“I’m seeing web traffic originating with her, going through their company’s routers, with troubling search terms cropping up and corresponding to data I’m seeing on hits on our honeypots.”
“Can I have that in non-geek-speak, please?”
He looked at her.“She’s following in Miranda Segura’s electronic footprints.”
She stepped into the office.“Shit.How bad?”
“I mean, I’m seeing her running the same kinds of searches Miranda Segura ran, and looking to connect dots between Jake, Carl, Joaquin, and us.”
Dewi sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk.“Does that mean she’s looking for us?”
“Well, it seems she’s trying to put together the pieces.Including searches for Ray Dorland.”
“That can’t be good.”
“Probably not.”He leaned back in the chair and sighed.“When Peyton’s back, I’ll need to sit down with him and lay it all out and see what he wants to do going forward.”
She slowly nodded.“Not a bad idea.”
He finally offered her a tired smile.“Did you need me, sweetheart?”
“Yeah, I wanted to give you a heads-up that at some point in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be flying out for a few days.”
Ken scowled.“Why?”
She patted her stomach.“I want to make a few checks—safeones,” she quickly added, “before I’m too huge to comfortably travel.”
“What kind of checks?”
“I want to touch base with some of the Enforcers.Put eyeballs on people in person that I haven’t seen in too long and make sure everything’s going okay.It’s been a crazy few months.”
He visibly relaxed.“Oh.”
“Not even taking a gun with me,” she said, smiling.“And I promise, no scooter rides, or car chases, or anything dangerous like that.And I should only be gone a couple of days, at the most.I used to do this all the time before…” She waved her hands around.“Before all ofthis.But if I don’t go now, while life has temporarily settled down for us and there aren’t any immediate crises looming, I don’t know when I’ll be able to.And I’d rather not wait until after the baby’s born.Lyssa’s on formula and starting soft food, so she’ll be okay for me to leave for a couple of days.If that’s okay?”
He nodded, wearing an abashed smile.“Yeah.Sorry.”
She stood and rounded the desk, and he pushed back the chair so she could settle in his lap and drape her arms around his neck.“This is me trying,” she said.“I promised you I’d try for a more balanced life.I will take maternity leave—from all field work—for at least a few weeks after this baby is born.I might have to deal with stuff over the phone.But I’d rather do this myself.”She played with his hair.“I didn’t go storming off to Norway or Wales or Russia,” she teased.“At least give me this.”
He nodded, resting his head against her shoulder.“Love you, baby.Thank you for trying.Of course you don’t need my permission.Especially for work stuff.But Ireallyappreciate you approaching it like this.I will promise not to hover and not to stress.Too much.”He smiled.“Baby steps for both of us, right?”
She kissed him.“Right.”
He met her gaze, his brown eyes staring into hers.“I love you, baby,” he quietly said.“I know that, in your way, this is all as difficult and new for you as it is for me.I mean it—Ireallyappreciate you approaching it like this.I feel looped in, and that’s all I ask.I can handle a lot as long as I feel like a partner.”
“That’sallyou ask?”She arched an eyebrow at him.
He chuckled.“Well, of course, I ask it not be dangerous.That’s a given, right?But that’s not any more than you’d ask of me, is it?”
She played with his hair.“Exactly.And I promise I’ll try to do better with communication going forward.I also promise that, on my end, I will do a better job of not freaking out over you being pulled into doing things.Even by my rat bastard fink of a big brother.”
He nuzzled her nose.“I think now, with the worst behind us, we’ll all be readjusting our expectations and reactions.”
“But.”She tipped his chin to meet his gaze again.“You do admit there might be times I have to go do things that you might not like me doing, but that I need to do as my role as Head Enforcer, or as head of the expanded pack council, right?”
He nodded and took a deep breath.“I know, baby.As long as you promise to try to mitigate your risk as much as possible.I know you can’t promise no risk, because I can’t even promise you that running to the store for groceries.”
She smiled.“Exactly.New baseline though, right?”
