Griffin Chapter 4
It was late Monday night. We’d been at the Gerard house for over twelve hours. My head was spinning for a variety of reasons. The one I was concentrating on at the moment was because of the results of our security checks. My men and I were gathered in the sitting room of my suite. Yeah, this damn house had suites. We weren’t given a broom closet in the back of the house or in the attic. They gave us great rooms which you could tell were for important guests. We tried to tell Travis we didn’t need anything this fancy, but he refused to hear it.
It took us hours to complete our evaluation. Now, we were gathered in front of my laptop, having our debriefing call with Mark, Gabe, and Sean. They’d all just gotten on the call.
“How did it go?” Mark asked.
“What details did you get out of them?” Sean asked right after him.
“Any problems?” Gabe asked.
I chuckled. “Well, who do I answer first? Hmm.”
They laughed, and the guys with me chuckled, too. We were tired, but this needed to be done tonight so everyone could get started first thing in the morning. “Whichever order you wanna go in,” Sean said.
I quickly filled them in on the secret history of Gerard’s wife and the fact he had a daughter most people had no idea existed. They were just as stunned as we were to find both out. We were determined to make sure he didn’t lose his daughter after the tragedy he already suffered. Once they had the background, I began to tell them about our evaluation.
“The local cops are too damn slow to respond to anything suspicious in this vicinity. Took them fifteen minutes to get to us when we were obviously casing the place. We didn’t see them patrolling anywhere either, so no one has been dedicated to the area. I asked Travis if he had told them about the threat, and he said he had spoken to the chief of police. I doubt they’ll be of any help.”
“Well shit, that sucks but not necessarily unexpected,” Gabe muttered.
“True. Then we got to the gate, and the guard there asked to see our IDs. I gave him mine but told him he didn’t need to see the rest because we were expected. He let me pressure him into not insisting on it and left us to make a call without having someone to guard us. Two more strikes.”
“Damn, okay, keep going,” Sean said.
“There were several bodyguards inside the house and three of the five board of director members when we got here. We met with just Gerard and his daughter. He hadn’t told her or them about the threat. She wasn’t happy about being locked down here, but I’m not letting her flitter around hell and back while someone could be gunning for her. Her socializing, shopping, and fun will have to wait,” I growled.
“She’s a party girl, is she? I wonder how she does that and hasn’t been outed as his daughter?” Mark asked.
“Come on, you know she is. Women like her, who don’t have to work and are handed anything they want, only socialize, party, and shop. They wouldn’t know what to do if they had to work for real. I have no clue how everyone doesn’t know who she is,” I muttered.
“Whoa, what did she do to tick you off?” Gabe asked.
“I don’t know what you mean. She didn’t tick me off,” I protested.
“You’re being kinda harsh, aren’t you? Do you know for sure all she does are those things? Even if she does, it doesn’t matter to our job other than we might have to curtail her extracurricular activities. Does she have a man we have to be concerned will be in the picture?” Sean asked.
“We don’t know, but if she doesn’t, I don’t know how it’s possible,” Heath told him.
“Ahh, she’s good-looking, I take it. Don’t get any ideas,” Mark warned him.
“I won’t, but damn, she’s gorgeous. There’s no way in hell she doesn’t have a man,” Heath added.
For some reason, his talking about Hadley raised my hackles. I wasn’t sure why, and I had to bite my tongue so I wouldn’t say anything. I thought I had it under control by the time Gabe chimed in.
“What about you other guys? Is she as gorgeous as Heath says?”
“Yep, she’s damn hot,” Beau said.
“She’s a ten in my book,” Ben added.
“I wouldn’t kick her out of my bed,” Justin chimed in.
They all turned to stare at me when I didn’t say anything. Trying to play it cool, I shrugged. “She’s alright, but I’ve seen better.” I felt like I’d burn in hell for that lie. The truth was she was an eleven in my book, and if she weren’t a rich spoiled girl and not our client’s daughter, I’d be all over her.
“Bullshit, don’t tell us that! She’s totally hot, sexy, and gorgeous,” Heath protested.
“Can we get back to what’s important? We’re here to save her and Gerard’s lives, not talk about how hot she is or isn’t,” I reminded them. They all sobered up, and that line of talk was abandoned.
“Wraith is right. What did you find on your rounds of the estate and house?” Sean asked.
“They have cameras close to the house, and there are roving guards. They don’t have enough of either. There are so many gaps in them, it would be easy for someone who’s determined and who studied the guards’ duty and patrol patterns to get inside. They all follow the same route at a predictable time, and they don’t have dogs either. I think we definitely need to get one or two dogs here. They need more cameras and motion-detecting equipment and more guards,” I told them.
“Shit, we were hoping it was better than that, but we’ve had this before. How’s the house?” Mark asked.
