Why was she even contemplating a future with the Brotherhood Protector who had only stuck around because it was his job to protect her?
He had no obligation to do anything else. He wasn’t required to love her.
* * *
Simon’s jaw clenched. They’d had a close call that morning. He couldn’t let things get away from him like they had. All because he’d made love to Holly.
If he fell in love with Holly, it was all on him. Not the job. He couldn’t afford to fall in love. Couldn’t afford to lose focus. Protecting Holly was what he had to do. And he’d nearly failed. Had they not extinguished the fire...
His gut knotted. He should have been on top of everything. Should have seen the lines had been cut. Should have felt the shift and sway of the houseboat moving away from the dock and out into the bayou. And he should have inspected every inch for explosives or incendiary devices.
Simon’s cell phone chirped. He slowed his truck and pulled the phone from his pocket. “It’s Swede.” He answered the call. “Glad you called. We’ve had another incident.”
“Tell me about it,” Swede said.
Simon filled him in.
“I’ll let Hank know what’s going on,” Swede said. “I also have some news for you.”
“Yeah?” Simon set the phone on speaker. “Go ahead, you’re on speaker. I’m with Holly.”
“I did some more digging into Holly’s parents, Bastian and Evangeline Gautier. They were environmental scientists, yes?”
“That’s right,” Holly answered. “They worked in the bayou. It was their passion to protect the ecosystem.”
“Their names came up as employed by BioEnergen, a company in research and development of biological energy solutions.”
Holly frowned. “No. They were working for the Bayou Resilience Project.”
“I did find something about a non-profit by that name whose mission statement is to protect and preserve the bayous. More specifically, to stop harmful industrial practices, chemical runoff, and violations of environmental law.”
“That’s right,” Holly said. “They were trying to come up with ways to encourage corporations to join the fight to preserve.”
“It appears that the Bayou Resilience Project was a cover corporation for BioEnergen. A year ago, BioEnergen was shut down, supposedly for violating EPA standards. The facility was abandoned. I ran a search on the dark web and discovered the EPA violations were what got released to the press. In actuality, the factory was raided in a joint operation by the FBI and the CIA based on intel that they were about to sell classified information to the Russians.”
Holly shook her head. “My parents were scientists, not international spies.”
“No, but they were working for BioEnergen on a secret project our foreign adversaries were interested in getting their hands on.”
Holly glanced across the console at Simon. “They never told me that. All they talked about was their work preserving the environment.”
“I found where a Dr. Armand Duval testified that during the raid, all the data and research notes that had been compiled on the special project they’d been working on for the past two years had been erased from the company’s computer database. The two scientists who’d developed the data were the masterminds behind the research and development. It was the entirety of their work that had been lost.”
“Are you telling me that the two scientists were my mother and father?” Holly shook her head. “They told me they were working to save the bayou, not to work for the very kinds of corporations that threaten the existence of the bayou through negligent practices.”
“Sorry, but from what I can tell, they were knee-deep in R&D for BioEnergen, an energy company looking for alternatives to oil and oil derivatives.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Holly said. “They were passionate about their home, about the bayou and their work to save it. They were just as passionate about our country and wouldn’t sell out to Russia.”
“I went a step further and got the coordinates of the BioEnergen facility that was shut down,” Swede continued. “Though it was supposed to be completely shut down, it’s still drawing power. I was able to tap into satellite images generated within the past week. For a place that’s supposed to be abandoned, there’ve been people coming and going.”
“Maybe we should go there now instead of house hunting,” Simon suggested.
“Since someone is targeting Holly, I thought it best to send someone else to gather intel,” Swede said. “I’ve spoken to Remy. He’s sending a two-man team out there with cameras and binoculars. They’re just going out to observe, not engage.”
Simon nodded. “If the people at the abandoned facility are the ones who murdered Paul, caused Holly’s parents to disappear and are now using scare tactics with Holly, it might be better that they don’t know we’re on to them. At least until we have a little more information.”
“Exactly,” Swede said.
