“I hear ya,” the other man agreed. He took a deep breath and let it out. “So, what are you going to do?”
“Fuck if I know.”
“At least you know Charlie’s safe.”
Mac had agreed to hang out with her today while she worked to get her new office put together so he could be here, searching for a lead.
“True. She and Mac seem to get along pretty well, so that helps. I’m just glad Jake’s givin’ us the time to work on it.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” Coop looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “You’re one of the team, D. Of course, he’s going put us on this.”
“I know.” He shook his head. “It’s just so fucked up. The last two weeks have been damn near perfect, but now we’re dealin’ with this shit. Charlie tries to play it off, but I know she’s still puttin’ this all on her shoulders.”
“Doesn’t really surprise me.”
Derek’s brows turned inward. “Why is that?”
Coop shrugged. “She seems tough. I mean, hell. She’d have to be to have put up with that jackass for as long as she did. Plus, she had no problem standing up to you yesterday when she thought you weren’t taking her seriously.”
He chuckled. “No. She didn’t.” His smile faltered. “The thing is she shouldn’t have to be. Her whole life has been a fight to survive. First with her alcoholic dad and then that bastard, Porter. I brought her here to get away from all that and start over. To be happy. She was getting there, but now...” He exhaled loudly. “Now, she’s worried about me because she’s convinced her ex fuckin’ husband is out to get me.”
“You’re not?”
“I don’t know!” Derek threw his hands up, letting them slap against his thighs. “I don’t know who’s behind all this because I can’t find a goddamn clue to lead me in their direction.”
“Have you given any thought to who else might put you in their crosshairs?”
He laughed. “Of course, I have. You think you could narrow down the list of people we’ve gone after to just one?”
Coop sighed. “You have a point.”
Rubbing his face with his hands, Derek said, “Look. I’m gettin’ nowhere with this shit. I’m gonna go over to the Jennings’ place and try to get the system going again.”
“That still pisses me off. We break into his house to prove how much better our security set-up is, and then the damn thing quits working on him.”
“No shit. Plus, my mind needs a break from all this.”
“Come on.” Coop slapped him on the back. “I’ll follow you there.”
“Thanks, man.”
His teammate shrugged. “I figure hanging out in a mansion bigger than God’s is better than slummin’ it at my place.”
As the two men left his office, Derek sent a quick text to Charlie letting her know the plan. A sliver of fear ran through him as, once again, he thought about Porter and what he’d do to Charlie if he ever got his hands on her again.
One way or another, he was going to end the fucker. He just had to play his cards right and hold on to his winning hand as long as he could in order to make that happen. Until then, he would do whatever it took to keep Charlie safe.
****
“Sorry you had to babysitme again.”
Mac looked over at her and smiled. “No worries. I had fun.”
Charlie snorted as she locked her office door. “Yeah, right. I’m sure watching me make phone calls, looking up pricing quotes, and drawing out sketches all day was super exciting.”
“Don’t forget, you had that one meeting with that one gal.”
“That’s right.” She smiled back. “My first official client.”