I gestured to Beau to take over. While I’d been involved in most of the assessments, they needed to feel comfortable reporting on things, too. I was the leader, but we were all equally involved.
“The house is better. They have a pretty decent security system, but it could be made even better. Ours would make it great. There are guards in the house, but I got the impression that it wasn’t normal all the time. Gerard has a few who seem to be his regulars. His daughter, so far, we’ve only seen one who follows her like a hound. None of them are happy to see us or to be put under our command, as you can imagine. It remains to be seen if they’ll push back on us. I thought we might have to set one straight when he puffed up about our qualifications.” Beau chuckled.
“Oh yeah, which one, and what didn’t he like?” Gabe asked with a smirk.
“It was Hadley’s guard, Rockwell. She kind of pushed it. He was being snide about our qualifications, and when Wraith told him what they were, she basically told Rockwell we were way more qualified than him.”
“He doesn’t like anyone stepping on his toes. He thinks he’s a badass. Mark my words. We’ll have trouble getting him to fall into line,” Ben said.
“If we do, then he’s got to go. At least until this is resolved, we can’t have rebels and resistance within the ranks. If we do, whoever is making the threat will use it against us,” I pointed out, even though they knew it.
“Is Gerard okay with us replacing people if we deem it necessary?” Mark asked.
“He is. He’s actually very accommodating and not what you’d expect from a billionaire. He insists we call him Travis. He gave us suites in the house rather than out where the other staff and guards stay. Or at least the ones who live on the grounds versus elsewhere. I can tell you this. If we’re here long eating their chef’s cooking, I’ll need twice-a-day workouts,” Heath said.
We all had to nod at that one. Lunch and dinner had been as great as breakfast. Thankfully, we did a lot of walking and climbing around, checking everything out, so we did get some exercise today. That was another thing. This huge house had a fully equipped gym and indoor as well as outdoor pools. Since it was winter, the indoor one would be great. We’d been told to use them anytime we wanted and to let Gerard know if there was some equipment they didn’t have. I checked it out, and nothing was missing.
“Well, it sounds like you’re settling in nicely. We’ll work on getting someone out there to beef up the cameras and security system. As for the dogs, let me see what we can get and how soon. I assume you have the names of everyone who works for them, who was at the house, and those who will be there but weren’t today?” Sean asked, tapping away on his tablet.
“I do, and I’ll send those now. I included the board members’ names as well. Until we say otherwise, everyone needs to be vetted. As we meet new people, we’ll send their names and any info we get to you. I know this is our thing, but if it gets crazy because of the other assignments we have going, you know we can always reach out to the Warriors or the others and get help from their computer people,” I reminded them, not that I needed to.
“Already ahead of ya. I’ve got Outlaw, Smoke, and Everly on standby. If we need more, then I’ll ask,” Gabe told us.
“Anderson called today and basically told us whoever and whatever we had to do to keep Gerard safe was authorized. He didn’t come out and say it bluntly, but we read between the lines. If we need to kill people and make their bodies disappear, no one will say a word. We can’t let anything happen to Travis Gerard or his daughter. Do you need us to send more people now?” Mark asked.
I thought about it for a minute, then shook my head. “Nah, not right now. Maybe later. Let’s beef up the security to our standards, and then we’ll see. Now, it’s late, and I know you have to be tired and want to go to bed. Tell the ladies hello, and we’ll let you get to sleep so we can, too. Morning will be here before we know it. Goodnight.”
There was a flurry of goodnights, and then the call ended. I faced the four in the room with me. “Go get some rest. How about we hit the gym at five? We can get in a workout before the household is awake and then get to work. This is going to be stressful, so a good workout may keep us from choking some people,” I said with a grin.
They all chuckled and agreed. Once they left my room, I shut down my laptop and took a shower. I was tired, and I needed to rest not only my body but also my brain. There was so much running through it that I couldn’t sort it all out.
The hot shower, with its endless hot water, relaxed me a bit, and I fell asleep rather quickly. Tomorrow would be soon enough to sort things out better.
???
As we all walked into the gym at five a.m., on the dot, we got a surprise. We weren’t the only ones there. Imagine our shock to see Hadley. She was on an elliptical machine. I tried not to stare but seeing her in her workout clothes only emphasized her body, and it was something to look at.
She wasn’t dressed in skimpy shorts and a tank top like so many women who went to the gym wore. You knew the ones who were more interested in being seen than working out. She had on a pair of yoga pants and a tank. They molded her curves, but she was covered. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and there wasn’t a bit of makeup on her face, unlike yesterday. I found I preferred her without it. Her skin was sweaty. She looked surprised to see us and slowed her movements.
“Hi, good morning. Come on in. There’s room for all of us. I see we’re all morning workout fans,” she said with a smile.
