Chapter Seven
“Report,” Ben ordered Liam as soon as he walked through his front door. He marched up to Liam and glared at him. He thought he had left things in good hands leaving for only a few days, obviously, he had been wrong. Cora’s window had been broken, Commander Brady had been murdered along with his guards. Things hadn’t gone smoothly for him either. Hannah had almost been kidnapped again in Portland and they discovered a trafficking ring. Hannah hadn’t been the first or the last victim but now it was shut down for good.
Liam turned away from talking to Hound in the living room and stood up to face Ben. “Hound is looking into the plate number I gave him from the car that was watching Cora’s house. It was to a rental company under a false name.
“And the window?” Ben raised a skeptical brow.
“She thinks it’s a teen playing a prank, but the images on Hound’s cameras and what I saw I know to be different. It’s Alejandro’s men.”
Ben cursed and spun away rubbing a hand over his face. He took a calming breath before turning back and facing Liam. “Why make her a target?”
Liam looked away uncomfortably to Hound but the man just sat on the couch ignoring them as he worked on his computers. If Liam had been hoping the man would save him he had been sadly mistaken. “Cora set up security to protect Alejandro’s accounts.”
“And you’re just telling me this now?” Ben roared, the urge to smash something was strong but he didn’t want to ruin his stuff. Knocking Liam around however wasn’t a bad thought. Ben had always liked Cora; she didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She left Liam for her reasons and he respected that. She was as dedicated to her work as they were to their team. Something felt off. He had to get to the bottom of it.
“I’ve been trying to deal with it while you’ve been gone.” It was hardly an excuse. Liam just didn’t like an arguing woman. Put him in a firefight and he fought to the bitter end. Get a woman arguing with him and he jumped ship every time.
“And how’s that working out for you?” Ben asked, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at his friend.
“She keeps kicking me out of her house every time I try to talk to her about it.”
Hound whispered something behind them never looking up from his computer but they chose to ignore him. This was between Ben and Liam. If Ben hoped to leave Liam in charge for short periods when he was gone the man had to learn to step up.
“You need to try harder. So, she works for Alejandro and he broke her window. That doesn’t sound like a happy customer.”
“I may have something to do with that.” Hound said, finally looking up from his computer. “I’ve been tracking the money through the accounts that I found on the flash drive. It was how I discovered her involvement. I’ve been trying to hack her systems and I temporarily got in before she blocked me. I think he knows he was hacked and was sending her a message.”
“She’s been compromised you need to get her out,” Ben ordered Liam.
“It’s not that simple.”
“With a woman it never is.” A hint of a smile began to form.
If Cora was involved with Alejandro none of them were safe. And if someone was watching her house they knew of her connection to them. Cora was in danger. She needed to be moved somewhere else. Same with Hannah. He had a feeling asking Hannah to hide would be easier than asking Cora.
“Especially with Cora. She’s stubborn and refuses to leave her house.”
“Use that charm you keep telling us you have. Make her if you must. If Alejandro gets his hands on her I don’t have to tell you what would happen to her.” He didn’t want to scare Liam but they had all seen what happens to Alejandro’s victims. Cora needed to go somewhere safe now.
Liam nodded his headed. “Where’s Hannah?”
“She’s talking to Cora right now. Hopefully, she has better luck convincing your woman to leave.”
“She’s not mine,” Liam said absently, but they all ignored him. Cora was his no matter what he said. Liam didn’t want anyone but Cora. It was only a matter of time before they were back together.
“Are you bringing Hannah back here or somewhere else?” Hound asked Ben.
“I don’t feel it’s safe enough for her to be here right now. I tried leaving her at her parents but she refused. Said she wanted to see this thing through to the end. I was hoping we would stay at your place.”
“You don’t even have to ask.” Hound’s house was more of a fortress. It sat on several acres with high fences and more cameras and security than the Pentagon. He had one cluster of trees on the side of the property otherwise it was completely exposed. It made it harder for someone to sneak up on him. One would think he was protecting state secrets but he just liked security. Retinal and hand scanners were needed to enter any part of the property. It was the one place Ben knew Hannah would feel safest. If the security wasn't enough the armory with more weapons than any person needed would do the trick. It was almost scary the number of weapons he had.
"Good, once Hannah finishes with her visit with Cora we'll head your way."
"I'll head home now and get things ready." Hound rarely had guests as he lived outside of town.
Ben waited for Hound to leave before turning his attention back on Liam. "I'm not kidding with Cora. She needs to either come to Hound’s or somewhere on base where Alejandro can't reach her."
