Chapter 5

5

Brooklyn stared out the bedroom window over a small clearing of lush grass to a forest of evergreen trees. She pressed her phone to her ear with Nick on the line. “And you’re sure it was Kane who put the bounty out on me?”

“He didn’t bother to hide it.” Nick’s disgust for Kane flowed through his words. “Seems like he’s losing patience and willing to take more risks to find you.”

The sun swept behind clouds, the dark sky ominous, maybe foretelling of Kane’s advances, and she shuddered. “Not good for me, but maybe he’ll get sloppy, and it’ll help me find him.”

“True, but what good will that do when we haven’t connected him to any crime? For you to be safe, we need him to be locked up.”

He had a point. If they couldn’t get Kane arrested, then did they really want to find him? Maybe. “I guess if we located him, we would know where he was at all times. Good for my safety, but also gives us a better chance at catching him doing something illegal.”

“True.” Nick dragged the word out, and she knew a but was coming. “But then what? We can’t keep eyes on him twenty-four/seven for the rest of your life.”

She released the curtain and crossed the room. “Maybe we can somehow ferret out what he’s been up to.”

“How?”

Yeah, how? “Someone could go undercover and try to friend him, but he’s way too suspicious for anyone to succeed.”

“Agreed.”

“Maybe I need to let him find me. Tell him I’ve had a change of heart.”

“No! That’s not an option. Don’t even think it, much less do it. Promise me.”

She sighed but didn’t want to promise.

“Say it, Brooklyn, or I’ll drive back there and make you say it.”

“Fine, I promise.”

“And stay off the internet.”

“Easy for you to say. Try it sometime.”

He chuckled. “I’d rather not.”

“I could use a VPN,” she said, though a Virtual Private Network that handled login and internet activity by masking the actual IP address could be the answer for some people, it wouldn’t be when a hacker like Kane was tracking you.

“You know that’s not possible,” Nick said.

As expected. “I know, but I’m having withdrawals and was hoping you might tell me it was okay.”

He snorted. “Just keep your eyes open. I’ll think on this development and get back to you. Call me if you see anything unusual. And I mean anything .”

“Will do.” She ended the call and stowed her phone.

She dropped onto the bed instead of heading for the door. She didn’t want to leave the bedroom. Not because it was warm and cozy and begged her to stay. Nah, it was kind of dismal with an old quilt on a double bed, walls of pine paneling, and faded blue curtains on the small window. Not quite what she’d expected, but it was clean and that was all that mattered.

She didn’t want to join Colin. Not when he clearly planned to ask why she’d been so jumpy and what was up with racing from the room to finish her call with Nick. Maybe even ask about her conversation with Nick and Gage yesterday. She’d hoped to have more time before having to tell him. To prove her value so he didn’t give her the boot.

But if he asked outright, she couldn’t lie to him. Not even to say she didn’t know what he was talking about if he mentioned the items she thought he might bring up. So there was nothing for it but to tell the truth.

She took a deep breath and left the room. She found him in the living room, but another man of similar height, build, and hair color stood next to him, their backs to her. Likely his brother. Good. Maybe Colin wouldn’t grill her in front of him.

She cleared her throat to let them know she was entering the room.

They both spun. The other man looked like Colin’s twin, except he had a close-cut beard where Colin was cleanshaven.

“I’m Brooklyn Hurst.” She held out her hand.

“Devan—Dev.” He punched Colin in the shoulder before taking her hand and giving it a hard shake. “This bozo’s brother.”

“Like I told you,” Colin said. “Dev’s the family clown.”

“So you talked about me?” Dev raised an eyebrow, looking darkly dangerous.

“For a few seconds is all.”

He shifted his focus to her. “What else did he say?”

“Just that you were a former deputy, specializing in water rescue, and a carefree guy.”

“Guess that’s not bad then. Wait until you get to know us and the old stories start flying. You’ll probably want to run for the hills.”

“Hey, don’t scare her off before she even gets started,” Colin said.

Dev rolled his eyes. “Now who’s the funny guy?”

“I wasn’t joking.”

