Page 20 of A Soldier's Pledge
“You got it. We can go out for dinner, or I can cook.”
“I’ll let you know when I have a better idea how late I’ll have to work tonight.”
“Okay, that works. Text me when you get back to the office.” He slid a finger along her cheek and under her chin, tilting her face up to his to kiss her. He hadn’t intended to do anything but give her a light kiss, but she was a witch, and all it took was one small touch to set him off. Only when Steele came looking for him did he break off the kiss. As he stepped back, he caught the dreamy expression in her molten-chocolate eyes, and he had to hold himself back from going all Tarzan.
“Um, the LT is looking for you,” Steele said after clearing his throat to let them know he was there.
“Okay.”
“I need to get back to the office. I’ll see you later.”
“Don’t forget to let me know you got back.”
“Yes, dad,” Anna replied as she shook her head.
“Bye, Anna.”
“Bye, Steele. Do some real work, will you?”
Chapter Eight
After Anna went back to her office, Ethan and Steele took a ride over to the Eagle Security and Protection Agency. While they were having lunch, Chase sent a text to Steele letting him know they had some information for them.
Ethan had met Chase and some of the other guys from ESP a few times at Steele’s place, but he didn’t know them well, and he’d never been to their offices. But he was impressed when they walked in. It rivaled anything he’d come across at Air Force Command, and the command center was top notch.
The team at ESP were all ex-military, either just retired or disabled. Chase had been trying to get Steele to come on board since he’d come to Florida. Their set up was intriguing, but it didn’t interest Ethan at least not now. He didn’t want to be traveling the globe anymore, he was happy to be stuck in Willow Haven with Anna. Being on assignment who knows where and when was not the life for a married man, and he hoped that would be where his relationship with Anna was headed. Although, unlike the military at least their missions weren’t secret, but they could still be dangerous.
After giving them the tour, they sat down in the command center and Chase’s computer whiz-kid, Rock, went over all the information. Rock was his SEAL name, but he’d kept it unlike most of the others. Steele said Chase’s name was Frost when he was part of the Teams. But Rock, well he looked more like a mountain, tall didn’t sum it up, the man had to be close to seven foot, and looked like he could take down a whole football team by himself. Not a man you wanted to piss off. Looking at him you’d think he was a boxer or something, and to find out that his skills were behind the computer was kind of surprising. Just goes to show you that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
“Apparently, one of her employees—Hugh Johnson—has a gambling problem, one is cheating on his wife, another is mortgaged out the wazoo to put his kids through college, then there’s Adria, I know you were worried about her. She looks pretty clean though, she has her widow pay from the military, but she’s been socking it away for her kid’s education it looks like. She doesn’t have any extra income other than her paycheck. There were a few others with a couple of questionable things in their backgrounds but nothing that would indicate what you’re looking for. I’d say your best bet is the Johnson guy.”
“That’s what we were thinking too. But so far, we don’t have any proof. We finally got a warrant for his phone, but nothing has turned up yet. Did your digging come up with anything else?”
Chase shrugged and nodded to Rock. What had they been holding back? And why?
“It looks like Anna Taggart has been taking out some pretty big withdrawals in cash lately. Not sure what she’s doing with it, but it’s big money. Each time it’s cash and just under the ten grand number that would trigger the feds.”
“What? Who told you to look into Anna?” Ethan looked around the room, and his eyes rested on Steele. Of course. Who else. “Why? You know damn well she’s not a suspect.”
“I know, but while we were looking, I wanted to make sure.”
“What do you mean? I was freakin’ with her during the last break-in.”
“Not really. Remember she got home just after you got the call from LT.”
Shit, Steele was right, but he also knew Anna was clean. He knew it with every fiber of his being. There’s no way she’d be involved in this, there had to be a good explanation for where the money was going. “You still had no right. Or you should have at least told me.”
“I’m sorry. But I knew you’d never go for it, and I had to look out for you.”
“Listen, Ethan, I know you’re not happy about this. But Steele had a point. You can’t just eliminate suspects because your gut tells you to. And no, she doesn’t look good for the robberies, but something is definitely up. What the hell is she doing with all that money? It’s close to one hundred grand, that’s not chump change. Maybe someone’s blackmailing her, or maybe she’s up to something. Either way, I don’t think it hurts to dig a little deeper into her and the rest of the company.”
Pain sliced through Ethan’s head at that thought of invading Anna’s privacy this way, but Chase and Steele had a point. Something was up, and she hadn’t mentioned it at all. No one takes large sums of cash out of the bank the way she has without a good reason. “Go ahead, but keep it quiet. I don’t want her getting wind of this. This is my woman, and I know there’s a good reason for this. We just don’t know what it is yet.”
“I sure hope so.”
So did Ethan. The information on Johnson was good, but Anna? That was a whole other ballgame. No wonder they wanted them to come down to the office to talk about it. He was ever happier that only the four of them knew about the investigation. She’d be mortified if she found out this was going on, and he knew she’d end it. And honestly, could he blame her?
***
