Unlike before, his hand was steady as he pushed the state-of-the-art intercom. Though he couldn’t see whoever answered from inside the house, the small, round camera facing Matt would show them exactly who had come to visit.
“Can I help you?” A man’s voice emulated through the system’s speaker.
“I’m here to see Thomas Marsh.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
No, he didn’t have a fucking appointment. “He’s gonna to want to talk to me.”
“I’m sorry, sir. But without an appointment—”
“Tell your boss Matthew Turner from the R.I.S.C. Security Firm is here to see him. Tell him it’s about his daughter.”
There was a stretch of silence before the voice said, “Please give me a moment. I’ll get Mr. Marsh.”
“You do that.”
Standing out of the camera’s line of sight, Gabe silently raised a brow.
Confident they weren’t currently being watched, Matt shrugged his shoulders. “What?”
“The guy hired us to watch his daughter,” Gabe stated the obvious.
“And?”
“What if he thinks we’re here because something happened to her?”
Matt gave his team leader a smug smile. “My guess is, he’ll open the gate and let us in.”
The other man shook his head, laughing silently. “Sly bastard.”
A few moments passed by before they heard a loud clicking sound. The three men turned their heads as the large gate began to slowly swing open.
Taking it as their invitation to enter, Matt and the others made their way along the paved drive to the home’s elaborate front entrance. Before he could ring the bell, the door was opened. Staring back at him for the first time in years, was the bastard himself, Thomas Marsh.
At five-nine, the sixty-two-year-old man was shorter than Matt. His hair was a silver-gray, and there were several new lines that had formed on his aged face.
Marsh quickly scanned the area behind Matt before his blue eyes met Matt’s. “Where’s Katherine? Is she all right? Did something happen to her?” His voice was laced with genuine concern.
“Kat’s fine.” Matt stared down at him. “She’s being guarded by one of my teammates.”
“Why aren’t you with her?”
Though he didn’t react, Matt couldn’t help but be surprised at the question. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think Marsh was upset that he wasn’t the one guarding his daughter.
How about that? Guess there really is a first time for everything.
“We need to talk.” Without waiting for a formal invitation, Matt stepped past Kat’s father and entered the home.
“Okay.” Thomas swallowed hard, following him inside.
Gabe and Trevor came in, too, but kept their distance. Matt appreciated that they were willing to let him handle this on his own. Speaking of which…
“There someplace private we can talk?”
Marsh’s nervous gaze slid to the other two operatives before landing back on Matt. “We can go to my office. It’s just down the hall.”
With a nod, Matt let his co-workers know he had things under control before following the not-so-scary man down the long hallway and into a room on their right. Marsh waited to close the door before speaking.