“We’ll work out anytime, but mornings are my preference. Do you do this often?” Heath asked.
“I try to do it several times a week. I don’t always get to do it in the morning, which I prefer. Please, don’t let me stop you. There are towels in that cabinet and water in the fridge over there. Help yourself. I’ve got a bit to go if you need this machine.”
“It’s alright. We have plenty we can do. You’re lucky to have this in your home,” Beau told her.
“I am. Sometimes, Dad joins me, but he hasn’t been lately. As you can imagine, it was impossible for him or me to really join a gym, so he made sure we had one here. I hope you’ll take advantage of it as well as the pool. It’s heavenly to get into it after a hard workout, and the spa with its hot water is divine,” she said with a happy sigh.
“We should get to work. We won’t bother you,” I told her gruffly before walking over to the weights. I felt like lifting first. She gave me a tentative smile and nodded. The guys followed me.
“Hey, what was that all about?” Beau whispered to me.
“What was what about?”
“The curt shit. She was only being nice,” he hissed.
“We’re not here to be her friends. We’re here to keep her safe, find out who’s threatening them, and eliminate them. Getting all friendly is not the way to go. Just remember, she’s our job, nothing more. Now, let’s get to work.”
They gave me puzzled looks, but they didn’t say anything. I tried like hell to focus on my workout and ignore her, but it was impossible. Even if I closed my eyes, I could still see her in my mind. When she was done with the elliptical, she went over to the rowing machine. Seeing her back flex as she rowed made me want to trace her musculature. I’d never been this fascinated by a woman’s physique, but hers grabbed my attention.
I was trying to be sneaky about watching her so none of them would see it. I was about to get up and go over to her when the door opened, and Rockwell walked in. The smile he had on his face melted away into a scowl when he saw all of us. He marched over to her.
He leaned over and whispered something to her. She frowned at him and shook her head no. He whispered something else, and I could tell he was upset. Whatever he said had her shaking her head more emphatically. She turned her face away from him when she was done. That’s when he grabbed her arm. I was up and moving across the room without giving it a thought. No way was he manhandling her. I heard my guys coming behind me. I didn’t make it to her before she was up off the machine and in Rockwell’s face.
“Wayne, I don’t know what crawled up your ass this morning, but it doesn’t give you the right to try and boss me around or to grab me. Don’t ever grab me like that again. I said I wasn’t done working out yet,” she snapped at him.
I came to a stop right behind her. I put a hand on her shoulder. She glanced back at me. I gently but insistently shifted her over and back so she was behind me. She made a protesting sound, but I ignored it. I knew my men would be surrounding her as I faced Rockwell. He was scowling even more than before.
“I suggest if you want to keep your face intact, you don’t ever grab her again. She’s working out. Why don’t you leave her alone and come back once you’ve calmed the hell down?”
“Don’t tell me what to do. This is between me and Hadley. She needs to come with me. She can finish her workout later,” he snapped.
“And I told you, I’m halfway done, and I’m not stopping. What’s gotten into you? I always work out at this time.”
“Yeah, but you shouldn’t be in here with them,” he hissed softly.
“And why shouldn’t she be in here with us?” I asked, barely holding back my growl.
“Wayne, don’t say a word,” she snapped at him.
“I wanna hear what he has to say,” I told her.
“He’s being silly.”
“I’m waiting,” I told him. I crossed my arms and waited to see if he’d be brave enough to answer me. Did he have the guts to say what I knew he was thinking?
“You’re five strange men, and she’s one lone woman,” he said. I heard her groan.
“So, do you not want her alone with us because you’re afraid we’ll force ourselves on her or because you’re afraid she’ll like what one of us offers and take us up on it?” I asked with a smirk.
“She wouldn’t give you the time of day! Just because you were special forces doesn’t mean shit. There’s no way in hell she’d ever want one of you,” he said hotly.
“So that means you think we’re rapists.” I stepped closer until we were almost nose to nose. I saw fear dilate his pupils. I dropped my voice lower. “Let me tell you something, boy. Not a single one of us would ever hurt a woman, and we certainly wouldn’t rape one. Would we flirt and see if she was interested? Hell yeah, but no means no, or didn’t they teach you that where you come from? From what I just saw, you don’t know what no means.”
“You son of a bitch!” he snarled right before he threw a punch. I was waiting for it. I easily avoided it and twisted around until I was behind him and had my arm around his neck. I placed him in a chokehold he couldn’t break. He was flailing and trying to get away, but he wouldn’t. I was gonna put him out and hope he learned a lesson from it.
“Stop! Let him go. This isn’t necessary. Griffin, let him go,” she shouted as she tried to get away from Beau and the others.
“He needs to learn to mind his p’s and q’s and not run his mouth.”
