Page 20 of Dangerous Affair (The Phoenix Three #2)

N ot sorry, eh? Grinning, Liam put his hand on her lower back as he followed her out. “Last door on the left.”

“That’s your office?”

“No, it’s the war room.”

She stopped so fast that he almost bowled her over. “War room?”

“Yeah, where all our equipment is. Where we plan our missions.”

“Cool. Let’s go play with your toys.”

He chuckled. “A woman after my own heart.”

“Let’s keep our hearts out of it. Our mission is to learn who’s making children sick and how.” She glanced over her shoulder at him and grinned. “But no reason not to have a little fun along the way.”

The last thing he wanted was to clue her in that his heart was already in it.

That would only scare her away. So, he winked and said, “No reason at all.” He’d just have to show her he wasn’t like Aiden or any other man of her experience, his own secret mission to win that heart she so closely guarded.

He wasn’t in love with her…not yet. But he thought he could be if only she’d open her mind to the possibility of a future with him.

At the door to the war room, he put his palm to the security reader, then opened the door.

“That’s neat,” she said.

“We have some top-grade, expensive equipment in here. Don’t want to make it easy for anyone to break in. The door’s steel and bulletproof. Gray will be here in a minute.”

“Oh, wow. You weren’t kidding about having expensive equipment.”

He stood back while she explored the room.

In the middle was a conference table that would seat ten.

In front of each leather chair was a monitor.

They’d come in handy when they’d had occasion to have meetings with the police, and twice with the FBI.

Everyone in attendance was able to follow along on their own monitor.

The top half of one wall was a flat screen that was connected to the three high-tech computers placed on the three desks along another wall.

They could project any location in the world onto the screen as long as their computers could find it on Google Earth or other satellite imagery options such as NASA Worldview.

She stopped at a whiteboard, and her gaze roamed over the photos of the children they’d rescued. There weren’t any names identifying the children, but he and his brothers knew every child’s name.

“Most of those children were reunited with their families,” he told her.

“We had to find foster families for the few unfortunate ones who didn’t have a family to claim them or that wanted them back.

” They kept tabs on their rescues, making sure those children were being taken care of and treated right.

“That’s awesome, Liam. What all does The Phoenix Three do?”

“Anything that involves the safety and well-being of a child.”

She turned to him, looking at him with soft eyes. “You guys are heroes. I’m in awe of you.”

“Don’t be painting us with something we’re not. We’re just three guys doing our small part to hopefully make the world a better place.”

“Heroes.”

Okay, if that was how she wanted to see him, he wouldn’t argue.

He kind of liked that admiration shining in her eyes.

In reality, though, he was just a man sometimes haunted by his past and the resulting invisible scars of his kidnapping.

He was a man without a family, and even now, years later, he was still trying to heal from that.

“All this must have cost a fortune.”

Beyond what he and Cooper could have come up with.

“Gray funded it all.” And had refused to accept his and Cooper’s offer to repay him over time.

Liam headed to the corner where they had a kitchenette with a mini fridge, microwave, and sink.

“Do you want something to drink? We’ve got water, sodas, beer, or I could brew a pot of coffee. ”

“Water’s fine.”

“Sorry,” Grayson said, walking into the room with his laptop in one hand. “I got held up on the phone. Good to see you again, Quinn.”

“Thanks. It’s been a bit exciting recently.”

Liam snorted. “Only you would think getting shot at by bad guys is exciting.” He handed her a bottle of water.

“I didn’t say it was fun exciting. I can definitely do without people shooting at me.”

“You got shot at?” Grayson said.

“We sure did,” she said.

While she told Grayson about the men who’d shown up at her house, Liam pulled out a chair and motioned for her to sit.

He took the seat next to her, and Grayson settled across from them.

Grayson already knew the men had guns and had used them.

Liam had told him that when he’d called in, but his teammate grasped that this was a new experience for Quinn and that she was eager to tell him the story.

“And they didn’t even hurt my car, so that was good.”

“Sorry about having to leave your car behind,” Liam said.

“Not a problem. Vic’s already brought it to my Savannah dealership.” Regret filled his eyes as he focused on Quinn. “I am sorry to have to tell you that they tore your house apart.”

She sighed. “I figured they would. We have a woman who takes care of the house when my dad’s away. I’ll call her today and get her to go over and clean up as best she can.”

“Let us know when she’ll be there,” Liam said. “We’ll have Vic and Mason be there when she is, just in case.”

“You think those men might come back? I don’t want to put her in danger.”

“They probably won’t, but we’d rather err on the safe side.”

“Y’all are pretty awesome, you know? Thank you.”

“We aim to please.” He got a little lost in those green eyes shining up at him, and they stared at each other until Grayson cleared his throat.

Right, they were here to go over what they had so far.

When he glanced across the table at his teammate, Grayson smirked, his amusement obvious.

Liam shrugged. What could he say? He wasn’t going to deny his interest in Quinn.

It wasn’t that long ago that Grayson was falling in love with Harlow while protecting her and her son from her ex-husband, a man about as evil as they came. Maybe Grayson could give him some advice when he got a chance to talk to his friend alone.

