message center. I let them know I’m on my way in, using the outpost’s code, and the message gets relayed to the outpost.”
“You guys are almost as good James Bond.”
He picked up a pen in the console. “But this pen is just a pen.”
They’d fallen back into their teasing banter, and she’d taken a break from accusing him of abandonment every ten minutes. Progress. Now how could they get from here to forever after?
Several minutes later his cell phone buzzed and he checked the display. “Confirmation.”
“So they know we’re on our way and will be rolling out the red carpet?”
“They’ll be expecting us, anyway. They know you’re with me and maybe can start working on relocating you and Gavin to a safe place.”
Jenna sighed and he held his breath, but she didn’t respond further. Did she really believe she and Gavin would be safer on their own without Prospero behind them?
Maybe not on their own, but safer with me.
The thought slammed against his brain. He knew he could keep his family safe, and he owed it to them. Jenna may have stopped blaming him for running out on her and Gavin, but he hadn’t stopped blaming himself.
Was he putting them in jeopardy again by dumping them off on Prospero? It felt as if he was abdicating his responsibility.
Cade shook his head. Emotion could cloud your judgment. The nameless, faceless techs and analysts with Prospero would be able to make the right decisions based on facts.
Jenna touched his arm. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?”
Before he could answer, his phone buzzed again. He squinted at the display. “It’s Jared.”
“Jared Douglas from your team?”
“The one and only.” He answered the call because he’d answer any call, any time from J.D., Gage or Deb. “Hey, I heard you were out of the country.”
Jared’s voice crackled over the line. “I am. I saw your message come through. You’re on your way to the Arizona outpost with your family?”
“Yep.” Cade punched the button for the speakerphone. Jenna had more at stake than he did and deserved to know everything.
“Give my best to Jenna.”
“Do it yourself. You’re on speaker.”
“Hey, darlin’. Do you still hate me?”
She rolled her eyes at Cade. “Nothing personal, J.D., but you spent more time with my husband than I did after we got married.”
He laughed. “Yeah, we had a sweet honeymoon in Afghanistan. But you can have him back.”
“Don’t provoke her, J.D. She’s not the same sweet girl she used to be.”
“I could’ve told you that. The minute I met her, I could tell that little filly was going to take you for a ride.”
“Okay, cut the cowboy act, J.D. I know you didn’t call just to hear my dulcet tones.”
“Just wanted to tell you, I heard from Gage recently. He’s following a lead on Zendaris.” The line hissed and buzzed as if for emphasis.
Gage Booker had been their other Prospero Three team member, along with the first female agent, Deb Sinclair. The four of them had been responsible for torpedoing Zendaris’s first big arms deal.
“How close is he, J.D.?” Cade reached over and squeezed Jenna’s fingers. “We need to bring him down now more than ever.”
Jared’s voice faded in and out. “Did you hear me? Gage is working on an informant, someone who worked for Zendaris in South America.”
“Does he have the informant in hand?”
Dead air met his question.
“J.D.? Does Gage have the informant?”
“Not yet.”
“He’d better get on it. We all know how quickly Zendaris’s former employees disappear.”
“Don’t I know it. Gage knows it, too. He’s treating this one with kid gloves.”
“The sooner we nail that SOB, the better for everyone.”
“Especially if those plans for the anti-drone fall into his hands again.” Jared coughed, or was it the phone again? “No word on the plans yet, huh?”
“Disappeared like one of Zendaris’s former employees.”
“I wonder why they haven’t...”
J.D.’s last words were garbled, but Cade filled in the blanks and his muscles tensed. “Are you accusing me of something, bro?”
Even through the static, Jared’s voice took on an edge. “You know me better than that. I’m just sayin’...”
“What? What are you saying?” His grip had tightened on Jenna’s fingers, and she squirmed out of his hold. “What are you trying to tell me, J.D.?”
“Watch...back. Zendaris...not...only one after...”
Chapter Eight
Jenna couldn’t breathe. J.D.’s words had left them hanging. The line had gone completely dead.
“What did he mean? What was he trying to say? Zendaris is not the only one after the plans or not the only one after you?”
“You heard as much