Protective Operation

by Danica Winters

  “You know,” Shaye said, sitting up with a start as she reached down into her purse and pulled out a set of car keys, “my rental is parked just up the street. We could take it. Maybe dump the truck?”

  He reached over and gave her a peck on the head as a sense of relief welled in him. “You are a real lifesaver, you know that?”

  “I don’t know if I agree with that,” she said. “I’m part of the reason you’re in this mess.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t talk like that. One way or another, hellfire was going to come raining down on us. Maybe it was a day sooner than we expected, but it was coming. I don’t want you to feel bad. For all we know, your being here may have saved us in the long run. I’ve always believed that there’s a reason for everything.”

  Shaye looked out the window, and he wondered if he had said the wrong thing—though it had been a while since she had lost Raj, she would likely never be entirely over his death.

  “I usually hate when people say that,” she said. “At Raj’s funeral, people kept telling me that there was some sort of plan, a reason for his death. Every time someone spoke those words, I wanted to scream.” She sucked in a breath and held it for a long moment before slowly exhaling. “But here, now, with you... I’m wondering if they were right.”

  He held her tight, nuzzling his nose in her hair, taking in the sweet perfume of her honest vulnerability.

  “Whatever happens, we’re in this thing together.” He smoothed her hair behind her ear as he pulled the truck down the alley behind the buildings on Main Street and parked.

  He grabbed the gun and all their personal items, then threw them in the diaper bag before flinging the bag over his shoulder and helping Shaye and the baby down from the cab of the truck. “Be careful, there’s a big step,” he said, holding her hand.

  Shaye smiled at him, and some of the sadness that was always in her eyes seemed to lighten. If nothing else, their time together could finally complete her healing. He may not have been her hero, but at least he could provide her with something.

  They made their way over to the rental car, carefully steering clear of the hardware store and the crowd that had gathered to watch the coroner and police as they removed the innocent man’s body. He wasn’t sure whose squad car sat outside the building, but he hoped it was Wyatt’s. More importantly, he hoped that they had deemed the man’s death nothing more than an accident—and that Zoey and their team had set it up so that the man’s family would be taken care of. If he had his way, his family would be receiving a large, unexpected life insurance check from a strange company.

  It was a quiet ride to their new place. As they were about to turn down the snow-covered lane, he spotted the deserted Suburban sitting on the side of the highway. The men from inside were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully Zoey and his brothers had gotten to them before they got away. If they had, and if they had left them alive, maybe they could get some much-needed information.

  As they slowed down to turn, she looked up at him. “Do you think...?”

  She didn’t have to finish her sentence for him to know what she was asking.

  He shrugged.

  She didn’t complete her thought. And as they drove deeper into the enclave of mountains, a towering log cabin came into view. Around the outside of the house was a wraparound deck complete with a railing comprised of plasma cut steel panels shaped into moose, bear and elk. The black steel stood in deep contrast to the white snow that drifted around the deck as the wind blew down off the mountains.

  Chad had no idea to whom the home belonged, but whoever built it must have been affluent, and around here, it wouldn’t have surprised him if it was some ski house for a Hollywood star.

  He glanced over at Shaye and caught her smiling as she looked toward the house and gave an approving nod. Though the house was beautiful, he didn’t really care about its aesthetic qualities. More importantly, everyone he loved was inside and protected.

  As they ascended the driveway leading to the house, he was relieved to find that the house itself was perched on a knoll, giving those inside a better vantage than those on the ground. No doubt, Zoey had taken it into consideration when she had chosen this spot. Though he and Zoey didn’t always see eye-to-eye, she was incredibly intelligent. Maybe he had been wrong in questioning her plan, after all.

  As they grabbed their gear and walked up the steps leading to the front door, it opened. Jarrod looked down on them as they approached. “Glad to see you both could finally join us.”

  “You can’t be half as relieved as we are.” Chad gave his brother a smack on the arm as he waited for him to move out of the way.

  Jarrod took the diaper bag from Chad and dropped it inside the door. “Is that the baby everyone is talking about?” Jarrod asked, opening up his arms and motioning to take a child. “You know his name?”

  Shaye’s smile reappeared. “No idea. We really haven’t been calling him anything.”

  “If this little guy’s gonna hang out here, he’s gotta have a name,” Jarrod said, taking the baby. He made a pinched face as the smell reached his nose. “Little one, you are one stinky dude.” He laughed, running his finger down the baby’s cheek. “I think for now, we should call you Pig-Pen.”

  She shook her head. “That’s a terrible name.”

  “Nothing from Peanuts is terrible,” Jarrod teased. “By the way, Shaye, it’s nice to officially meet you. I’m glad you’re here.”

  Shaye looked slightly taken aback at Jarrod’s warm reception, but Chad was grateful for his brother’s gesture.

  “Thanks, Jarrod,” Shaye said with a nod. “Though, I must say, I’m sorry for all the upheaval I’ve caused.”

  “Upheaval is the name of the game in this family.” Jarrod waved her off. He looked down at the baby as he rocked him gently. “And as for this little guy, I think we should call him Peanut for now. We can’t have a nameless baby on our hands.”

