Parker: A Reed Security Romance

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “I’m surprised she didn’t come to us. If there was something wrong, I would assume she would come here. So, if she’s not, then I really have no idea where she would go.”

  The agent looked upset that we couldn’t give him anything and stood quickly. “If you hear anything from her, please contact me immediately. If she goes to the wrong people with the information she has, they could kill her.”

  I nodded and took the card he offered. “We will.”

  He left quickly after that. Once he pulled away, we waited by the window for a few minutes, and sure enough, he went around the block and parked down the street.

  “Fuck, what the hell has Blake gotten herself into?”

  Doug moved away from the window, shaking his head in frustration. “What the fuck do we do now?”

  “I don’t know. You can bet your ass that whatever this is, they have no intention of just bringing her in to talk. We need to find her before they do,” I said.

  “We can’t go anywhere as long as that guy is following us.”

  “So, we have Matt come over here. He can take Dad’s old beater truck and park one street over, then slip in through the back. He looks enough like me, same build and everything. He can take my car and drive around. Agent Woodly will most likely follow him to see where he goes. Then we’ll slip out the back and take Dad’s truck out to Blake’s apartment.”

  “And what do we do when we get there? If they came here, they’ve most likely already been to her apartment. And if she did take classified documents, they already went through it and probably have it closed off.”

  “Well, we can’t just fucking sit around here and wait,” I said in frustration.

  His head snapped up and a smile split his face. “Kyle.”

  “You want to go to a cop right now?”

  “He’s a friend. He’s known Blake all his life. You know he would help.”

  “Even if he could, he can’t just put her name in the system. If the FBI is looking for her, that would be a red flag.”

  “We don’t need to put her name in the system. Remember, she has that storage unit under her friend’s name? There was a car in there. We ask him to run the plates and see where they show up.”

  “That could work,” I said, thinking it over. “He’d have to be sure that he wasn’t being watched.”

  “But if we can find that car, we’ll find her. I’m sure of it.”

  “Alright, let’s call him.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Blake

  I pulled my hair through my ponytail holder as I walked in front of Parker into the conference room, grinning like a fool. We had been called in here an hour ago, but we got caught up in the shower, and then in the bedroom. We were lucky we were here at all.

  “Nice to see you,” Knight said, “three fucking days later.”

  “Sorry,” I grinned. “Guess we got tied up.”

  Parker laughed beside me, but Knight’s glare had us both straightening up.

  “Did you find something?” Parker asked.

  “Becky’s going to be briefing us in an hour. I thought we should discuss what happens from here.”

  “Okay,” I nodded.

  “We’ve been watching all channels of communication over the last few days. The lab sent the video footage they obtained over to the FBI. Both of you are listed as wanted persons.”

  I nodded, but I could take this a lot better than Parker. I knew from the moment that I stole the information that this was coming. This was really bad for Parker, though. He hadn’t planned on this.

  “So, where do we go from here?” Parker asked. “We can’t stay here. That would put the whole company at risk.”

  “Yes, you can,” Cap said, stepping into the conference room.

  “We asked you to do this job. We’re not kicking you out now,” Knight said irritatedly.

  “Well, technically Knight asked you to do it. He kept me in the dark for a while, but I agree. And now that we have that journal, we need to speed this up and figure out what’s going on. You’ll have to stay out of sight from now on. If they find out you’re here, there’ll be no way for us to protect you against a search warrant.”

  “I need to go see Kiera.”

  “No,” Knight said, leaving no room for discussion.

  “Yes. She fucked up my life. I need answers. If the feds are going to come for us, I need those answers now. I’ll never get another opportunity once they lock me up.”

  “If you go, you risk someone spotting you and you risk losing her as your witness. She stays where she is and you don’t go see her.”

  A man knocked at the door and then entered. He was built like all the rest of them, but he wore glasses and carried a laptop. “Uh, boss, we have company.”

  He pulled up a screen on the monitor on the wall. It showed the front gate of the property.

  “What am I looking at?”

  “This truck, it’s a group of men, five of them. They’re asking to speak with someone in charge. I figured because of what’s going on, you’d want to be notified.”

  I took a step closer and looked at the truck. “Can you pull up the plates?”

  The man did as I asked and zoomed in. I couldn’t help the bubble of laughter that ripped through me. “Oh my God. How did they find me?”

  “Who?” Parker asked.

  “My family.”

  “Blake, what the fuck did you get yourself into this time?” Todd asked as he stormed across the parking lot toward me. I jumped into his arms, hugging him tight to me. I hadn’t seen them in a long time, but not being able to talk to them was hell on me.

  “You don’t want to know. How did you guys find me?”

  “Well, after the FBI started following me around and they showed up on Doug’s doorstep, we knew that we had to get creative in finding you.”

  “How did you?”

  “Your storage unit. I had Kyle run the plates of the car. It showed up on cameras in this town and after doing some research and finding out that this place was here, we figured it couldn’t be a coincidence.”

  That was bad. I knew that they only found me because they knew about the storage unit, but if they found me, so could the FBI. Not to mention that if they were being watched, chances were that they still were. And they had taken my dad’s truck.

