“How very sexist of them.”
“They clearly don’t appreciate how competent you are outdoors.”
She had no idea if that was a shot or a compliment, so she ignored it. “If the phone isn’t working, how did you...oh, right. The GPS locator still functions.”
“Yes.”
“So, Dad tracked me down and sent you by helicopter.”
Instead of answering, Joel motioned to the pilot. “This is Cameron Roth.”
She wasn’t in the mood for meeting people just now, but there was no reason to be rude. “Okay.”
“We work together,” Joel explained.
“At where exactly?” She’d tried to find out where Joel went when he left her dad’s company. One night, bored and feeling lonely, she conducted a search, hoping to locate him, and uncovered nothing.
Her father finally let slip Joel lived in Annapolis, less than an hour away from her place in Virginia, the same place he used to live with her but never bothered to visit now. Being ignored made her stop checking in on the guy. If Joel didn’t care enough to make contact, she wouldn’t either.
“Ma’am.” The other man butted in with a nod of welcome. “You can call me Roth or Cam.”
The guy looked about the same age as Joel, a few years older than her, and shared Joel’s used-to-be-in-the-military look. Broad shoulders with muscles peeking out from under the edge of his T-shirt. They both carried their bodies in a permanent battle stance, as if they could shoot or tackle at any moment, if needed.
Joel had the Tall, Dark and Whoa-He’s-Hot thing down. That hadn’t changed in their months apart. Cam’s lighter hair and blue eyes made him seem less intense, but knowing the male type standing in front of her, she doubted that was actually the case.
Joel clapped. “There. That’s settled.”
Looked like the menfolk thought explanation time was over. She disagreed. “Let’s go back to my question. Why are you really here? And skip the sat phone talk this time.”
“Your father sent me to look for you.” That smile widened. “Now it’s my turn to ask a question.”
“Did you really answer mine?”
Cam laughed. “She has you there, man.”
Joel nodded in the direction of her hand. “Is there a reason you’re carrying a knife, or is the plan to stab the helicopter?”
She glanced down, then back at Joel. “Are you worried it’s meant for you?”
“I take it you two know each other pretty well,” Cam said.
The conversation kept jumping around. She’d only remembered the knife when Joel mentioned it. The burning from where it pressed into her palm suddenly hit her.
Then Cam’s comment grabbed her attention.
“Joel didn’t tell you who I was to him?” She wanted not to care, but the hurt swallowed up her indifference.
Cam looked from her to Joel and back again. “Let’s just say I’m thinking he left out some important pieces about your joint past.”
“Hope.” Joel snapped his fingers and brought the focus back to him. “The knife?”
She stared at it in her hands. “What about it?”
“Why are you holding it as if you’re ready to attack?”
She couldn’t come up with a reason to stall and certainly had no reason to lie. Not about this. Not to him. “Someone was following me.”
Both men leaned in closer, all amusement gone from their faces. Cam’s mouth opened, but Joel was the one who barked out a question. “What?”
Now that she had their attention, she decided to spill it all. “And I think one of my executives might be dead.”
Chapter Two
Joel called up every ounce of his practiced control to stay calm. Before he’d joined the Corcoran Team, a private security organization out of Annapolis, Maryland, that specialized in risk assessments for companies and governments, this sort of thing would have had him spinning and drilling her with questions.
Connor Bowen and the rest of the Corcoran Team had taught him the importance of patience and holding still for the right opening. Without those skills, the high-priority, under-the-radar kidnap and rescue missions they conducted would fail. Because when you worked outside the legal parameters and without a safety net, mistakes couldn’t happen.
After a lifetime of kicking around in the intelligence field, Joel knew he’d finally landed in a place that felt right. He’d buckled down, used his tech skills to fill in after the last tech guy left and tried to forget about her. Hope, his greatest weakness.
Now he seriously considered telling Cam to get lost for a few minutes, though he doubted the guy would budge. Not when he was staring as if he’d never seen a woman before and was hanging on every word of the discussion.
Joel couldn’t really blame Cam on the gawking part. Hope looked as good as Joel remembered. Better, even. The long dark brown hair and near black eyes hadn’t changed. From the dimple and girl-next-door hotness to the tanned legs and smokin’ petite frame, he found her almost impossible to resist.
Add in her smarts, competency with weapons and near fearless determination when she wanted something and he’d had no choice but to dump his job and move to the next state to keep from falling deeper into her. Or that’s what he’d rationalized at the time.
But right now he worried more about the danger that appeared to be haunting her. “Say that again.”
She cleared her throat. “I have a missing executive.”
Joel had no idea what that meant. “You said dead a second ago.”
She shrugged. “I’m hoping that was an exaggeration.”
Well, that cleared up...nothing. He glanced over at Cam.
He shook his head. “Got me. I have no clue.”
“Hope.” Joel reached out to touch the hand with the weapon in it and felt the subtle tremor running through her. Yeah, forget how comfortable she looked hanging around outside, something bad had happened and she was throwing off the desperation vibe.
