“Remember when I said I had few qualms about who I worked for? Well, some of those guys have secrets. Secrets that I was privy to. I think somebody doesn’t want me wandering around with bad knowledge.”
“Who?” she turned the water off and then removed saucers from the cabinet and transferred the baked rolls to two. It wasn’ta big breakfast, like she’d planned but, then she didn’t have an appetite anymore.
“That’s the rub. I can think of at least half a dozen men who’d fit the description of disgruntled employer.” He rubbed his temple, near the healing cut. “If I had to narrow it down, I don’t think I could.”
She tore off a crescent shape of roll and started crumbling it. As she did, she wondered how they’d find out who was targeting him. His next words sent her gaze up from the saucer and roll to meet his in shock. “What?”
“I’ve asked Hank to send in another Brotherhood Protector to watch over you.”
“Why? Do you have to leave?” A sharp pang went through her, startling her as much as his words had.
“No, but you’re at risk because I’m hanging out here.” He swallowed and looked down at the food before him then up at her again. “It’s the only reason someone would be following you, Sophie.”
“You don’t know that. Frank?—”
“Is still in the pen, I checked. He doesn’t get along well with his playmates and has been in a few fights, gotten some more time tacked on to his sentence. It’s not him, so it has to be someone associated with me.”
She stood and took her plate to the trash where she dumped it. Stalking to the sink, she swiped her hand through the congealed mess of oatmeal and then used her fingers to filter the cereal from the water as she emptied the pot, then dumped the scorched porridge in the garbage on top of her roll. She’d turned back to take the pot to the sink and saw Ephraim standing at the basin, his eyes on her. She clenched her teeth, unsure why she was so angry at the man and side stepped him then, squirting dish soap in the pot and started scrubbing it.
“Sophie,” he said quietly. “I have to do this.”
“Why? Why can’t you stay here and do your research? I know that’s what you’ve got to do, to find out who’s trying to hurt you or kill you. But you can stay here and do that, or at least around the area. I don’t need some stranger in my home.” She stared down at the pan and then shut her eyes against the blur of angry tears. He’d made her trust him, and now he was leaving.
“I’m the reason you need the protection in the first place,” he insisted, taking a step closer. “If I leave maybe the people following you will leave too.”
She whirled around, slinging stray oats and suds. “And maybe they won’t. Have you thought of that? I’ve just gotten used to you, Ephraim. I don’t like having strange people around me and I’ve just gotten used to you.”
She turned and finished the pan then rinsed it. There was a sheen on the metal that hadn’t been there before she’d taken the metal scrub pad to it. She put the pan in the dish drainer and pulled a dish towel toward her, drying her hands and tossing the towel onto the drainer. “Fine. Go. I can take care of myself.”
She left the house and as she slammed the front door closed, she thought she heard Ephraim calling her name, but she didn’t turn back. Instead, she headed into the woods and some peace.
Ephraim took the chance that a business or two would be open on Christmas day and made some calls. After about forty-five minutes, he’d ordered several security lights using the credit card numbers he’d committed to memory. Funny that he’d remembered the collection of digits after Sophie stormed out of her house and into the woods. He realized she didn’t leave the sightline of the house, though. She’d stopped at a small gazebo at the edge of the property. It looked old and some of the forest threatened to overtake it. He kept his eyes on her as he made the calls, fearful someone would try to jump her, but he didn’t go outside. Instead, he did something he’d not done since he was a kid. He prayed. “God, if you’re up there, keep her safe. Shedoesn’t want me there right now and you may be the only thing between her and harm.”
He arranged to pick up some security lights and outdoor security cameras the next day. Then he texted Hank and cancelled the BP guy, explaining Sophie had lit up when he mentioned it. Hank’s reply startled a bark of laughter from him. “Sounds like she’s a lot to handle.” Ephraim punched in, “You have no idea.”
Sophie returned, her eyes reddened and her cheeks rosy from the slight chill in the air. She didn’t meet his gaze until he apologized and explained the cancellation of the other protector.
“So, you’re staying?” she said.
“I’m staying, but we need to do a couple of things.”
“What?” she sounded suspicious and suddenly she was a vulnerable girl with her lashes spiky from weeping, her brown eyes narrowed at him.
“I’ve ordered some security lights and cameras. I’ll pick them up tomorrow and install them.” At her protest, he insisted. “Look, I feel ninety percent right now, but ninety percent isn’t enough. I need the extra help from the security system. I’m not insisting you get the whole house wired, which I’d prefer, but I need to do this.”
She took a breath and then looked at him with a frown. “How did you order the lights?”
He did laugh then. “Your tantrum must have shaken my credit card numbers loose. I remembered them.”
“I did not throw a tantrum,” she said and stalked by him to the kitchen.
“Right, and the oatmeal just decorated the wall by itself.” He pointed to the flecks of oats on the wall behind the stove and she grimaced. “Great.”
They cleaned the walls, more than Ephraim thought the place needed, then sat down and ate sandwiches for a latebreakfast. When Sophie asked about his research, he mentioned maybe buying a laptop at the big box store when he picked up the lights. She stood and retrieved a slightly clunky portable computer from her bedroom. “It’s not the latest but it connects to the internet.”
He opened it and found it dead, so she located a power cord and plugged it in, then powered it on. Soon, they were on the web, and he found a private VPN site that would suffice to keep him secure as he researched his ex-employers.
She helped by making notes on a small paper notepad. When he joked about needing paper when a computerized document would do, she pointed her pen at him. “I’d put my notetaking up against a computer any day. I think better when I write things down.”