"I'm working on it."
"Work faster. We don't have the luxury of time. Commander Jones called me after we landed. We have a mission. We leave in a week."
Liam rubbed the back of his neck. "Not the best timing."
"It never is. Do what you can. If she refuses to leave we can have the team take shifts to watch her."
Hannah opened the door and paused at seeing the two of them in an intense conversation. Ben’s stance relaxed at seeing her but went on alert again seeing her red eyes.
"Goldilocks, what's wrong?" He dismissed Liam and pulled Hannah close to him. Seeing her cry was like taking a bullet to the chest.
"I tried to warn her to leave but she refused. I told her what happened to me. I didn't mention Alejandro." She shuddered against his chest. Ben pulled her closer to him as if it would protect her. "Liam will protect her, won't he?"
"With his life," Ben answered without hesitation. "For now, we are going to stay at Hound’s until this is over. Someone has been watching our house and Cora's."
Hannah pulled back to look up at him. "What about Cora? She's refusing to leave."
"Liam is trying to convince her. If he can't we'll all take shifts watching her."
"I'm scared, Ben."
Ben pulled her back to his chest resting his chin on top of her head. "There's nothing to fear. He'll never take you again. I'll always protect you, Goldilocks. I would die for you.”
“Don't even joke about that.”
“Who's joking?” He wasn’t. He would take a bullet for her. No questions asked. She was everything to him.
“Ben,” she choked. “I'd rather you live.”
“And that's what I intend to do. I won't let anything happen to you, Goldilocks.” He stroked her hair, soothing her fears. She didn’t doubt his skills to fight Alejandro’s men. She was just tired of living in fear. He would put an end to that soon. “You're not getting rid of me that easily.”
Hannah squeezed him tight around his middle. “I don't want to get rid of you. I want us to grow old together.”
Ben kissed the top of her head. “I have every intention of doing so.”
"And if you have to leave on a mission before he's captured?" Now there was the million-dollar question. One he didn’t have an easy answer for as they did, in fact, have a mission they were leaving for in a week. “You are leaving soon. Aren’t you?”
He couldn’t lie to her. He would never lie to her. “We are. I’m going to call Bulldog and see if he can help us. He wanted in on the capture of the mole but the timing didn’t work out.”
“Bulldog?” Hannah asked in question. “Was he part of the other team that was there when you rescued me?”
“He was,”
“If you trust, I trust him.” Ben smiled down at her. What did he ever do to deserve this woman? Her unwavering faith in him never ceased to amaze him. He knew she had to be scared and yet she was putting on a brave face for him.
“It’s almost over, Goldilocks. And when it is I promise you. We’re going to take a long vacation.”
Hannah lifted on her tippy toes to kiss him. “I’m going to hold you to that.” Hannah slipped out of his arms and headed upstairs to pack. Ben remained downstairs to make a few calls.
~
Three days ago, Hannah and Ben left to stay with Adam “Hound”. His house was heavily secured and contained more arson than most military bases. She had met Adam a few times while dating Liam. He was a giant of a man but was quiet and kept mostly to himself and stared at computer screens more than she did. Security was his top priority and a hobby. It seemed a little overkill in Cora’s opinion but whatever made you feel safer. Since the night her office window was broken, there hadn’t been any sightings of cars in front of hers or Ben’s house. She hadn’t seen much of Liam. He said he was preparing, whatever that meant. She only saw him coming or leaving. That should make her happy, instead it made her sad. What was wrong with her? She didn’t want Liam back in her life. She should be glad he was gone.
After three days Cora was starting to relax, and things were starting to feel normal again. Liam had tried calling her several times telling her he had to talk to her about something important, but she ignored him. She still didn’t want to talk about her clients. He came to her office too, but she conveniently was always too busy to talk to him. One she didn’t want to talk to him, and two, she was swamped with work. Hannah was still trying to convince her to leave, but Cora refused. Her parents had taught her young to never retreat and always stand your ground. This was her home, and she wasn’t leaving it. She pushed away from her desk needing a break after working almost non-stop since the incident. Alejandro had only called her once in the past few days to tell her he was impressed with her work and might have some new clientele for her. She was ecstatic at the prospect of building her clientele list. When she had first started, she only had one client. Now, she had well over thirty that she worked with on a continuous base.
Cora went to the kitchen and realized her short break would be longer because she was out of groceries. After her grocery run, she would finish running a diagnostic check on Alejandro’s security. Someone kept poking their nose in her security, and no matter what she did she couldn’t keep them out. They never got far before she blocked them, but she didn’t want to give Alejandro cause to doubt her work again.
