Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Annalee

I watched over Owen’s shoulder as he opened up the last message Walter sent me. It was nothing personal. Just a simple please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you through this difficult time.

To be honest, I had been surprised when I read it. Walter had never been that friendly to me. He was never outright rude, and especially never in front of my father, but I always had the feeling he didn’t like kids, and the older I got, the more he stayed away. I didn’t complain because I much preferred it that way, so to see him reaching out now was just strange. It was also why I didn’t bother to respond.

“Son of a bitch!” Owen’s hiss and the slam of his hand on my desk had me jumping back.

“What is it?”

I couldn’t remember there being anything about the email that should’ve had him reacting that way.

Owen sighed. “I know how they tracked you.”

Well, that didn’t sound good. “Care to tell me, or do you plan to make me guess?”

My first thought was the article that was posted in the local newspaper, but based on Owen’s reaction, I was starting to think that wasn’t the case. But I didn’t know what else it could be. I had done everything I could to stay hidden in this small town.

“The second you opened the email, it sent your location to the sender.”

“What the fuck ?” I pushed Owen out of the way and it didn’t go unnoticed by me that I would never have been able to move him if he didn’t allow it. Owen wasn’t a small guy and I certainly didn’t have the muscle mass to go against him. “How the hell do you know that?”

I was looking at the same email he was and there was nothing different about it from the hundreds of others I had received over the years. An email was an email.

“I’m no expert with computers like Nolen, but there’s an encrypted code written into it that allows the sender to gain access to your location as soon as you click on it.” He tried to show me where the code was but it looked like a foreign language to me. “I’m going to have Nolen look this over. He knows how it works better than I do. I just know to look for it.”

I still had no idea what Owen was attempting to show me, but if he said it was there, then I trusted him. He had yet to give me a reason not to, and just like I got a weird feeling around Walter, I felt completely safe around Owen. I couldn’t explain it.

I stared at the screen like maybe it could give me the answers I was looking for. It didn’t. I barely heard Owen on the phone calling Nolen and I didn’t listen to what he was saying. All I could think about was how none of this made sense. I couldn’t figure out what Walter had to do with Dennis, or what happened with him and my father before his death.

There were so many pieces of the puzzle and together they were a jumbled mess, but something in the back of my mind was telling me it all fit together. I just needed a few more pieces and then I would be able to see the big picture.

I was still staring at the screen when Nolen pushed my chair aside gently. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there; it could’ve been minutes or hours, but was likely only a few seconds. Hendrix was now here as well with that water I asked for. I had completely forgotten about it until he all but shoved it in my hands. These guys probably thought there was something mentally wrong with me. I was just sitting here, zoned out, not bothering to pay attention to what was happening around me.

My brain was operating in slow motion. There was definitely a delay in information being received and what I was comprehending.

“Annalee?” I recognized that voice and the touch that went along with it. “Are you okay? I called your name several times.”

I shook myself out of the stupor. “Yeah, I’m good. All the technical speak is going right over my head.”

Nolen laughed. “Don’t worry, it goes over everyone else’s as well. All you need to know is that I’m fixing the problem. I had firewalls in place for our network emails but I never thought about personal ones. We all knew from the beginning not to access them, but I forgot to mention that when Maverick brought you on.”

Shit! Of course I shouldn’t have been using my personal email in a security firm. I never thought anything of it because I didn’t have any other way to check it. I needed to rectify that.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve known better.”

Nolen was kind enough to shake his head. “Please don’t blame yourself. We were so happy to have you here we just threw the job at you with no explanations. This is one hundred percent my and Maverick’s fault.”

He was too damn sweet for his own good. Nolen could’ve been blaming me, but he wasn’t, and it made me feel better about my choice to stay on here as an employee.

“So they got my location from the email. What now?”

All three men exchanged looks but it was Owen who spoke up. “Now we wait for Lex to check in. He’s following them to see where they plan to stay. There’s nowhere in town for them, so the first guess would be Addison which is thirty minutes away. If that’s the case, someone will be watching them around the clock to see what move they plan to make. If they don’t attempt to come to you, we’ll go to them. It’s better to get ahead of things rather than be reactive.”

I didn’t particularly like the plan, but it made sense. I much preferred to never speak to Dennis again, but based on the nonsense he and his mother were spreading, I didn’t have that option.

“If you think that’s best.”

It was Hendrix who responded this time, and back was his goofy personality. “Don’t sound so thrilled. I mean I get it, kicking him to the curb sounds like a much better idea, but then we wouldn’t learn anything. I don’t know about you but I’m a curious fucker. I like a good mystery as much as the next guy, but only if I can solve it in the end.”

I smiled at him. “It would annoy the crap out of me to never know what really happened.”

“That’s the spirit.” He threw his arm around my shoulder. “Now why don’t you convince Owen to get you out of here for the day. I’m sure he can think of better ways to spend the afternoon with you.” Hendrix winked at me, and Owen growled at his friend.

The whole encounter was hilarious and vastly improved my mood.

“Yes, I have a better way to spend the day than with you idiots.” Owen tugged me away from Hendrix and tucked me into his side. I gladly snuggled in. I would never complain about getting to be wrapped up in him.