Dev looked at Brooklyn. “Well, anyway, welcome. Colin is going to head out right now, but I have a couple of hours until my next class so I can fill you in on Mom’s med schedule.”

“I planned to do that before I left,” Colin said.

“No worries, bro. I got it. You get going. Don’t want to keep Eryn waiting.”

Colin lifted his chin. “Since you seem to be directing my day, would it be all right with you if I grabbed some lunch before I go?”

“Sure. Might as well take a sandwich for the long drive.”

Colin actually looked like he was getting mad.

She didn’t want that to stop him from heading out the door so they didn’t have to talk just yet. “I can make you a sandwich. Let’s see what’s in the fridge.” She nearly ran to the attached kitchen and opened the older-model, avocado-green refrigerator in the small space with a matching oven and dishwasher.

She half expected Colin to come charging after her, but he remained with his brother, who he’d taken by the arm and led across the room to hold a hushed conversation.

Was it their turn to keep a secret? Something she might be interested in and would ask about except she wanted to keep Colin moving? She found ham and Swiss cheese slices and mayonnaise, mustard, and lettuce.

“Ham and Swiss sandwich okay?” she called through the cut out in the wall.

“Sounds good, but make it two of them.”

“Mustard?”

“Just mayo, please.”

She leaned further into the opening. “And you, Dev? Want a sandwich?”

“Nah, I’ll eat with you and Mom when she gets up.”

Brooklyn took the items to the small island with a worn butcherblock countertop and located bread in an old-fashioned, mustard-yellow bread box. The cabinets were flat-front oak, the countertop worn white laminate, and the room was painted a cheery pale green. Despite Nick’s call, the cabin vibe relaxed her. It reminded her of a cabin her family rented on vacation when she was little, and she hummed as she worked.

Colin stepped into the room. “I know what you’re doing.”

“Making you a sandwich?” She batted her eyelashes at him as if innocent.

“Avoiding that talk I wanted to have, and batting those eyelashes at me won’t change things. You’re just postponing it to later in the day.” He went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water, then to a basket on the counter to pick up a single-serving bag of potato chips.

She looked past him at Dev, who was assessing them with the eye of a former deputy. In case Colin didn’t say anything, she didn’t want to raise his suspicions too.

“Are you sure you don’t want a sandwich, Dev?” she asked.

“Sure, why not? I could use a lunch appetizer.” He laughed and slid onto a stool at the island. “Just mayo for me too.”

“You know you don’t have to wait on us.” Colin grabbed a zipper bag and bagged the first sandwich. “It’s not part of the job, and we don’t expect it.”

“Speak for yourself, man.” Dev laughed.

She laughed with him. “Colin is right. You do like to joke, and I for one like it.”

“Most of the ladies do.” He blew on his knuckles and rubbed them over his chest, then burst out laughing. “Seriously, haven’t had a woman in my life for so long that I’m not sure what you all like anymore.”

“I don’t think things have changed much.” She moved on to preparing Dev’s sandwich. “Respect, being treated equal, and Christian values go a long way for me.”

“Good to hear I’m still relevant then.” He grinned.

She slathered mayonnaise on the thick wheat bread. “So why the break? Your choice?”

“Yeah, but unless you’ve got days to listen, I won’t bother starting on that topic.”

“Not that long of a topic,” Colin said, but didn’t elaborate as he shoved his lunch into a paper bag.

“Fine. Might as well tell you before he does. I got left at the altar, or nearly the altar, a couple of years ago, and I’m still not ready to get back on the dating horse.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” She rested a hand on Dev’s. “That’s gotta sting.”

“The sting is over, but yeah, well, you know.” He shrugged, his expression the most serious she’d seen to this point. “At least I got into the game once. Not like this lunk.” He jabbed a thumb at Colin.

“I’ve dated.”

“Not seriously. I’ve heard of sitting on the fence, but he’s been glued to it for years.”

“No. Not seriously.” Colin picked up his food. “I’ll be back by seven. Big mouth here can cook dinner for Mom if you don’t want to.”