Until then, back to business. Liam took the thumb drive from his pocket and slid it across the table to Grayson. “Your turn to keep this safe. What were you able to find out about Garrison?”

“Nothing particularly remarkable about the man. Thirty-two years old, a photojournalist who likes to put himself in his stories. If you look at his published photos, he’s in many of them.”

“That’s true,” Quinn said. “He loves the attention.”

Liam twirled his chair to the side, facing her. “Unlike you. You’re not in any of yours.” He knew because he’d deep dived into her published photos, his amazement of her talent growing with each one he viewed.

“Because I’m not the story. The children are.”

“You are very good at what you do,” Grayson said. “Your photos have a way of tugging at the heart of the viewer.”

Liam nodded. “Makes one ask what they can do to help those children.”

“That’s my goal. Back to Jasper, what else did you learn?”

Grayson’s gaze shifted over his laptop screen. “Nothing spectacular about him or his work. He has gotten some good up-close photos of fires, some war zones, and natural disasters, just not anything that’s won him any awards.”

Quinn frowned. “Really? He told me he’s won awards.”

“Not any that I could find. He has one DUI arrest from when he was twenty-one. That happened the night of his birthday. Guess he was out celebrating. Other than that, no record. There really isn’t anything interesting on him.”

“I could’ve told you that,” Quinn said.

Liam didn’t like thinking of her with Garrison, but the questions that needed to be asked couldn’t be avoided. “How long were you…ah, with him?”

“Almost three weeks. He was fun at first, but then he started getting weird.”

“How so?” Grayson asked.

“Demanding. Possessive. Jealous. He thought his work was important, mine not so much. After all, he was getting up-close shots of a massive wildfire while I was just taking pictures of children.”

Another man in her life who’d proved her point. “Not all men are like that, Quinn.” He wasn’t.

“So you say.”

They’d veered off onto a road he didn’t want to travel, especially not in front of Grayson, who was watching them with curiosity.

How hard was she dug in on that belief that all men were alike?

Would he ever be able to prove to her that he was different?

Was he willing to put in the time and effort if there wasn’t hope for mission success?

All questions he didn’t know the answer to.

“Moving on,” Grayson said as he inserted the drive into the computer. “Let’s watch what’s on here one more time while we’re together, then I’ll tell you what I learned about the textile mill.”

The video appeared on all the monitors around the table. Liam focused on the screen, looking for anything he’d missed the first time around. He hadn’t counted the drums, and he did so now. There were sixteen of them. How often did whatever was in the barrels get dumped into the lake?

“We need to find out if this is a onetime thing or something they do on the regular,” he said. “Although, with Garrison attempting to blackmail someone with what’s on this thumb drive, I’d say it’s something they do on the regular.”

“Agreed,” Grayson said. “Cooper’s bringing us samples from the lake we can send to a lab. Find out if the lake is contaminated and if so, by what.”

“These drums are from that textile mill?” Quinn asked.

“Probably. We’ll find out for sure.” Liam watched the man on the video roll the empty drum aside, then he pushed over another one. “Who do you think Garrison was talking to on that conversation you overheard?”

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know who he expected to get money from or who he was talking to. It did sound like he was talking to a friend.”

“The question is, is that who killed Garrison, maybe didn’t want to share a million dollars?” Grayson said.

Liam shook his head. “That doesn’t feel right. The men who showed up at Quinn’s were professionals, and there were four of them in two Chevy Suburbans. Bodyguard cars. Going on the assumption that only Garrison and a friend, or maybe a family member, were working together—”

“Professionals? Like hit men?” Quinn said. “Unbelievable. This is like a bad movie.”

Liam smiled. “Just keep in mind that the bad guys always lose, and the good guys live to see another day.”

“I think Garrison and whoever was in this with him got in over their heads,” Grayson said. “Messed with someone more powerful and dangerous than they could imagine.”

Liam nodded. “That’s my thinking. Anything on that license plate number I gave you?”

“Not yet. It belongs to what appears to be a shell company. It might take a little time to follow the trail back to whoever’s behind it.”

“I kind of know the concept of a shell company, but what is it exactly?” Quinn asked.

“Easy answer,” Liam said, “it’s a company or companies within companies set up to mask the true identity of the individual or individuals behind it.”

“Is that legal?”

“Sometimes they’re legit, sometimes not. I wouldn’t be surprised to find this one isn’t.” He glanced at Grayson. “What did you find out about Hanson Textiles?”

“Something interesting. Hanson Textiles is owned by Senator Charles Hanson’s family. The mill is the biggest employer in the county. The senator sits on numerous committees, is serving his fourth term, and is on the short list of vice presidential candidates in the upcoming election.”

Liam whistled. “In other words, powerful and has much to protect. He’d also have the connections and money to hire the kind of men who showed up at Quinn’s house.”

“Exactly,” Grayson said.

Quinn groaned. “This just gets worse and worse.”

No, it just got more interesting. From the expression on Grayson’s face, his teammate agreed.

They’d never gone after anyone as powerful as Hanson, not in civilian life, but they were trained to beat the odds.

With careful planning and execution, they could win this battle…

if it was indeed the senator at the wheel of a murder.

More than that to Liam was they’d scared Quinn.

The senator would go down for that alone if those men were his hired guns.