Page 38 of Resolution

The women looked up at me and smiled.

“I’ll be right back with the coffee,” I said, taking the tray with me as I listened to the two agents going over their credentials with Miguel. Back in the living room with the coffee, I perched on the arm of Miguel’s chair, and he put his hand on my knee in a very sweet and claiming gesture. I was pretty sure he was getting more comfortable with the PDAs and it almost made me smile. I knew the agents would take it in stride. If they’d read the file the FBI had assembled on this case, especially since they were providing protection for two men living in the same house, they could put two and two together.

“I hope you don’t mind guarding two gay men,” Miguel said, as if reading my mind. I wanted to pinch him because his tone could have been nicer.

Both agents smiled. “No worries. Half of our team of six are gay men,” Rayburn said. “Our profiler, Dr. Leo Reeves, is married to another man on our team, Max Prince. You probably know Mac McCallahan is married to a man who works for the ATF, right?”

“That’s right,” Miguel said, smiling awkwardly. I could hear the embarrassment in his voice. “We met Mac’s husband, Nico, at Jarrett and Thayne’s house when we’d gotten together for the barbeque. Are their ferrets also gay?”

Kindness and Beth chuckled. “Not that we know of.”

“All we’re saying is that we know everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time, Mr. Huerta,” Beth said. “I promise you, we’re full-service protection, and sexual orientation doesn’t matter with us.”

I watched Miguel smile and shrug.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound defensive.” He smiled at me before nodding back at the agents. He reached up to run his hand through his hair, wincing when he remembered the bump. “Well, now that I have total egg on my face, you’ll have to call me Miguel,” he said.

“Of course,” Rayburn said.

“So, what can we tell you about what’s been happening with us?” Miguel asked.

“As we were telling Raven, we were fully briefed by Cassidy Ryan and Mike Williams, and Lincoln practically made us memorize your file,” Beth said. “You two have found yourselves in interesting times.”

“If that’s what you’d call a Mexican drug cartel and rogue CIA operatives wanting us dead, Beth,” I replied.

Miguel frowned just a little.

I shrugged, waving at the two women on the couch. “They told us to call them Kindness and Beth. I suppose that makes us all friends now.”

“Heavily armed friends.” Kindness smiled and stood up. “We’d really like to get the lay of the place…entrances, exits, doors, windows, security alarms, etcetera.”

Pleasantries dealt with, the agents were suddenly all business. I jumped up from the chair, and Miguel stood too. “Let’s start with the garage,” I said, taking them to the kitchen and through the door. The house had a side door from the garage to the garden and they started going through a checklist, examining the lock and making sure to tell us both the door to the outside and the house were to be kept locked at all times.

I watched them exchange a glance. Beth took out a phone and began making notes. I was dying to know what she was writing down, but I kept on going through the house with them, showing them each room. We ended up back in the living room and Beth excused herself to make a call, walking outside in the backyard for privacy while Kindness turned to us.

“You two should go pack a suitcase,” she said.

“Why?” I was totally confused.

“Because if we stay here for even one more hour, we can’t possibly protect you.”

“What?” Miguel asked.

“Beth is calling Lincoln as we speak and in about five minutes, several heavily-armed FBI agents are going to show up here to transport us somewhere that the cartel or your CIA buddies can’t find you. I’m pretty sure the only reason they haven’t tried to come in here already are the three LAPD cruisers parked in front of your house.”

My mouth almost fell open as she smiled. “The bag, Raven? Really…you should go pack and be ready to leave in five minutes.”

I glanced at Miguel who looked a little less surprised than I was. “You heard her, Raven. Go pack that bag and I’ll box Stanley up, along with his food.”

“Okay, right away.” I snatched my tablet off the table and was about to walk by her when she held out her hand.

“Sorry, Raven, you can’t take any electronic devices which can be tracked. If you need a laptop or a phone, the FBI will give you an encrypted device.”

I handed her the iPad and then fished my phone out of my pocket, handing them over to her, a little in shock.

“Just turn off your phone and leave everything here. Now, go pack,” she said as Beth stepped back into the room.

I turned to look at the blonde woman. They were both rock solid under pressure and that was a good thing because my legs felt a little like Jell-O. “Lincoln and the rest of the team will meet us at our destination. Backup will be here in—” She consulted her watch before looking up. “Four minutes.”

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