His protective instincts kicked into high gear. He folded his hand over hers and slid the knife out of her palm. Not an easy task since she had a death grip on it.
Moving nice and slow, he eased the blade back into its case at her waist as he rubbed his thumb over the deep creases on her palm. “Where is this executive?”
“His name is Mark Callah.”
“Okay.” Joel didn’t dig too deep for details. Not yet. “Where is Mark?”
“I have no idea since I lost him.”
Cam grunted. “She’s giving you a pretty logical answer, actually.”
“I got up this morning and he was gone from camp.” She tugged free of Joel’s hold and rubbed her hands together. “I headed for this clearing to use the sat phone and realized some guy was following me. Then your helicopter—”
“Hold up.” For the second time, she jumped right past the most interesting part. “Go back a second.”
“To where?”
Stray branches crunched under Cam’s feet as he shifted his weight. “I’m guessing to the ‘following me’ part.”
She spent a second frowning at both of them. “Blue hoodie. The guy stalked me, then started moving faster and came up the side until we were parallel. He didn’t look up and stayed close. Your helicopter scared him off.”
“Stalked?” Joel didn’t hear much after that word.
“Yes, Joel.” She didn’t roll her eyes, but she looked like she was right on the edge of doing so.
She could sigh at him all she wanted because he was not letting this conversation drop. Not until he assessed the level of danger. “Could this person be one of the executives you have out here on the team-building retreat?”
This time her face went blank. “Wow, my dad really did fill you in on this job.”
“Let’s stick to your story for now.” One more diversion and Joel worried he’d never be able to pull the tale out of her. And he knew from experience any talk about her dad and his protective nature would not make this exercise go faster.
<
br /> “Except for Mark, most of the Baxter Industries management talk tough but are terrified of being out here. One guy jumped around demanding to go home because he found a tick on his upper arm.” She snorted. “I mean, come on.”
Joel bit back a laugh. “Very manly.”
“Right. So, you understand why I can’t imagine any of them chasing me through the woods, being covert and ducking out of sight for no good reason.”
“You’re throwing out some scary words there.”
“So?”
She could shoot and run and build a camp from twigs, but that didn’t make her invincible. He wondered if she understood that. “My point is this story gets worse the more details you add.”
She glanced over her shoulder and deep into the woods behind her. “Anyway, I’d like to think if it was one of my guys, he would have helped or at least called out when I fell.”
The bad news just kept coming. Joel glanced at Cam. “And now we have a fall.”
She faced them again. “What?”
“You skipped that part before,” Cam said.
Joel guessed that was intentional. “Let’s just say your linear storytelling needs work.”
“I’ll run through all of it if you need me to—”
“I do.” Joel wanted her comment to stop right there.
She talked right over his interruption. “But since you’re here, you can come with me while I get my sat phone and then we can spread out and hunt for Mark.”
Joel caught her in the second before she took off. Never mind her tale about a stalker and the terror in her eyes only a few minutes ago. Now she was ready to head out. “I thought you lost the phone.”
“Yeah, but I know where.”
“Your definition of lost is no better than your storytelling ability.”
“We don’t have time for chitchat.” Her gaze dipped to where his fingers wrapped around her elbow, then bounced back up again. “I’m assuming you guys need to get out of here and head off to some other covert action-movie adventure, so let’s move.”
Nice try. “You’re my job this week, remember?”
“Yeah, we’re going to talk about that later.”
“Talk all you want. I’m staying.” That had been the plan before the knife and the story about the fall and every other bizarre fact she threw out, and he wasn’t changing it now.
But there was some good news here. Her feistiness clicked back into place with full force. While the verbal jabs about his job used to drive him nuts, he missed this side of her, too.
She didn’t back down. She didn’t care about his size or ability with a weapon. She understood he’d never hurt her and held her ground. Probably had something to do with having a former special ops father who made sure his precious daughter and only child could protect herself no matter what.
The attitude had gotten her in trouble more than once. Not with him, but some of the men in her father’s business, Algier Security, didn’t appreciate her refusal to be a good little girl and sit down.
Sexist idiots.
Still, she could be rough on the male ego. He glanced over at Cam to fill him in with a simple explanation. “She doesn’t approve of what we do.”
“Understood,” Cam said with a nod.
Hope wasn’t having any of it. She shot them both one of her men-can-be-clueless frowns. “That’s not true.”
Cam kept nodding, as if he’d figured out some great big secret. “Is that why you left him?”
Damn. “Let’s not go there.” This was just about the last topic Joel wanted to discuss.
Strike that. It was the last. Dead last.
“I figured it out.” Cam smiled. “She’s the ex.”
Suddenly Joel regretted that one night a month or so ago with too much beer and too much talking. Cam had wanted to know why Joel never dated and he mentioned a tough break-up. Cam clearly put it all together.
“Didn’t he tell you the story?” Hope’s eyebrow lifted. “Interesting.”
“How so?” Cam asked.
“Joel left me.”