  “You guys, I really appreciate the effort you went through, but you have to leave.”

  “Why?” Todd asked. “We can help.”

  “I know you want to, but I’m in a lot of trouble, and there’s nothing you can do to help.”

  “Look, we’ve had your back our whole lives. That’s not changing now because shit gets tough.”

  “She’s right,” Parker said from behind me. “You guys can’t help on this one.”

  “Who the fuck are you?” Doug asked, stepping forward to intimidate Parker. The thing was, while Doug was a big guy, he was small in comparison to Parker. While Doug was fit, Parker had the body of a fighter and the size to go with it.

  “I’m her man,” he said, pulling me back against him. I rolled my eyes. This was not the time to lay claim to me.

  “I’m her father,” my dad stepped up. “If you’re with her, why haven’t I heard of you until now?”

  “This is fairly new between us. We met when she shoved me through a window.”

  “Hey,” I said indignantly. “That is not fair.”

  “It’s pretty accurate,” Parker grinned.

  “Hey, we fought for at least three to five minutes before I shoved you through that window.”

  “Semantics,” Parker said teasingly.

  “Wait, you met her while she was kicking your ass and now you’re with her?” Matt asked in confusion.

  “There is nothing sexier than a woman that can hand you your ass,” Parker grinned.

  “Watch it. That’s my little girl you’re talking about.”

  “Alright,” I said, stepping between my dad and Parker. “Dad, Matt, Adam, Todd, and Doug, this i
s Parker. He’s in my life for the foreseeable future and I’d like to keep him there, so don’t do anything to change that. And Parker, this is my family. I already told you that they’re a little crazy and overprotective. Here they are.”

  “You told him about us?” Adam grinned. “Wait, you didn’t tell him about the thing with Kelly Anderson, did you?”

  I huffed out a laugh and shook my head. “No, I didn’t tell him about that. We didn’t get into that in the past week that we’ve known each other.”

  “What are your intentions with my daughter?”

  “Dad! Did you not just hear me say ‘the past week we’ve known each other’?”

  “That doesn’t mean jack shit.”

  “I plan to keep her with me. That is, if we can get out of this clusterfuck that we’re in.”

  “Keep her?” Matt asked.

  “Yeah,” I jumped in. “Keep me?”

  “Marry her. Whatever the fuck you want to label it. She’s mine, as long as I don’t end up in prison.”

  “Marry you?” I asked incredulously.

  “Why would you end up in prison?” Todd asked.

  “Why would I marry you?” I asked, thinking that was the more important question.

  “Because we were caught breaking into a lab to get information we needed.”

  “That’s a slap on the wrist,” Adam said. “They don’t send you to prison for that unless you have a record.”

  “I have a record,” Parker said.

  “Um…Can we get back to the whole marriage thing?”

  “What were you in for?” my dad asked.

  “Dishonorable discharge from the military. Rape.”

  “You’re marrying a rapist?” Todd asked incredulously.

  “I’m not marrying anyone!” I shouted.

  “Yes, you are,” Parker said, pulling me into his side. “I think we already talked about this.”

  “We talked about a lot of stuff, but I’m pretty sure marriage never came up.”

  “I take it you aren’t actually a rapist,” Doug said, “otherwise my baby sister wouldn’t be marrying you.”

  “I’m not marrying him,” I insisted, “and I’m older than you.”

  “I’m bigger than you,” he challenged. “And it sounds like he’s pretty sure that you’re getting married.”

  “Only if I agree. You can’t force someone to marry you!”

  “Eh,” Knight said. I hadn’t even realized he was there. “It can be done.”

  “No, it can’t,” I argued. “I would have to consent.”

  “There are ways around that. Ask Craig,” he said to Parker. “He’ll tell you how it’s done.”

  “So, are we thinking a summer wedding?” Adam asked. I shot him a death glare. “What? I’m just trying to think ahead. I’ll have to find a girlfriend to take to the wedding, but I can’t be dating her for too long before. I don’t want her getting any ideas.”

  “Angie Smith is available,” Matt said.

  “I thought she was with that douchebag from the feed store.”

  “They broke up last week. She caught him in bed with an older woman,” Matt grinned.

  “I could ask her, but I need to know the date first. We’re still too far off if it’s a summer wedding.”

  “Three months,” Todd said. “That’s not too far.”

  “Yeah, it is,” Adam corrected him. “I’m not taking anyone that I’ve been seeing for longer than five weeks. Six weeks is too much time. At six weeks, women are planning their own weddings.”

  “But they’re not at five?” Doug chuckled.

  “Not from my experience. It takes a lot of research, but I’ve documented it over the years. You can always tell. So, what I need to know is what dates we’re looking at.”

  “Would you all knock it off!” I shouted. “There is no wedding. Parker and I have known each other for a week, and despite what he thinks, I’m not just running off and getting married. Besides, we have this little thing hanging over our heads called jail!”

  “Sis, you really need to calm down,” Matt said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We’re just messing with you. Now, what’s all this shit about jail time?”

