Page 10 of Marked

By this point, our entire team, plus Henley and Jade were at our side.

“We want to put you in protective custody. Just for a little while,” Hendricks admitted quickly.

“No way.” Lanie shook her head. “I’m a federal agent. I can protect myself.”

“Are you willing to bet your friends’ lives on that notion?” Harty added.

This bitch was pissing me off. Who the hell did she think she was dealing with? Yes, the Russians were known to go after those closest to their target in order to draw them out, but we were the goddamn FBI, not a bunch of civilians. We could protect our own.

“I’ll disappear. Go somewhere no one would ever dream of looking for me,” Lanie conceded.

A million and one scenarios ran through my mind, each with the same conclusion.

Not the fuck without me!

Spinning her around to face me, I gripped her upper arms. “I’m going with you.”

“You sure about that,friend?”

I dipped my chin, staring deep into her challenge-filled eyes. “Positive.”

“If you insist.”

“I do.”

“Then we’ve got a hefty drive ahead of us.”

She skirted around me and straight into the waiting arms of her two best friends.

“I don’t like this,” Keaton grumbled.

“Neither do I.” Koen crossed his arms over his chest.

“You all need to figure out a way to remove the target from her back. She and I won’t come back until the threat is eliminated.”

“I’ll talk to my contacts at Homeland,” Duncan offered, speaking for the first time since the DEA agents interrupted our evening. “Plus, we’ve got Nelson. He’s the best damn hacker the government employs.”

“Any other cases we’ve been investigating don’t exist anymore,” Waverly chimed in. “Lanie is priority number one.”

We all nodded in agreement.

“As soon as Huntington is in your rearview mirror, get a burner,” she continued. “I’ll speak with Lanie before you leave, but as your RAC, I’ll be the only one who’ll know your exact location. It’s safer this way. I want daily check-ins at four o’clock sharp, Mountain Time, not a minute after. You get me?”

Waverly Mitchell was a force to be reckoned with on a good day. You put one of her agents in danger and she became an F-5 tornado. And we wereheragents, no question about it. She’d fight beside us and for us like a mama bear protecting her cubs.

“Loud and clear.”

We quickly said our goodbyes, leaving the reception within fifteen minutes of finding out the Russians were after Lanie. I had zero clue where we were headed and her amused, “You’ll see,” when I asked did not invoke warm and fuzzy feelings.

My place was situated on the opposite side of town, which was why we chose to go there first. Strangely enough, Lanie had only been there twice in all the years I’d known her, and both times had been before the renovations were completed.

The drive was notably quiet. She was presumably lost in her head, while my eyes scanned our surroundings to ensure we weren’t being followed. Thankfully, there’d only been a brief squabble as to whose vehicle we’d be taking on our little adventure. My Jeep Wrangler 4Xe was built for all-terrain, while her Nissan Rogue was not. Besides the fact she’d left her SUV at Jade’s house. Add in my promise to let her drive for a while, she capitulated rather quickly.

When I bought the small cabin in the woods six years ago, the term fixer-upper had been a huge understatement. The entire thing had to be gutted and practically rebuilt from scratch. I’d made the purchase more for the surrounding acreage since it catered to the sense of peace I craved; something living in the city would never have been able to afford me.

Since then, I’d added a second story, a wraparound porch, and a two-car detached garage on the side. Most of the work I’d done with my own two hands, though I did have to contract the plumbing and electrical work out.

“Holy shit, Noah,” she whistled as we pulled into the circular driveway. “You did all this?”

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