Ephraim felt a shard of fear hit his gut. God, why hadn’t he thought of that earlier?
“She’s right, especially if you don’t know who hired the guy,” Reed said then set the empty cup down. He waved away Sophie’s offer for more. “We need to do some planning.”
Ephraim leaned back in the sofa and silently cursed. They were right.
They made room in the living room for an air mattress that Reed insisted he didn’t need, then after he’d established his nest, he insisted on unpacking his duffle and organizing his gear.
“How long you been out?” Ephraim grinned at Reed’s abashed look.
“About six months. That obvious?” Reed pushed a jackknife into the lower pocket of his black cargo pants.
“Yeah. It takes a while to look like a civvie.”
“How long? Cause you haven’t gotten there, either,” Sophie chuckled at his surprise. “I could tell you were military from the beginning.”
“Huh,” Ephraim noted Reed’s grin. “Okay, you set, Reed?”
“Yes s--. Uh, yeah.”
“Let’s have a seat and figure out what we’re going to do.” He took both Sophie and Reed in with his look and went to the counter for a seat.
Sophie quelled her sigh of relief at his words. She’d been certain he’d not include her in a plan, with his overprotectiveness. But it seemed he knew her better than she thought he did.
She sat down with the cold cup of coffee she’d poured earlier, more as a fidget item than a drink.
“Could you get your laptop, Soph? We might need to make some notes.”
“Is it connected?” Reed asked and when Sophie confirmed she had wifi, he stood and went to his duffle and extracted a notebook. “Let’s use this instead.”
“I can access a VPN,” Ephraim said, obviously affronted.
“I know, but I’m a little paranoid about computers and the internet.” Reed said.
“We may need to do some research,” Sophie said, amazed. This guy was several years younger than she was, and she’d grown up with the internet second nature.
“Okay, but humor me,” he smiled at her and she noted his quiet good looks. This guy could blend in with the best of them, she figured and wondered what he’d done in the military.
They ran through the incident on the beach as well as the events leading up to today. When Ephraim explained the incident in the grocery store, Reed complimented Sophie on her actions. “You took a risk, but it paid off.”
She shrugged, uncomfortable with the praise. “It could have easily turned out wrong.”
“Yeah, it could have.” Ephraim said, his tone somber. “Which is why you’re here.” He nodded at Reed.
“Tell me what you know about Curtis Wood,” Reed said.
“He’s ex-military, like us. Spent about twenty years in the army, made specialist and is skilled in combat infantry. Made sergeant a couple of times but got busted back for fighting. Not sure how he stayed in all twenty years but left with a full discharge.”
“Was he in the middle east?” Reed asked, making some squiggles on the paper.
“Yeah, several tours. Got busted back during one of them for fighting with the locals.”
“What are you writing?” Sophie asked, leaning across Ephraim to gaze at Reed’s notes. His face flushed and he fidgeted a second before answering. “It’s shorthand.”
“What?” she asked, eyeing the weird little swirls and squiggles.
“Shorthand. My mother was a court reporter and used this all the time before she started using a stenograph machine. It’s a way of making notes.”
“And they’re not readable by the average person,” she said with a grin. “I get it.”
