CHAPTER THIRTY
Her heart sank when she saw the caller ID. Why couldn’t she just have one day to bask in the glorious sunshine which was knowing Draven loved her? Was that too much to ask? Apparently so, as here was her father coming along like a dark cloud rolling across the sky.
“Do you want to talk to him in private? Because I can get out…”
“No.” Jesus, no, don’t leave me right now. “Please stay.”
He tugged her across the seat as close to him as she could be without sitting on his lap. “You’ve got it, baby.”
She glared at the phone for a heartbeat more before swiping across the screen and tapping speaker. “Hi, Daddy—”
“Don’t you hi Daddy me!” her father yelled down the phone. “What did you do?”
There was no point in playing stupid. If he was calling her, he already knew what she had done. “What was right. Daddy, I did what was right.”
“Stupid—”
“Don’t call her that again, Deputy Director Fox,” Draven growled. “You don’t want to piss me off right now, because I’m feeling really fucking protective of my fiancée.”
Your what now?
She gaped at him in shock, her mouth opening and closing, but no words came out at all. He touched his fingers to his lips, asking her silently to be quiet. She had words if she could find them, but for now she trusted him, so she was happy to wait a minute to see how this would play out.
She could hear her father coughing as if something he’d been drinking went down the wrong pipe, and when he spoke it was weird, as if he still hadn’t cleared the liquid from his lungs. “I sent you to protect her, not to steal her.”
“She has always been mine,” Draven replied. “I protect what’s mine.” There was a warning in his words that even she recognized. “When you are ready to tell us what the fuck is going on, call back. Until then…” Draven cut off the rest, allowing her father to fill in the blanks.
Stunned silence filtered through the phone before her father choked two words and the phone call ended. “Be happy.”
They glanced at each other. She could see Draven was as confused as she was. “Did that sound weird to you?”
“Yeah.” Draven pulled out his phone. “I’m going to call Nem and see if he can find out what’s going on.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on, and up until the other day I was involved.” None of this made sense. Her father had always walked the narrow line between right and wrong while working for the CIA. The higher up their ladders he’d climbed, the more that line seemed to blur around him. “God, I hope he isn’t involved in whatever it is that those documents were for.” She knew she was clutching at straws; there was no way her father wasn’t involved. She’d gone to Congo because he’d ordered her to.
“One sec.” One of Draven’s hands stroked up and down her arm. The other held the phone out in front of him where she could see too.
“Go, but keep your voice down,” Dalton said. “My wife and boy are sleeping.”
“Sorry for interrupting family time, Boss,” Draven said. “We have kinda a situation and I’d like your input.”
“Lemme guess,” Dalton said. “This is about your woman’s father, and I know she’s yours, I spoke to Gunnar two days ago, so don’t deny it.”
“I—uh—I’m not going to deny it. She’s mine as long as she’ll have me,” he told Dalton. “And yes, her father.”
“You haven’t seen the news, have you?”
“Boss, we don’t all live with the news channels running twenty-four seven like you do,” Draven grumbled. “Tell us what happened. You’re on speaker.”
“First, you are an asshole for not following protocol and telling me that straight off,” Dalton grunted. Then the sound of his voice faded, but they could barely hear him whispering, “Those were my balls, son. If you want siblings, don’t kick them in your sleep, k? Good boy. Shhhhhh.”
Indy covered her mouth with her hand, because despite the inkling of what was to come, there was something about a warrior like Dalton Knight being brought to his knees by a baby which touched the soft spot of her heart.
Draven with babies will be a sight to see.
I can’t wait for that day.
“Okay.” Dalton came back on the line. “I’m clear to talk.”
“Sorry for interrupting…”
“Shut it, Draven,” Dalton cut him off. “From what Gunnar tells me, India is yours.”
“She is.”
“That makes her family. We look after family, period,” Dalton said. “India, are you there too?”
“Ye—yes.”
“How are you doing, sugar?”
“Just tell me straight out, Nemesis.” She didn’t want him sugar coating it. Pain was pain, even if it came with a dusting of confectioners sugar over the top. “No filtering needed.”