“Okay,” she said, wanting desperately to ask why he was a fence sitter when it came to relationships. She could ask Dev, and he might tell her, but that would be going behind Colin’s back. She didn’t want to do that, because believe it or not, she thought she might have developed some feelings for him already, and she wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.

In the fading light of day, Colin turned onto Shadow Lake Survival’s heavily wooded driveway. He couldn’t wait to get home, eat dinner, and kick back until bedtime. The class participants had asked question after question, each a personal thing they needed to eliminate on the internet, and he’d put them off by promising to look into it and jotting down a note to remind himself to do so. Still, it took valuable time when he could actually be eliminating the items.

And he was going to have that talk with Brooklyn. He prayed he could be tactful and not scare her off before they got started. A few times during the drive, he’d considered not bringing it up, but his gut told him to do so and his gut never failed him.

He reached the end of the drive and slammed on his brakes.

Say what? A vehicle he didn’t recognize was parked at the gate, engine running. Colin eased his SUV closer. The driver’s door opened.

A man stepped out and marched, head down, toward Colin.

Colin reached for his sidearm. The man stepped into a bright headlight beam. The light washed over his face.

Nick. It was Nick.

Colin let out a breath and released his weapon to lower his window. “What are you doing here?”

He scowled. “Something important has come up, and I need to talk to Brooklyn.”

Colin didn’t like the sound of that. “Couldn’t you call?”

“It’s not a calling kind of thing.”

Colin eyed the guy. “What’s going on that you’re not telling me about?”

“Let’s head to the cabin, and we can discuss it there.”

Colin didn’t want to wait, but he would respect Nick’s wishes. “Step back, and I’ll get out to open the gate for you.”

Nick backed up a few steps. “Glad to hear you won’t share your passcode for the gate with me. Some guys might, and that’s how security fails.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you.” Colin pressed past him and hurried to the gate.

“You shouldn’t trust anyone when it comes to sharing passcodes or passwords.”

“I work in the same field, remember? So I get it.” Colin tapped in his code, and the gate swung open.

“Sorry. I’ll get off my soapbox now, but people don’t take this seriously enough. Or they use one password for everything. Odds are good one of their accounts has been compromised and their email and password for sale on the dark web. So they’re just asking for their other accounts to be hacked.”

“Trust me, I get it,” Colin said again, knowing at times he’d participated in a similar rant.

“See you at the cabin.” Nick climbed back into his SUV. He pulled through the gate.

Colin rushed back to his SUV so he could get onto the property before the gate closed.

He tailed Nick to the cabin and was out in a flash, then up to the door in front of Nick. No way was he going to miss a second of the conversation with Brooklyn. He stepped inside. She sat on the sofa alone, watching an old black and white movie on the television. Her head raised, and fear lit in her eyes.

“Colin. Oh. Good.” She clicked the remote for the TV, and the screen went black. “You scared me with the way you barreled in here.”

Nick stepped into the room.

“Nick.” She lurched to her feet. “What are you doing here?”

He stormed across the room to her. “I have urgent news.”

She looked at Colin. “Could we possibly talk alone?”

“No,” Colin said. “I want to know what you’re hiding from me.”

“I…” She peered at Nick.

Nick eyed her. “It’s time he knows.”

“But I?—”

“I know you’d rather that didn’t happen,” he rushed on, “but we need his and the team’s help.”

“We do? But…” Her fear was vivid in her eyes now.

Nick squeezed her arm. “They have former military or law enforcement skills, and we need their expertise.”

Brooklyn clutched her hands together, her gaze flitting around the room.

Colin moved closer to Brooklyn but looked at Nick. “This sounds serious. Is my mother in any danger?”

“I don’t think so,” Nick said.

“‘Think so’?” The words exploded out of Colin’s mouth before he could temper them. “‘Think so’ isn’t good enough. Either she is or isn’t.”

“She could be. So in your terms, yeah, she is.”

Colin wanted to strangle Nick for involving his mother in something that could put her in danger and hiding it from him, but he couldn’t very well do that. He shoved his hands into his pockets instead. “I thought we were buds. Yet, you clam up when you should be talking.”

Nick continued to look at Colin but took a deep, exaggerated breath. “Let’s all take a beat and sit down.”

