She shook her head. “Not unless we absolutely have to. Kaden and Kimber have been through enough already. I don’t want to disrupt their lives any more thannecessary.”
“You want me and your mom here atnight?”
Denise smiled at the image of her dad trying to get comfortable on Sarah’s Goodwill couch. “There’s no room for you here. The FBI is going to put surveillance on us,anyway.”
“Denise, they probably know where you live. One team isn’t going to do much if they decide to raid thishouse.”
True, but she also had Graham’s team. Since she wasn’t ready to share that information yet, she tried to reassure him. “I know. I’ll talk to Bree and see if we can move to her house sooner than we planned. The alarm system she had installed is state of the art. In that neighborhood, someone will call the cops if they see something out of the norm. Unlike here, where Eddie and his friends blend rightin.”
“You need to tell them about Eddie,” her dadsaid.
“I know, but not tonight. Tomorrow after school, when we have time to explain and answer all their questions. I need you and Mom there withme.”
“Whatever you need,” her dadpromised.
“Thanks,Dad.”
“I’m proud of you, babygirl.”
The backs of her eyes stung and she blinked to stop the tears from forming. She hadn’t been the easiest person to deal with when she’d gotten out of the Army and had put her parents through some serious shit. Cutting herself off from them had been easier than admitting she needed help. She’d come a long way since then and it meant a lot for her dad to saythat.
Afraid if she tried to say anything she’d choke on the tears sitting in the back of her throat, shenodded.
“I’m gonna go say goodnight to the kiddos.” He kissed her on the forehead and patted her hip. “Let your mom know when you want ushere.”
“Willdo.”
Chris tried to pull her into his arms and but she side-stepped to get a glass from thecupboard.
“What are you thinking?” heasked.
She filled the glass with water and took a long drink. She could talk to him about her plan. For whatever reason he was there—the job or her—she needed to air her concerns. It wasn’t weakness to admit doubts or question the chosen course of action. A good leader listened to advice and took counsel fromothers.
“Wondering if I’m making the right decision by not tucking them away somewhere. Going over the defenses of thehouse.”
He leaned a hip against the counter and crossed his arms. “I’m not going to lie—I want to put y’all in my truck and drive you as far away from here as Ican.”
“It’s not yourdecision.”
His eyes darkened and he looked down, then back up. “This house isn’t verysafe.”
“No. Their room especially. Single story, low window with flimsylocks.”
“You sleeping on the floor in theretonight?”
“I’m going to move them into my room after my parentsleave.”
He nodded. “I’ll sleep on the couch again. Phil’s in a car one block over. There’s another team set up at the top of thesubdivision.”
“Seems like an awful lot for one guy,” shesaid.
Chris rubbed his hands over his face. “The Southern Anarchists ran guns and drugs for years. About two years ago, they branched out into human trafficking. Kids, Denise. Girls as young as twelve. Some of the shit I saw when I was undercover… And they assassinated two of ourpeople.”
Jesus, she felt like a cold-hearted bitch. It was easy to think she couldn’t do anything about those kids, but that wasn’ttrue.
Shecould.
She could make it easy for Eddie to get close so the FBI could grab him. But that meant putting Kaden and Kimber in harm’s way and she wouldn’t do it. As horrible as it made her, she wouldn’t put her kids at risk for a faceless, namelessstranger.
