Bean turned to Mick. “Maybe we could cross-check information.”
“Cross check?”
“Yes. People who work with Garnet and email addresses or phone numbers on those computers.”
Mick nodded. “Yeah. That’s good.”
Stanley raised his hand and moved past him to the room he’d just come out of. “I’ll get started on it. We shouldn’t connect the computers we picked up to our system. We can get a file of information and put it on a thumb drive.”
“Good idea,” Bean said. “Let me stretch and hit the head, then I’ll help.”
“I’ll join the party,” Link said.
“Maybe we can get this figured out in the next few hours,” Chase said.
Bean rubbed his hand over his face. “That would be good. I’m absolutely exhausted.”
“I want to go home, too,” Keel said. “I’m worn out, but I know we need to get this taken care of. We can’t have Garnet looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life.”
Bean nodded. “No, it will wear on her, eventually. She needs the freedom to live.”
Chase nodded. “Good idea. Run with it. We’ll keep at these two for another few hours. If they don’t crack, we’ll hand them off to the CIA. I’m sure there is more than just this incident they are involved with.”
Bean washed his face and took a moment to grab something to eat. He washed it down with a glass of water and then headed back into the room he’d been working in. The guys had the five computers set up along with the phones. They were searching the computers, looking for anything tying the information to anyone Garnet worked with.
Maybe they wouldn’t find anything, but maybe they would. He had to keep trying so Garnet would be safe. He and his team could keep her safe if they were home, but they wouldn’t be at home all the time. They had missions and were called out for things like this. She needed to be able to live and not have to worry about someone coming after her. Having a target on her back would exhaust her. This had to end now.
Chapter 30
Garnet wasglad Brady was in the States. He hadn’t come home yet, but he would be heading her way in the next day or so. She couldn’t wait to see him. She’d woken up this morning to dreams of him kissing her. That had been different.
She was glad Ansley was teaching her class, or she would have seen how red her face was. Anytime she blushed, it was like a fire going off under her epidermis. She thought she looked like a clown when she blushed with her red hair and cheeks so pink that it looked like she had overused her makeup.
Garnet planned to put together a gift basket for Ansley. She would add coffee pods, lotion, and some soaps. She wanted to thank her for her hospitality. She didn’t have a car, so she wasn’t driving to the store. Otherwise, she would have picked up groceries for Ansley. She was thankful her friend wasn’t making a big deal out of the grocery thing.
When she’d first shown up, she’d been too tired to think clearly and offer money. Bringing it up now would be weird.
Ansley came out of her office, and Garnet turned to face her, seeing her friend’s big smile.
“Good morning,” Ansley said.
“Good morning.” Garnet had an idea. “Hey, how about I order us pizza or Asian food tonight for dinner?”
Ansley tilted her head to the side. “How about Asian? There’s that place not too far from here.”
“Sure. We can figure out what we want, and I’ll place the order close to five.”
“That’s very nice of you. But you don’t have to do that.”
“Trust me, your hospitality is amazing. I want to thank you.”
“You don’t have to, and I know you’d do the same for me if I were in a similar situation.”
“I would. I absolutely would have you stay at my place if you needed help.”
Garnet grabbed her coffee and took a sip. “I’ve never really had close friends. I think I’m a little too analytical to just hang out and have fun.”
Ansley snorted a laugh. “In the military, we got all types. You had to learn that not everyone is the same. There were women who got angry when people didn’t act in certain ways. It’s one reason I moved up in ranks and got good assignments. I was willing to be kind to people who were different, and that meant they worked hard for me.”