It felt good to get out of the house. It had been a few days. She made it a point to get out every few days, so she didn’t feel so cooped up and get grocery shopping out of the way. Her foot was starting to feel better, but she kept it bandaged and stayed off it as much as possible.
Cora was returning home when she felt something was off when she pulled into the driveway. Nothing looked out of place. Her office window had been fixed yesterday. Something still felt wrong. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. Her parents had warned her to never ignore her intuition. If something felt off, it probably was.
Cora left her groceries in her car and slowly made her way towards the front door with her car keys in her hand, ready if she needed to make a quick getaway. She was walking up the front steps when she saw her front door was barely cracked open. What the hell? Did someone break in? But why wasn’t the security system going off? Why weren’t the police here? The security system she bought the other day promised her that once the alarm was tripped, police would be there in less than five minutes. She hadn’t been gone more than thirty. So where were the police cars?
Cora’s first instinct was the push the door open and see if someone was still there or if anything was missing but she didn’t want to contaminate any evidence. Cora stepped away from the door and locked herself in her car as she called the police. They arrived within a few minutes and did a sweep of the house. Once they proved no one was there, they allowed Cora into her home to see if anything was missing. Cora looked around, but nothing looked out of place. It was as if whoever broke in just opened the door and left again.
“Ma’am does anything look to be missing?” an officer next to her asked.
“No, everything looks here.” That was a relief. She didn’t have money in her house, and most of her jewelry was cheap, so it was easily replaceable. Her computer was what she was most worried about. She ran over to it and did a system check. There had been several log-in attempts, but it looked like her firewalls had held up. Whoever had broken in knew what they had been doing. They had tried getting around her security, which meant they had been in her home for a while. She would have to add a few more firewalls for extra protection. “Can someone tell me why the alarm never sounded when the front door was opened?” Cora asked the officers standing in front of her.
A few looked around sheepishly before one spoke up. “Because it was never turned on, ma’am. We checked with your security provider, and you had set it but turned it off a few minutes after that.”
That was impossible. She hadn’t returned until she had groceries. That was thirty minutes later not a few minutes. The fact it was turned off shortly after she left gave her pause. Someone had been watching her. Waiting for her to leave. Cora thought she was going to be sick. Her parents had taught her always to be aware of her surroundings. How had she missed a car parked out somewhere near her house? Hannah’s warning was coming back to bite her.
Could the person after Hannah or his people have done this? He was the only threat that she knew of. She didn’t have any enemies. She worked in security. She didn’t know anyone. She didn’t even meet all her clients. Most she met online through a referral. If it was the trafficker after Hannah why would he try getting on her computer? She didn’t know anything about him. There was nothing on her computer worth stealing to a trafficker. None of this made any sense. Liam had kept trying to get a hold of her to tell her something important, but she had brushed him off. Did he know who broke into her house? There was only one way to find out, but she couldn’t say she was happy about it. She had hoped to be done with Liam, but it seemed that was not meant to be.
Cora sat down thinking she was going to be sick. How could she have the worst luck suddenly? She was sending the police on their way, after she gave her statement, when she heard a dispute on her front porch.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. This is a police matter.”
“Fuck that. Cora,” The man shouted.
Liam? What was he doing here?
Cora came around the corner and saw two police officers trying to send Liam away. He was starting to walk away when he saw her standing there. He turned back around and tried to force himself past them again. Knowing a fight would break out if she didn’t speak up soon Cora stepped out on the porch. “It’s okay. I know him. He can be here.”
Liam shrugged the hands off him and raced to Cora taking her in his arms. “What happened? Are you okay?”
His concern was sweet and Cora was thankful for the comfort he was giving her but she wouldn’t allow herself to get used to it.
“I’m fine. I came home from the grocery store and saw that the front door was cracked open. I immediately called the police.”
“Was anything missing?”
“No, but-” Cora looked around to see if anyone was listening to them before leaning towards Liam to whisper to him. “Someone tried to get on my computer.”
Liam looked down at her confused as if he didn’t understand the significance of her statement.
“I’ll explain later.” She waved it off. She wasn’t willing to admit she needed help at least to Liam but he needed to know that she thought the man after Hannah was behind her break-in.
Once everyone left, Cora led Liam to her computer and showed him the log-in attempts and the breaches to her security.
“I think the person after Hannah is responsible for this.” She watched Liam’s face for his reaction.
Liam turned his predatory eyes on her. “Why do you think that?” He asked with a guarded look. A look she knew all too well. He knew more than he was leading on.
