Thread of Suspicion

by Susan Sleeman

  Dani closed her eyes for a moment, then flashed them open with a clear sense of purpose shining through. “How did you discover the video feed?”

  “I couldn’t sleep, so I was wandering around downstairs. I happened to wake up the computer and didn’t see any rain falling on what was supposed to be the live feed.”

  She arched a perfectly plucked brow. “And how did you happen to wake up the computer?”

  “Are you wondering if I had something to do with this?”

  “No, of course not. It just seems odd that you went anywhere near a computer.” She grinned at him, and he wanted to embrace her use of humor over his aversion to computers to lighten the situation, but he couldn’t.

  Her grin quickly faded. “Is there something else you’re not telling me?”

  “I slammed my fist into the desk, all right.” Embarrassed at his lack of control downstairs, he looked away.

  She took his hand, and he felt the quilt fall, then puddle at their feet. He turned back, and at the sight of her slender fingers running over his scraped and bruised knuckles, he drew in a quick breath.

  She looked up at him, her eyes wide and alert. “Why did you hit the desk?”

  “Because I was frustrated.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I like you, Dani. A lot. There’s more than physical attraction between us. But we have too many issues standing in our way. Still, when I touched you and you ran...I...” He let his words fall off and shrugged.

  She fixed her gaze on his, sending waves of longing through his body. “You knew it was something special and you thought I didn’t.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I do, Luke.” She gently rubbed her finger over his hand again.

  Her touch was driving him crazy, and he could hardly think straight. He freed his hand, but instead of letting it fall, he threaded his fingers into her hair. Silky and soft, just as he’d imagined.

  “But like you said,” she continued, “we have too many things standing in our way. Not the least of which is your case. A personal involvement would complicate that.”

  Would it? Or would it draw them closer together as a team and help them to better track down Echo?

  Luke voted for the latter. He was tired of fighting this magnetic pull between them, and he opted for ending the boycott with a kiss. He lowered his head and waited for her to protest, to run from him again, but she gazed up at him expectantly and inched closer. With a groan of surrender, he settled his mouth on lips that had taunted him for days. Soft, sweet, warm, just as he’d known they’d be.

  She twined her arms around his neck, drawing him closer, kissing him back. This was right. So right. A spitfire of a woman with a generous heart. Just perfect, and he could keep holding and kissing her and not come up for air.

  He vaguely heard a door slam in the distance and felt Dani retreat. She drew in a ragged breath and watched him.

  “Luke,” she said softly.

  He loved hearing his name spoken with such tenderness.

  “We can’t do this,” she whispered.

  “Yes, we can.”

  She took a small step back, regret already burning in her eyes. He reached out a hand to cup her face and keep her near. She let him touch her and closed her eyes.

  “What’s going on?” a harsh male voice snapped behind him.

  Dani jumped and hissed out a breath as he turned to see Kat, Cole and Ethan all standing in the doorway. Kat had a contented look on her face, but the brothers both fired daggers in his direction.

  What were they so mad about? He’d just saved their sister from Echo. But they didn’t know that now, did they? As far as they were concerned, he was in their sister’s bedroom trying to kiss her. The brothers were in fact showing far more restraint than Luke would have if he found Natalie in a situation like this. He’d act first, then think about it.

  He took a step back. “I didn’t break down the door to get to your sister, if that’s what you think. Give me a little more credit than that.”

  “Echo tried to get in.” Dani quickly explained the situation as her face colored the vivid red of her sweatshirt. “Derrick took off to try to catch him.”

  “We should wait for Derrick downstairs.” Kat grabbed her brothers’ arms as her eyes creased in merriment, not at all the reaction Luke expected.

  “Good idea,” Dani said, and bolted for the door nearly as fast as Derrick had exited earlier.

  “Great,” Luke mumbled to the empty room. She was running from him again, and he was powerless to stop her. Just as he’d been powerless to stop Echo.

  He descended to the family room and found Dani seated at the table, her focus fixed on the security feed on her computer. Gun drawn, Cole stood watch at the front door. In the kitchen, Kat spooned grounds into the coffeemaker.

  “You never cease to surprise me, Kit Kat,” Cole said as he shook his head. “I can’t believe you can make coffee at a time like this.”

  “Why not? You’re keeping an eye on the door. Dani’s monitoring the security feed. Ethan’s gone after Derrick.” She looked up at Luke and a satisfied smile found her lips. “And with the look on Luke’s face right now, I know he wouldn’t let anyone get within a hundred feet of Dani. So there’s nothing for me to do. Plus Derrick and Cole will want something warm when they come inside.”

  “I want to know how in the world this happened,” Dani mumbled, and rubbed the back of her neck. “I protected the system myself. Echo is good, but he’s not better than me.”

  “Never mind how he hacked it,” Luke said as he straddled the chair nearest to Dani. “I want to know how he found the safe house, so when we select another location it’ll be secure.”

  Dani looked up at him. “You’ve already decided to move me? No discussion.”

  “It’s not safe here,” Cole grumbled. “We’ll get Ethan to make some calls in the morning to see if we can use one of the bureau’s locations. Until then, we need to focus on figuring out how Echo found you.”

