Chapter 1
Harrison Hamilton sat down at the dining table, his movements jerky, rough, and almost ending with his coffee washing the tabletop. At least only Levi was here. Harrison stared at his cup glumly. He was going nuts here. He raised his gaze and glared at Levi. “Get me the hell out of here. You must have a job somewhere for me.”
Levi raised one eyebrow. “Walls closing in on you?”
“The compound of love is getting to me.” He leaned forward. “You know what it’s like to be the only single guy here?”
Levi barely held back a smirk. “That’ll change. We got a few more guys coming in.”
Harrison nodded. “That’s nice. But they aren’t here now. I tried to watch a movie last night, and people were cuddling on the couch. I went to the kitchen to get away from that, to work on a report, and found another couple cuddling.” He rolled his eyes. “I went to the goddamn gym to work off some of that lovely extra energy, and what did I see? Another couple. I’m coupled out.” He picked up his coffee and drank half of it all at once, then put it down and said, “Find me a job and get me the hell out of here.” He groaned and stood to leave when he heard the crowd coming for breakfast. “Here we go again.” He dropped to his chair in defeat.
Levi shook his head, a frown forming. “Don’t take it so personally.”
Harrison glared at him again. “It’s not that it’s personal. It’s overwhelming.”
Levi’s face relaxed. “I can see that. I remember when …”
“Yeah, when it was just us guys.” Harrison didn’t bother to explain his acceptance of Ice as one of the guys, bringing the expanded original team count to seven. “Now it’s me against, what? How many of you? … Six! Plus your partners. It’s ridiculous.”
Couples streamed in, looking for morning coffee and food. With bright cheerful chatter, several headed for the coffeepot; others—who weren’t generally morning people—sat at the dining table and waited for their better halves to get coffee for them.
Harrison shook his head and slouched farther into his seat. Maybe, if he looked like he’d had a shitty night, they’d stay far away from him. They needed to. Hell, even Logan was here with Alina. Harrison didn’t know if she’d moved in permanently or not, but she was damn close to it. One of the apartments was being fixed up for them. At this point, Levi was building married quarters, like on a military base.
Harrison snorted at that. Several people turned and looked at him questioningly. He glared at them.
Logan’s eyebrows shot up. “Aren’t you a bear this morning.”
Harrison closed his eyes. As far as he was concerned, getting out couldn’t happen soon enough. He should go for a ten-mile jog to work off some tension. He hadn’t had a job that required a lot of skill in several weeks, and he was up for it. More to the point, he was rather desperate for something to happen.
Alfred appeared at that moment, looking a little more tired than usual. Harrison felt instant guilt. He’d been sitting on his butt, growling at the world, while Alfred could have used help in the kitchen. Harrison hopped up, walked into the kitchen and picked up the other platters of food. He brought them out and muttered as he passed Alfred, “Sorry, buddy. I should’ve been helping.”
Alfred patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. There’s adjustment needed here for everyone.”
“Yeah, you’re not kidding.”
When breakfast was almost done, Ice’s phone rang. “Hey, Dad. What’s up?” Not long afterward she put down her fork and stiffened.
Levi turned to watch her. Silence descended on the table. Ice’s father was a doctor who ran the private hospital in California where Levi, Rhodes, Merk and Stone went to recover when their very lives had been in danger almost a year before. Maybe it was over a year ago. Harrison couldn’t even remember—it seemed so long ago. From the look on Ice’s face, her father may be in trouble.
She got up and grabbed the remote to turn on the wall screen beside him. She pushed a few buttons, and her father appeared onscreen. “Go ahead, Dad. You’re on video here while we all have breakfast.”
Relief flooded his face when he saw her. “My night was a little rough. I’m sure you heard on the news yesterday about the senator being shot?”
“Yes, Senator Branson,” Levi spoke up. “What’s going on?”
“His wife is currently a patient in my hospital. She’s an old friend, and she’s in a bad way. It’s hard to get the full story from her as she’s been terribly hurt and is drifting in and out of consciousness. I’m not sure if she’s withholding secrets, scared of bad press, fears for the safety of her family, or all of it. But the bottom line is, her daughter has gone missing. Actually the son has too, but that’s not unusual. Anyway, so far nobody’s had any luck locating the daughter. She’s twenty-seven. Very smart. Did a stint in the military. She had some bad experience there, and when her time was up, walked away and didn’t look back. Honestly … she’s rumored to have shot her father. I’ve met her several times. If she did, I’m inclined to believe she had good reason. However, that’s only a rumor.”
Ice and Levi looked at each other, then at the screen.
Harrison leaned forward. “Richard, what about the relationship between the son and the senator?”
Ice’s father nodded. “Hello, Harrison. Haven’t seen you in a long time, buddy.”
Harrison cracked a smile. “In my case, it’s probably a good thing.”
Richard smiled, then continued. “As far as the son, he’s being groomed for a career in politics. He seems to be doing an outstanding job on his father’s campaign trail to get him re-elected. He’s eighteen months older than his sister. The siblings have never been close. Not lots of love between them. I’d say the opposite is true. But not enough that she’d abandon her brother. They are still siblings, and she’s the more responsible one of the two.”