“Sounds like a good idea.” Brooklyn dropped onto a lumpy sofa cushion.

Colin wanted to be close enough to see her expressions as she explained in the dim light, so he rested on the arm of the sofa. “Go ahead, spill, and don’t leave anything out.”

“Before I begin, just know I planned to tell you if Gage and Nick thought there was any danger to you or your family.” She scrubbed her hands down her pantlegs. “I used to work with and date a guy named Kane Tarver. He was a fellow white-hat hacker. One day out of the blue, he decided he wanted to make more money and turned to the dark side, hacking and exploiting people. When I found out, I was shocked. Appalled. So I turned him in to the police, stopped seeing him, and changed jobs.”

Not what Colin was expecting, but then he didn’t know what to expect. “What happened to him?”

“There wasn’t enough evidence to bring him to trial, and he got off.” She gritted her teeth. “He’s been threatening and stalking me since then. I’ve had to move several times so he couldn’t find me. I’ve continued hacking, but change all of my email and online accounts each time I move. I don’t do social media or anything that would put me on the internet, but he always finds me through my work.”

“We have algorithms set so we can see when he discovers her internet presence,” Nick said. “That allows her to flee before he finds her physical location.”

Colin was getting the gist of the problem, and he didn’t like what he was hearing. “And you’re running from him right now?”

She nodded. “Nick got an alert on his phone last night and came to rescue me. We got out of there just before Kane arrived, but he didn’t trail us.”

“And it was convenient for you to hide out here, but not tell me. Why exactly?” His tone was testier than he planned, but come on. A stalker? His mom? The combination didn’t sit well with him.

“I’m sorry. Nick, Gage, and I agreed that Kane couldn’t possibly find me here and there was no danger. And like I said, if there was any hint that he did, I would tell you.”

Colin jerked his hands from his pockets and ran them through his hair. “That’s not a decision you all have the right to make for me.”

“We—”

He flashed up his hand. “I’m right, and you know it. You just wanted a place to crash, and we were convenient.”

“No, no.” She shook her head. “I could’ve crashed at Cold Harbor until I found a job. But when Gage mentioned your situation, the job was something I could do, and I thought I could help too. I’ve pretty much decided to give up IT work so he can’t find me, and this job with your mom sounded wonderful until I could figure out what I might do long-term.”

He studied her, and she squirmed. He could be accused of being too intense and was probably badgering her right now just by the way he was looking at her.

“Stop being so hard on her, Colin.” His mother’s voice came from the doorway, and she stepped into the room, her cane clomping on the wooden floor. “I’ve been eavesdropping. Sorry.” She smiled at Brooklyn. “But I know my Colin. He would’ve kept this from me.”

“I… Yeah.” He shook his head. “You’re right.”

She smiled softly at him. “You would’ve done the same thing you’re accusing Brooklyn of doing.”

Leave it to your mother to call you out in front of others. “Well, sort of.”

She sat on the sofa next to Brooklyn and patted her knee. “I’m sure we’ll be just fine together.”

Colin met his mother’s gaze. Glimpsed the affection for Brooklyn already residing there.

Well then. He’d lost his battle. Her expression said it all. But he had to protest anyway. “I can’t risk it.”

“It’s my risk to take.” She raised her shoulders. She might’ve lost weight and was a mere shadow of herself, but she looked strong and intimidating at the same time. “And I’m willing to take the risk so Brooklyn has a home.”

“But things have changed, right?” Colin looked at Nick. “Something happened that brought you here tonight.”

Sitting in the plaid easy chair, Nick uncrossed his feet at the ankles and planted them firmly on the floor. “Running my gazillion algorithms finally paid off. I located Kane’s rental house. I was hoping you and some of your teammates would help me search it when he’s not home.”

Colin didn’t need to give it a second thought. Helping to bring in a scumbag like this Tarver guy sounded like a no-brainer. “I’m in, and I’m sure they’ll be onboard too. But I don’t see how that would bring danger here.”