“Hannah told me the man after her is a drug dealer and trafficker. You guys rescued her from him, and he killed your commander.” It was a watered down condensed version.
“Hannah was very forthcoming with details she wasn’t supposed to reveal,” Liam said evenly, but his hands were clenched at his sides.
“She probably didn’t know she was revealing something she wasn’t supposed to. It’s her life, Liam. She didn’t tell me anything about the mission. Only that you rescued her from him. That’s on Ben to explain to her about national security and all that.” Cora was quick to defend Hannah. It wasn’t like dating a military member came with a manual of the dos’ and don’ts of what you could and couldn’t say.
“I’ll have a talk with Midas. We can’t have Hannah saying the wrong thing to the wrong person.”
“Will you listen to yourself? Hannah doesn’t know anyone here but me. Who is she going to tell? The grocery clerk? It took her a month just to tell me what happened to her and how she came to meet you guys. I doubt she would start shouting it from the rooftops.”
“Some things are meant to be secret. Our job being one of them. She needs to learn that. Even when talking to you,” Liam said harshly.
“You would know all about secrets, wouldn’t you?”
Liam’s nostrils flared. His temper was rising, and soon they would be shouting at each other. It was an age-old argument between them. “I’m not going to rehash this with you, Cora. Everyone has secrets. Some more in-depth than others.”
“Bullshit, I don’t have secrets. I don’t take off at random hours of the day and disappear for days on end.” She was already shouting at him. Cora didn’t want to date him anymore, but it didn’t change the fact she wanted to know if this secret was worth losing her. Hadn’t she meant anything to him?
“It’s part of my job. I have to be ready at a moment’s notice sometimes.”
“I’m not talking about your job, and you know it.” Cora crossed her arms over her chest.
Liam hung his head in defeat. No one would ever win this argument. She wanted to know things he couldn’t tell her, and she wouldn’t give him another chance without knowing.
“You need to leave your house until this is over,” Liam told her, changing the subject.
Cora glared at Liam hating that as usual, he changed the subject. “I told Hannah the same thing I’m telling you. No.” She wouldn’t allow him to push her around. It didn’t matter who was after her.
“It’s not a request. This is a matter of life or death. This isn’t a joke. You have no idea what this man is capable of. I’ve seen the aftermath, and it’s not pretty. The people coming after you will capture you and do unspeakable things to you. I’m not trying to scare you but warn you. I could never forgive myself if something happened to you. I’ve seen what that monster is capable of.”
“I get you wanting to play big bad G.I. Joe right now, but I’m a big girl who can take care of herself. Yes, they got through my home security, but I can get a new system in place maybe even have Aaron help me out. I’m going to call Ben and see if some of the guys can hang around. It’s not ideal but you guys want him captured, and I don’t want to leave my home.”
“Big bad G.I. Joe?” Liam didn’t know if he should laugh or be insulted by that comment. He was feeling anything but humor at the moment. Cora was either in denial or had no idea what she was up against. It was up to him to lay it on the line. “You don’t want to leave, fine. But if there is anyone that will be staying with you it will be me. I’m staying here with you until this is resolved.” Move in with Cora? Even temporarily. What the hell was he thinking? It had just popped out. Thinking about Cricket or Doc here with her instead of him filled him with a blinding rage. She was his to protect, even if he no longer had the right. She was more likely to kill him than Alejandro’s team was to get a drop on him but he would be the only one to protect her.
“Like hell, you’re staying here,” Cora screeched.
“Hear me out. Midas and Hannah left, so Midas could protect Hannah better. What better way to keep an eye on their house and protect you than to stay here?” It sounded like a good excuse for him to stay close to her.
“Why don’t you just stay at their house?” she tried reasoning.
Because he wanted to stay here with her. He couldn’t tell her that though. She would just refuse him. “Because, if you need something I’m already here.” And he still needed to tell her who she was working for. He had been putting him off long enough.
“No, absolutely not. There is no way you are staying here.”
“Cora, there is something I have to tell you about the man you are working for.”
Cora’s eyes narrowed into tiny slits. “I told you I don’t discuss my clients. If that’s all you want to talk about, you can leave.” She pointed at the front door.
“That’s not all I want to talk about, but you have to hear me out. You client Ale-” Cora suddenly pushed him with all of her might out of her door and slammed it in his face. She had taken him by surprise, so he hadn’t been able to stand his ground. He tried to open her door, but it was locked. He just blew his chance to talk to her. He would try again tomorrow. If that failed, he would send one of the other guys to tell her. He knew she wouldn’t slam a door in their face.