The problems inherent in such a decision on his part had her stomach tightening with dread. The team had already lost Isabelle due to her relationship with Malachi and her vow to never reveal what she had been a part of to anyone, especially a lover or husband outside the network.
The fact that Malachi was outside the network and not approved to be privy to that information had hurt them all. It was a decision no one on the team could make though, and permission had yet to be offered.
As they reached the table, Liza made her next decision quickly without taking the time to consider the repercussions of it.
“I’m going home,” she told them, feeling Stygian stiffen beside her.
Cullen, Steven, Reever and Klah all turned accusing stares on Stygian.
“Yeah, I think I’ll head back too.” Chelsea rose to her feet and pulled her purse from the floor. “Are you riding with me?” She looked up at Stygian with a grin. “Or with him?”
“You.” Jerking her light blazer from the back of her chair, she thanked God Chelsea had made her own quick decision.
“Then I guess I’m heading back too, because I came with them.” Claire joined them, moving from her chair and collecting her purse and light jacket. She too was dressed in the clothes she’d worn to work that morning: a light cotton blouse and slim, sedate skirt.
God was smiling on Liza.
“We’ll follow you home.” Steven nodded and the four men rose as well.
Beside her, she swore Stygian chuckled.
She was certain of it as his head lowered. “Very, very good,” he murmured at her ear. “You surprised me.”
It sounded as though he was rarely surprised.
“Good night, Mr. Black,” she said.
“Good night, Ms. Johnson.” Nodding, he stepped back and seconds later disappeared into the press of bodies as he made his way to the exit.
“This isn’t good,” Klah stated softly.
Liza glanced at the dark Navajo, seeing the nearly black eyes and the anger burning within.
Klah was their logistics and planning guru. There were times when his instincts were so strong that the other members of the team swore he was psychic.
“But perhaps not bad.” She shrugged. “He can’t know anything either way. He’s just—” She trailed off, shaking her head.
“Just horny?” Chelsea suggested teasingly. “Honey, that Breed is damned interested and damned certain you’re just as hot for him.”
“She’s not,” Klah snapped as he and the other men surrounded them as they began moving for the exit themselves.
“Reever, take first watch on the girls’ house,” Cullen ordered, ignoring Klah’s exclamation. “Steven, you have second, and Klah will take third. I have duty the next three days, but I can pull members of the other teams in the area to cover them until this situation is resolved.”
“That could be why someone seems to be stalking us,” Liza suggested as they left the club. “Someone could be using the Breeds’ presence here to draw out as many members as possible and get information on the network rather than anything else.”
“That’s always possible,” Cullen agreed. “But I’d rather ensure your, Claire’s and Chelsea’s safety.”
“Don’t pull from the network,” Liza suggested. “We have enough friends who are members of the military or law enforcement who could fill in. I’d rather not risk the identities of the teams involved in relocation. We’re the only team not involved in that phase.”
And team members rarely had the identities of other team members. It was a safeguard, a precaution in case one was caught. Or in case a member became greedy and decided to sell information to the Genetics Council.
It had happened only once in all the decades of the Navajo Underground Network. But if it had happened once, it could happen again.
“We’ll see what we can do,” Cullen answered without giving an indication of whether he agreed or not.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her opinion, she told herself. She, Claire and Chelsea were junior members of the group, and in ways, still in training.
As they reached the car, Liza gave in to curiosity and glanced around the parking lot. She couldn’t see Stygian, but she was certain he was there. He wasn’t a man—a Breed—who would give up easily.