  “Property records would tie the house back to Cole,” Luke offered.

  Kat set an assortment of handcrafted mugs on the table, then sat in a chair next to Dani. “True, but with the house not being in the Portland metro area, Echo would have had to search every county in the state to find this place.”

  “Plus he’d have to know about me,” Cole added.

  “Your name’s on the Justice Agency website,” Luke said, bringing all eyes his way. “What? I researched your company. Big deal. I’m sure you ran a background check on me.”

  Kat laughed. “That we did.”

  Footsteps pounded up the outside stairs. Luke drew his weapon and came to his feet, as did Kat.

  Dani tipped her head at the computer. “I can see the front door feed. It’s just Derrick and Ethan.”

  “They could be compromised.” Luke returned his focus to the door.

  “Ha!” Dani stared at him. “No one else in their right mind would enter this room right now.”

  Luke glanced at her siblings, both holding weapons, both facing the door. He would find her comment funny if he weren’t worried about protecting her. He stepped in front of her, and Kat joined him.

  The door opened and Derrick, soaked to the skin, entered and shook like a dog, spraying water everywhere. Ethan rushed in behind him and secured the door.

  “Couldn’t catch up to him,” Derrick said breathlessly.

  A collective sigh came from the siblings. Luke stifled his own sigh, as he didn’t want the others to know how much this situation affected him. Still, as he stepped away from Dani, he had to touch her to be sure she really hadn’t come to any harm. He let his fingers brush over her hand. Her eyes flashed wide, and he reveled in the thought that he could take her by surprise like this. He thought he’d gotten away with the brief contact, but when h
e looked up, Kat gave him a knowing smile as she returned to the kitchen. She tossed towels to Cole and Derrick, then grabbed the coffeepot and brought it to the table while the others settled around it.

  A flash of the Justice family gathered for special occasions took his thoughts. As he dropped into a chair at the end of the table, longing to be part of a large family hit him again. It was a mistake to think that way. Big mistake. Wouldn’t help him stay away from Dani if he ever called up the nerve to get close to her again.

  “Any progress in figuring out how Echo found us?” Derrick rubbed the towel over his head.

  “No, but I was about to ask about cell phones,” Dani said. “Did any of you activate GPS on your phones for any reason?”

  “Are you kidding?” Cole mocked a look of horror. “After your many lectures about people being tracked that way? None of us would dare.”

  Ethan snorted and Kat clamped down on her lips as if fighting a laugh. Dani wrinkled her nose at them.

  Luke liked how the family could find humor at a time like this, but he simply felt unease curdling his dinner. “I don’t have a clue if mine is turned on.”

  Dani held out her hand. “Give me your phone, and I’ll check.”

  He dug out his cell and set it firmly in her open hand. His fingers brushed her palm and her eyes flared in awareness of his touch, but she quickly veiled it. She tapped the screen, then looked up. “It was on.”

  “So you led him to us?” Derrick fired a pointed look at Luke.

  “Not so fast, Derrick,” Dani said as she tapped the phone’s screen again. “Echo would have to hack Luke’s phone to track the GPS. Unless of course you posted something to Facebook with locations turned on.”

  “I don’t use Facebook.” Luke felt horrified that she thought he might.

  “No self-respecting SEAL would.” Humor lit Cole’s tone as he held out his fist to Luke.

  Luke pounded his fist and gave a tight smile of appreciation that one of the Justice males seemed to like him.

  “Can you tell if his phone’s been compromised?” Derrick asked.

  When Dani opened her mouth to answer, Ethan quickly held up his hand. “Just a yes or no please. No details.”

  “Nice,” Kat said, mimicking Cole’s gesture and fist bumping Ethan.

  Dani rolled her eyes. “Yes, but I’ll need to spend some time with the phone to be sure.”

  Luke shook his head. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”

  Dani nodded. “Smartphones are really mini-computers, so it’s not only possible, but it happens all the time.”

  “So how’s a guy supposed to protect himself?” He paused and met Dani’s gaze. “Or the people he cares about?”

  He expected her to look away, but she didn’t. “I’ll give you a lesson on cell phone safety later.”

  “Great,” Luke said sincerely. “I look forward to it.”

  “I’ll just bet you will,” Derrick grumbled. “I’m gonna change into dry clothes. I hope you’ll have figured out how Echo found us by the time I get back.”

  Luke hoped the same thing, but he didn’t feel confident that they’d easily figure out how a first-class hacker like Echo continued to sidestep their security protocols and threaten Dani’s life.

  THIRTEEN

  Derrick focused a laser-sharp stare on Luke as he filled his mug in SatCom’s break room the next morning. It took a lot to make Luke back down, but he felt as if he were wilting under Derrick’s focus. He’d trained this same look on Luke last night and kept up this antagonistic attitude since then. Luke could leave the break room and not look back, but he didn’t run from anything. And that included the brother of the woman who sent his heart into a dizzying spin despite his common sense.

  Luke turned, his coffee sloshing in the cup and lapping close to the edge. “You obviously have a problem with me. I thought once it became clear that I wasn’t a traitor you’d lighten up, but if anything it’s getting worse.”

