Dangerously Involved

by Sidney Bristol

  “That doesn’t answer my question.” Dad leaned forward.

  “You can’t fire us,” Grant said over Melody.

  For the first time Melody’s veneer cracked a bit and Yvonne imagined the woman was grinding her molars.

  “Look.” It was Grant’s turn to lean forward. “What we are concerned about is protecting your family and minimizing all negative coverage that might come your way. Now, I’d think our performance to date would prove that. All we want to do is our job, and to do that we need a little transparency. We need to know what we’re dealing with.”

  “You don’t honestly believe what you’re saying, do you?” Theodore tilted his head to the side. “Don’t get me wrong, we’re all grateful for what you’ve done, but you have to see it from our side. You’re hired muscle the government has attached to us. The events leading up to our brother being returned to us were...questionable.”

  “We do understand, Mr. Krieger,” Melody said before Grant could speak.

  “Japanese law enforcement hasn’t so much as blinked in your direction because of us,” Grant said. “They’re too busy looking at Yakuza and Lyme to consider anyone else was involved. I’d think the fact that we found your son bound, gagged, surrounded by dead people and a literally smoking gun would prove to you that all we want to do is our job.”

  “And what is that? What would you do for my family?” Dad asked.

  Yvonne slid down a little in her chair.

  “The way I see it, you have two additional threats on top of the kidnapping. Before, we were preventative. A just in case assignment. Now, you’ve got this additional heat.” Grant jabbed a finger at the table. “We need to be proactive in dealing with this before they come to us.”

  “No.” Dad picked up a pen.

  Yvonne glanced at Melody who had to be fuming, but none of that showed on the outside.

  “As you have said, no one has connected us. We will see that our security measures are increased and the family will remain here until this blows over. Too many mistakes are made trying to get ahead of things.” Dad’s gaze slid over to Douglas, who had the good sense to not acknowledge their father in that moment.

  This wasn’t going to go well.

  Dad’s had a strong sense of right and wrong. Left to his own decisions, Douglas would face the consequences. But then there was Mom and she would do whatever she thought she had to if it meant protecting her boys. They were all on the same side, but they couldn’t see it.

  “It sounds to me like we’re at an impasse.” Yvonne heard herself speaking. Why was she speaking? Oh, right, because she couldn’t stop being the responsible one if she tried. “The Aegis team is going to continue doing their job. We are going to continue to handle things our way. I believe we can work out a way for these two to co-exist once everyone has assessed the situation.”

  “What do you propose?” Melody asked.

  “My family has some catching up to do, so I will show you where your team may set up and where they can stay.” This also served Yvonne’s purposes of getting out of here. All of her hopes of going home were squashed.

  “Very well,” Dad said with a flick of his fingers.

  “Thank you for your time, Mr. Krieger.” Melody pushed her chair back and stood.

  Yvonne purposefully didn’t look at anyone. She pulled out her phone as she stood to leave.

  If her parents had their way, the security team would be relegated to the guest house. Dad was closing ranks. He’d push anyone who didn’t belong to the outskirts. They’d done this any number of times when Douglas or Theodore messed up. Except this time it was different. Everything was different.

  She joined Melody and Grant in the hall. Neither said anything but the way they were glaring at each other spoke volumes.

  “I’m going to set you up in the study.” Yvonne strode past them. “We should do this quick.”

  Mom would no doubt take offense to the security team setting up there, but there wasn’t another suitably located room without inconveniencing anyone else.

  “You round everyone up.” Melody turned and followed Yvonne. “This is quite the home your family has.”

  “Thanks.” I hate it. “Obviously no one in my family is keen on having your people around. If you’re going to be able to do your job at all, you’re going to want to employ whatever resources you can that’ll keep you out of the way.”

  “We should have everything we need to be completely unseen. We really do just want to do our jobs.”

  “I know that, but it doesn’t change the fact that you answer to someone else.” Yvonne pushed the doors open for the others. “Here’s the study.”

  Melody stepped into the room, turning in a half circle to take it in.

  Grant merely nodded. “I’ll get the guys.”

  Yvonne wanted to slip upstairs and hide, but she didn’t.

  Melody pivoted toward her after a moment of listening to Grant’s fading footsteps. Her too perceptive eyes saw too deep. “Feeling better?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “Is there anything I can help you with?” she asked slowly. She had to know this was thin ice.

  “No.” Yvonne smiled. She wasn’t ready to truly know. At this point the truth would only make things worse. It was best to wait.

  Melody studied her for a moment, but didn’t say anything as the sound of many footsteps and hushed masculine voices drifted toward them.

  Douglas came first, then Yvonne would sort out her own life.

  “Here we are.” Grant stepped through the door, followed by the four large men, each carrying two huge duffle bags. “I want eyes on the grounds before nightfall.”

  Her gaze went to where Nolan was bent over a laptop on a bit of available desk space, intent and focused on the task at hand. She felt better knowing he was there.

  “If you don’t need anything else, I’m going to go freshen up?” Yvonne glanced at Melody.

