“Keep calling and texting.”
The suggestion worked. A few minutes after he texted Natalie to trust him, the phone rang.
Recognizing the number, his heart jumped. “Thank God,” he said answering. “Are you okay?”
“I’m sorry,” she said with a broken sob.
He was so glad to hear her voice he could have cried. He forced himself to be calm, not wanting to scare her off. “What happened, Nat? Where are you?”
When she told him—and what she planned to do—his heart stopped beating for a good minute. When he thought of what would have happened to her, and how close she’d come to walking into a situation where she likely wouldn’t have come out alive, he had to fight to control his newly discovered temper. Instead of blurting,What the fuck, Natalie?he managed a much less angry, “I’m glad you decided to trust me. We’ll figure this out together, okay?”
“Okay,” she said softly.
“I mean it, Natalie. Nothing is going to happen to them. Your family will be safe. You have my word.”
He didn’t care what he had to do; he would make sure of it.
“Okay,” she repeated in a much stronger voice.
“Good. Now, where are you?” She told him, and he gave her directions to get to Kate’s. “I’ll be waiting. And Nat?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
She paused, sounding relieved. “I love you, too.”
As soon as they hung up, Scott was on the phone to Baylor. He didn’t bother trying to control his anger when informing him that at least one of the men at Natalie’s parents’ house was dirty. “God damn it, Tex! I thought you said you could trust these guys?”
Baylor swore. “I’m sorry, LC. I don’t know what to say. Marino”—Steve Marino was Baylor’s fiancé’s stepfather—“personally vouched for every one of them. I’ll have him run the names and see what we can find.”
Even though he suspected Marino’s intelligence department was full of former operators and spooks and quite capable, Scott said, “Send them to Kate, too.”
“Will do.”
“And Tex, tell Marino to look for a connection to General Murray.”
There was a dead pause on the other end of the line before the sharp curse, which told Scott that the senior chief understood the implications. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”
“I’m afraid not,” Scott said.
Baylor swore again and said he’d get back to him as soon as he could.
Scott spent the better part of the next two hours staring out the window and trying not to climb the walls.
“You’re making me dizzy,” Colt finally said from his position on the couch. He’d managed to get up and use the bathroom to clean up a little, and he looked at least a good few steps from death’s door. “Why don’t you just sit outside on the doorstep? It will be easier than going back and forth to the window.”
Scott gave him colorful instructions on what he could do with that suggestion. “She should be here by now,” he told him.
“Not if she doesn’t want a speeding ticket. Especially considering how many times she probably had to slow down to answer your phone calls.”
“I’m sure you’d be totally laid-back if you were in my position.”
Colt might have smiled. It was always hard to tell with him. “No judging, man,” he said, holding up his hand. “Just a friendly observation.”
Colt had distracted him so when the doorbell rang, Scott jumped. He raced to the door and a moment later Natalie was in his arms.
Only then did he realize how amped up he’d been. His body seemed to calm instantly. The rapid heartbeat, the rush of blood, the on-edge nerves... all settled. Life was good again.
