Page 52 of Risk Assessment
He kissed the top of her head. “What do you say we go back to the truck and head for the hotel? We’ll grab your friend something from one of the food trucks over there. Why don’t you text him and ask him what he’d like.”
She nodded again. “Sounds good.” She turned from his embrace, and they started walking back along the pier. She shivered, so he put his arm around her and pulled her close. Raleigh got out her phone and within a few minutes they had a shawarma deluxe platter all wrapped and ready to go. Bags in hand, they returned to Dylan’s pick up.
“We have to stop in at Risk. The guys there will take the note to the lab for us.”
Raleigh nodded but didn’t comment. She was once again lost in thought. Dylan didn’t blame her. It truly sucked to be stalked. Being at someone else’s mercy was a horrible feeling.
Dylan wound his way through the maze of one-way streets and pulled into the parking lot in front of a large warehouse that extended out over the water.
“Risk is here?” Raleigh asked.
“Yeah. Impressive isn’t it. Risk bought the warehouse years ago when this was still a bad neighborhood. Now it’s full of bistros and coffeeshops. His office space is amazing.”
“Wow. Wait! I’m such an idiot. Gabriel Risk. I didn’t connect the dots. My brain is fried. He’stheGabriel Risk.”
Dylan frowned. What do you mean?”
“Gabriel Risk is famous, or infamous depending on how you look at it, for helping that oil company CEO, Aiden Thomas, escape after he was kidnapped in Iraq.”
Dylan blinked. “Yeah, that’s right. That’s the sort of thing he specializes in.”
They got out of Dylan’s truck and went to the front door. He opened it for Raleigh and followed her in. The lobby was very posh. From the polished concrete floors to the stone waterfall behind the reception desk, the place was somehow both very businesslike and welcoming. The walls were painted a pale grayish blue, almost the color of Raleigh’s skirt and the chairs in the waiting area were in a shade of brown that matched the stones of the waterfall. The reception desk was all glass and chrome. A woman sat by herself, with her back to the wall. It wasn’t a large lobby and there were two doors, one on either side of her that presumably led to the rest of the space. The doors were opaque and although the frames appeared to be wood, Dylan thought they were probably metal and very thick.
“Hi,” Dylan said.
“You must be Dylan.” The receptionist smiled. “Gabriel said you would be stopping by to drop something off. Let me just see if he’s free.”
“Don’t disturb him on my account.”
Brianna smiled. “He insisted he be notified when you’re here.”
Raleigh and Dylan went over to stand by the windows overlooking the water.
“You’re not paying for this are you? Like I can’t afford to pay to have this done.” Raleigh’s eyes darted all over the lobby and then back to Dylan.
“No. Gabe offered. He’s a friend and I guess you could say a mentor as well. He’s been keeping an eye on me through my whole suspension. He also offered me a job here if I wanted it.”
“Are you going to take the job?”
Dylan shrugged. “Up until now, I’ve been saying no because I thought I wanted to go back to ESU. This weekend…It’s changed a lot of things. I don’t—”
“Dylan.”
Dylan turned around at the sound of his name. Gabriel Risk came across the lobby.
“Gabe.” He shook Gabe’s hand. “I didn’t mean to disturb you. This is Raleigh Ross.”
“Ms.Ross,” Gabe said as he nodded to Raleigh. “It’s not a problem Dylan. I wanted to see you. If you have a moment, why don’t you two come back to the conference room.”
Dylan glanced at Raleigh, and she gave a slight nod.
They followed Gabriel back though the door on the left which led to short hallway with several conference rooms on either side.
“Let’s take a seat in here.” They followed Gabe into a small windowless conference room. It was very similar to the lobby. A sleek table with a conference phone in the middle and mini-fridge in the corner that had water and beer from what Dylan could see through the glass door.
“Can I get you anything?”
“No, we’re good.” Dylan said as he glanced at Raleigh for confirmation. She nodded.
