Chapter 10

JANIE OPENED HEReyes and stared at the unfamiliar room. Where was she? A beat later, she relaxed. Of course. The safe house. She felt as though the precaution was overkill. What if it wasn’t, though? She still didn’t believe this Vatos Locos gang wanted her bad enough to come after her in Hartman.

That reminded her of David. She didn’t believe her own brother was responsible for her experience with the hijackers. Something else was going on here, but what?

Janie shoved aside the sheet and quilt. No matter what was happening, she wouldn’t solve the problem by staying in bed. Besides, she had employees to check on, stock to make, and an appointment with Ian McGregor to create a picture of her missing fellow traveler. If he was an innocent victim, she hoped nothing bad had happened to him.

After a quick shower, Janie dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen. Sawyer was reading something on his phone and sipping coffee.

He glanced up and smiled. “Morning, beautiful. How do you feel?”

Beautiful? Wow. This guy was a charmer. “Better than yesterday. I’m ready to go back to work and help. If you feel it’s too dangerous for me to be at the shop during working hours, maybe I can make some of the stock at the shop early in the morning or perhaps at the safe house. I always have extra ingredients in case I want to experiment with scents and textures at home.”

“That’s an excellent idea. You can still help but not be in public sight. Can your employees handle the shop if you help supply stock?”

“It will certainly make things easier for them.”

“It’s an excellent compromise, Janie. Thanks for working with me.”

“I don’t want you or your teammates at risk, Sawyer.”

“No way around that. We’re well trained. For your safety and protection, do exactly what we say, and we’ll all have a better chance of escaping a dangerous situation with a minimum of injuries.”

“You can count on it. I owe you for saving my life in Mexico.”

“This isn’t about balancing the scales. I want you safe. That’s my priority.”

And she wanted the same for him. Over the past day or so, Sawyer meant something to her. Perhaps the feeling was gratitude. She didn’t think so, though. “Thank you.”

He inclined his head, then handed her a mug. “Chamomile and honey tea.”

Janie breathed deep and sighed. “This smells wonderful.” She sipped. “The tea tastes as good as it smells.”

“Hungry?”

“Not really, but I need to eat.” Even if the sun wasn’t up yet. She’d never been a morning person. Running her own retail business meant she’d learned to adapt. The business world didn’t run on her preferred schedule.

“Something light, then?”

“Please.”

He turned toward the refrigerator.

“I can cook.”

“Excellent. Tomorrow morning is your turn.”

Jesse strode into the kitchen to pour coffee into a mug. “You’re up early, Janie. Feeling okay?”

“Fine.”

He folded his arms across his chest, staring at her.

Janie’s cheeks burned. So, it was a slight exaggeration. Did he have to call her on it? “I’m exhausted and achy, but I have to help my workers make stock for the store before we open for business.”

Jesse looked at Sawyer, who held up his hands. The medic shook his head. “Don’t push yourself,” he said to Janie. “You’re still dealing with jet lag and the stress of the hijacking. I know you need to help your employees, but don’t push.”

“I hear you.”

The man snorted. “And you’re going to do what you want, right?”

She smiled.

“You are as stubborn as the woman I’m going to marry soon. So, what’s for breakfast, Sawyer?”

“Scrambled eggs, bagels, and fruit.”

“Sounds like a winner to me.”

Dismay filled Janie. “That’s what you call a light breakfast?”

“Normally, I have bacon and potatoes along with this,” Sawyer countered. “This is light. Besides, you decide how much you want to eat. I will not fill your plate with heaping portions. Remember, we train hard every day when we’re not on missions. That includes five to ten-mile runs. If we didn’t eat like this, we’d lose weight and muscle. We can’t afford to do either.”

Hmm. Well, she couldn’t argue with the results of their regimen. Every member of their team was ripped, especially Sawyer.

After breakfast, Jesse joined them in Sawyer’s SUV. He insisted on riding in the backseat and giving the shotgun seat to Janie.

Fifteen minutes later, Sawyer parked his vehicle behind Natural Bliss. Janie reached for the door handle.

“Wait,” Sawyer said. “Let me check the area first to be sure there aren’t any visible threats.”

Oops. Fifteen minutes into their day, and she’d already forgotten his rules. “Sorry.”

