29
A s they walked down the path to the building Caleb called HQ, Rose pushed down the unease that swept through her. Yesterday was an unexpected gift, she reminded herself. It wasn’t real life, no matter how much she wanted it to be. Her life involved running, hiding, and not making connections like this place, these people—Caleb, she corrected herself, like Caleb made her crave. But those hours in at the spring and in the cabin were a memory she could pull out and savor when the world closed around her. She shivered in her coat and decided it’d been worth the storm and the cold.
“Just like going through airport security,” Caleb reassured her when she glanced apprehensively at the security desk in the foyer of HQ. “Nothing bad is going to happen.”
Didn’t he tell her not to tempt fate just last night? “You don’t know that.”
“Despite the dumbass fucking around,” he placed his holstered sidearm in the box and dropped his keys next to it, “shit like that doesn’t normally happen here.”
Unlike going through airport security, she didn’t get pulled over for a random extra security check, and she entered the elevator ahead of Caleb. She’d expected them to go up. It took a moment for her to realize they were going down. “Are you bringing me to a dungeon?”
“Nope.” He flashed her a lopsided grin. “Our war-room is underground.”
“Like the bat cave?”
He snorted a laugh. “I dare you to say that in front of Trev.” He led her down a long corridor and paused outside a door. “Ready?”
No.
I don’t want this to end.
But I know it must.
She took a breath and let it out slowly. “Yes.” He pushed open the door before she had time to change her mind and tell him to wait. Rose paused, taking in the computers, maps, screens, and so much more techie stuff than she knew the names of. “You lied,” she whispered.
“Huh?”
“This is the bat cave,” she explained. “Or maybe it’s Bat Cave 2.0.”
A bark of laughter from her left drew her attention, and she looked up at the screen over the row of computers. “Hi.”
“Hi, Rose.” The soft sound of Texas was evident in the man’s voice. “I’m Tex. We spoke the other day, but it’s nice to see you.”
“H—hi.” She winced internally at the nervousness in her voice. Tex wasn’t the problem. She had a feeling he was going to be a huge part of the solution.
“Caleb, give her the box.”
“Sure.”
Caleb sounded disgruntled at the request, almost as if he didn’t want to carry it out. It ramped up the uncertainty inside her to the point where she wrapped one arm across her chest and placed the other on her throat until Caleb offered her a jewelry box.
“It’s a Trident,” Tex explained. “Caleb’s Trident.”
Rose stroked the tip of her finger over it . “It’s beautiful.” When he’d said he was going to give her a tracker, she hadn’t been sure what she’d expected, but it hadn’t been pretty. She made a mental note to ask Caleb about the underlying tone she heard in Tex’s voice later.
“If you’re going to run, then,” Tex said softly, “please wear it at all times. The only person who will know where you go or where you are is me.” He met her gaze through the screen. “I won’t tell anyone a damn thing unless you ask me to.”
What he asked sounded simple enough. “How do I know Janek can’t hack it?”
“If he tries, then I’ll have him just where we want him.” Tex’s expression hardened. “If he can hack my systems, then he’s better than anything I’ve found on him.”
“Or he hires someone to do it,” Caleb inserted.
“There are about seven people tops who can hack my systems,” Tex replied. “One is me, but I’m not going to hack when I can just log in. One is in Mexico. Two are in Italy. Another is in Texas. Besides the one in that war-room with you, the other is on the East Coast. All those people are warfighters and justice seekers. They fight as if the lives of the people they love depend on it, because more often than not, they do. I’d trust each and every one of those people with my life. If you don’t, too, then you are an idiot.” He glared at Caleb. “Are you an idiot Hunt?”
“Yes, yes, he is,” Trev muttered.
“No. I just like to look at everything from all the angles,” Caleb replied. “Even the most infallible of people and the best teams in the world get caught off guard every now and again.”
Tex leaned back in his chair on-screen and steepled his fingers together. “And you don’t want Rose to be one of those times.”
It wasn’t a question, but Caleb answered it as if it was. “Damn straight, I don’t.”
Tex nodded as if he’d expected that answer, then once again turned to her. “Do you want to leave and go where nobody will find you?”
No. I don’t want to leave Caleb.
But there are children here.
Janek knows I’m here. It’s not safe for anyone if I stay here.
“Yes.” She glanced at Caleb out of the corner of her eye when he growled.
“No worries,” Tex said. “If you can hold on until tomorrow, then I will have people there to pick you up. You understand you can’t have any contact with anyone—not from your old life. Not from Montana, not even Caleb?”
Her heart ached. To never see Caleb again wasn’t something she wanted to agree to, but she had to do this for everyone’s safety. She knew better than most that Janek wouldn’t stop looking for her. She nodded. “I know.” Even though she was breaking her own heart and from the look on his face, Caleb’s too, this had to happen. She had to leave.
“Okay.” Tex sighed. “Wolf and his guys will be there tomorrow at noon to pick you up.” The screen went black, ending the call.
“I’ll be back in a sec.” Trev left the room. Rose had a feeling he was giving them some privacy, and she was grateful for it as tears burned at the back of her eyes.
Caleb plucked the chain from her fingers. “Turn around. I’ll put it on you.” She did as he asked. He swept her braid to one side and closed the clasp on the chain. His fingers flexed on her shoulders. “There, all set,” he whispered and pressed a kiss to the back of her neck.
“Thank you.”
“Are you sure this is what you want?”
God, if he kept asking her that, she might change her mind. But that would be selfish. It took everything in her to force the words through her lips. “Yes. Because it’s not safe for anyone with a bounty on my head. People will keep coming and there won’t be anything anyone can do to stop them.” She prayed her uncertainty didn’t show on her face as she peered up at him. “Could you live with yourself if something happened to one of the children?” She didn’t wait for him to answer but continued on, “Because I know I couldn’t. I can’t go back to California either, because he’s already found me in Riverton, plus there were kids there, too. I just can’t allow something to happen to any of you, but especially to the kids.”
He nodded. “Okay.” Was it her imagination, or did he suck in a deep breath?
He linked their fingers together. “Come on, baby girl. If we only have today, then today has to last a lifetime.”
“I wish there was another way.”
“Me too Rosey-Posey, me too.”