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“Son, I might be old and a few parts don’t work that well any longer, but I got eyes.” Using his index and middle fingers, he pointed to the light blue orbs that added to his character. “Vision’s twenty-twenty, I might add. Now, I get you two aren’t really involved. That much was clear, but you got a thing for each other.”

“She’s just… someone I need to take care of.”

“Uh-huh.”

I closed the distance to the bar, pulling my phone from my front jeans pocket. When I did, I exposed the handle of my Glock.

His eyes immediately opened wide. “Expecting trouble, son?”

“Maybe.”

“Does your concern have anything to do with the man in town asking questions about Corabelle? Only that isn’t her name, is it? Juliette Carver and if I’m not mistaken, daughter of Randolph Carver. From what I heard, the man is ruthless and into some sketchy things.”

Well, fuck. The mystery man was one step ahead of me. The skin on the back of my neck began to crawl.

“What man?” My head shot up.

“Never seen him before. He popped into my bar yesterday asking about her. Said he was a private detective hired by her father. Said some shit about the girl acting strangely, making bad decisions. I was half listening to him. Until he pulled out a picture. There was sweet Corabelle.”

My fingers were on the screen. “What did you tell him?” There was animosity in my tone.

Jarvis pulled back, tilting his head. “What’s going on, son? I mean I could tell there was tension between you and Ms. Carver. When I saw the way you were together, I wondered what the hell was really going. Now I see my instincts were right and you’re in some serious trouble.”

“The shit is complicated.”

“It always is.”

While finding the photograph of the man, anger swelled within me. “Is this him?”

He kept his eyes on me for a few additional seconds before finally glancing at my phone. Then he took it from my hand, using his fingers to enlarge the picture. “A little grainy, but it looks like him. The guy was cagey. You know the type. Can’t look you in the eye when he’s talking.”

“So what the fuck did you tell him? This is important, Jarvis.”

“I told him I’d never seen her before.”

“Did he ask about me?”

His head shook, but he narrowed his eyes and leaned across the bar. “What have you gotten yourself mixed up in?”

The last thing I needed to do was to trust anyone, but at this point, with no backup and no tight security, I felt I didn’t have a choice. “I was asked to run a mission of protection.”

“By yourself?”

“Yeah. By my old commander. The girl was kidnapped. I handled an extraction. Now there are men attempting to hunt her down.”

“For what reason?”

“That I don’t know.”

He offered a wry smile. “But you have an idea.”

“Yeah, one I don’t like.” I knew Jarvis well enough to know he’d only ask what was necessary. The way of a Marine, like any good soldier.

“I’ll tell you this. I think she may be in danger, Kage. I also know a lie when I hear one. He was carrying a Sig Sauer P226. I saw that clearly.” He lifted his eyebrows in wait to see if I knew what he was getting at.

Without a doubt.

I sucked my breath. That was a fucking weapon used by Navy SEALs and a whole lot of bad men.