He squeezed her hand, then exited the SUV and scanned the area. After a moment, he must have been satisfied because he came around to open her door.

Sawyer held out his hand. “Keys to your shop?”

Of course. He’d want to check the premises before he allowed her to step foot inside the building. The problem was, she had nothing. The hijackers had forced her to leave everything behind on the plane. How could she have forgotten? “They’re still in Mexico.”

“No problem. Do you have an alarm?”

No problem? Was he going to break down the steel door? Good luck with that. Janie rattled off the code and watched as Sawyer pulled something from his pocket, crouched in front of the door, and seconds later turned the knob and stepped inside. “Did you see that?” she asked Jesse. “It took Sawyer about ten seconds to unlock my door.”

“Slow for him. He’s usually faster than that.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, ma’am. We’re trained in everything imaginable, including picking locks.”

Of course they were. Who knew when you might need to break into a place to save a victim of a crime? After all, Sawyer had already picked the lock on her cell in seconds.

Sawyer reappeared two minutes later and opened her door. “Clear.” He helped her from the vehicle and hustled Janie into her shop while scanning the area for trouble. Thankfully, they didn’t encounter any.

Once the three of them were inside Natural Bliss, Sawyer reset the alarm. “Do you have a spare key to the shop? I could keep picking the lock, but eventually one of the Hartman police officers will catch me at it and ask some hard questions.”

Janie smiled, amused. “I do. It’s locked in my desk drawer inside my locked office. Do you have a stopwatch, Jesse? I’d like to see how fast Sawyer really is.”

The medic chuckled.

Sawyer’s eyes twinkled. “Enjoying this, are you?”

“Immensely. Jesse tells me that ten seconds was slow for you. Is he telling the truth?”

“Maybe.”

“Fortress training taught you how to break into places?”

He hesitated.

Ah ha. A story. Janie pointed at him. “The truth, Chapman.”

Jesse folded his arms. “Yeah, buddy. Let’s hear it.”

“Fortress honed my B E skills.”

Sawyer had a history of B E? Seriously? “Wait. Weren’t you a cop?”

“My entire team was in law enforcement in Texas.”

“So, where did you learn to break and enter?”

“My misspent youth.”

She stared. “You learned the skill when you were a kid? How?”

“We were dirt poor. My dad died in prison, leaving my mom with five kids to raise by herself. She did her best, but Mom had to work two jobs to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads. Unfortunately, she never finished high school, so her jobs were low paying. My brothers and I raised ourselves on the streets. My oldest brother, Hugh, made sure we went to school every day. We didn’t always have enough food for lunch, but he made us go every day, anyway.

“People in our neighborhood called us street rats. They weren’t wrong. It’s amazing none of us got into serious trouble with the gangs or the law.”

“Who taught you how to pick locks?”

“Charlie, the jewel thief who lived a mile and a world away from us.” Sawyer chuckled. “He caught me trying to break into his house. Instead of calling the cops, he found out my story and taught me everything he knew.”

“Including breaking into safes,” Jesse added.

Good grief! Picking locks and cracking safes? “Did you ever get caught, Sawyer?”

“Only by Charlie. Never by the police or anyone else.”

“What did you steal?”

“Cash and jewelry. Charlie introduced me to his fence, who disposed of any jewelry and paid me a decent cut of the money.”

“What did you do with the money?”

“Gave it to Hugh to buy food. Once I started lifting jewels and cash, we never went hungry again. We bought nothing to raise suspicion. If we went on a spending spree, people would talk. That would lead to disaster. So any extra money left after buying food and paying bills, Hugh managed for us.”

“You were good at stealing?”

“Very.”

She led the operatives into the workroom where she made stock. “What did Hugh do with the extra money?”

“He split the money six ways and dumped an equal portion into bank accounts he set up for each of us. When we turned eighteen and graduated from high school, we could take the money accumulated in our personal account and go to college or trade school. Hugh put himself through trade school to be a welder. Once he finished and landed a job, he started adding money into each account, too.

“One by one, my older brothers either went to college or joined the military. Each of us contributed money to a house fund and eventually bought Mom a home of her own, a nice condominium with neighbors her age. She’s having the time of her life and no longer having to work two jobs to make ends meet. In fact, she stopped working when I went to the police academy.”