  “We should be fine.” Melody glanced around the room. “Grant and I will take as few liberties as we need to in terms of setting up surveillance of the property. Our focus will be staying out of the way.”

  “If you need anything, just call.”

  With that, Yvonne ducked out of the room.

  The tidal wave of problems crashing down on them would be solved by other people. Not her. She couldn’t do it all, and that was worth remembering.

  “Yvonne? Yvonne, wait up.”

  Her feet froze to the spot as Nolan took the stairs two at a time, stopping just as he reached her. They were on eye level, hard to do with their height difference.

  “Something I can help you with?” she asked.

  His dark green eyes roved over her face. She prayed he didn’t see the cracks or that all she wanted was for him to hold her.

  “I still think we should clear the air, but if you’d rather not, I’ll respect that.”

  Yvonne swallowed. She knew what the safe thing to do was, what the responsible part of her dictated she must do. But she didn’t want that.

  “Thank you,” she said despite the dryness of her mouth.

  Nolan’s gaze ripped through her. His hand on the banister slid up until his fingers covered hers. “You know where I’ll be.”

  “Yo, Nolan?”

  He whirled. “Yeah?”

  She blew out a breath, the men’s voices melding together. Nolan paused at the foot of the stairs and glanced up at her. He’d keep pushing if she didn’t erect a wall between them. Too bad her resolve to stay away from him was crumbling.

  MONDAY. WASHINGTON, DC.

  This was a shit storm.

  Lee flipped through the news articles from Japan. He didn’t know anything for sure—yet—but he’d be willing to bet money that the screw up kid Krieger was involved. It was too coincidental that someone got shot nearby and the family just up and left with no reason. Lee didn’t know the particulars, and he didn’t have to.

  His job was now ten times more difficult.

  Pl
enty of people wanted to get their hands on the Kriegers. Including Lee. But his goals were simple: he wanted to get paid.

  If that was going to happen he had to figure out how to pick off one of the family. It would be easier if his client would allow him to go a more direct path, like kidnapping or blackmailing one of the people who’d written the code for the software. But this wasn’t just about cracking the digital wall around the US government; it was about making a God damn statement. And for that he’d need a Krieger.

  Lee tossed his phone on the passenger seat then started his car. He’d do a drive by of the Krieger property, change cars then meet up with his team. They should know more about why the Kriegers had left by then. There was a chance he could use this mess from Japan to his benefit.

  If the family was focused on making that problem go away, they might not notice him.

  He’d get the job done. He always did.

  6.

  Monday. Grimaldi Place, Chevy Chase, MD.

  Nolan studied picture after picture lining the shelves in the office that was almost as big as his whole apartment back in Seattle. Each new shelf of photographs made his stomach sink lower and lower and lower.

  The pictures went back generations the further from the door he went. He wasn’t sure why he was still looking. He’d seen the ones that mattered and understood the significance of what he saw.

  Despite this home belonging to Yvonne’s parents, there were hardly any pictures of her or her brothers. And the only ones including Yvonne were as an adult in some business capacity. The other photos were of smiling faces pool side or riding ponies. Yvonne never had that carefree look on her face these other children had. In fact, in all but one picture of her she was off to the side while her brothers were front and center.

  On the plane she’d said her father was disappointed in her and that he wouldn’t understand.

  He was beginning to grasp the significance of disappointment.

  That first day in Kyoto Nolan hadn’t been quite sure what to make of Yvonne. She’d been uptight, controlled, laser focused. Because that was who she had to be in this world.

  He’d watched through the window her reception with her family. He’d seen how her brothers treated her.

  Yvonne was born into this family but she didn’t occupy an equal share of its heart. She worked hard because she had to if she was going to have a place here.

  God, Nolan’s fucked up family wasn’t this cruel. Sure, his mother blamed everyone else for her problems and his dad would probably die as a result of his alcoholism, but Nolan had never questioned whether or not his family loved him.

  Yvonne needed to live a little. Do something for herself. But no one had asked him and he would keep his opinions to himself. He was just her one-night stand, a fluke, something that shouldn’t have happened.

  Nolan grit his teeth.

  There were a lot of things that shouldn’t have happened. That night in Vegas didn’t rate on that list. It had been good, and she’d gone to sleep happy in his arms. But he fucked things up in the end like he always did.

  “You going to do some actual work?” Vaughn called out. He was missing his usual good cheer.

  “What do you need?” Nolan turned from the pictures.

  Vaughn was unpacking a laptop and old ammo boxes he’d converted into carrying systems for his mobile surveillance equipment.

  “We’re going to have to set up a lot of cameras. Think you and Riley could tag team that while I get us on-line?”

  Nolan glanced at Riley on the other side of the room talking to Grant. “Sure. Something wrong?”

  “This job.” Vaughn gripped the edge of the desk. “This spoiled brat of a kid, man.”

  “He isn’t the job. They are the job.” Nolan pointed at a staged family photograph.

  “I know.” Vaughn shoved his hand back through his hair.

  Nolan studied the other man. “Something happen with your brother?”

