Chapter 20

20

Hank

The following day, backup security arrived quite early. The perimeter sensors went apeshit and jolted us awake. We had a relatively chill night since she was still groggy from the pain meds, and I cursed my buddies for not sending an advance warning.

Like maybe a text or a call.

"I got it," I mumbled when I checked the outside cameras. An RV had pulled up across from the cabin. It was the same one we used for our mission to Vegas. "You don't need to get up."

Thala moaned but pushed up, peeking gingerly at the wound on her stomach. At least the stitches on her arm from the tracker was healing up nicely.

"How is it?" It didn't bleed through her pajamas, so that was a positive sign.

"Throbbing like my face, but I'll live."

"I'll get some breakfast in you and you can take another painkiller. Do you want more sleep? I can entertain them outside while you catch more z's."

"No. I want to meet them. But I'm going to be moving slow."

"Take your time." I kissed the top of her head and got out of bed.

A few minutes later, I went out to meet the guys.

Apparently, Edgar appointed himself as the welcome wagon or watch dog.

He had Levi and Declan cornered on the steps of the RV.

I grinned. "I see you guys have met Edgar."

"Does he bite?" Declan asked.

"Is this the hero mule?" Levi asked.

"Yep. Guys, meet Edgar."

"Man, Thala did some badass shit riding bareback," Levi said. "Ashley and Whit couldn't stop replaying the video of her splitting the crowd like that. Too bad there wasn't footage of further out."

"It's probably for the best." I kept the smile on my face, but crunched my back teeth. I still couldn't erase the image of Bruno punching Thala across the face.

"Mind calling off the attack dog?" Declan asked, keeping a wary eye on Edgar.

At the sound of the door opening behind me, Edgar left his guard dog duty and trotted off to greet Thala. The two had bonded. Last night, Thala even let Edgar come into the kitchen and fed him apple slices. Then she gave him a light brushing, which I offered to finish.

Edgar deserved it. He was a hero as much as Thala.

My teammates were silent as they waited for me to make the introductions, but I could tell they were trying to assess something else.

"So they're added security," I told Thala. "You've met Levi."

Thala smiled at him, but her eyes widened when she saw Declan. I rolled my eyes because that buddy of mine had movie-star good looks and turned heads wherever he went. It was almost a curse, so he covered his face with a beard to look less attractive. But this time he had a scruffy stubble going on and it seemed women dug that.

I went over to Thala and clamped her nape with my fingers, drawing her back against me.

Levi and Declan identically crossed their arms and squared their stance, as if they were waiting for me to come clean about my relationship with Thala.

"Princess, stop drooling. That's Declan, and he's married to Gabby."

"Gabby? The detective Gabby?"

"Yes."

She leaned against me. "Well, I wasn't drooling. I was just surprised how he wasn't behind a silver screen instead of being a bodyguard. Besides, I seem to favor redheads."

Surprised at her admission and feeling pretty damned smug about it, I muffled my chuckle by giving her a kiss on the temple.

"Is that an admission that something's going on between the two of you?" Levi asked.

Thala and I exchanged glances, and we answered, "Maybe."

"Hank and I are just rolling with it."

"Declan and I need to know." Levi was trying to balance serious and amused. "If Bristow here is compromised."

Okay, Levi was pissing me off even though I knew he was right. "I'm not compromised."

"Maybe they're right," Thala murmured.

"You"—I narrowed my eyes at her—"are not seriously suggesting that too."

"Let's see." Declan drummed his fingers on his mouth. "You were supposed to keep the princess secure in the cabin while Garrison played politics in Venusstea and figure out what's going on. But, instead, y'all's bright idea of lying low is to go canoodling at a festival."

"No canoodling happened. She was safe there."

"He's right," Thala said. "I had the perfect disguise. We can all blame Edgar for roping me into yesterday's rescue. It wasn't Hank."

"Where were you?" Levi asked. "Garrison said it happened around the time he was talking to you."

"I had to take some things back to the SUV."

"He won me a giant teddy bear from the High Striker." Thala beamed. "And we were about to get on the Ferris wheel."

"Look, are we going to stand here and rehash things we can't change?" I asked, annoyed. "Because if you're going to give me a 101 on close protection procedures, I'd rather do it over coffee."

"They're just teasing," Thala said, uncertainty entering her tone. She glanced at my two friends. "Right?"

Declan chuckled. "Not really, but Bristow's getting a pass."

"Is that so?" I glared at him. He better not say something like I'd never been in a situation like this and make things more awkward. And I made sure my eyes communicated that sentiment.