“Your father was arrested for espionage and colluding with terrorists earlier this morning.” He had apparently taken her at her word. “Those papers you gave to Gunnar proved it.”
Guilt slammed into her so hard she couldn’t breathe. “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.”
“No.” Draven turned her head toward him with a finger under her chin. “This is not your fault. None of it is your fault.”
“But…”
“He’s right, India, this is not your fault,” Dalton interrupted. “You did the right thing. Despite that he is your father, you handed over the papers.”
“I didn’t know they’d incriminate him.”
“Would you have handed them over if you did?” Dalton asked.
Somehow, she knew her answer to this question was important, but she answered without hesitation. “Of course, I would have. I’d have sulked about it for at least a year afterward, but I would have still done it,” she answered honestly. How had such an awesome day gone to hell so fast? Oh, yeah, the fucking CIA.
“And that’s why you are still free and have a presidential pardon for any involvement you might have unknowingly had.”
The memory of a previous conversation twigged on the edges of her brain. “Shit…”
“Tell me,” Draven demanded. “Tell us.”
She refused to look at him. If she cost him everything, she’d never forgive herself. “Nemesis, what about Draven’s clearance if he’s in a relationship with me? Does he lose it?”
“No, Ma’am,” Dalton replied. “That’s the first thing I verified as soon as I saw your father being hauled out the front door of his house in cuffs.”
“Thank God.”
“Nah, God had jack to do with that,” Dalton drawled. “That was all on you. You doing what you did means you both keep your clearances.”
“I resigned…”
“Awesome, less paperwork for me when you come to work for me,” Dalton replied. “The CIA gets salty when I poach from Ground Branch.”
“Boss…”
“Shut it, Kilkenny,” Dalton ordered. “This is between me an’ your lady. She decides if she wants the offer we are going to email her. You get to have her six and keep your trap shut.”
Did Draven not want to work with her? She had so many emotions flipping through her right now she wasn’t sure what she really felt about anything—anything but Draven. Him, she knew she loved. “I can’t promise anything, Nemesis, until I see your offer and discuss it with Draven.”
“Fair enough,” Dalton replied. “I expect both of you at the ranch on Tuesday.”
“Tomorrow Tuesday?”
“Nah, even I’m not that much of a dick,” Nemesis said. “Tomorrow week, my place and we discuss terms… deal?”
She glanced at Draven. He lifted one shoulder as if to say ‘it’s your decision.’ She nudged him with her elbow and gestured to the phone. It wasn’t her decision, it was theirs. Draven blew out a breath and nodded. “Okay, Nemesis, we’ll see you next Tuesday to discuss terms.”
“Deal?”
She glanced at Draven again and waited for his nod to come. When it did, she replied, “Deal.”
“Good.” The phone screen went black.
She tapped the screen with her fingernail and it stayed dark. “Did he hang up?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you think?”
“How do you feel?”
They both spoke at the same time. He squeezed her into a hug. “How are you doing, baby?”
She had no clue how she was doing. Mad, upset, worried, scared, and a whole host of other things all jumbled up together. “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s going to take a bit for it to sink in. My father is a spy.”
“Right?”
She was the reason he was arrested. She should have known something was off from the start. “I wonder what was in the papers?” she mused. “Nemesis didn’t say, right? I didn’t miss it because my brain jumped on the ‘what if I’d done things differently’ merry-go-round.”
“No, he didn’t say,” Draven confirmed. “You didn’t look?”
He knew how these things worked. “Why would I look? It was none of my business and my orders said transport them, not read them.”
Draven reached between them and snapped the seat belt open, then lifted her until she was sitting on his lap with her feet on the passenger seat. “We’ll figure it out, okay?” He brushed her hair back from her face with one hand. “Don’t shut me out, baby. We will figure it out, I promise.”
“You shouldn’t want anything to do with me.” It physically hurt to say it. “You should run as fast as you can and never look back.”
“You’ve lost your mind.
“You are mine.
“I am yours.