Janie motioned to the stools on the other side of her working island. “Have a seat and tell me more.”

Jesse headed toward the front of the shop. “I want to look around for a bit.”

She started gathering ingredients and tugged on her favorite baseball hat and rubber gloves and handed a pair of gloves to Sawyer. “I’m sure the police conduct background checks on their applicants. They didn’t know about your questionable skills?”

Sawyer shook his head. “Told you. I didn’t get caught. Charlie taught me how to bypass alarm systems and look for surveillance cameras.”

“He must have done a great job training you. What did he say about you becoming a police officer?”

He chuckled. “He was horrified.”

“I can imagine. Why did you choose law enforcement as a career? Why not the military like your brothers?”

“Oh, they encouraged me to think about it, but as a street rat, I saw a lot of injustice. One street walker shared food with me almost every day when she found out who I was and what a tough time we were having keeping ourselves fed. Shana said she grew up in that kind of poverty and didn’t want to see us boys come to a terrible end. She knew about my dad and what a hard time Mom was having. Mom was always kind to her, even when other people treated Shana as though she was beneath them.

“One day, Shana wasn’t on her corner and no one knew where she was. A few days later, I heard that a customer beat her to death. The police never found out who killed her. I decided I wanted to right that wrong. I wanted to carry a badge and solve Shana’s murder.”

“Did you?”

He smiled a little. “I did. He’s still in prison.”

“Good for you. Does your mother know why you joined the police?”

“Of course. Mom is a sharp lady. Although I didn’t tell her my reasons, she knew. I guess word got around the neighborhood about Shana sharing food with me and my brothers.”

“Do you and your brothers keep in touch with each other and your mother?”

He snorted. “Oh, yeah. We’re in each other’s business all the time. I’m the only one not married, so I’m getting dating advice from all of them.” Sawyer shook his head. “It’s embarrassing.”

“I think it’s sweet.”

He flinched. “Don’t spread that around, okay? I’ll never hear the end of it from my teammates or my brothers.”

Janie laughed. Oh, this was a fun conversation. She could see him running wild in the streets and stealing to provide for his family. Sawyer Chapman had that knight-in-shining-armor thing going, although he would be horrified to know she thought that about him. “I’d love to meet your family one day.”

He was silent a moment.

She glanced up, her smile fading. “That’s not allowed?” Would she never see him again after she was finally safe? The possibility hurt her heart.

“When this is over, if you still want to meet them, I’ll take you to meet my mother and Hugh along with his family. My other brothers are scattered around at different Army bases.”

“It’s not against Fortress rules? I don’t want to get you into trouble with Brent.”

“Once you’re safe, the choice will be mine. I’d like to introduce you to my family. They’ll enjoy meeting you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I enjoy being with you.”

That brought a smile to her face. “Feeling’s mutual. That’s why I’m looking forward to an introduction to your mom and brothers.”

He gave her a long stare before saying, “If you change your mind when you’re safe again, let me know. I won’t hold you to it.”

“I won’t change my mind.” What woman in her right mind would give up a chance to meet such an extraordinary family like Sawyer’s?

He seemed surprised by her quick response. “Still, I will ask before I make plans.”

“Fair enough.”

For the next two hours, Sawyer and Jesse rotated in and out of the prep room. Each man asked Janie to teach him how to help. The prep went much faster than normal. Together, they created enough product to fill the shelves out front and the supply stock in the back.

Pleased with the early morning work, she finished the last of the bath salt batch just as the back door opened.

Sawyer’s weapon was in his hand in less than a second.

Janie laid her hand on his forearm. “It’s one of my clerks,” she murmured. “Good morning, Jada.”

Jada Michaels squealed and stumbled back against the closed door. “Janie, you scared me to death. I thought you would sleep in this morning after all the fun in Chile, plus a long flight back to the states.” She stared at Sawyer. “Who’s your friend?”

He slid his weapon back into his holster and stepped forward with his hand out. “Nice to meet you, Jada. I’m Sawyer, Janie’s boyfriend.”

Janie’s cheeks burned. She hadn’t given a second’s thought to how she would explain Sawyer’s presence in her shop. Apparently, Sawyer had.