  Derrick leaned against the counter looking deceptively calm. “I don’t want Dani to get hurt again.”

  Neither did Luke, and he harbored fears that if he kept pursuing her when he wasn’t free to do so, he could wind up hurting her. But he wasn’t going to share that with Derrick. “We’re doing everything we can to keep her safe from Echo.”

  “I don’t mean physically. I mean hurt by a guy who’s clearly taken with her and will surely break her heart.”

  Luke arched a brow. Derrick hadn’t walked in on the kiss last night, but Luke guessed the other family members had filled him in. Still, how could he know that Luke wasn’t ready for a relationship and could hurt Dani?

  Derrick crossed his arms. “Pretending you won’t hurt her isn’t going to make me like you any better.”

  “Look,” Luke said, stepping closer. “I don’t care if you like me, but I want you to know it’s not my intention to hurt her.”

  “She tell you about Paul?”

  “Yes.”

  Derrick fisted a hand as if Dani’s telling Luke made him mad. “Then you know where she’s most vulnerable.”

  Luke carefully nodded and waited for Derrick to go on. He shoved his hands into his pockets. “See that you don’t exploit it.”

  Luke’s chest tightened from having his honor called into question, but he wouldn’t back down. “Do you really think I’m that unethical?”

  Derrick squinted at Luke, appraising him. “Not on the surface, no. Dani would never fall for a guy who didn’t at least portray himself as an honorable guy.”

  “But you think I’m a snake in the grass like Paul.”

  Derrick flashed a cold smile. “Could be. Only time will tell.”

  Luke studied Derrick for a long moment. He was reacting with more emotion than Dani ever had. “I think you have more of a problem over what happened with Paul than Dani has.”

  “You could be right. But she’s my sister, man. No one messes with a guy’s sister.” His lips pinched in a pained expression.

  Luke held up his hands. “Hey, I get it. I have a sister of my own.”

  “Then if you really are honorable, I can count on you not to treat my sister any differently than you’d want a guy to treat yours.”

  Despite Derrick’s ongoing contempt for Luke, he respected him for defending his sister. “You’re an okay guy, you know that?”

  “Don’t make me prove otherwise.” Derrick turned his back and marched out of the room.

  Luke got where Derrick was coming from. He’d do the same thing for Natalie if he felt it needed doing. Problem was, he wasn’t the guy he’d just tried to convince Derrick he was. He was the love ’em and leave ’em kind of guy right now. Unless...unless he finally managed to get his father’s judgment and condemnation out of his head.

  Right, Baldwin. Good luck with that.

  He wanted to be optimistic. Wanted to move forward with Dani, but years of trying to rid his brain of his father and failing said it was about as likely to happen as Echo walking through the door and turning himself in.

  * * *

  Dani tried her best to concentrate on Crypton, but she couldn’t do it. Echo had hacked Luke’s phone, and that bothered her more than many of the other things he’d done. She could handle putting herself in danger, but not someone she cared about.

  So that’s it, then—you care about Luke. More than you want to admit.

  She snorted at her mind’s misguided take on Luke.

  “What’s so funny?” Tim asked from across the table.

  “Nothing,” she answered quickly.

  Tim sat back in his chair and ran his fingers down his goatee. “You seem distracted today.”

  “I’m sorry. I know how important finishing this review is to SatCom’s future.”

  “Yeah, it’s
that, but I...” He shrugged.

  “You what?”

  “I’m kinda worried about you.” He met her gaze head-on, which was odd for him, and she could see interest burning in his eyes.

  No, oh, no. Not this.

  She’d had her fair share of unwelcome advances over the years and was adept at fending them off, but it usually resulted in hurt feelings. She couldn’t add Tim’s hurt feelings to everything else that was going on right now. Her best bet was to pretend she didn’t see it.

  “No need to worry. My family has everything under control.” She smiled broadly. “The clock’s ticking, so let’s get back to work.”

  His face fell and she quickly looked down at her computer so he wouldn’t think she’d seen it.

  “Tell me about the change in coding on line 85,” she said, though she had no questions about the change.

  He launched into his reasoning for making the change and she nodded but kept her eyes glued to the monitor as she processed his feelings.

  She’d instantly rejected him because there was no spark between them—at least not on her part—but would dating him be such a bad thing? He shared her interests, and though she’d spent limited time with him, she could tell he was a nice guy. Hardworking. Determined and committed to his job, yet laid-back and considerate. Not bossy like Luke.

  Dani flashed a quick look at Luke, who sat behind his desk.

  If she’d avoided him as she’d just done with Tim, Luke would never have given up. He’d have kept pushing and prodding until she spilled her guts.

  She risked a peek at Tim. His head was bent over his keyboard. He was a good-looking guy, in a geeky kind of way. He wore basic T-shirts, jeans and sneakers. A little rumpled but clean and well groomed.

  His phone rang, and his head popped up. She quickly looked back at her own computer. Still, she felt his eyes on her as he talked with a staff member about a potential problem.

  She heard his chair scrape back and saw him stand. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”