Page 118 of Protecting Peyton

That one I sent. It was simple. I’d touched base with him, showing I was thinking about him, but without words of endearment, not expecting anything emotional back.

MARCH: He normally eats apples and pears, but he’s a geek. They can be fickle. Try cookies.

I changed my man’s contact name to Zane right then and there. His first name felt right now that I’d given in to his allure.

ME: Maybe later.

ZANE: I’m with you. An apple is a better choice.

Putting the phone down, I mentally dared it to ding.

It didn’t. He was a SEAL after all. Real men didn’t eat quiche or text obsessively.

Slowly, I finished the apple. When no more messages arrived, I plugged the phone into the charger and wandered back to the living room.

Jordy seemed comfortable on the couch with his keyboard in his lap. His focus was on Zane’s big-screen TV, which displayed his computer screen.

Shucking off my shoes, I joined him on the couch. “I assume you know how to use that?” I asked, pointing to the big black gun on the coffee table.

He pulled an earbud out. “What?”

“The gun. You can use it, right?”

He nodded. “Carrying one isn’t for me, but my brothers all went the special-forces route. I’d never hear the end of it if I hadn’t given in and gone to the range with them. I’ll never be as good as they are, but I’m a decent shot.”

I pointed at the TV. The code was completely illegible to me and might as well have been Martian. “Was Roberta a help getting Adeline running?”

“She didn’t have anything to do with getting Adeline running,” he said defensively. “But she did give me access to a kick-ass server farm that let me get into a ton of doorbell cams.” Something about that made him smile.

I jumped when the dog started barking.

Jordy grabbed the gun. “Get behind the couch and stay there.”

I jumped over the back of the couch, and peeked over the furniture.

He went to the front window and gingerly parted the curtains. After a moment, he visibly relaxed and returned. “False alarm. Two guys visiting the neighbor.”

My heart was still thundering a million beats a minute when I settled back on the couch.

Before long, Adeline dinged. Another image popped up on the screen.

Jordy intoned, “And the verdict is…”

The first one had been a young woman, striking actually, but not the man we were hunting. The second had been a man who didn’t look anything like the monster I’d seen, and so it went. This was number thirteen.

I shook my head. “Not him.” This one was a closer resemblance, but the face was too thin.

Jordy tapped his ear. “Another miss.” He had been communicating with the team after every image came up. He hit a key, and the screen returned to the multicolored lines of code he had been playing with before. “Sorry we have to go through this, but I don’t want to miss him for any reason, so I’ve got her set to ping on differing eye color regardless of other facial features.”

I shrugged. “I just want to catch the bastard. He killed my friends.” Not to mention another seventeen women.

Including Olivia, that was nineteen lives cut short—hard to get my head around. Several of those had been since I’d left Boston. I wondered again if I could have stopped him if I’d stayed to work with the police and shuddered. The vision that came to mind was a grave with my name on it.

Remembering Karla’s Africa tale soothed me. Even the lioness ran when the odds were stacked against her. She turned to fight when the pride had her back. I hadn’t had a pride to back me up until now.

Jordy looked away from the screen, something he hadn’t done much. “Hey. Do you think Zane has any snacks?”

I rose from the couch, happy to contribute in any way I could. “No idea, but I can check.” Padding to the pantry, I scoured the shelves and called items out for Jordy’s reaction. “Baked beans?”