This was where it got tricky.How to give Tanner enough info that he would be satisfied, but not so much that he felt like he needed to step in and save the world.“No, I trust her.But she’s gotten in with some bad people.She didn’t want the twins around them, so she asked me if I could take care of them for a while.”
“And those are the same people we’re hiding from now?The ones in the alley, who also hurt the priest?I thought those were just the hired muscle.They work for the Mr.Jeter on the phone.Is that the person who was able to get the cars to the 911 call so quickly?”
He was studying her too closely and had way too many details.She had to derail him.“Yes, the group Melissa is trying to get away from is really good with technology and has found a way to triangulate cell phone signals to locate people.Something to do with multilateration and hybrid positioning systems.”
Most people’s eyes started to glaze over any time technical terms came into play.But Tanner’s didn’t.He might not have understood what she was saying, but she had no doubt he would be further researching it.
Fine.Everything she was telling him was vague enough that he wouldn’t draw attention from the Organization if he started searching the terms.And when the terms didn’t really lead him anywhere useful, he wouldn’t blame her.After all, why would she know specifics about triangulation?
It wasn’t like she had helped design the technology when she was thirteen years old or anything.
“And that’s it?It’s some sort of technologically savvy group of general bad guys she’s in trouble with?”
Yeah, it sounded ridiculous when he said it like that.But Bree nodded.“Pretty much.”
“So you agreed to watch the twins to help her out?”
“Yes, she was afraid if they knew where the twins were, they would take them and force her to do more work for them.”
At least that much was true.
Tanner’s eyes narrowed.“If this group is so technologically advanced and wants your cousin, wouldn’t they know to come after you first?”
Damn it, this man was too intelligent for his own good.
“We had a falling-out years ago and hadn’t talked to each other in a decade.That’s why she came to me, because there were no ties to be found.”
Mostly because the Organization thought she was dead.
He was studying her with those brown eyes that never seemed to miss anything.She couldn’t tell how much he was believing and how much he wasn’t.There wasn’t much more she could tell him.
She just needed him to let her lie low while Melissa tried to figure it out.
She ignored the voice in her head that told her that was never going to happen.That there was no way Melissa was a match for the Organization and would be able to crack the files she’d stolen, not when they were already a little suspicious of her.
Bree’s heart hurt for her cousin.Hurt for the fact that she lost Christian—another victim of the Organization, just like her mother.Hurt that Melissa was missing seeing her babies get bigger day by day.Hurt that if Melissa didn’t stop the Organization in time, all of this would be for naught anyway.
“What?What is it you’re thinking right now?”She blinked rapidly as Tanner’s thumb trailed gently down her cheek.She hadn’t even realized he’d moved, but he was crouching beside her.
She couldn’t tell him any of this.She wanted to—so desperately she wanted to share this burden, but she couldn’t.Risk Peak needed him.He was a good man, and she refused to sign his death warrant.
But she couldn’t seem to quite make herself pull away from his touch, either.
“I just want everything to be okay, but I don’t see any way that that’s going to happen.”
“I can help.I might not be able to do anything as law enforcement in Risk Peak, but I’ve got contacts.Federal law enforcement.Colorado Springs is the headquarters for Omega Sector, a specialized task force equipped to handle this sort of thing.I know people there.I can help you and your cousin.”
He said it with such conviction that she couldn’t help but believe him.For just a moment, she almost caved.But she had no proof.Nobody would believe the word of a woman who was a ghost over that of a charity that had helped thousands and thousands of people.
“I have to give Melissa time.She’s the only one who knows all the details of what’s going on.”She looked away as she told the lie, but his thumb was still gentle against her cheek.
“There’s more, Bree.I know there’s more you’re not telling me.”
She’d never had anyone be this gentle with her before.Not just the touch, but the patience.The concern.
Her mom, before the paranoia had completely taken her mind, had loved Bree—loved her enough to risk her own life.But she’d always been gruff, worried, scared.
Tanner Dempsey was none of those things.