“The rest is bullshit we figure out how to navigate together.”
“We do, huh?”
“Yup.”
Bullshit we navigate together sounded pretty damn awesome. “Okay.” She nodded. “Okay, I’m good with that.”
“Thank God, because I fully intend on being the person you wake up with every morning for the rest of our lives.” He scooted her off his lap and back into her seat, snapped the seat belt closed, and put the car back in gear. “Ready, baby?”
“Yes.” She had no clue what the next few days and weeks would bring, but she knew she’d figure out a way to get through it as long as she had Draven by her side.
Draven reached for the car radio and switched it on, but immediately hit the off button again when the news reporter started speculating on the crimes Indy’s father may or may not have committed. “We don’t need to listen to that.”
“I’d sing for you,” she fell back into her habit of joking to cover up the hurt, “but I really don’t want to walk all the way back to Riverton.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you.” Draven paused a heartbeat before tagging on, “I might stick you in the trunk to muffle the sound, though.”
“Just you try it.” She poked him in the arm. “I know how to knock out the rear lights. You’ll be the one on the news later.”
“Ha.”
Teasing each other back and forth made the journey home shorter, and before she knew what was happening, he slowed almost to a stop at a detour which stopped them from turning off near the store close to her apartment complex. “What’s going on?” All those flashing blue lights and multiple police and emergency vehicles were not a good sign.
Draven lowered the window when a cop approached and motioned for him to do so. “Is everything okay, Officer?”
“I’m sorry, Sir, you can’t come down this way,” the officer said. “Which way are you headed?”
“Copper and Fifth.”
“Sorry, Sir, we are dealing with a hostage situation and need to keep the area clear.”
“I’m a contractor for the DOD. Do you need backup?” Draven fished a badge out of his pocket and handed it to the cop.
“We should be good, Sir.” The cop scanned the badge and handed it back to him. “We have a Navy EOD on site.”
Both of them tensed as understanding dawned. If they had an EOD in play, then it wasn’t just a hostage situation, but there were explosives involved too.
“A dangerous situation all around, then.” Draven swapped his badge for a business card. “I’m at the apartments just off Copper and Fifth. If shit gets out of hand, call that number and I’ll come on the run with backup not far behind me.”
“I appreciate the offer, Sir.” The cop gave them a tight smile. “But I’m sure we have it under control.” Just as the words were out of his mouth, gunfire rang out. The cop took cover next to their truck. Draven pushed her head down, using the engine block to provide them with cover if a stray bullet happened to come their way.
“Sounds like sniper fire,” he whispered in her ear.
She agreed. It did sound like sniper fire. “More than one shooter.”
“Yeah.”
The cop’s radio crackled outside their vehicle. They couldn’t make out the words, but understood the cop’s response. “Ten-four.” He cautiously raised from his crouch near the car door with his hand still on his holstered weapon. “Sir, it really would be better if you took your lady somewhere safe until this is over.”
“Roger that.” Draven touched his fingers to his forehead. “I’m just going to do a U-turn here and get out of your way.”
“Thank you, Sir.” The cop watched them until he disappeared from sight in the rearview mirror.
“This is Riverton,” Draven grumbled. “It’s supposed to be a safe place to live, damn it.”
“It usually is.” She patted his arm. “This is not normal for here. I just hope all civilians are okay and nobody is caught in the crossfire.”
“Yeah.”
Silence fell between them, and neither spoke again until Draven pulled into the visitor parking spot at the front of her apartment block.
“Drave?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Thank you for today. I loved every second.”
His eyebrows flew upward as if in disbelief.
“Yes, every second. It was you and me together, and I got to see and love on some mini coos. Everything else is for tomorrow me to worry about. Today, it’s you and me against the world.”
“You’re right.” He parked the truck and locked it when they were both standing on the sidewalk. “Tomorrow is time enough to deal with the rest of the world.” He shifted the picnic basket into the hand further from her and caught her fingers with his, linking them together. “Tonight is for us.”
She freaking loved the sound of that so bad. “Yes. It is.”