Tempest - Kris Michaels Page 0,69

Pilar a lesson, but would she eliminate her own flesh and blood?

"Regina Grantham lash out?" Pilar cocked her head and then shrugged. "Maybe. I've seen it once or twice, but she needs me. I'm a pawn on her board." She snuggled down next to him. "Can we talk on the email account?"

"If you need to get information to me, it would be the best bet. You'll need to keep your head down, at least for the next week or two. Guardian is working on tying up all the loose ends. If you need help, activate your phone case. I'll have someone monitoring it. I'll come for you when all of this is done."

She leaned down and kissed him. "I'll hold you to it." Pilar sighed and shook her head. "You know, there is a part of me which hopes she'll be exonerated and everything I've questioned is wrong."

"She's your mother. Of course, you'd want her to be innocent." He went back to drawing circles on her back.

Pilar's voice drifted up to him sometime later, soft and sleepy. "Luke?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"She's not innocent."

"I know." He dropped a kiss on her hair and stared at the ceiling.

Chapter 21

"Where are we headed, boss?" Travis asked as the ship moored at the pier.

"We don't go anywhere until the lady is off the boat, and we have night to cover our exit."

"Of course. Do you think she's being watched?"

"I do." He gazed through the darkly tinted windows of the main cabin. The languid pace of the strolling people along the pier didn't give him any peace of mind. He hated the fact she'd been forced to go back to that damn house and under her mother's observation once again.

"Do you have a team or someone who can keep an eye on her while we're working?" Travis leaned back in one of the white leather chairs and glanced down the hall when his men's laughter echoed from the galley.

"Putting a tail on her would cause problems if they were discovered." Her mother could be guaranteed to watch her closely for the next week or so. Her spur of the moment trip and the death of one of the Fates couldn't be connected, yet the coincidence would be there. How tight the surveillance of Pilar would be depended on how much of a paranoid bitch her mother had become with the death of one of her... hell what was she, a coworker? Fellow world dominatrix, evil bitch of the East? Whatever. He had a way to track her.

He assumed her mother would too, once Pilar left the boat. He glanced at the team skipper. "How long have you been doing this?"

Travis glanced up at him and shrugged. "I joined up and served. Did two tours, most of it in the Middle East." The man's eyes clouded. "I was approached when I got out by a recruiter for Guardian. I signed on and haven't looked back."

"That good?" The itch to know what the other side of the business looked and felt like was new for him.

Travis drew a breath and nodded his head. "Yeah. I have a permanent team here. No one is rotating on or off every six months. We know each other and are closer than family. The training and equipment are top-notch, and you can't beat the pay. "

"Do you miss family time?"

"Ha! Well if I had a family, then yeah, it might be an issue. We are deployable assets, you know? Ricco has a steady girlfriend, and they're serious, but they work at it. He calls when he can, and they email when he can find a secure server. The rest of us aren't locked in on any single lady. This line of employment can be hard on a relationship, but I know guys who are married and still work in the business. Usually their partners have busy careers too. The ones who sit at home waiting are the ones who are distressed when a mission goes long, or we get pulled to deploy. Those who have a life outside the couple seem to do better."

"Sounds like you've been taking note. What's stopping you?" Tempest watched a white limo pull up at the end of the pier. Pilar's transportation home.

"I have been observing. Human nature is a curiosity to me, and as far as what's stopping me, well it's the right woman. So far I haven't found anyone who can put up with me." A laugh followed. "Looks like you got yourself one hell of