  “Who the fuck knows?” Vaughn turned around, eyes shut. He stood there for a moment before answering in a calmer voice. “Mom called, said she found one of my brother’s stashes. She’s scared he’s selling.”

  “Shit.” Nolan grimaced.

  “I’ll put a cork in it. Go. Get your sorry ass to work.”

  “Copy that.”

  Nolan picked up the ammo boxes and set them on the floor, helping clear a little more desk space. He got Vaughn’s frustration. Nolan’s brother had been the darling of their family, too. Before he died. Vaughn’s little brother was one train wreck after another. It was hard to not wonder of either of their situations might be different if they had the same money and resources as Douglas Krieger.

  But that wasn’t the job.

  They didn’t have to like the people they were hired to protect.

  Besides, Douglas wasn’t their only asset to protect. There was the rest of the family. Nolan might not like the lot of them, but he could stomach the job if he thought of it in those terms.

  Vaughn rounded up Riley and Nolan, gave them a map of the grounds and the equipment then sent them on their way.

  The outside of the old family home looked like it should be in one of those Victorian, old timey shows with women in long dresses and a lot of standing around doing nothing.

  “What do you think of all this?” Nolan asked Riley as they trudged through the grass to the fence circling the property.

  “I think we’re going to be here a while.” Riley grimaced. “Erin’s not going to like that.”

  “Haven’t seen her lately. She doing okay?”

  “Yeah.” Riley’s voice went up, and he smiled. “She’s visiting her family this week, then she’s got a few new jobs lined up. I imagine she’ll head home and hole up there until I get back.”

  “Translating jobs?”

  “Yeah. She’s working with some group that wants to do educational videos for kids in Arabic. She’s really finding niche in education translation.”

  “Awesome. Good for her.”

  “Makes her feel like she’s still doing something good while living here.” Riley grimaced.

  Nolan didn’t offer further comment. Erin had made herself something of a target following her kidnapping. She couldn’t return to the Middle East without endangering her life, so she’d had to find a new path.

  Riley and Nolan began the long process of hooking up cameras. Normally they were dealing with a small property. Not this time. The property had a two thousand square foot garage, a fourteen thousand square foot house and a guest house that had to be at least three thousand square feet. It was a lot of ground to secure, especially when their assets weren’t interested in cooperating.

  The family was still locked up with the lawyers. No one had mentioned seeing Yvonne since earlier. With any luck she was resting or taking it easy.

  Yeah right.

  What little he knew of her told him she was working.

  Several hours later he and Riley had secured cameras on dozens of different points around the house and got the system online. They had as many eyes on the property as they could get.

  Heading toward the rear of the house, Nolan caught sight of the sun glinting off caramel colored hair.

  Yvonne had her laptop, and a book set up by the pool. She’d changed, but even her casual clothes looked polished.

  “She shouldn’t be sitting out like that.” Riley glanced left then right, checking sight lines.

  Nolan changed directions before Riley could. “I’ll go suggest she relocate.”

  “See you inside.”

  Nolan wasn’t sure if he was glad Riley hadn’t challenged the offer. Maybe the others still saw Yvonne as his assignment. This was Nolan’s chance to slide her to someone else, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that. Not when he’d begun to understand her.

  Yvonne’s head lifted and despite the sunglasses shielding her eyes, he felt her stare on him as he approached.

  They’d talked a bit during the flights and seemed to hav
e come to a truce. He could only hope that held. Right now this job felt like they were fighting on two sides.

  “Are we safe?” Yvonne tipped her chin up.

  “Safe enough for now.” He thumbed at the fence. “We’ve got a couple dozen cameras keeping watch on the grounds.”

  “I see.”

  “It’s probably not a good idea to be out here after what happened...”

  Yvonne tensed. It was barely perceptible. If he hadn’t made a study of her, he probably wouldn’t have noticed.

  “I hadn’t—I didn’t—”

  “You’re not used to this.” He leaned on the lounge chair next to her.

  “I’ll go inside.”

  Why did he feel as though he’d just deflated a kid’s balloon?

  “Want a hand?” he asked.

  “No, I’ve got it.” She closed her laptop and stacked a binder and book on top.

  Nolan could move on, but he didn’t want to. “Your family still talking?

  “Yes.” She didn’t hide her grimace from him.

  “Something wrong?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” She straightened to her full height, all of five foot five without shoes, and stretched.

  Nolan considered his answer before he spoke. They needed at least one friend here. “Considering we still don’t know what we pulled your brother out of, no.”

  She dropped her arms and stared at him, those damn sunglasses hiding half her face. “I don’t know if I said thank you for that or not. Thank you.”

  “Just doing my job. Glad we were there.”

  “I can’t tell you what you want to know.” She pushed the sunglasses up and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “This whole thing is...”

  Nolan watched her. He was truly beginning to understand her.

  They were both the responsible sibling. The one who took care of things.

  She’d loosened up for one night to have some fun, and he’d unintentionally given her more to shoulder.

  “Yvonne?” Nolan straightened and took a step toward her. He was sweaty and gross, but he wanted to be closer to her. “We’re going to do our job no matter what your family chooses to tell us. You’re going to be safe. End of story.”