Ian hurried out of the room and tried to dial his sister’s phone, which went to voicemail. Seth was hard on his heels. He might not know why, but his brother-in-law knew something was up. He dialed his sister’s number again and it went straight to voicemail. That never happened with his sister, especially right now, so he knew something was wrong. Dread filled him when he saw Rami and Nikki walk into the common room of TFH.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Nikki blinked at his shout. Yes, they were accustomed to him being calm at all times. The shout might have been a little too much, but he didn’t give a flying fuck. Right now, that worry he’d had was full blown panic.
“Your sister sent us packing,” Rami said, his gaze narrowed. “And I think you need to watch your tone with Nikki.”
“Get bent Ramirez,” Nikki said. “I can stick up for myself.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t.”
He ignored the two of them, as he headed for the front door. Seth caught up with him before he could make it out.
“What’s up?”
“My sister’s phone keeps going to voice mail and I think we have part of this wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think Underwood is telling the truth. The man would never use a plan with so many holes. He would observe, and then steal his daughter, just like he did. Going after me only made sense if someone knew about our relationship.”
“Then who would do that?”
“I trained a woman to take my place on the team before I retired. She might be obsessed with me, and if so, she would have access to my files. You know they like to keep tabs on us after we leave, so she would have probably heard about the interaction with Lila.”
Seth’s face hardened. “Let’s go. Nikki, Rami, on our six. We might have a hostage situation with my wife involved. Kap, you brief the boss and Adam. If anyone follows us, no sirens. We need to make sure we don’t cause panic.”
Everyone moved to do what he ordered as they strode out of TFH. And for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, he had to save the woman he loved, even though he still hadn’t told her.
“I think I might want a boy. I think I would be a cool boy mom. Not like the psychos on social media who seem to want to date their sons,” Autumn said. “But I would be fun boy mom.”
They were sitting on the small lanai watching the city of Honolulu come alive for the day. Lila had never really wanted to slow down and take time to enjoy the atmosphere of Hawai’i. Well, that wasn’t true. She did, but she hadn’t had the time. Now, though, she would be able to soak it in. That is, if she stayed here.
Truth is, if she squinted, she could see TFH headquarters.
“I get you, sister,” Autumn said.
“What?”
“You want to be at TFH. The only way that was happening was if Ian had been out of there. You being close to your father? That might cause him to beat the shit out of your father…again”
“He’s not the boss of me.”
“First, that was so mature of you.”
Lila rolled her eyes.
“Second, you need to rest. You have been through a lot and while I understand it is against your nature, resting will allow you to be in fighting shape faster.”
She couldn’t fault the logic.
“But not fast enough, I hope,” a very irritated British voice said from behind them. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a woman standing in the living room, holding a gun on them. She was medium height, dressed in a black shirt and black camo pants. She had her long dark hair up in a bun.
Fear lanced down her spine. Not for herself, but for Autumn. Her pregnancy made her fragile. Of course, the woman didn’t look fragile. She looked downright murderous.
“I know you,” Autumn said, rising from her chair.
“Indeed.” She glanced at Lila and motioned with the hand holding the handgun. “Inside.”