“What happened to the mother?” Harrison asked. “Why is she in your hospital? Was she shot too?”
Richard shook his head. “No. She’s been severely beaten. She’s got bruises all over her face, neck, shoulders, and arms. It looks like she was on the ground and took several blows and kicks, even an attempted strangulation, while lying there. She’s very slight, but she’s tall. She’s fifty-three and very lean. And, without much padding, her body suffered quite a beating.”
“Is she conscious now? Can she talk to us?” Ice asked. “Because that’s where we need to start.”
“She’s not coherent enough at this time.”
Levi spoke up again. “Richard, I presume you’re asking us to look for the daughter?”
Richard nodded. “Yes. The thing is, it has to be done quietly. I’d also like to know who beat up Trish. The local police are on this.”
Levi sat back and crossed his arms. “Together? That can cause an awful lot of cross contamination and absolutely no sharing of information.”
Richard tilted his head. “And I’m not even sure I can give you very much either.”
Ice said, “Don’t worry about it, Dad. We’ll get what we can. Can you tell me when the daughter went missing and where the senator was shot?”
“The senator was shot at 7:15 p.m. last night on his doorstep. His wife arrived at my hospital shortly thereafter, and the daughter hasn’t been seen since dinnertime.”
“Any chance the gunman took the daughter?” Levi asked. “Or murdered and dumped her somewhere?”
Richard’s face looked haggard as he contemplated the idea. “It’s possible. And Ice, the reason Trish is here is because she called personally, asking me to help her.”
“Have you told the police?” Levi asked, his voice hard. “Do you have any involvement in this case that’ll turn up once we start digging?”
Richard shook his head. “I told the police she’s here, under lock and key in intensive care, and badly beaten. Other than that, I didn’t tell them anything.” He winced. “Trish didn’t say much except that her daughter didn’t hurt her. But it’s possible the senator beat her up.”
There was dead silence at the table.
Harrison shook his head and swore under his breath. Wife-beaters were very low on their list of men to help, and generally Legendary Security wouldn’t work for them. But a senator who beat his wife? If that got out, well, that would create a media storm, and they’d have a harder time getting to the truth. “Why was she beaten as badly as she was? I guess the real question is, was the senator shot before or after?” Harrison studied Richard’s face.
“We can’t determine that yet. Both happened so closely together.” Richard sighed, then glanced around the room and smiled. “Levi, I see a lot of new members on your team, and most are women. I like that.”
“And that’s a good thing,” Ice said, her voice calm. “But they aren’t necessarily all on the team. Dad, many of the team have partners now.”
A faint smile crossed his lips as he nodded his head. “Good for them. I must get back to work. Is this something your team can help me with? Trish is afraid for her daughter.”
Levi nodded.
At that Harrison jumped in the conversation again. “I can be on a plane within a couple hours.”
Richard gave a heavy sigh. “Thank you. Stay at my house, Harrison. I have no idea where this trail will lead. But it could go across the country. This girl had military connections. I don’t know what the hell she was into since leaving the service. If she did shoot the senator, maybe it was to stop him from killing Trish. She certainly has the training for it, and she’s become a bit of a wild card. A lot of anger and I think hurt.” He flashed a tired smile and shut down the video.
Harrison sat back and said, “Wow. A wife-beating senator.” He leaned forward. “Is the senator dead or just shot?”
Everybody looked at each other to get confirmation.
“I believe he said ‘shot.’ I’m not sure that meant the senator has died. Yet. We’ll follow up.” Ice stood. “I’ll head to the office to see what information I can find.”
Sienna spoke from the far side of the table. “I’ll make your travel arrangements, Harrison.”
Levi turned to Harrison and said, “You’re not going alone. Too often our cases go sideways.”
Harrison rolled his eyes. “Well, throw in a couple of the new guys. Everyone else here is lovey-dovey.” He said it in such a caustic tone, they all looked at him. He didn’t give a shit.
As he walked away, he heard Levi explaining to the others how Harrison has cabin fever and needs to get out for a bit.
Under his breath, he muttered, “Yeah, that’s putting it mildly.”
He shouldn’t take it out on them though. They were all happy, and that was the way life should be. So it wasn’t their fault he sucked in the relationship department. His track record was all kinds of bad. That was why he wasn’t ready to move forward. But he had come to terms with it.
In his own way.
Or he could always move off the compound and look for another job. He growled at the thought. But he was twisting himself up, down, and sideways living where he was now. It had been bearable until Logan and Alina moved in together. And yet he liked Alina, so that made no sense.
So, what the hell was this all about?
Sour grapes, said the little voice inside. Jealousy. You know you don’t want to be alone. But your chances of that ever changing aren’t good, and you’re afraid you could be the one single man in the compound who doesn’t find somebody special.
This time when he growled, he rolled his eyes. “Just perfect,” he muttered.