“Maybe he does but choking him out won’t do it. Let him go, Wraith!” she yelled again. It was her calling me Wraith that made me loosen my hold, and I let him drop to the floor. He gasped and gagged for air. I figured she’d run to him and make over him, but she surprised me.
She looked disgusted. “You’re all a bunch of idiotic Alpha Neanderthals,” she said before she stormed out of the gym. A part of me wanted to go after her and make her see why I did what I did, but the rest of me wanted to stay and make myself crystal clear to Rockwell. She must’ve been too mad at us to care that we might hurt him after she left.
I leaned down to his coughing body on the floor. His face showed fear and anger. “Don’t ever, and I mean ever, accuse me or any of my men of such a despicable, cowardly thing again. Hadley is perfectly safe with us. In fact, she’s safer with us. If you keep up the attitude, you’ll be off her security detail so fast, your goddamn head will spin. Get the fuck out. Be ready at seven with the others. We have a full day planned,” I barked. He wanted to say something, I could see it, but he didn’t. Instead, he staggered to his feet and hauled ass out of there. Once he was gone, the guys started.
Beau whistled. “Damn, you sure know how to make friends, Wraith. I’d watch my back with that one. He doesn’t like any of us, but he hates you.”
“Yep, that’s an accurate assessment, Beau. Maybe we should make Wraith wear a Kevlar vest even in the house. You know, in case Rockwell takes a potshot at him,” Heath added.
“Fuck that. He needs one of us to sleep in his room to keep guard. I’m not doing it, so one of you assholes gets that job,” Ben snickered.
“Don’t say it’s me just because I’m the new guy. I’m too young to die,” Justin pretended to whine.
Their antics made me laugh and helped to dispel my dark mood. “Shut up, you fuckers. I can handle Rockwell. Let’s get our workouts done so we can shower and meet the others at seven. I think we need to test their physical readiness with some running, push-ups, burpees, and such. See what their stamina is like,” I told them with a grin.
They snickered before we got back to our workouts. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do mine with my mind half on the workout and half on Rockwell and Hadley. Just what was their relationship? Was he just overprotective of her, unsure of himself and his skills, or was there a secret relationship between them? If it was the latter, that wasn’t good. I’d have to keep an eye on him and see if I could figure it out.
By the time we finished up and showered, we made it downstairs to the dining room with two minutes to spare. We’d arranged for all the usual bodyguards who patrolled the grounds, were on personal details, and stood duty in the home to come to breakfast so we could talk to them. We couldn’t take everyone off duty at once, so we were doing it in groups.
First would be the personal detail guards. Next would be the ones who worked the grounds and gate. Lastly would be the rest. Later, we’d talk with the staff in the house, like Porter, the chef, and anyone else who helped to keep this place going. I knew they had to have cleaning staff. We had to investigate all of them. For anyone not seen as essential, we’d recommend they not come back until this was over. I explained this to Gerard yesterday in a private meeting. He said whatever we thought was best, he’d do. He was decent enough to pay them even if they weren’t working.
When we entered, I saw there were eight guards. Rockwell was among them. What surprised me was Gerard and Hadley were there, too. It didn’t matter if they were or not, but they weren’t necessary. I went to them first. Hadley was still pissed at me. I could tell. Oh well, she’d get over it, or she wouldn’t. I was prepared for her dad to say something about it. No doubt she ran to him and whined about me hurting Rockwell and not listening to her.
“Travis, Hadley, good morning. I’m surprised to see you here. There’s no need for you to sit through these meetings this morning. We’re just going to get to know everyone a bit, let them know what we expect, and that sort of stuff. After we’re done, we plan to take them to do some physical training and assessments. It’ll be boring. I’m sure you have plenty of important things to do.”
“We want to be here. If I need to leave for any reason, then I’ll do so. We’re just here to observe. We’re curious about how you do what you do. Hadley, honey, you said there was something you wanted to tell Griffin,” he said to her.
Fuck, here it came. I waited for her to rip into me for putting Rockwell in his place. Imagine my shock when she didn’t say anything about that. What she did say took me aback.
“Yes, Daddy, I’d like to go out and see what the physical part they plan to put the guys through is like. I’m interested in seeing it.”
“It’s a lot of running, sit-ups, chin-ups, and burpees. Those are—,” she cut me off before I could explain.
“I know what those are, and I’d really like to be there.”
If she thought by being there, she’d protect her pet, she’d soon find out she was mistaken. I shrugged. “It’s your time and home. Sure, you can watch. How about we get started with this bunch, and then we can get the others in and out? We want to make this as efficient as possible.”
They nodded, and we moved off to get our plates. We might as well eat while we talk. Gerard seemed to be in a slightly less happy mood today. Maybe this was wearing on him more. I wish we could give him an exact date of when this threat would be over, but we couldn’t. We’d all have to learn to get along and live together.