You don’t mention you’re with us and if necessary you straight-out lie and say you’re not with us.”
I could agree to those. I hadn’t planned on being stupid and using an unsecured internet connection. I’d already learned that particular lesson the hard way.
“And the third?”
“This one is nonnegotiable, Evette. I want you to promise me that the second I feel it is unsafe for us to stay here, you leave with me.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to argue, to remind him I was not going to run from the problems I’d created. But the words died on my tongue when Gabe’s face softened and something that looked like fear crept into his eyes.
“Please, honey, promise me.”
It might’ve been the ‘please’ that did it. Or maybe it was Gabe calling me ‘honey.’ But mostly it was the way Gabe was looking at me that had me agreeing.
“Okay. I promise.”
I knew I made the right decision when the fear went out of his stare and relief washed in.
“Thank you.”
There it was again—gratitude. When I should’ve been the one grateful that he wanted to take care of me. Who was I kidding? Gabe didn’t want to do anything, he was simply doing it. Protecting me around every turn, even when I made it hard for him.
“Is there anything in the reports that’s worthwhile?” I asked.
“Nope. Cooper asked Garrett to look at the GPS and onboard Wi-Fi in Lawson’s car.”
“Now that Forrest Lawson is dead do you think Abrams will send someone new?”
“Yes. But just to say, we haven’t proved Abrams is involved. Not fully. With that said, I don’t doubt whoever hired Forrest Lawson has hired someone new and I don’t wanna scare you but you have to be diligent, they won’t fuck around this time.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, Lawson was a hack. He had four tries to take you out and failed.”
Gabe’s gaze flicked to Cooper then back to me and once again something that looked akin to unease stole over his face. His arm around my back became a steel bar.
“My gut’s telling me there’s more to this than lease deals in foreign countries. Bigger than minerals and strip-mining. We’re looking into that angle but we’re missing something.”
“Like what?” I asked even though the grave look on Gabe’s face told me I didn’t want to know.
“I’m not sure. We have three lease requests. Timor-Leste, Croatia, and El Salvador. Tex and Garrett are both looking into it; maybe they’ll find something that connects all three. Give us a better understanding of what’s going on.”
Something tickled the back of my brain. Almost like I should remember something about El Salvador but I couldn’t place what. Tomorrow I’d look through my research notes but there was no use thinking about it now.
“Tex is the best at what he does, Evette. If there’s something to find he’ll find it.”
“Tex is the best, not Garrett?” I teased, trying to relieve some of the tension.
“Garrett is excellent. He can hack any system, he can write any piece of software that we need. But Tex is the best digital investigator out there. No one is better at putting the puzzle together.”
“Garrett writes software?”
That was impressive.
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“G2, the backup software you use?”
“What about it?”
“That’s Garrett. He designed the program.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. He wrote the software and sold it. Made a mint off that sale. Correction, we made a fortune off the sale.”
“Who’s we?”
“That’s a bedtime story,” Gabe said with a smile.
“Are you trying to lure me into bed using my nosiness as bait?”
“Sadly, with Cooper still in the room that is what I’ve been reduced to. A man who has to dangle a juicy tale in front of a woman to get her to go to bed with me.”
“You do you, brother, but I would’ve tossed her over my shoulder ten minutes ago and hauled her ass into the bedroom if I were you. Instead, you wasted a bunch of time on nothing,” Cooper put in. “But then I’m more of an action man. And less talk means more action.”
“Do you have a woman?” I asked Cooper.
“Nope.”
“So basically you’re a one-man action show?”
There was a beat of silence before Gabe’s body started shaking, then his shaking turned into audible laughter. After that, he shoved his face into my neck.
Something big was swelling up inside of me. Surrounded by Gabe, feeling—actually feeling—his happiness had me swallowing back emotions I shouldn’t be having.
I want this.
Gabe holding me while laughing, knowing I was the one who