  “Regardless of his name, we shouldn’t have a baby on our hands. Period,” Zoey said, walking down the hall that led to the great room. Her voice echoed out from the corridor like she was speaking down upon them, commanding them from high. “We need to protect the innocent. Anya is staying at Dunrovin with our cousins—I fear there may be more danger coming our way.”

  “Did you catch the men who were chasing us?” Chad asked.

  Zoey nodded, giving Jarrod a knowing look. “The men are currently here. Trevor is with them.”

  “Here,” Jarrod said, reaching for the diaper bag. “I’ll take Peanut and get him changed. I’m sure that Mindy will want to see this little one. She has a major case of baby fever going on right now.” He cooed at the baby as he walked off in the direction that Zoey had come from.

  Just talking about sending the baby away filled him with a strange loneliness. It was kind of nice having a little one around. Babies took a huge amount of work and attention, and in this case added more fear to an already fraught situation, but there was no question about the love he had started to feel for the little one.

  It would likely nearly kill him when they returned him.

  But he couldn’t deny that his life was no place for a child.

  As if validating his thoughts, a man’s yell rippled out from deep in the house, the sound filled with rage and hate. Shaye moved closer to him, and he could feel her body tense beside him.

  “Have you found out who sent them?”

  Zoey nodded. “They’re not talking but they both have the Gray Wolves brand on their arms, so I have little doubt that they were sent here by Bayural. And, from what I’ve been able to pull from the cell phones, they were in direct contact with someone from Turkey while they were in pursuit of you.” She paused, looking down at the floor for a moment like she was trying to summon the strength to say what Chad was already thinking. “It is only a matter of time now.”

  He reached down and
took Shaye’s hand, giving his sister an acknowledging nod. There were no words for the sense of foreboding that filled him. And all he could think about was whether this acceptance was what Trish had felt in the moments before her death, when the sickle rested upon her soul and darkness loomed.

  They could fight against the Gray Wolves, but even with their resources, there was little chance they could win. Bayural’s men and women didn’t wear uniforms. They didn’t fight by rules. They didn’t have a certain look. They weren’t driven by morals or obligations—only money. And money was the one thing that Bayural seemed to have an endless supply of.

  “But there is some good news,” Zoey said. “I’ve called in our operatives and taken on a few new employees. Our teams should be arriving throughout the next couple of days. So far, I’ve assigned about twenty guards to the perimeter of the house. As of now, the family is on lockdown. No one is to come or go from this compound.”

  Shaye grabbed his hand harder, leaned in and whispered, “It suddenly feels as if I’m back with my father at the palace. I can’t say that I like it.”

  He couldn’t deny that suddenly it felt as though they were a country under fire.

  He turned to her. “Shaye, I think you should consider either finding another place to go, or at least going to Dunrovin with Anya and Sarge, until this is all over. I don’t want to put you in any more danger than you are already in.”

  She let go of his hand. She looked to Zoey and then back at him like she wanted to say something but was afraid of speaking freely in front of his sister.

  Zoey cleared her throat. “Excuse me, I need to go and check on things with Trevor. In the meantime, Chad—I’m serious. I don’t want you going anywhere.”

  The expression sitting duck came to mind. He had only just arrived at this place, and yet he already felt as if he was going stir-crazy. He’d never been one to accept boundaries well. But he understood why Zoey was acting the way she was. They couldn’t keep running. Come hell or high water, being constantly on the run had to come to an end. They couldn’t keep letting Bayural and his teams of mercenaries dictate what they were or weren’t going to do with their lives. Bayural had already taken Trish—he couldn’t have the rest of them.

  As Zoey retreated, he suddenly couldn’t stop looking at his hands. “It’s not that I don’t want you here. I hope you know that,” he said. The sharp expression on Shaye’s face stopped him.

  “But it’s convenient to push me away, I get it.” She slipped her hands into his. “I told you, Chad, I’m not going anywhere. We are a team and we are in this together. Whatever happens to you, happens to me. Like it or not, I’m a part of this now. From the sound of things, you are going to need as many hands as possible to fight this battle.”

  “I made a promise to Raj. I told him that I would always protect you.” He reached up and pushed a stray hair out of her face and away from her beautiful chocolate-colored eyes. “I already lost my sister to this enemy. I know what he and his people are capable of. They won’t think anything about killing you. And I think even your father knows it—that’s why he sent his men to retrieve you.”

  “So you agree with my father?” There was an edge of antagonism in her voice.

  Crap. There was no way he could get out of this situation without making her even angrier.

  “I guess, if it means keeping you safe.”

  She swiveled on her heel. As she moved to walk away, she looked back at him. “It’s been a long day. If you need me, I’m going to find myself a bed and take a nap before I say something that I’ll regret. I recommend you do the same.”

  Chapter Eleven

  It was a long night, and early the next morning, Shaye heard footsteps outside her bedroom door. She prayed for it to be Chad.

  Just knock. Tell me you’re sorry. That you want me.

  But it remained silent. For a moment, she considered calling out and telling him to come in. But she couldn’t make the first move. He had made it clear exactly how he felt—he cared about her, but he was Raj’s friend, first and foremost. And as such, he would never be anything more to her.

