Page 33 of The Vigilant

I hadn’t noticed before, but there were smaller flowers tucked against the creature—the same kind as the ones that bloomed on her shoulders. At the base of her spine was the head of the beast, its two arms stretching to the side and down, its pinchers disappearing below the waist of her shorts. It wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to realize they stopped at the top of her ass.

I wondered how long she’d sat for the tattoo artist to ink her. How naked she’d been.

I shifted in my chair, moving closer to the desk just in case she decided to look over the edge of the computer monitors and see how fucking unacceptably hard I was.

“No. No police.” I left it at that. Better she think it was for her reasons than for my own. Considering what we really did here at Sherwood, we tried to avoid the police when at all possible. “When was your last communication with Mara?”

Sutton reached for her phone. “A week ago, she liked a text message I sent her. I sent more, asking if we could talk. Begging. But she didn’t reply—didn’t even read the messages. I gave it a couple of days before I went over there. That’s when the guard told me she’d left with Kang. First, I went to the police, but when they brushed it off, I went back to the apartment, thinking I could maybe find something inside before I went to find Jack.”

And then she’d been delivered here. For breaking and entering.

“All right.” I reached for my cell until I found Creed’s number.

“Who are you—” She practically snarled at me when I held up a finger to stop her from talking.

“Tynan,” Creed’s deep voice answered. “It’s been a long time.”

“Too long,” I returned.

Creed Stone had been part of Jon’s unit. I’d replaced him on that final mission because he’d been recruited to the Secret Service. The man was a mountain. Strong, reserved, and deadly. But it wasn’t only his military skills I was after—it was his unconventional upbringing.

Creed and his five siblings had been raised off-grid by their father in Wyoming. He didn’t talk too much about his past—none of us really did—but he had shared that his family had gone into business as trackers. Hunters for hire. They went afterbounties. For missing people. Missing things. Anything that was missing, they’d find it.

And right now, I needed Mara Chen found.

“I’m calling because I need your services,” I said, holding Sutton’s gaze the entire time. “I have a girl I need found. Friend of Jon’s daughter.”

He made a low noise. “Last seen?”

“Her apartment in San Francisco.”

“I’ll need all the information you have.”

“Sending it over now,” I said as I sent the email with all the information Sutton had given me.

“It’ll be either my brother Colt or I that come out. We’ll be in touch when we have something.”

“Thanks. And whatever the fee is?—”

“No fee,” he interrupted. “Not for Jon.”

“Thanks, brother,” I said lowly and ended the call.

“Who was that?” Sutton propped her hands on the edge of the desk and tipped forward like she was ready to fight—like we hadn’t just fought and I’d won. Soundly.

“Creed Stone.” I stood and leaned forward, putting our faces close above the desk. “Him and his family…they find missing things.”

“Things or people?”

“Both.”

She gave her head a small shake. “Had I known you were just going to call someone else, I never would’ve?—”

“You don’t have a choice when it comes to my help, Sutton, so you better get the fuck over thinking that you do.”

She jerked her arms back like the desk was suddenly scalding and straightened.

“Why’d you mention my dad?”

---