Declan got my message and gave me a faint wink. "He's getting a pass because he hasn't had breakfast. Being with Bristow for a couple of days, you know he gets ornery when he's hungry."

"I've noticed that," Thala replied.

That put an end to the discussion about my suitability as Thala's bodyguard. Apparently, the guys were hungry, too. Why they didn't pick up fast food along the way was beyond me. I put Levi on coffee duty as I whipped up pancakes and bacon while Thala chatted with Declan.

Ramsay's name came up. Declan didn't even wait to get to the point. He'd worked with Ramsay on missions before.

"So, are you another one of Ramsay's character witnesses?" Thala asked. Her tone was even. No inflection of irritation or anger, but more matter-of-fact.

"Sort of."

"And I'm just supposed to take your word for it too?" Thala asked.

Levi slid two mugs of coffee their way. "Should've waited for the caffeine before springing that on her."

"I'm a fan of ripping off the Band-Aid," Declan said.

"Garrison should send you on more undercover stuff so you can exercise more restraint," I told my teammate.

Declan flashed a look my way. "We're on the same side here, right? It's important that the princess trusts the men who are responsible for her safety." Then he shot Thala what I would call his movie-star-worthy smile.

But my girl was having none of it and called him out. "Charming me with that smile isn't going to work. As I told Hank before, I eat alpha males for breakfast, including the charming ones."

Levi nearly spilled my coffee when his chest shook with laughter. I rescued it from his grasp, but I couldn't help my amusement too.

Declan's ears turned red, and he shot me a mock wide-eyed stare. "How are you still alive?" And then, as if to give context, he said, "Hank is the laid-back one among us and his laid-back personality in dire situations pisses everyone off."

"And how can you guys not tell… What do you Americans call it…? Beneath that golden retriever energy, Hank is quite lethal. You guys should have seen how he drove that Jeep and made it fly off the road."

"Don't remind me," I muttered.

"And he defended our position."

Levi clapped my shoulder. "She has you pegged." Then, directing his next statement at Thala, he said, "We're thankful Hank keeps his head whenever our women are in danger. Looks like things are going to get interesting here."

Thala shot him a puzzled look, but I knew exactly what he meant. I'd witnessed enough times when my friends lost their shit while their women were in peril. I was usually the voice of reason and that was why I frequently ran comms. But there were so many unknowns regarding Thala's affairs, I wanted to gnash my teeth.

"Pancake's about to burn, buddy," Levi said. "Want me to take over?"

"No, I got this," I said. "So what happened to the pilot, the driver, and the men who tried to shoot us down on the interstate?"

I flipped the finished pancakes onto the serving platter and made some more. I tonged the crispy bacon onto a paper-towel-lined plate so Declan and Thala could start eating.

"The driver and the pilot are going to be charged with conspiring to assassinate a foreign national on U.S. soil."

"The FBI is handling it now," Levi said. "The attorney general wants a more solid case against them. We passed over the info you've given us about the money exchanged in their offshore accounts. It couldn't be traced directly to any board member of PragueCog, but the Interpol has a person of interest, possibly connected to the shell company that made the payment. Sent you that information yesterday."

"I'll look at it after breakfast." The meaningful look Levi gave me was a reminder that I needed to get my head back in the game or I should turn it over to someone who did.

"How about the guys who attacked us on the interstate?" she asked.

"That's a dead end," Declan replied. "Gabby was in close contact with the Pleasanton PD and they couldn't get any traffic cam sighting on the vehicle. Even Nadia got involved."

"Nadia?" Thala asked.

"Garrison's wife and LAPD crime analyst," I said. "She's the shit. If she can't find anything, that means I can't."

"You're too humble," Thala said.

"Christ," Declan chuckled. "You're at that moonstruck phase, I see."

I flipped the fresh pancakes I had on the griddle. "Princess, please smack my friend upside of the head."

"But Bristow isn't being humble," Levi said. "He's telling the truth. Nadia is a savant behind the keyboard."

"You're all an intriguing group," Thala said. "And your wife, Levi? She's the special effects artist of the War Maiden movie?"

"Not to mention several of our ops," I couldn't help adding proudly.

"Hmm," Levi mumbled, leaning close for only me to hear. "The princess will fit right in with us. Better not fuck this up, B."

"No idea what you mean."

"Hey, what are you two whispering about over there?" Declan asked. "Better not put any red pepper flakes on those pancakes."

"It's tempting," I threw over my shoulder. "Be thankful Thala is with us."

"So, do you and Gabby have any children?" Thala asked Declan.

