Calculated Risk

by Janie Crouch

  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.

  His fingers seemed to burn against her skin. She had to pull away.

  But there was more truth she could give him.

  “I’m afraid I’m ruining those kids. I’m not good with people, anyone can see that.” It was one of the things she liked about computers. With technology there was no emotional subtext. Coding was straightforward, logical, decisive. She didn’t have to worry about nuances and emotional harm. “If Melissa had any other choice, she wouldn’t have chosen me to care for Christian and Beth, believe me.”

  He shook his head. “Anyone can tell that you love those children, Bree. They are not missing out on anything, especially not affection.”

  “Then how come Christian cries all the time?”

  She meant it as a distraction, but as the words came out, she realized it was a true fear. Why would Christian cry all the time if he was getting what he needed?

  “Some babies just cry more than others.”

  “Maybe he’s smart enough to subconsciously realize I’m not as good as his mother and that his developmental needs aren’t being met because his caretaker is emotionally stunted.”

  Tanner chuckled before his hands cupped her face and his lips touched hers briefly, lightly, before pulling away. “Or maybe the kid is just colicky.”

  He stood, backing away. Bree’s fingers touched her lips where his had just been. He’d meant it as a kiss of camaraderie, encouragement. A show of support.

  What would he think if he knew that was the first time she’d ever been kissed by a man in her entire life?

  Then maybe he’d be more likely to agree with her about the emotional stuntedness.

  “I want to help your cousin, Bree,” he said. “And you. Because as long as they’re willing to hurt other people to force her to do what they want, you’re not safe. I can’t turn a blind eye to that.”

  She couldn’t let him start digging into it. “Just give her more time. She’s gathering the evidence she needs, and when she has it, she’ll go to the police.”

  Or they would run. Either way, it wouldn’t be his problem anymore.

  His dark brows furrowed together. “Doing nothing, knowing there’s danger out there, doesn’t sit well with me.”

  Now she stood and grabbed his hand. “I just need somewhere to lie low and keep the babies safe. Risk Peak is a good place to do that. No one is looking for me there.”

  She thought about her paranoia and the eyes she always felt on her there. But that couldn’t be the Organization, so she would just have to keep it under control.

  “Fine.” Tanner nodded. “I’ll let it go for now. But you can bet that I’m going to be sticking to you like glue, Bree Daniels. If someone is coming for you or those babies, they’ll have to go through me first.”

  She didn’t know if the fluttering in her chest was relief or panic.

  Chapter Eleven

  Over the next two weeks, Bree learned what normal life was supposed to be like.

  She felt like she was back in the sitcom again, except this time she had a little more understanding of her role. She worked, played with the babies and got a good night’s sleep each night.

  But she had to keep reminding herself that this was just pretend. None of it—not the job, not the kids, not the man who came and walked her home from work every night—was real.

  Eventually the season would be over and she would go back to what she had been before.

  Alone.

  “You’ve got an order up, Bree,” Dan called out from the kitchen. Bree had moved up from jack-of-all-trades to regular lunch shift waitress. It was better for everyone. The Andrewses didn’t have to pay her so much under the table, and she was able to make more money overall. Although now that she wasn’t preparing to leave town as soon as possible, money wasn’t so much of an issue.

  But she wondered daily how it was going for Melissa. The phone had remained steadily silent in the two weeks since she’d last seen her cousin. Bree still had no way of getting in touch with her and no idea how the plan was going.

  Not being an active part of the plan was difficult. Bree had always been someone who had plans, backup plans and backups to her backup plans. Ironically, it had been Michael Jeter who had first recognized that her mind worked like a flowchart. He’d been the one to help her develop that part of her brain, so that she was
now able to see multiple scenarios at any given time.

  She could see multiple scenarios for this situation also, but few of them ended well for Melissa, the twins or herself.

  “Thanks, Dan.” She grabbed the plate and took it out to the diners, glancing over where Judy sat with the babies.

