Marine's Mission - Rebecca Deel Page 0,14
felt, he could table the discussion until later. Not a wise move, though. He didn’t want to lie to her or build their relationship on a false premise. “Fortress protects its own.”
She was silent a moment. “Your work for them might follow you home.”
His stomach knotted. Would she rethink a personal relationship with him? Man, he hoped not. Owen didn’t want to lose her. “My work as a cop might follow me home, too. The Rocking M isn’t off the grid. Anyone who wants to find me bad enough will know where I am. All I can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Driving this SUV when I’m not on duty as a deputy is part of the preparation.”
“There are other protections in place?”
He nodded, not about to tell her of the two GPS trackers embedded under his skin in case something went wrong on a mission and Fortress needed to extract him from enemy hands. “We also have encrypted phones that switch from a cell phone to a satellite phone with the push of a button. They have techs constantly running Internet scans for threats against Fortress employees and their families.”
“What happens if something pops up on the scan?”
“Fortress will notify us and track the source of the threat.” He wanted to keep in touch with Gigi when he was deployed, but her cell phone wasn’t encrypted which made it a security risk. If he wanted to communicate with her while deployed, and he definitely did, Owen would have to do something about the problem.
Zane Murphy, the Fortress tech wizard, might have some ideas. Many Fortress employees had families, including Brent Maddox, the CEO. The boss must have a safe way to contact his wife and daughter while he was away from home.
Owen wrapped his hand around Gigi’s and squeezed before returning his hand to the wheel. “Are you going to let my culinary efforts go to waste?”
“I suppose I shouldn’t. You might not cook for me again.”
He snorted. “No one would accuse me of being a cook. Mrs. Grady despaired of turning me into a chef. I burned more food than not when she tried to teach me culinary survival skills. I’m a champion grill master, though. I make killer hamburgers, hot dogs, and steaks with baked potatoes.”
Gigi laughed as she opened the bag with the toast. “You are a talented griller,” she agreed. “I’ve benefited from your gilling skill many times. Your brothers aren’t slouches in the grilling department, either.” She bit into the first slice of toast.
“Don’t tell them that. They have big enough egos as it is.”
“And you don’t?”
“Of course not. I’m simply stating a fact, not bragging about my grilling prowess.” He sent a grin her way as she laughed again.
He followed his brother back to Highway 96. When they passed the site of Gigi’s accident, the search teams spread out on both sides of the highway were a jarring reminder that a woman’s life was at stake and so was her baby’s. The longer Toni was missing, the greater the chance he and his brothers wouldn’t find her in time to save her life.
“Where is she?” Gigi whispered.
“We’ll find her.” He tapped the to-go mug of tea. “Sip that and tell me how I did.”
“How can you mess up tea?”
“I don’t know anything about herbal tea. I can make a pot of coffee with the best of them, but tea? That’s out of my skill set.”
A moment later, she said, “The tea’s perfect.”
Owen gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. “At least I passed that test.” Thirty minutes later, he turned right into Hawthorne’s nearly empty parking lot.
Elliot leaned against his SUV which was parked a few spots away from Toni’s disabled car. His eyebrows rose when he saw Gigi with Owen.
“Wait for me to come around,” Owen said. Although he doubted the man who took Toni was still around, Owen wanted to be in a position to protect her. When he opened her door, Gigi’s gaze was fixed on the truck. “Do you recognize it?”
She blinked and drew in a shuddering breath. Her gaze shifted to him. “Maybe. How many black trucks are on the roads these days?”
“Quite a few. One of the major industries in Morgan County is ranching. Our ranch uses black pickups.” He grabbed two pairs of thin rubber gloves from his glove box and handed one set to Gigi. “Put these on, and let’s take a look.”
Owen scooped Gigi into his arms and set