“My friend Jesse and I convinced Janie to teach us how to make soap and bath salt. She agreed to teach us if we helped her prepare stock for the day.”

Jesse returned to the prep room, his hand resting on his weapon. “I’m Jesse.”

Jada’s gaze shifted from Sawyer to Jesse and back again. “Um, hi. Janie, is everything all right?”

If she wanted to protect her staff, Janie had to tell them some of the truth. No need to scare them to death, though. “Not really. I had some trouble on the plane.”

Her employee stashed her purse and jacket in her locker. “What happened?”

She gave a sanitized version of events, ending with, “Sawyer and his friends are going to monitor me for a few days in case trouble followed me back to Hartman.”

“Are you serious?”

“Afraid so. Look, these guys used to be police officers. Now they work for a private security firm. I’m lucky they were in the area when I was kidnapped from the plane, along with several other hostages.”

Jada gasped. “Wait. Are you talking about the fourteen hostages killed in Mexico? That was your group?”

Janie nodded. “I don’t want to worry you. The heightened security is a precaution.”

“This makes little sense,” her friend said. “Why would anyone come after you here?”

“We don’t know that they will,” Sawyer said. “Would you want me to let security slide and potentially risk Janie’s life if the hijackers tracked her down to finish the job?”

“Oh, no.” Jada sat on the nearest stool. “No way. I don’t care if you and a hundred other guys camp out in the shop as long as Janie is safe.”

“I feel the same way.”

“When did you two start dating?” she asked. “You’ve been keeping secrets, Janie. I did not know you were involved with someone.”

She hated to lie to her friend. Blowing a hole through Sawyer’s story was no good either. “It’s recent.” Janie couldn’t think of a better compromise.

Jada turned to Sawyer. “You better treat her like a princess, buddy. If you don’t, you’ll answer to all of her employees. Trust me when I say we won’t be kind if you screw up.”

His lips curved. “Noted. I’ll do my best not to hurt Janie.”

“We’ll see.” Jada glanced around the prep room and stared at the stockpile of stock on the refill shelves. “Do I need to do anything?”

Janie laughed. “No. Sawyer and Jesse work fast. We’ve prepared the normal amount of stock for the day in less than three hours.”

“Wow. Want a job, guys? We can use employees who work that fast.”

The men chuckled. “Sorry, ma’am,” Jesse said. “We have jobs already.”

“Too bad. Keep us in mind, all right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Any special orders, Janie?” Jada asked.

“Because of the security issue, I won’t be in the shop today. Can you and the others handle the store without me?”

“Of course. Although it’s easier with you, we were fine while you were gone. Now that you and your friends have made the stock, we won’t have to scramble so much to finish everything.”

“My boss is sending someone to stay in the shop with you and the rest of the employees today,” Sawyer said. “Her name is Molly. She’ll look like a customer browsing the store shelves. You’ll like her.”

“Will she be armed to the teeth like you and Jesse? Because if she is, she won’t look like any customers we cater to.”

“She’ll be armed, but Molly will be discreet with her weapons.”

“She’s also a professional chef,” Jesse added.

The back door opened again and another one of Janie’s employees walked into the preparation room. She paused at the sight of Sawyer and Jesse. “Welcome back, Janie. Is everything okay?”

“I had a little trouble on the flight home. My boyfriend Sawyer and his friends are monitoring me for a few days until we’re sure trouble didn’t follow me back to Hartman.”

“Is that why they’re carrying guns?”

She nodded. “They’re good men, Chelsea. You don’t have to worry about them.”

“If you say so.” Chelsea didn’t sound convinced. “Are we expecting an extra shipment of supplies?”

Janie frowned. “I ordered nothing out of the ordinary. Jada?”

“Same. We won’t get another shipment of supplies until Friday. Why?”

“There’s a box at the front door. I would have brought it in if my hands weren’t full.”

“Awfully early for a delivery,” Sawyer said. He glanced at Jesse, who left by the back door. “Did you notice the name of the sender?”

“That’s another odd thing. There wasn’t one.”

Janie looked at Sawyer. His expression was grim. “What should we do?”

“Stay here.” He headed for the back door. “Be ready in case we have to leave in a hurry.”