“Listen, we’re still digging but someone wants something from that girl and when we look at her flight route, it seems pretty damn obvious. She may not know it but I’m going to bet she was carrying something back from Mexico and that Jerry had something to do with it.”
The men all stared at one another and then Ham spoke up again.
“Look, just keep the girl alive and safe. We’ll send whatever we have once we find it.”
“Should we come back there?” asked Major.
“Not yet. Unless you think you’re in trouble, just sit tight. They don’t know where the house is.”
“We can’t keep her locked up here forever,” said Quinn. “Sooner or later she’s going to want to go home. Besides, her grandfather was Colonel Tom Lewis. She’s one of ours.”
They could hear chuckling on the other end of the line and Patrick smiled at his son.
“What? He’s military and he was a friend to us, which makes her one of ours,” said Quinn.
“Son, you can think that all you want but we all know what’s really going through your mind. That girl is beautiful,” said Patrick.
“Beauty doesn’t make a perfect partner,” frowned Quinn. Finn laughed, shaking his head.
“No, but it sure as fuck helps to get things moving.” There was a knock on the door and Margo stuck her head.
“Hey guys, our girl is itching to leave here. She’s doing the ‘I don’t want all of you to be in danger’ thing that we all do before we fall head over heels in love with someone.”
“Not funny, Mom!” said Quinn. He walked past his mother and Margo winked at her husband.
“She’s really perfect for him,” she smiled.
“We know. We just have to get him to know it,” said Patrick.
“I think he does,” said Finn. “That’s what’s bothering him. He knew it the minute he saw her on the beach. I could tell.”
“Same,” smiled River. “Then again, I’m fresh off the love train.”
They walked into the massive living room, April seated in the corner of the sofa. Elena, Fiona, and Priscilla were speaking softly to her.
“I can’t allow this to harm any of you,” she said shaking her head.
“Nothing is going to harm us,” said Quinn. “Your best bet for survival right now is staying with us.” She stood suddenly toe to toe with him, craning her neck to look up.
“How do you even know there’s more danger? It might have just been a psycho date!”
“You know that’s not true,” said Quinn calmly. “You know it and we know it.”
“How? How would you know?”
“Because Jerry is dead.”
The others behind him groaned at the indelicate way he broke the news to her. He knew he’d made a mistake but it was done. She paled, her mouth open in shock. She swayed a bit and he reached for her arms to steady her.
“I’m sorry that my son didn’t find a better way to break that news to you,” said Patrick frowning at Quinn. He was still holding onto her arms, gently settling her back down on the sofa as he sat beside her.
“Yes. I’m sorry, April. I didn’t want to tell you that way. We just found out. Our team found out. He was found dead in his car at the airport. He was late for his scheduled flight and they started calling for him.”
“Oh, damn,” she muttered. “I need to call them. I was scheduled for a flight this morning.”
“Wait,” said Quinn. “Did you not have flights Tuesday or Wednesday?”
“No. I was scheduled to take a five-thirty a.m. to Miami today and then I had a layover and then was headed to Cancun tomorrow morning.”
