Page 63 of Secret Mission

“He was my personal security detail. A local man I hired. Not long ago, he went missing. Just didn’t come back. I didn’t know what happened to him. That was a few days before I came to find you.”

Beast looks over at me, a completely different look on his face.

This is it.

A piece falls into place in the fucked-up puzzle.

Allison’s guard was in our compound and stole Scout’s girl. But why?

“Go on, sweetheart. Can you tell us more?”

There’s pain in her tone as she slowly replies, “He said he was going to shake you guys from our trail.”

The combined energy washing off of Beast and my own tensing muscles is thick. With enough force to fill the entire truck cab with crackling tension.

Turning in my seat, I angle so I can grab Allison's hand. Wishing there was some way to give comfort for a conversation that’s not going to be easy.

“Did he say how he was going to do that?”

“No. And I didn’t ask.” The tears on her lashes grow thicker until one of them slips down. “I never thought he would hurt anyone.”

Every tear drives a spike across the space and into me.

“I’m sorry. We know you wouldn’t have had something to do with a bad person if you knew. Can you tell us about how you hired this guy?”

“My research partner, Fletcher, hired him. I don’t know how he found him. The guard was a local guy named Ronaldo. But my coworker left to go back to the states before I could ask him anything.”

Her voice trails off. For a beat, we’re all in our heads.

Sighing, she shifts, and her fingers flinch in my hold. “Maybe I didn’t ask. Or maybe it just didn’t seem important. That sounds terrible, but I can’t remember. I was struggling to accept the fact that my father had turned on me. So, it made sense to have a bodyguard. You know?”

What I know is that Allison has been surrounded by deceit, and she’s the victim here.

After brushing away another tear, she shudders. “I’m worried about Fletcher too because he hasn’t responded to any of my emails. It’s just not like him. We’ve been friends forever.”

Beast grimaces.

My teammates and I know why her research partner’s not answering her emails. The man was under an earthquake-rubble building the very first day our team arrived in Vandemora.

Beast mouth opens. “He is?—”

Oh, fuck no.

I hold up a hand before Beast can drop that bomb. “No. Pull over, man. Now.”

This is not how she’s going to find out that her coworker was transported to the States in a medical evacuation with him on life-support.

Our team-leader isn’t heartless, he just thinks like a man, and Allison doesn’t need to be one of the men right now.

When he continues to follow the ambulance, I drop my voice. “Pull. Over. I need to get in the back.”

He skids to a stop after giving me a puzzled look, and I leap from the Agile Security & Rescue Tundra and insert myself into the smaller back seat.

When I reach for Allison, she comes to me, crawling into my lap. “I’ve got you now, sweetheart. No matter what happens, I’ve got you.”

Chapter Twenty

Something wakes me. An awareness. A tingle causing my skin to goosebump.

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