Camden closed his eyes and gripped his phone in gratitude. “Thank you. You have no idea.”
“I do, brother,” Jake said. “You know I do.”
“Yeah, I do know.” Camden took a deep breath. “I want you to get Kyle in on this for sure. Pup’s got good instincts. The rest of the personnel, I’ll let you decide who’s best for it, Lach. Here’s my plan.”
When Camden finished his call, he called Elena and Tina into the family room to join him on the couch. The little girl scratched Toby’s ears. The dog was halfway on the couch, his head in Tina’s lap. Both Elena and Tina looked exhausted. No, Elena looked downright devastated.Gonna have to fix that. But first, he had to get them to safety.
He wrapped his arm around Elena. She laid her head on his shoulder, never letting go of Tina.
“We’re gonna talk about this, Gorgeous, I promise. But first—”
“You’re taking us to a safehouse, aren’t you?”
Camden’s heart clenched at the resigned tone in Elena’s voice. This wasn’t her first rodeo, or Tina’s. “Yeah,” he said, and kissed the top of her head. She turned her face to his neck.
“Do you trust me, Gorgeous?”
She looked up into his eyes and answered him in a strong and sure voice.
“With my life. With my daughter’s life.”
Her words burned into his heart.I can’t fail them. I will die before failing them.
“Okay. I’m going to ask you to do some hard things. First up, you have five minutes to pack a bag. Don’t worry about shampoo and all that crap, it’ll be there like last time. Just pack important documents and the stuff you can’t live without. You’re gonna give me your cell phone, your e-reader, anything electronic that can be tracked.” Elena started to speak and he held up a hand. “You’ll have a burner phone to use. Mermaid, I’ll help you while your mama gets her things together. Okay, let’s go.”
Camden stood and picked Tina up off Elena’s lap. The little girl wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck as if she’d done it her whole life. “I love you, too, Camden.”
Camden fought back his own tears as his heart broke open. “Always and forever, Mermaid. That’s how long I’ll love you. Always and forever.”
* * *
They pulled into the small Watchdog underground parking garage less than an hour later. Jake and Rachael met them there, Rachael fighting back tears. She took Tina from Elena’s arms and they headed for the courtyard with Toby, while Camden led Elena to the conference room for a full briefing with Gina, Lachlan, Jake, Nash, Costello, and Kyle.
Elena related Tina’s experience. When her voice hitched and she couldn’t continue, Camden picked up the story as he tried to keep the rage out of his voice for Elena’s sake.
When he finished speaking, Gina paced while she filled everyone in on the latest chatter. “The foreign operatives are excited about Bennett’s big announcement last night and its reception. He’s a shoo-in to the senate, and from there, the presidency. If it weren’t for Tina overhearing that conversation, we wouldn’t have a clue that Higley’s in on it, or how they’re planning on trapping Bennett. I can tell you that we’ve now got a guy handling the hacking side of things, but I can’t tell you his identity for security reasons. We’re also watching for Franklin to set up the phony accounts, and once he does, his ass is ours. The downside to all this is that it won’t be long until they know that we know.”
Gina stopped pacing in front of Elena, dropped down, and took her hands. “Elena, words are not enough to express both how grateful we are, and how devastated I am that your daughter had to witness that.” Gina squeezed her eyes shut. “And that she’s in danger for it. Because they’re already talking about a possible loose end, and that can only mean one person.”
“Oh my God.” Elena turned paler than she already was as Camden wrapped her in his arms. Then his strong woman took a deep breath and pulled herself together. She smiled at him, her eyes full of gratitude and steel that made his heart pound.
She turned to the group. “What do I need to do to fix this?”
Lachlan took the pen stub out of his mouth. “Camden has a plan, and it involves you. Camden, you want to lay it out?”
This is it. This is where I might lose her. Camden swallowed his fear. “Babe, are you sure you want to be a part of this? It’s gonna mean you’re doing things you might not want to. We can work out something else.”
She gripped his hand, strong and steady. “Oh, I’m sure.”
Camden outlined his plan, including Elena’s part in it.
When Camden was finished, Lachlan asked Elena, “Can you do this?”
“Absolutely. What’s happening is wrong, not just because of what they did—what theywantto do—to my daughter, but because this is an attack on all of us.”
Camden squeezed her hand, his heart pounding with a crazy mix of pride and love and trepidation. But he knew no matter what, he would keep Tina and Elena out of harm’s way. He would keep his family safe.
After dark, Camden’s SUV pulled out of Watchdog’s garage and drove to the safehouse, to watch and wait.
