Undercover Texas - By Robin Perini Page 0,53
the camper, as instructed. Hunter removed his gun from the back of his pants and set it on the seat next to Erin.
“Move over to the driver’s side. If something goes wrong, get out of here. Go to Blake and have him contact Logan. Understand?”
She gripped the weapon and scooted over as he exited the vehicle. “Don’t let anything happen, Hunter. Please.”
“No worries.” He gave her a quick wink. “We’ll be fine.”
He trusted Logan, but Hunter couldn’t ignore the tingling that had settled on the back of his neck. It had started the moment the team had attacked them at the Florida safe house. How had they known how to find them? The Zodiac assault on the Precious Memories had sent the feeling into overdrive. Now the warning signals hummed under his skin again.
“Halt. That’s far enough,” an electronic voice boomed through a sound system. “Who’s with you?”
“Scorpion,” Hunter said, providing her with the preagreed-upon code word.
“Stay where you are. I’ll come out.”
A small, attractive woman, her dark hair tied up in a topknot, emerged from the camper, an Uzi in her hand. “You Clay Griffin?”
So Logan had decided to use the alias. Good. One less person aware of his real identity. Hunter nodded and raised his hands in the air. “I’m unarmed.”
She shook her head. “And I’m Little Orphan Annie. In fact, just call me Annie. Don’t bother taking the knife out of your boot. I’m assuming you have a gun stashed somewhere, too.”
Hunter didn’t say a word.
“That’s what I thought. Good thing Logan vouched for you. I don’t like being lied to. Makes my trigger finger itchy.” She stood fifteen feet away, legs apart, her stance aggressive and ready. She nodded toward Erin and Brandon. “Those the two I need to finalize the documentation for?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know one was a baby. I’ll need two signatures for the passport—mother and father. You prepared for that?”
“Come up with a name, and I’ll sign,” Hunter said.
“Bring them inside.”
She turned and rounded the camper to the door. He opened the SUV and faced Erin. “Let’s do this.”
Erin gave a slight shiver, but when she looked at Hunter, it was with confidence. He respected her for that. He grabbed Brandon’s carrier and they walked around the trailer and mounted the steps.
When she entered, Erin gasped. Hunter didn’t blame her. Half the place looked like a high-tech wizard’s dream.
Annie stood in front of the camera. “Pictures first.” She pointed to Erin, then at the stool. “Sit. And no smiling.”
“I don’t feel much like it anyway,” Erin said, facing the lens.
“I hear you, sister.” Annie snapped five photos.
Erin’s countenance seemed sad and so very tired. Hunter wanted to hide her and Brandon away at the top of a mountain somewhere and take all their troubles away, promise them everything would be fine. But he couldn’t. A new life away from him was the only way he knew to protect them.
Annie stepped back from the camera. “Now the baby. Prop him up, but try to keep your hands out of the photo.” Brandon jabbered and grinned at Annie, and she chuckled for the first time since they’d arrived. Her smile revealed a hidden beauty she’d taken pains to conceal.
She looked up at Hunter. “He’s definitely your kid.”
Erin grabbed Brandon and stood. “How can you tell?”
“The hair, the eyes and those dimples. Mr. Serious here doesn’t smile that much, but when he watches you and thinks no one’s looking he gets a goofy grin on his face. Those dimples show up then.”
Heat flooded into Hunter’s face. He couldn’t believe he was so transparent.
Annie laughed. “Oh, don’t sweat it, Clay. I make my living studying people and faces. Now sit down.”
“You said you need my signature. You’re not taking my picture.”
“Sorry, but I need a fake identity for the kid’s father. No choice.”
Hunter paused for a moment, fighting his instinctive aversion to having his photo taken. The first rule of clandestine ops. No images. Whatsoever. It made you easier to find.
One glance at Erin and Brandon, though, and Hunter sat on the stool. As Annie said, there was no choice.
He would do anything for them, even if it turned out to cost him his life. Anytime. Anyplace.
Annie clicked the shutter. “I’ve chosen a name for you, Ransom Grainger. Like it?”
“Fine.”
He couldn’t take his gaze away from Erin. He wanted to soak in every curve, every line of her face. Each minute that passed ticked closer to the terrible moment when they’d have to say goodbye forever. That time