“You never know what could go wrong.” Nick gripped his knees. “He could show up while we were searching. Take someone out and ID him. Or he’ll have security cameras, and we could fail to disable one, then he captures a picture of one of the guys. He has the skills to find the person’s ID from that, and that brings him here.”

A risk for sure, but one they could manage. If careful and thorough. “Then we just have to make sure we find all of the cameras, which shouldn’t be impossible if we scan for his network and get a look at the Wi-Fi devices.”

“Right.” Nick rolled his eyes. “You make it sound so simple. You know he’ll have employed top security features, and simply scanning his network could be an issue.”

Colin sat forward. “Then we bring our A game. Me and you and Eryn Sawyer, too, for added IT experience and skills.”

“Wait.” Brooklyn’s gaze shot from Colin to Nick and back. “I can’t afford all of this. And I won’t let you do it for free.”

“Of course you will,” his mother said. “I insist, and when I want something, I get my way.”

“But I?—”

“But you need help. These lovely men can provide it, and they’re willing to do so without pay. Am I right?” She scanned the guys.

“That goes without saying.” Colin peered at Brooklyn. “Now that I know what has you so jumpy, there’s no way I won’t help you fix it.”

“I’ve always been on board,” Nick said. “And hopefully tonight, you’ll finally let me do something. All of us do something.”

Brooklyn still didn’t want to take their pro bono work from someone more needy, but this lead was too good to pass up, and she knew when to give in. “Okay, but I’ll come along to help.”

“No!” Colin’s sharp tone made her jump. Surprised him too. “Tarver sees you, he could take you out on the spot.”

“Then I’ll have to make sure he doesn’t see me.” She clasped her hands tightly together. “I’ll stay in the SUV, out of sight. Even sit on the floor if I have to.”

Colin crossed his arms. “I can’t?—”

“I need to do this.” She locked gazes with him. “He’s controlled the last three years of my life, and if I sit here and do nothing, then you come back having been unable to hack the network, I’ll always wonder if I could’ve done it. That we could’ve found something in his house that got him incarcerated and freed me from his tyranny.”

“I don’t know.” Colin swiped a hand over his face.

“You have to let her come with you.” His mom clutched his knee, her grip strength weaker than Colin would like. “She deserves to help bring this most odious man in.”

“Odious?” Colin shook his head and laughed. “Where’d that word come from?”

“It’s a good word for him,” Brooklyn said. “So when do we leave?”

Yeah, when? “We need to get the men together to plan and drill, and we’ll need surveillance footage for the property.”

“Already got it,” Nick said.

“Then let me get the guys to join us at the conference room.” Colin stood and looked at his mom. “I’ll find Dev so he can come stay with you.”

She shook her head. “I’d feel better if he went with you. I’ll be fine alone for now.”

“I’ll ask Barbie to come over,” he suggested.

His mother sighed. “I hate to bother her, but I always love her company.”

“Barbie?” Brooklyn asked.

“The Maddox brothers’ mother.” Colin’s mom fished her phone from her pocket. “I’ll call her while you get the guys together.”

“I really appreciate this.” Brooklyn pulled back her sweater to reveal a sidearm. “I can help if we run into trouble at Kane’s house too.”

Colin narrowed his eyes. “We’ll have plenty of firepower.”

“I’m a good shot and capable.”

“She really is,” Nick said. “Grady Houston, our weapon’s expert, personally trained her. She has a wicked aim, and you’d be hard-pressed to find many people who can break down a weapon and put it back together faster than she can.”

Brooklyn puffed up her chest, and she looked like an adorable young girl who’d just won the spelling bee. Still, as their eyes met, his heart took a tumble like a somersault that little girl might take.

Colin swallowed hard and smiled at her. “Not that I’m going to test you right now on the dismantling, but I can’t let that pass without seeing it at some point.”

“Bring it on anytime.” She quickly drew her sidearm and put it back in the holster with precision movements only brought about by practice.

He was impressed, but it didn’t matter how capable she was. He had no intention of letting her get into a shooting match with Tarver. In fact, he had no intention of any of them getting into a shooting match, but if Tarver showed up and drew down on them, Colin wouldn’t hesitate to return fire.