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Page 27 of Splintered Security (Aspen & Evergreen #2)

going rogue

Anni

Ren’s lips hit my forehead and he whispers, “Be back soon, Sunshine. Love you. Get some sleep.”

I stretch and revel in the fact that he loves me. Ren Gallo loves me.

I grab my phone to see it’s not even three in the morning. Where the hell is he going at this hour? I begrudgingly leave the warmth of the bed and walk on bare feet down the hall, finding him in his office.

He’s dressed head to toe in black, an olive green duffel in one hand. A pistol is in the other.

“Ren?” My voice is quiet with fear and confusion.

“Go back to bed, baby. I’ll be home in time to have coffee on the back deck.”

“What’s going on?” I pull my arms around my middle, a chill in the air settling on my skin and permeating my peace.

“I need to handle a few things. ”

“What kind of things require a gun and a bag?”

“The kind you don’t want to know about.”

Does he not trust me? He knows my deepest and darkest secrets. He knows every place I’ve been compromised or have sold out. My hurt rings like silence in the room.

He slides my old phone—the one he shattered last week—from a desk drawer and slips it into a pocket. Only he and my mom know I have a new number. Does he think I’d reach out to old friends in his absence?

“What if I want to know?”

“What if you trust me to protect you?”

“What if you trust me period?”

He sighs and turns, and I take in all of him. His belt has things on it like in the movies. A huge knife is one, plus other metal bits and bobs I can’t identify. It’s all very military… or vigilante.

“Where are you going?” My voice is losing steam. I hate fighting—hate it! It’s the middle of the night and my husband is dressed like a darker, scarier Jack Reacher.

He holds my eyes as if weighing the moment. “I’m going to eliminate the threat to my wife.”

I stare, slack-jawed, at the man before me.

“Eliminate?”

“Yeah, baby. I didn’t want to worry you, but I see that backbone and I value it, so… ”

“Eliminate.” I roll the word over in my mouth as if tasting it, staring at my fingers as I wring them. “That means… You can’t do that.”

“Sure I can. Can you give me a good reason why I shouldn’t?”

“Yes.”

“Go on, Anni. But go on quickly.” He smirks. “I need to get on the road.”

“You assume I won’t have a good enough reason to stop you?”

“No reason is good enough to stop me.”

“What if I ask you not to?”

“I won’t accept you not being safe… even if it means you’re mad at me. I’ve already told you I’d fight for you and for us, even if that means fighting with you to do it.”

I gesture to his pocket. “Why do you need my old phone?”

“Bait.”

“What?”

He walks toward me, cups my jaw, and turns my face up to him.

“I’ll take every advantage I need to make this go my way.

You’re falling in love with me, Annika. You said so yourself.

And I’m already in love with you. I’m going to protect you and I’m going to do it as quickly as possible.

That’s jeopardized by every minute I’m here.

Let me get this done, and I’ll be home.”

He drops a kiss to my open mouth and then squeezes my hip as he walks out of the office .

“I’m mad at you.” I call to his retreating form, but there’s no malice in my tone.

“I can handle that. See you in a bit.” With that, the door to the garage clicks shut, and I’m left standing in the office.

What the fuck just happened?

I storm to the bedroom and grab my phone, dialing Ren’s number. Instead of him answering, I get his voicemail.

“Number one, Ren, did you just say See you in a bit? and roll out to do God knows what? That is not okay. Number two, me. I’m a good enough reason to not do whatever insane thing you’re thinking of doing.

And not because I’m worried about anything other than what this will do to you.

” My voice drops. “But I am. I don’t want you to have to eliminate anything.

I don’t want you doing something dark on my behalf.

” My pause is almost too long before I add, “We’ll be okay. Just come on home.”

I click off and stare at my phone, willing it to ring. I finally slide back into bed, holding it like it has answers it won’t reveal.

Eliminate the threat.

I won’t accept you not being safe.

I’m already in love with you.

His words tumble over and over in my head like laundry in a dryer. How could I not fall in love with a man who takes care of me like this? How could I move on if I were to lose him to this?

For the hell of it, I enable the stopwatch on my phone and watch the seconds and minutes tick by. I eventually head back to the kitchen and make coffee. No point in trying to sleep when I’ll just toss and turn until Ren gets home.

I flip on the television in the bedroom—one I’ve never used or needed—and watch old reruns until the sun comes up. The humor is cheesy and doesn’t land. It’s forced, and if it weren’t for the canned laughter, I don’t know why I would’ve thought it was funny the first time I saw it.

It’s like my ears try to pinch together through my skull… the throbbing hollowness that’s half pain-half numbness. It’s my only companion for hours and hours.

Ren

I hit Colorado Springs before four and park not far from the MC compound in Pueblo before five. That leaves plenty of time to verify my intel, which was good. I owe Liam and Marissa more than just a favor. When I get out of this, I will owe them my life. And Annika’s.

Troy Smith hasn’t paid enough attention to know that Rosen is no longer in the picture. In fact, he’s texted “Rose,” AKA me, via that Google number over the last week to discuss his assignment.

