Page 7 of Axel (Reed Hawthorne Security #6)

“Formal is good,” Reed says. “It means she’ll want to get in and get out. I gave her your numbers, so expect her text. In the meantime, you should probably have lunch and leave time to grab your bags.”

Each of us has a bag ready to go at home in case of a last-minute assignment. It contains clothes and a few toiletries to get us through for a couple of days.

“Oh, don’t you want us to check in with the cartel first?” Durango asks.

Reed shakes his head and chuckles. “Yeah, sure. Have at it.”

Durango and I laugh as we walk out of Reed’s office.

“She really thinks we have contacts,” I say.

“Yeah, crazy. Hey, want to eat at the deli down the road?” Durango asks .

I grin. Durango gets on kicks with food. For a long while, he only wanted to eat pizza. Lately, it’s been a local deli where every day he orders a club sandwich.

“Sounds good. Let me call Savvy first.”

I go to my office and call Savvy. It goes to voicemail. I ask her to call me back. I don’t have time to wait for a call back, so I call my sister.

“Hey, what’s up, brother?”

It’s great to hear Maria happy. “About to head out on an assignment, and I need to talk to Savvy. I called her but got her voicemail. Can you grab her?”

“No, I can’t. She’s not here.”

A pit forms in my stomach. “Where is she?”

“She texted me last night that she’s fine and hiding out of state right now.”

The pit turns into dread. I stand up fast. “She’s out of state? How do you know someone didn’t take her against her will?”

“Relax, she said more, so I know she’s fine.”

Dammit. “What else did she say?”

Maria groans. “Well, if you must know, she asked me if you are difficult with everyone you meet or if it’s just her.”

“I’m not difficult,” I say, a bit too defensively.

“That’s what I told her. I said maybe she reminds you of your ex.”

“You said that?”

“Yeah, does she?”

“No!”

“Wow, didn’t realize you’d get so worked up about it. Anyway, good luck on your assignment. Let me know when you get back. Love you.”

She ends the call. Dammit. Now I have to hope Savvy calls me back.

I find Durango in his office. “I’m ready anytime.”

He stands up and grabs his jacket from the back of his chair. “Let’s go.”

We walk in silence to the deli, order our food, and sit down. Durango is quiet, even for him.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

He sighs. “Nothing’s wrong. It’s actually good news, and I should be happy.”

Ozzie mentioned to me last week that he thinks Piper might be pregnant. It’s sooner than they planned, but he said he would be happy if they started their family early.

“Piper’s pregnant?” I ask.

Durango’s eyes widen. “What? No. Wait, is she? I’ll kill him!”

I grab his arm to calm him. “No, it was just a guess. I’m sure she’s not. What are you talking about?” Damn, I better let Ozzie know if she is not to be around when Durango gets the news.

“You’re sure?” Durango asks.

Not really, but that’s the last thing I’m going to say. “I told you, I was guessing. But I thought you were okay with them being together?”

He leans back in his seat. “I am, but she’s still so young. I want her to have time to live life a little, you know?”

“I get that. So, what is your news?”

“My mom is getting married. She met someone and says she’s happy. And yes, I’m happy for her, but I haven’t met the guy, so I’m worried, too.”

“That is good news, though. You want her to be happy, right?”

He nods. “I do.”

“Well, run a background check on the guy, and you’ll probably feel better,” I say and then take a bite of my food.

“I already did. He’s clean and has plenty of his own money.”

“See, it’s all good. I get that you are protective. If you want, I’ll go with you when you meet him. We can let him know there will be trouble if he hurts her.”

Durango chuckles. “Thanks. I might take you up on that.”

We eat in silence for a few minutes.

“Do you really think Savvy isn’t involved with Kuffel in this gun mess?” Durango asks.

“My gut says she’s not.”

He nods. “I’m also curious how you two ended up at your cabin at the same time.”

I frown. “We weren’t both at my cabin. We were both on the lake there. It turns out she owns a cabin up there, too. My sister failed to mention that to me.”

He grins. “And Savvy happened to run into you the one day you went up there?”

I did find it odd that she happened to be out on the lake that early, too. “Maybe she asked Maria if I was going up there.”

“You mean she was looking for you?”

I shrug. “Knowing my sister, Savvy probably told her she was concerned about the showing she had scheduled, and my sister offered my services. She’s done that for other female friends of hers.”

Durango chokes on the water he’s drinking and begins coughing. Finally, after nearly a minute, he shakes his head. “Your sister offers your services to her friends? What in the hell?”

I laugh as I realize how that sounded. “No, not those services. I meant me protecting them. She’s asked me to walk friends to their cars before. Things like that. She’d kill me before she’d let me sleep with any of her friends.”

He laughs. “Okay, that sounds more like your sister.”

Both our phones vibrate at the same time.

“It’s the address,” I say.

“Huh. It’s nowhere near the building she pointed out on the map,” he says.

“Yeah, that’s odd.”

My phone vibrates again. Stevens wants an address for Savvy. I let her know I haven’t talked to her yet.

“Guess we’d better get our stuff. Sleeping on the floor of a warehouse sounds fun,” Durango says.

I laugh as we both head out. “At least it isn’t below freezing, and no one will be shooting at us.”

He shakes his head. “Don’t speak too soon. Hey, I’ll swing by, and we can walk to the subway. I’ll see you in an hour. Sound good?”

“Sure. Thanks.”

My mind goes back to Savvy. It’s best she’s out of state. Hopefully, she’s in a place she can’t be found.