the substance inside the bottles?”
“That’s part of the problem. When I looked at it, my mind immediately thought of something else. Because it was white.”
“As in cocaine? Heroin?” Levi leaned forward, studying her face intently.
“I don’t know the difference,” she admitted. “I’m not sure about anything. For all I know, it was my imagination. Like, when you notice someone who looks at you in a shifty way, as if they’re nervous, and they just want to get away. As if they realize they’ve made a mistake, and it’s a big one, and they quickly grab and run?” She shook her head. “The delivery man didn’t waste any time leaving the parking lot.”
“What kind of vehicle was he driving?”
“An old delivery truck. I don’t remember what was printed on the side of the truck, but it was one of the standard brown trucks we see everywhere. I didn’t look that closely,” she admitted. “Why would I? And when? After he took off, I couldn’t see anything on the back panel of the vehicle.”
“So, like a pickup truck, a delivery truck or a big semi-truck?” Rory asked beside her.
“One of those smaller panel delivery trucks. But it wasn’t as big as what I’ve seen before.” She frowned, then she shrugged. “I really don’t have any way to measure it. I just gave it a passing glance.”
“But you couldn’t see the license plate when he took off?” Rory asked.
“I didn’t look. I’m not sure if it was even there. The truck was pretty muddy.”
“Do you have security at the clinic?” Ice asked.
Louise turned to look at her in surprise. “Yes. I do. I haven’t checked the feed to see if the truck shows up there or not.”
“Somebody will go back with you. He can take a look, run through the camera feed and look for any sign of a license plate or what kind of truck it was and possibly catch the driver’s face.”
“As for a description, all I can really say is he was Hispanic-looking and dressed in black jeans and a gray T-shirt. I don’t think he spoke English very well.”
“So, no uniform?”
She stared at Rory in surprise. “Actually no. He didn’t have on a uniform.”
The others nodded.
“You really think they’re smuggling drugs? Why deliver them to a vet clinic then?”
“They could also be making regular deliveries, and the shipments got mixed up.”
They asked her dozens more questions, but she was hard-pressed to answer any of them. Finally she stood and said, “I have to get back. I’ve stayed longer than I intended to.”
Rory glanced over at Levi and raised an eyebrow.
Levi nodded. “Rory will follow you back. Give him access to your security feed, and let’s see if he can find anything.”
She hesitated. “Do you really think it’s something serious?”
He gave her a flat stare. “If it is, and you don’t do something about it, it could be bad.”
“In what way?” she protested. “I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“No, but that is the second issue we didn’t discuss. If one case of the product was left behind, is that driver or his boss coming back after it? If it’s drugs, like cocaine or heroin, it’ll have a high street value. Whoever is moving these drugs will want them back. They’ll retrieve them no matter what they have to do.”
She could do nothing but stare at him. She hadn’t once considered that.
“In other words,” Rory added quietly, “your life is in danger until this is settled.”