Cam’s eyes bugged as his jaw dropped. “No way.”
“I know, right?” She shook her head. “Whatever.”
Cam whistled. “I didn’t see that news coming.”
That was enough of that. Joel cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Can we get back to the missing guy and the stalking?”
“Camp is back here.” She didn’t wait for a discussion or arguments. She headed off through the thick branches, with twigs and other debris crunching under her boots. She slowed down only long enough to glance over her shoulder and gesture for them to follow.
“Hope...and she’s gone.” Joel took a step in the same direction.
Cam slid in and blocked his path. “You dumped her?”
“Let it go.”
Cam laughed. “I think we both know that’s not going to happen.”
It was a long story and Joel knew he didn’t exactly come off well. With his messed-up upbringing, a quiet life in the suburbs wasn’t on the table. But she had tempted him, made him think even for a little while that he could do normal. Then he got offered a dream job with the Defense Intelligence Agency and, like an idiot, picked it over her.
Funny how karma nailed him on that one.
Cam leaned in with a hand behind his ear. “Not talking?”
“Nope.”
“You will.” He winked, then called out to Hope. “Hey, where was this stalker walking?”
She stopped and gestured to the line of trees directly across from her. “About fifty feet that way, running parallel with me.”
Joel tracked her white shirt as she pushed long branches out of her way and kept walking. “Notice how she acts like whatever happened wasn’t a big deal.”
“Was she ever an operative?”
“Mountain climber, archery expert, like Olympic skill level, outdoors type and can shoot better than some members of the Corcoran Team.”
“You’re talking about Ben, right?” Cam asked.
Ben Tanner was the newest member of the Corcoran Team and a former special agent for NCIS. The guy could shoot but he lacked the sniper skills of many on the team. And they never let him forget it. “Obviously.”
Cam stopped staring at Hope, and it looked like that took some control on his part. “Explain to me why you left her again? Because, gotta be honest, man, between the way she looks, the way she moves and that list of skills you just read off, I think I’m in love.”
“Get over it.”
Cam nodded, which he often did. “Ah, okay. Interesting.”
Hope’s white shirt got farther away. That meant one thing—the time for talk had ended. “Stop with that crap.”
Just as Joel lost sight of her, she peeked out from behind a massive tree trunk. “You guys coming?”
This time Cam laughed. “Your ex wants your attention.”
“Don’t call her that.” Correct or not, the term grated on Joel’s nerves. It meant she was free to find someone else, and even though he knew that was fair and the right thing, he despised the idea.
He’d spent the months away from her pretending he didn’t care when her father had called to alert him that she’d gone out on a date with this guy or that one. The old man was on a warped matchmaking mission. One that slowly broke Joel until he thought he’d go insane imagining her in bed with someone else.
“I am so happy I was available to fly you in for this op. Wouldn’t have missed this for anything.” Cam clapped Joel on the back. “Not sure who will enjoy this more—the guys back at the Annapolis office or the guys on my traveling team. Tough call.”
Both options sucked for Joel. “I could hide your body out here.”
“You’re welcome to try.”
Because Cam came to Corcoran with the nickname “Lethal” and rumor was he’d flown Navy missions so secret just mentioning the operation names would bring the FBI running with guns firing, Joel decided to switch the subject. “A
nd this is a favor for an old friend, not an op.”
“If a businessman is missing and someone is chasing your woman, it’s an op.” Cam didn’t wait around for an argument. He headed in the direction Hope indicated as the stalker’s path. “I’ll be over there, straining to hear every word.”
Joel took off after Hope. She’d stopped, and with his long stride, he caught up fast. When he drew close he saw her standing near a fallen tree, staring at the dirt.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She looked up, the anger obvious in her tight jaw and the flush of red on her cheeks. “My phone is gone.”
“I thought we already knew that.”
“No, I mean I had it in my hand while I was running—”
“You ran through this?”
“—and stumbled here. I dropped the phone and now it’s gone.”
There was no trail and no obvious signs of a path. Roots poked out of the ground, and the trees had grown to the point where they blanketed the area. Any sane person would watch her step. But she had run. Figured.
He thought about lecturing her but abandoned the idea when she bent down and started patting the rough terrain with her palm. Hope knew the outdoors, loved and cherished the openness. It was one of the things they had in common.
Still, a phone could only bounce so far. “Any chance you lost it somewhere else?”
“No.” She tried to reach her arm under the log. “I’m not exactly easy to spook. I know what I’m talking about.”
“But you are.”
She tugged on her arm but didn’t remove it or sit back up again. Twisting around, she looked up at him. “What?”
“Spooked.” And stuck. He wondered how long it would be before she admitted that. “Your pulse is racing and you’re jumpy. Not that long ago you were shaking and holding that knife like you were ready to slash anyone in your path.”
“Someone was chasing me.” She kept shifting and squirming. The heels of her boots dug into the dirt as she wrenched her shoulder.
Much more of this and she’d really injure herself. Any second now she’d ask for help. Well, most people would. With Hope, who knew?
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