She’d begun pacing back and forth across the cold terracotta stone of the atrium floor. “I don’t understand. How would my dad know that woman? Why would they do something like that with my bank accounts?”
Mitch could imagine a dozen scenarios, none of which she would like. “Here’s what we do, Josh. You keep digging on anything and everything connected to the woman in the photo. Reese, you’re still my backup man on protection here. Have you had time to get a layout of the area?”
“A mix of locals and tourists. May be hard to zero in on new faces that aren’t the average people on vacation,” Reese said. “I plan to hit a couple business locations later today. Try to become a new best patron at a couple bars and restaurants.”
“Sounds good.”
“By the way, I talked to our friends at the FBI last night. They like the beach, too.” Reese said.
Mitch nodded that he understood the FBI would have someone watching the area. Made him feel better for the neighbors.
“Is that a drone I hear in the background?” Josh scrunched his brows together.
“Yeah, but it’s just a couple kids down the beach learning how to play a mean game of dive-bombing tag in the sky.”
Josh relaxed but shook his head. “Must have some expensive toy money around there. Sounds like more than a $100 drone to me.”
Mitch had thought so, too, the first time he’d heard them. But, since there were two kids, two drones and, as Josh said, lots of toy money in the area, he’d calculated the sound was spot-on.
“Hey Reese, while you’re being a tourist, rent a boat, a runabout or…whatever the fastest thing is you can find. Anchor at a close marina. Also, buy a couple PWCs, a trailer, whatever you need. Bring them here and put them in the garage.” This might be overkill, but just in case, he’d rather have equipment in the area than die because he hadn’t thought ahead.
Josh leaned forward. “You want OPAQUE to drop in some Q40s?”
“No. For now we’ll make do with whatever you can buy local. Besides, I’ve already got a Q40 locked in my secure storage down below. We’ll all talk again at twenty-one hundred. Contact me if there’s an emergency.”
“What? That’s all? You’re just going to…” She looked on in disbelief. “I can’t believe that’s all you plan to do.”
“That’s not all that’s going to happen in the next few hours, Liz.” Mitch didn’t have time to explain in detail what he and every other agent who’d ever worked an OPAQUE case were trained to be thinking, calculating, and playing out in their minds at all times.
“So give me a clue. Youallhave objectives. What am I supposed to do?”
“This bank scenario is way off the radar. Write down everything you know, did, and thought about in regards to your publisher.” He pointed at her. “No matter how big or small or inconsequential it seems. Everything.”
Propping her hand on her hip, she opened her mouth as if to argue.
“That’s all I need from you right now, Liz.” Making his point even more emphatic, he narrowed his eyes at her.
Everyone agreed on their assignments and signed off. Mitch clicked off the computer then stepped in her direction. He could tell by her wide-eyed stare that she’d latched onto fear and couldn’t let go.
With both palms, he brushed her water-soaked hair straight back then kissed her forehead, her cheekbones, her jawline—ending a breath away from her lips. “Now, where were we before the computer interruption?”
“I’m not sure of anything. I mean…shouldn’t we be fortifying the house? Arming ourselves?” Her voice quivered, yet she yielded to his lips with a few gentle on gentle kisses. “I mean there are people trying to find us. We’ve got to be ready.”
“Honey, like I told you before. Dying—is not an option today. And I already have this place fortified and armed.”
“Okay, but—”
“Do you really want to keep talking? Weren’t you the one who said what if tomorrow never comes?” He wrapped his hand behind her head, kissing her deeper and deeper, till she finally melted against him, their tongues sharing the touch of the other one.
She felt good pressed against his body. Better than an adrenaline high after completing a rocket-to-hell rescue behind enemy lines. He wanted more. He wanted Elizabeth Walkert to want him as much as he wanted her. He wanted her arms draped over his shoulders, her nails clawing into his back, her teeth biting into his skin.
Leaning next to her ear, he let his breath brush her neck with heat. “As I remember, someone likes the way I whisper. What should I say?”
She softly pushed away, taking a step back. “That’s not playing fair, Agent Granger.”
Fair or not, he stepped closer. “What’s not fair?”
“Using my words against me.”