"Oh, yeah…a girl," he answered. I looked away from what I was doing to see Declan holding up his phone to show Thala a picture of their three-year-old daughter, Madison. "And this is our oldest."

"Wait a minute, I know him," Thala exclaimed. "Billy Mayhem from that Hodgetown series…what's his name?"

"Theo Cole," Declan said proudly.

"He's your son?"

"Yeah."

"I seem to remember several news stories about that. How…"

"It's a long story," I warned. Declan and Gabby had come to terms with the years they'd missed knowing Theo was their son and they could talk about it more freely now without feeling rage.

Thala's lips clamped shut, but she gave Declan a look.

"All right, Princess," Declan said with a lot of charm. "As you wish."

Two days later, I was getting antsy as fuck because Garrison informed me that Kade's team was taking over from Ramsay's people in Venusstea. They could be wheels up in the next forty-eight hours and Thala could leave with them.

But Christian showing up at my door was the icing on the cake of this morning's clusterfuck.

We all heard his car roll up and watched it approach through the surveillance cams.

"Want me to handle him?" Declan asked.

We were all gathered around the kitchen counter where Levi was entertaining Thala with stories of his kids.

Declan and I had been crosschecking information gleaned from the interrogation of the pilot and the driver.

"No, I got this."

There'd been a backlash from the rest of the Buchanan family after what happened at the festival. Money disrupted family relationships. I'd seen that happen growing up and in my job. Because of greed, the near tragedy of almost losing Jim was a wake-up call to his siblings and the rest of the clan. It was time to see which color in their veins bled stronger.

Red or Green.

"The search on my screen is still running, anyway." It was an important one and had been running for two hours. I strung a query that pulled information across several databases. "Do not touch my keyboard, no matter what comes up."

Declan raised his hands. "Not touching."

I headed for the door, not really wanting to confront my cousin, but it was inevitable.

"Christian." I stepped outside and closed the door, leading him away so he wouldn't nose inside. "Is there something more you needed?"

He checked behind me. "So, it's really true? You have the Princess of Venusstea in there?"

I simply stared at him.

"Okay. Okay."

"What do you want? I think it's better if we talk through our lawyers."

Christian and I nearly got into a brawl in the waiting room of the hospital. Hospital security got involved, but since I was there with Thala, they asked Christian to leave.

"There's no need. Fisker Land Holdings withdrew their offer when it was clear most of the Buchanans were going to reject it, so I just came to tell you that there won't be any problems from them or me anymore."

"You could have just called."

"The police put a checkpoint on the road coming here."

"Can't have nosy people coming around."

Christian waved his hand. "No. No. I'm not complaining about that. The winery restaurant is booked up for today and tomorrow and part of next week, so…"

"No," I snapped. Christian and I had hardly been around each other even during my pre-SEAL days, but it only took a few encounters with him to know how his mind worked. No wonder Jim never liked Christian.

"You don't even know what I was going to say."

"Yes, I do. You want Thala and me to make an appearance."

Christian scratched his head. "The deal has fallen through…the least—"

Red hazed my vision so fast, I had my cousin by the collar, dragging him down the steps of the porch and toward his car. "The answer is no. Bruno almost murdered Jim. The cops should be looking into you too."

"I had nothing to do with it!" he sputtered when I let him go.

"I don't want to even see a trace of your shadow in these parts or I'm making sure the investigation will be looking your way."

Christian huffily got into his Mercedes S-Class. "You've always been jealous of me."

"Why would I be?"

"Because I grew up with parents who gave a shit."

Direct hit. "Get out of here."

"At least Mom was faithful to Dad. And my dad was no alcoholic."

Christian was lucky I didn't have a gun or I would have shattered the windshield of his expensive car. My blood boiled straight to my head. I clenched my fists before I dragged his golf-shirt-and-pressed-chinos-clad body out of his overpriced car and kicked his ass. "Fucking. Leave. Or I swear to God—"

He reversed. Tires screeched and gravel flew.

I stood motionless. Shame slithered up my spine and saturated my tongue with bitterness.

I turned around and froze.

Thala and Declan were standing there.

They heard.

She heard.

The shame of my past that I had kept hidden underneath my smiles was exposed like a snake shedding its skin.

I stalked back toward the cabin and up the steps.

"Did it finish?" I asked.

"Yes," Declan said.

"I don't want to talk about it," I informed them as I passed through the door. I headed straight for the kitchen where my laptop sat on the counter.

The face on the screen pushed thoughts of Christian and my parents to a corner. I needed to get this done and get Thala on that plane on her way home.

Get on the road and be a nomad again.