He just hoped he wasn’t making a big mistake.
“You can sit up now,” El said.
“Why now?”
“We’ve made it onto the private land that surrounds the safe house.”
She pulled herself up and the first thing she noticed was the forest. She had never been one for the outdoors, but in the last couple of years, she had gained an appreciation of outdoor activities. Mainly because she would sometimes have to hide out in whatever she could find which included tents and caves. Caves were not her favorite thing in the world, but she had enjoyed camping. This would be one place to hide.
“This is a new one,” she said. Not a question because she had hacked into the Dillon mainframe and stayed at some of their houses and apartments.
Oh, shit. She was about to come face to face with two men who would probably not be happy about her slipping into their safe houses. She’d tried to leave them cleaner than when she’d shown up, and she only used the facilities, i.e., the beds and showers. It was hard to get clean when you were on the run.
The forest started to thin out, then it was like a massive house seemed to rise up out of the ground. Large trees lined the driveway, and even more massive trees seemed to give the home a lot of cover. The driveway had lights on both sides. Normally, she would freak out about that, but truth was, with the massive house, most people would expect lighting like that.
“Interesting. Good cover.”
She felt rather than saw Jenner’s gaze landing on her.
“Yeah, it’s one of the reasons Dillon bought it.”
“Cool. Coverage is so important here. I think a lot of people forget that.”
Especially in Hawai’i. It was easy to hang glide through an area while looking for someone. With the massive Banyan trees, the house wasn’t completely hidden, but it would be difficult to judge what was happening.
Asian in design, the house had dark wood accents, a sloped roof, and wrap around lanai. Flowering shrubs intermingled with small ornamental trees. There was a large koi pond off to one side. A set of stairs led up to the covered lanai. At the top of those stairs stood two unsmiling men.
Her gaze took in the lean muscled man on the right. He was wearing a pair of slacks and a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Even if she didn’t know this man was Conner Dillon, she would have picked up on it. He might have left the FBI years ago, but it was hard to shake the aura—especially when he was wearing dress slacks in Hawai’i.
Lila turned her attention to the other man. Lucian Warner, otherwise known as Luc. The former SEAL looked like an unmovable object. An inch shorter than his boss, he was all muscle and no body fat. He wore a t-shirt with the Dillon Security logo on it, cargo pants, and what she was sure were steel toed boots. He kept his dark hair in a crew cut.
They slipped out of the car, El coming to her side. She knew he was doing it to show his support in front of his two supervisors. She appreciated it. There had been two people who would always stand up for her, and they were El and Eden.
She moved forward, not waiting for any response from the two men. She was exhausted by the time they got to the top of the staircase. The last few days had been a bitch, and from the frowns these two were throwing her way, she figured it wasn’t getting better.
“Ms. Underwood,” Conner Dillon said.
“Mr. Dillon.” She looked at Luc. “Mr. Warner.”
She knew their backgrounds. Both men were lethal, especially Luc, but at the moment, that made her feel safe. They might be frowning, but she knew that they were at least taking her case.
“And please, call me Lila.”
Both men nodded, and she would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so damned serious.
“Let’s get inside so we can talk about your case,” Conner said stepping aside and waving with his hand.
Lila figured there was no reason to fight the man. Plus, she needed to sit down. Or take a nap. Yes, she had just had a short one on the flight, but the last week had been hard.
When she stepped into the foyer of the house, she marveled at the decor. It definitely had a Japanese aesthetic. Paintings of what looked like Japan decorated the walls, along with pictures of samurais and various swords. The dark furniture continued the theme, along with the Asian pottery that littered the surfaces.
“Lila,” Eden said as she hurried to her. The other person she trusted in this world wrapped her arms around her. “You scared me,” she whispered.
Although she knew it made her look weak, she responded in kind. The backs of her eyes stung with tears she would never let fall.
With one last squeeze, she stepped back.
She looked at everyone. “I guess we need to chat.”