  They’d worked out a sort of schedule where someone could be keeping an eye on the twins whenever they were awake. Sometimes it was the other waitress, Judy, sometimes Dan or Cheryl, depending on the needs of the diner at the time.

  Tanner had sat beside her as she’d told Dan and Cheryl that the babies weren’t actually hers. Surprisingly, they hadn’t seemed to care at all. The kids hadn’t been kidnapped, and they still needed to be held and cared for. That was all that mattered to the older couple.

  Bree forced a smile onto her face as she delivered the plates up for order. It was the construction crew again. More specifically, the skinny man with dark hair and dark eyes. She’d finally pinpointed him as the one who’d been watching her.

  He never talked to her, never tried to get her to engage in conversation like some of the other workers did. Just watched her silently.

  Everything about him made her want to take the babies and run. But she was determined not to let the paranoia take over her mind. This man could not be in the Organization. He would’ve already made his move.

  She almost believed that, except for when all the doubts crept in.

  Maybe the Organization was just biding its time.

  Maybe they were waiting for Melissa to contact her so they could catch them both.

  Maybe they had something so nefarious planned that Bree couldn’t possibly imagine it.

  She closed her eyes and shook the thoughts away. Maybe the guy was just awkward and rude and his parents had never taught him it was impolite to stare.

  She had to let it go. She had real battles to fight. She didn’t need to make up pretend ones in her head.

  But as she delivered his food, she could swear the guy was planning to lock her in his basement to be his forever bride. She nodded at him and his buddies and backed away.

  She took another order then walked back to the kitchen.

  “Your creepy guy give you any problems?” Cheryl asked.

  Bree shrugged. “Studied me with his creepy eyes and gave his creepy nod when I handed him his food.”

  “So basically acted the way he always does.” Dan flipped a burger as he talked.

  “Listen, buddy.” Bree pointed at him after hanging her order on the spinning wheel. “Don’t be bringing logic where it doesn’t belong. Leave me and my paranoia alone.”

  Dan chuckled, and Cheryl rubbed Bree’s shoulder. Two weeks ago Bree would’ve shifted away from the touch. But she was learning. Learning that touching could be normal. That it was okay to joke with people.

  “I think he’s just a strange guy,” Cheryl said.

  “That’s for sure,” Bree muttered. But they were right. Just because he was strange didn’t mean he was dangerous.

  If she wanted to be able to live any sort of normal life, she was going to have to accept that. Not every strange stranger was dangerous. Not every stranger was from the Organization.

  Bree grabbed the pitcher of water and walked back into the dining room to refill empty glasses. The front doorbell rang as someone came in, and a few moments later Bree felt eyes on her again.

  But these she knew. And they belonged to someone who was very definitely not a creepy, thin man.

  A smile rose to her lips unbidden.

  She should not be smiling when it came to Tanner. Should not be thinking about him as much as she was. Should definitely not be dreaming about him at night, wondering what a real kiss from him might feel like.

  She was doing her best to keep her distance, but Tanner made it so damn difficult. He just had something about him that drew people in. People trusted him, knew he would look out for them. The entire town of Risk Peak depended on him.

  Bree had met his mother, sister and something ridiculous like eighty-seven cousins. Tanner had more family in a quarter-block radius from the diner than Bree had known her whole life.

  He was smart, focused and determined to help her out of this mess.

  He was everything she should run from. He already knew too much about her and the situation.

  Yet she counted the minutes every day until he would be back and she could see him again.

  He was here for at least one meal every day. Today it was lunch. At first she’d tried letting Judy or one of the other waitresses take his table, but he’d shut that down immediately. Now everyone knew he only wanted her.

  His words, not hers.

  And they did funny things to her insides.

  He had another police officer with him today—not Ronnie Kitchens, the deputy who sometimes came in with Tanner. This guy was younger, a little chubby, wearing his brown sheriff’s uniform like he wasn’t quite comfortable with the fit.

  Probably because the guy looked like he couldn’t be but half a day out of police officer school, or whatever it was called.

  Bree grabbed a couple of glasses of water and brought them out to Tanner’s table.

