We climbed down the stone steps with my bodyguard, Lane, leading the way.
“So what’s this about?” I asked him for the hundredth time.
He tossed a look over his shoulder, his light-brown eyes full of frustration. “No idea. But Tripp is seething.”
I’d been racking my brain over why Tripp would be so enraged with Jordyn and me, or maybe it was just me. But neither of us had done anything wrong.
Since Jordyn’s return from Chicago, which had only been the day before yesterday, we’d been lounging at Harley’s house since the women’s barracks were occupied. She’d given Sam the thumbs-up for Jordyn and me to crash at her place while she was out of town, visiting her mother.
Jordyn and I hadn’t left her house until that morning. We’d met Alia briefly at the library, but then she’d gotten a message from her father and had to leave. So Jordyn and I decided to check out the base exchange to see what they had for clothes. The small amount Jordyn had packed before we left Montana wasn’t enough.
Lane, who was about six-foot-four and broad, had a cute smile, thick dirty-blond hair on top that was shaved on the sides and back, and seemed like a sweetheart, waved for us to have a seat in the front row. “I need to duck out for a sec.” Then he disappeared through a side door.
“What do you think is going on?” I asked Jordyn.
“No clue. Maybe they’re monitoring our phone conversations. I did talk to Intech this morning.”
I gathered my hair and draped it over my shoulder. “You think Harley’s place is bugged?”
She set her purse on the chair beside her. “What would that matter? We haven’t said anything they don’t already know.”
“About Intech. Are you taking the job?” When we talked about her interview, she’d mentioned she was on the fence. Something felt off to her that she couldn’t put her finger on.
The side door opened, and Tripp and Sam entered. I hadn’t seen Sam since Jordyn arrived. Even if I’d wanted to, he’d been working, which was cool. I needed space to wrap my mind around a baby and the fact that he was in love with me.
My stomach dipped at the sight of him. He wore his black uniform—SEAL T-shirt stretched across his muscled chest, cargo pants, flak boots, and weapons strapped to his legs and waist.
Tripp was dressed the same, and both had their hair tied at the nape.
“What did we do to piss you off?” Jordyn asked Tripp before he could open his mouth.
Tripp balled his hands into fists as his nostrils flared like a bull about to attack a matador. He shot daggers at Jordyn with his eyes as he leaned on the table in front of the movie screen.
Sam stood with his feet shoulder width apart and his hands behind his back about five feet from Tripp. His attention was focused on his lieutenant, though he wore a vacant expression that reminded me of a robot programmed to do as Tripp commanded.
The hairs on my arms fired to attention.
Tripp snagged the remote device off the table and pressed on it. A slide appeared with eight bullet points beneath the name “Camden Industries.”
I scanned over the words and zeroed in on bullet point five. Then I swung my gaze to Jordyn as my mind tried to unjumble the reason why Tripp’s jaw was ticking furiously.
She shrugged with her lips tightened. “Camden owns Intech. So what? Is that why you hunted us down?”
She hadn’t been around the SEALs as long as I had, which told me something big was coming next, especially if Sam’s rigid posture or stone mask was any indication.
Tripp’s wry grin dropped a heavy blanket of unsettling pressure over us. “Let me break it down. Camden Industries specializes in developing weapons for the Department of Defense. Not a big deal. Intech develops computer programs for the DOD. Camden owns Intech. Seems legit.” Tripp pushed off the table and paced. “But here’s where things start to make us scratch our heads. When Sam was in Montana, at that bar where Noah and Rianne kidnapped him, he spotted something in an SUV that made him suspicious.”
Sam still hadn’t shifted or batted an eye, and if not for his chest moving with his breath, I would’ve thought he was definitely a robot.
Tripp tucked a hand into his pants pocket. “At first glance, nothing gave us a red flag. Until we dug deeper.” He came to a halt and pressed on the remote.
Another slide came into view. That time, it was a picture of a very familiar tall, brown-haired man dressed in a tailored black suit with a yellow satin tie.
It took a beat for my brain to click into place. “Is that Lester Worthington?”
Jordyn pointed to the screen. “That’s the guy who came into the Deer and Elk. Sam said he was interested in buying a horse. I also saw him talking to Noah when Sam left to make a phone call.”
Sam finally came out of his robotic state. “We’re almost certain Lester wasn’t at the ranch to buy a horse. We think Lester was there to sell Jack his new weapon.”
