Christ, she’d scared him.
He didn’t realize he’d said the last aloud until she looked up at him, her worried, big brown eyes as wide as saucers. “I’m sorry. I was terrified and didn’t know what else to do. He is in their house, Scott. He was standing right next to my sister when he called.”
He could hear the tears in her voice and pulled her in tight against his chest. Instead of shaking her as he wanted to for running, he stroked her hair and murmured soothing words until she calmed.
He would have kissed her, but Natalie had pulled back. “I’m sorry. You must be Kate.” Apparently his sister had come up behind them. He could tell from Natalie’s expression that she was uncomfortable and maybe a little anxious. “I... I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Kate came forward, extending her hand. “And I’ve heard a lot about you.” As that could be taken more than one way, Scott was glad when she added. “I’m very happy that you are here.”
Natalie took Kate’s extended hand and seemed to relax a little. Scott showed her into the living room to introduce her to Colt. But seeing him only made her upset again.
“I’m so sorry,” she said to Colt. “I didn’t have any idea that he had a gun.”
“That makes two of us,” Colt said wryly. “But in my line of work I should have expected it. Besides, you did me a favor.”
Colt looked at Kate and something passed between them that Scott wasn’t sure he liked. Not if it was going to mean his sister was hurt again.
“At ease, sailor,” Colt said, guessing Scott’s thoughts. “I fucked up my life once. I have no intention of doing it again.”
Kate clearly didn’t like the turn of conversation and brought it quickly back to the threat against Natalie’s family. “I ran down the names that Dean passed on. There is one that sticks out.”
Scott knew what that meant, and he could see from Kate’s expression that she was finding it difficult to accept what the facts were pointing to.
“Someone connected to the general?” he asked.
Kate nodded. “One of the men employed by Marino served under my godfather when he was the head of the Army Intelligence Support Activity.”
Aka “the Activity,” which was a special ops intelligence unit.
At Natalie’s confusion, Scott filled her in on what they suspected about General Murray. Her eyes got big really fast. “Are you serious? He has always been so kind to me—always going out of his way to say hello. And isn’t there talk of him being on the ticket as vice president in the next election?”
Kate nodded. “That’s the rumor. Which could explain some things.” She didn’t elucidate and turned back to Scott. “I talked to Dean, and Marino had come up with the same person. It’s being taken care of right now.”
Natalie looked back and forth between the siblings. She’d seen pictures of Kate so she knew they had similar coloring, but it was still strange to see those little nuances that a camera didn’t capture. Like the way Kate’s gaze leveled the same way as Scott’s when she had something important to say.
“What do you mean, ‘taken care of’?” Natalie asked anxiously. “Is something happening at my parents’ house?”
Scott was saved from answering by the phone. It was Baylor. When he hung up, he had the news he wanted to tell her. “Your parents and sister are safe. They have the guy who called you.”
Natalie was visibly relieved, although not completely relaxed. “How do you know he was working alone? What happens if I don’t show up with the computer at the appointed time and someone else goes after my family?”
“Marino is on his way to their farm right now to make sure there aren’t any more surprises. He is taking personal responsibility for this. And my senior chief is going with him. You can trust him, Nat. Baylor won’t let anything happen to them.”
• • •
Natalie wasn’t convinced the threat to her family was over. Whoever was behind it was clearly in panic mode and trying to tie up any loose ends. She and her computer both qualified. If they could get to her family once, who was to say they couldn’t get to them again?
She tried to talk Scott into going to Minnesota, but he wasn’t having any of it. “I promise you will see them soon, but not until we have this thing locked down. We’re close, Natalie. Just be a little more patient.”
It wasn’t until she’d talked to her parents and sister, however, that Natalie relaxed. They assured her they were fine and being well taken care of; her parents hadn’t even realized there was a threat until it was over. Marino must have taken his private plane because he and Scott’s senior chief, Dean Baylor, arrived while she was talking to her sister.
Natalie smiled, thinking how Lana had been going on about some new online computer game—
“Oh my God,” Natalie said suddenly. Of course. It made perfect sense.
She was sitting in the living room with Colt watching a baseball game—Scott had gone into Kate’s office with her to make a call—so he was the one who replied. “What?”
“I think I might know what happened to my laptop.” Natalie fished around in her purse for Scott’s burner and called her mom.
