“His dad was a firefighter.” Pain contorted her expression, and she closed her eyes. “Got trapped in a building and didn’t make it out.”
“Oh, wow. Wow. I’m so sorry.” Brooklyn rested her hand on Sandy’s arm. “My dad’s a firefighter too. Still active duty. He’s a captain now, so he doesn’t race into buildings as often as he used to, but I was always so afraid when he went to work and there was a fire.”
She opened her eyes. “Colin was the same, but before every shift, when his father said goodbye, he promised Colin that he would always come home.” Sandy bit her lip. “He shouldn’t have done that because he couldn’t promise such a thing. More than anything, it left Colin not trusting in others. Or trusting easily at all.”
Brooklyn surely understood that. Kane had done the same thing to her. And it explained some of Colin’s behavior. Maybe it could also explain why he wasn’t involved with a woman.
He returned with the heating pad, and she saw the wounded little boy at his father’s funeral. Oh, how she could imagine that loss. It had to hurt—cut him to the core. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell the little nine-year-old boy inside that it was okay, and he would be okay. She settled for offering a comforting look and squeezing his hand when he gave her the heating pad.
He studied her with concern at an intensity level she’d never seen someone direct at her before. “What was that for?”
She shrugged. “We just seem to have so much in common, I felt like doing it.”
“Okay.” He eyed her. “When I get back, you’ll have to tell me about these things.”
She nodded, though, honestly she didn’t want to have a personal conversation with him. The last thing she needed was to connect even more and feel even closer to the man who was worming his way into her heart without even trying.
Weapons in hand, Colin and Dev split up. Dev headed west. Colin headed east, as he wanted a good look at the gate in question. He walked the fencing until he reached the location where he’d seen the man on video and searched the metal for any sign of tampering.
Nothing. Not even a nick, much less a cut of the fence. He ran his flashlight over the ground looking for footprints. Nothing obvious. It hadn’t rained in a few days, so the ground was dry. Still, he would check out the other side of the fence in thedaylight when he could get a better look and not trample over vital evidence. Then if he found footprints or anything else, he would get Sierra to process it.
He continued down the fence until he met up with Dev at the far end.
“Anything?” Colin asked.
“No. You?”
Colin shook his head and started back for the cabin, Dev falling into place at his side. “Our would-be intruder didn’t make it inside. He must’ve realized that he kicked off an alert, or he wouldn’t have taken off like that.”
Dev looked at Colin. “You think it’s this Kane guy who’s after Brooklyn?”
“Makes sense,” he said, thinking about it. “But it also doesn’t.”
Dev flashed a quick look at him. “Why not?”
“First, how did he know she was here?”
“I don’t know,” Dev said. “Trailed her from her apartment?”
“Nick says that didn’t happen. They didn’t have a car near them much less a tail.”
“Tracker then,” Dev said.
“Tarver had no idea where she lived before now, so he couldn’t have put a tracker on her phone or in her purse.”
Dev stopped and stared at him. “Would have to be on Nick’s vehicle, then. Tarver knows she’s friends with Nick, and he could’ve found out Nick would be at that dinner. Then he put a tracker on Nick’s vehicle while he was in the event and left the lead on the dark web that he knew would kick off an alert and hope it sent Nick to Brooklyn.”
“And Tarver could follow him,” Colin said, getting on board with his brother’s idea. “A good theory. Let’s find out if it holds weight.”
Colin dug out his phone and dialed Nick. “We had an attempted breach at our compound. Could be Tarver. Check your vehicle for a tracker.”
“Hold up.” Nick’s testy tone came over the speaker and echoed into the night. “Not so fast. You’re accusing me of leading him to your place.”
“Accusing, no,” Colin said, remaining calm and trying to diffuse the situation. “Suggesting it’s possible, yes.”
“Explain,” Nick demanded.
Colin shared Dev’s theory.