  And she couldn’t begrudge him for it. On so many fronts, she understood. The betrayal of Raj’s memory sat like a bitter pill on the tip of her tongue. But she couldn’t help her growing feelings for Chad. If anything, having him around was like having a piece of Raj with her all the time. Though they were very different men, they had the same heroic spirit at their core. Each would have done nearly anything to keep her safe, and what they felt was right—even if doing the right thing was at odds with their own feelings.

  At least, she assumed Chad was at odds with his own feelings.

  She had hoped that their kiss was real. It had certainly felt oh, so real. There was an undeniable attraction between them, and yet maybe he considered it a mistake. Maybe he was simply swept up in the moment, and his other brain had taken over his thinking for a moment. Maybe once he came back to his senses, guilt had taken the place of desire.

  And as much as she cared for him, she didn’t want to be the reason he felt like he was betraying his friend, nor did she want to be a reason for him to feel guilty...or to agree with her father.

  Maybe she should go away. She could build a different life. She could pretend she wasn’t the daughter of a tyrant. She could pretend she hadn’t lost all those she loved. She could pretend she hadn’t fallen for a man who should have been strictly out of bounds.

  But that was all it could be—nothing but pretend.

  She opened her mouth to call out, but stopped as the footsteps moved away from her door.

  He must have been as confused by this as she was. Maybe it was better that they just stayed apart. Maybe she was the one who needed to clear her mind and start thinking with her head instead of her heart.

  A sickening sadness filled her at the sound of his retreating.

  She got out of bed and walked to the door. She pressed her hands against the cold wood and dropped her forehead to the paneling. It didn’t make sense, but she missed him...and she wanted him here.

  There was a knock from the other side of the panel, the vibration against her skin making her jump.

  “Uh, yes?” she asked, moving back from the door.

  Had Chad come back? Had he changed his mind? Did that mean that he wanted to make things right between them?

  “You awake?” a woman said from the other side of the door.

  Her stomach sank as the excitement seeped from her. “Uh, yeah, come in.” She grabbed a sweater and threw it on over her pajamas as the door opened and Mindy walked in carrying the sleeping baby.

  Shaye smiled at the sweet sight of the cherubic baby, his arms akimbo and a smile trembling at the corners of his dreaming lips.

  How easy it was to love a child.

  Maybe someday she would have one of her own, one who would look as peaceful and serene as he did.

  “How is he doing?” she asked in a whisper as she moved to the bed and patted it for Mindy to sit down.

  “Oh, he’s the easiest baby. Once we got him changed and fed, he went right to sleep. He slept most of the night. I think he was a tired little Peanut.”

  “Oh, so the name stuck, did it?” Shaye asked, gently stroking the baby’s head as Mindy gently rocked him.

  Mindy inhaled the baby’s scent, like she was soaking in all the baby she could. “For now, but I wonder what his real name is. He looks like he could be a Gavin or maybe a Lincoln. He’s just so darn cute.” She hugged him closer.

  “He is such a beautiful boy,” Shaye said.

  “In truth, I wouldn’t mind adding him to our family.” Mindy looked up and gave her a conspiratorial grin. “You know, Jarrod and I are talking about starting a family. I think he’s still on the fence, but this little guy may give him the push he needs.” She looked down at the baby. “In fact, I think he wouldn’t even
mind if we adopted this one—if the stars aligned.”

  Shaye had been doing her best to try and not get overly attached to the baby, but she could see that she wasn’t the only one struggling. “I hear you. It’s hard not to want to take him in your arms and never let him go.”

  As she said it, it dawned on her that she could say the same thing about Chad—and the reality was, just like the baby, she was going to have to let Chad go.

  “The men we love have a way of doing that to us, don’t they?” Mindy asked, sending her a knowing smile.

  “Is it that obvious?” Shaye asked, her cheeks warming with embarrassment.

  “A woman like you doesn’t travel halfway across the world just so she can hang out.” Mindy smiled down at the baby like she was telling him a secret. “You can try and tell us that you just needed a safe place, but with your connections around the globe, we all know that there were at least a thousand other places that you could have landed...not that we aren’t glad to have you here,” she added.

  “I don’t think the entire family is happy with my being here, but thank you.” She ran her hands over her fleece pajama bottoms. “You would be surprised how people drift away when you ostracize yourself from the prime minister of a country. I didn’t have a lot of options.”

  “Was the man from the hardware store involved with your father?” Mindy asked.

  She nodded. “I’m assuming that was obvious, as well?”

  Mindy gave her a soft smile. “It wasn’t a big leap. Your father is a tyrant, but he cares about you—which is admirable—even if he does go about showing it in entirely the wrong ways.”

  “Yes, killing my husband was the wrong way to show he cared.” Her words came out sharper and more accurate than she had intended. But thoughts of her mother collided with Mindy’s words. “That’s just one of the reasons I can’t be with Chad, now or ever. Clearly my father’s still singularly focused on controlling my life.” And maybe killing her. “I can’t put Chad in danger.”