  “Hi.” She set the glasses down and looked everywhere but at Tanner’s face. She knew darn well what he looked like. Those brown eyes had been starring front and center in her dreams for the last two weeks.

  “Hey. How’s your day going? Twins sleep all right last night?”

  She felt his fingers against her hand where it was still wrapped around his glass of water. “Yeah. Even Christian slept five hours in one stretch.”

  She slipped her hand away from his and stuck both of them in the back pockets of her jeans, still staring down at the glasses.

  Her withdrawal didn’t seem to faze Tanner at all. “Five hours. That’s a record for that little guy, isn’t it?”

  Now she looked him in the face, drawn in immediately by those deep brown eyes like she’d known she would be.

  The moment stretched out between them.

  “Hey there,” he whispered, smiling, just like he had every day when she finally broke down and met his eyes. He was always patient, never frustrated that she found it hard to interact with him.

  “You have twins? Holy cow!” Baby-face cop’s booming question broke the moment. She looked away from Tanner and over at him. “I couldn’t imagine having one baby, much less two. I’m Scott Watson. Nice to meet you.”

  She shook his outstretched hand as he grinned at her.

  “I’m Bree.”

  “Scott is on an intercounty task force. He’s been traveling around to different departments, helping to regulate social media, reports, general communication with the public. He’ll be here a week or so.”

  “I volunteered.” Scott grinned. “Gives me a chance to meet people from all over Colorado. See towns and counties I might not get regular interaction with otherwise.”

  “No offense,” Bree said, “but you almost don’t seem old enough to be traveling around by yourself.”

  Scott chuckled, and the sound was so contagious Bree had to smile, too. “I know! I get that all the time. I wanted to do undercover work, but I was told they didn’t get much call for chubby middle school kids undercover.” He patted his smooth, round cheeks.

  “I’ll admit, I was a little irritated when I got the email about your arrival yesterday,” Tanner said.

  “Yesterday?” Scott’s smile turned into a scowl. “You should’ve received the memo from the task force at least a month ago.”

  “Ends up I did, almost five weeks ago. Somehow it ended up in my junk mail.”

  “I’m still sorry. This sort of miscommunication is one of the things I’m trying to help eliminate. And I promise I won’t be in your way. Just stuff me in an office under the stairs. Of course, if you have any action go
ing on, I’d love to be a part of that, too.”

  Tanner just smiled. “We’ll see.”

  Bree took their orders—Scott’s choice of the pancake stack was not going to help his chubby middle school kid persona—when Tanner grabbed her hand again.

  “I see who’s back.” He gestured toward the creepy, thin guy’s table with his head. “You have any problems with him?”

  She shook her head. “No. Nothing concrete, as usual.”

  Tanner stood. “I’m just gonna go chat with them.”

  Bree grabbed Tanner’s hand. “He didn’t say or do anything. Really.”

  His thumb trailed across her wrist. “I’m not going to make a big deal. It never hurts for a deputy to say hello to people who work in town.”

  Tanner walked over to their table while Bree headed to the server station to get some coffee. When she brought the two mugs back, Tanner was still over talking to the construction guys.

  “This is some really pretty country,” Scott said. “Some of my favorite so far. Are you like Tanner—lived here all your life?”

  Bree wasn’t sure how much of her story he’d told Scott. Probably not much, if anything. They’d agreed to stick with a cover story of a violent ex-boyfriend if anyone ever really needed information.

  “No, I’ve just moved here recently. Needed to get out of the situation I was in.”

  She looked over at Tanner. What was he saying to the men? She didn’t trust the creepy guy, but neither was she trying to disrupt the whole town.

  A few seconds later, Tanner turned and walked back to his table.

  “Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything about you. Just chatting with them about the building progress. Normal Risk Peak stuff.”

  “Okay.” She let out a sigh. “I’m probably being paranoid.”

  “I know I don’t know what’s going on,” Scott said. “But sometimes it’s good to be a little paranoid in this world. Even chubby middle schoolers know that.”