  “I can’t tell you. I don’t even know myself what’s going on. I know my boss was trying to bury something and when I wouldn’t comply, he fired me.”

  “The agent that stopped by said that you stole classified documents,” Todd said.

  “I stole information, but it was not classified. They wanted me gone because I wanted to investigate a lead into a senator and they didn’t want me to. I took what I needed and ran into Parker along the way.”

  “How did you end up here?”

  “That would be because of me,” Knight said irritatedly. “Not that this isn’t all fascinating, but I really don’t think we should be out in the open like this.”

  “Out in the open?” Doug asked. “We’re in a parking garage.”

  “And you can see the street from here. If we can see the street, whoever’s on the street can see us. They’re probably filming this right now.”

  “He’s right,” Parker said, “we should get inside.”

  We walked over to the elevator and Knight entered the code, then stepped inside. We all followed and I watched with humor as my family’s faces looked on in confusion at the level of security that Knight had to go through to get the elevator to move.

  “Did I miss something?” my dad asked. “Did we enter Fort Knox and I didn’t realize it?”

  “We take security very seriously here.”

  “I can see that, but why?”

  “Because we’d all like to be alive,” Knight said, right before the doors opened and he stepped out.

  My brother turned to me, arms crossed over his chest. “He’s a cheery fella.”

  “He’s…intense, but very good.”

  We headed for the conference room and my family all took a seat at the table. Cap walked in and took his place at the head of the table.

  “I’m Sebastian, owner of Reed Security. Sorry, but this is going to be rushed. I need to know everything that the FBI said to you.”

  “They told us that Blake stole confidential information. They tried to tell us that she had lost it and had been acting weird for the last year and a half. Whatever this is, they’re trying to paint you as the fall guy,” Todd said.

  “So, they didn’t give out any specifics?”

  “No, they were fishing. They wanted to know what we knew and they were hoping we would lead them to you.”

  “How did you get away?” I asked curiously.

  “It took a lot of vehicle swapping. We had them chasing us all over town for a while.”

  Todd’s phone rang and he stood, moving to the other side of the room.

  “Well, obviously, we can’t have you guys hanging around here,” Cap said. “I’d love to have a way for you to help us out, but eventually they’ll find out you’re here and that won’t be good for your sister.”

  “They already know,” Todd said, shoving his phone in his pocket. “That was Kyle. The FBI seized all his computer equipment. They must have seen us meet up with him.”

  “Who’s Kyle?” Cap asked.

  “He’s a police officer that’s also a very good friend. He did a search on the car Blake had in storage so we could find you. He wiped everything, but he said it’s only a matter of time before they find out what he was looking into.”

  “Did he say when they took it all?” Knight asked.

  “This morning,” Todd answered.

  “They’ve already got someone on their way then,” Knight said. “You need to leave now.”

  “Where would I go?”

  “You and Parker can go stay at my house in Colorado. It’s safe.”

  “I need to see Kiera. I’m sorry, I can’t go.”

  “Who’s Kiera?” my dad asked.

  “The woman that accused me of rape.”

  “Whoa,” Matt said, “that’s sounds like y
ou’re asking for trouble. If you go see the woman that you supposedly raped, you’re looking at walking into a shit ton of other crap.”

  “Including kidnapping,” Knight pointed out.

  “You kidnapped her?” I asked.

  “He did,” Parker pointed to Knight.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t go.”

  “I need to.” Parker pulled me off to the side, away from prying ears. “You remember all those things I told you I wanted?” I nodded. “I still want that, but I can’t have it if I don’t clear my name. We already stepped in a big pile of shit, but even if we get out of it, I’ll still have this shit hanging over my head. I have to do this now.”

  I wanted so badly for him to run with me, but I understood. He needed this and I couldn’t stop him from doing it. He was right, if he didn’t clear his name now, he never would.

  “Alright. Let’s plan to meet up at Knight’s place by the end of the week. If one of us isn’t there…”

  “Yeah,” he nodded.

  “Feds are at the door,” Rob said, storming into the room and flicking on the monitor. “They have a warrant. Whatever you’re going to do, you need to do it fast.”

  “Go,” I said urgently. “Go do what you have to. We’ll see each other again.”

  He pulled me into his arms and kissed me hard. I almost pulled back, almost begged him not to go. He stepped back with a pained look and stormed from the room with Knight.

  I turned back to Cap, ready to figure out the next step, but it was already too late. I saw them on the monitors, heading up in the elevator with one of the guards from the front gate. Knight must have taken Parker a different direction. If I stayed, I gave Parker a chance to get away.

  “Cap, deny everything. I showed up here looking for help and you didn’t give it.”

  “What? No, I don’t run away from my problems.”

  “Shut up. We don’t have a lot of time. They’ll come in here and they’ll take me into custody. You don’t know anything. You called my brothers when I showed up here, but you didn’t tell them anything other than you wanted to meet with them. They didn’t know why they were coming,” I said to all of them.

  “Blake, maybe you work with shit people, but I don’t. I take care of the people around me.”