Apparently, Smith has been keeping David’s escape quiet in exchange for some personal markers.

Those favors include distribution and muling for Smith’s personal enterprise—jobs that Giltenhouse and Conyers know nothing about.

Ones that could be seen as undermining the club’s operations.

If Giltenhouse or Conyers discover it, Smith is as good as dead.

And I’m counting on that.

And since Rosen hasn’t fulfilled the jobs, Smith has been very communicative over the last week. He’s repeated his expectations ad nauseam.

Rosen: There’s a problem. I need you to come to Denver. Now.

I hate tech most of the time, but this Google number shit is great.

Smith: Do you know what time it is?

Rosen: Yep. Life or death – get here.

Smith: What the fuck, man?

Rosen: I’ll send a pin.

Smith: This better be worth it or…

Rosen: …

Ten minutes later, I see Smith’s bike slide past me on the street.

Waiting sucks, but patience has its own rewards. Mine will come today.

The sun rises and the minions of the night scatter like cockroaches in the light. The pipes recede as I wait .

Giltenhouse isn’t one of them, though I didn’t expect him to be. Conyers is, and he wasn’t planned for. This is new. And new is not what I was looking for today.

He’s not an eight in the morning kind of guy. He leaves for church at nine fifty. The very idea makes me scoff, but at least it’s predictable.

I focus on his bike in the rearview until he turns a corner.

My senses are on hyperalert. Smith to Denver was planned.

Conyers to church was a variable I expected, and frankly, banked on.

Giltenhouse is primary, but I need to isolate those three and two others, who aren’t major players.

I need the organization to crumble and to spend enough time worried or inundated with problems that Anni isn’t a consideration.

I need them incapacitated for the foreseeable future.

One third of my plan going rogue makes this all the harder. It also means I need to act. Conyers is gone. Giltenhouse is as vulnerable as he can be in this scenario.

I leave the truck, notch the gun into the holster at my waistband, and slide into what little shadow I can find at this time of year. I’m certainly not invisible. The cover of night offers that, but I want the element of surprise, and Sunday morning should provide that.

There’s very little movement as I approach the compound from the southwest. I clock the cameras I expected, yank down my mask, and do what I can to spend as little time recordable from all angles.

I’m not invisible and I’m not Mission Impossible stunt caliber, so I stay smart, knowing I’m not bulletproof.

Giltenhouse’s room at the club has a large window and its own door. It’s ajar and not a sound comes from it. Fishy. As stealthy as I can, I move to the parking lot to find his motorcycle missing. Fuck!

I jog back to the car, removing my mask as soon as I’m out of sight of the cameras, and quickly move the SUV to the other side of town. Thank fuck I know a shortcut or two from my high school days.

Time to pull out all the stops.

I grab Anni’s phone and toggle off airplane mode.

Anni: I’m sorry.

I gag a little as I write it. She wouldn’t say it.

But Giltenhouse is as dumb as he looks and as arrogant as a man who thinks he’s untouchable.

Heath: It’s too late.

Anni: What does that mean?

Heath: I told you you’d pay if you didn’t come home.

Anni: You’re scaring me. Never mind.

Heath: You should be and you won’t say never mind when you see your mom.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Dropping her phone to the passenger seat, I grab mine, dialing the first person I can think of.

“What the fuck, dude? ”

“Can you go to my house? Stay with Anni. I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t critical.”

“Now?” The sleep has left Liam’s voice. He’s alert if not still pissed.

“Now. I’ll tell her you’re coming. Shit went south, and I need to know she’s safe. Keep her that way.”

“Done.” He disconnects. Liam Murphy’s word is an oath. I know he’ll do what he says.

Me: Liam is coming to the house in a bit. Let him in.

Sunshine: Are you okay? Why is he coming? He’s scary.

Me: I’m fine. I need you safe, and he will allay my fears.

Sunshine: Has anything… happened?

Me: Not the way I wanted.

Me: More when I’m home.

Sunshine: Love you.

Me: Love you too.

Grabbing her old phone again, I press Mom in the contacts and hold my breath.

“So now you think you can come crawling back? When you don’t do as you’re told?” Heath Giltenhouse’s malice slithers through the connection

I say nothing, but freeze when I hear the plea in the background.

“No, Anni. Don’t come here,” Adrienne cries, only to be met with a thud of flesh on flesh and a crack that sounds like bone breaking.

I disconnect and return to airplane mode. They will expect her to come. It’s more than an hour from our house to her mom’s. But I don’t need that hour from where I am to the south side of the Springs.

The phone rings in my car. Unknown caller on my personal phone. Shit. It’s connected to the Google number, so probably Smith. I ignore it.

How the hell did last Sunday go like clockwork and today all the players are in the wrong place at the wrong time with nothing but problems? I wish I could abort mission, go home, fuck my wife, and leave this to solve another day.

But fuck that. I want this done. I need Anni safe. This has to be behind us.

And I sure as hell am not leaving Adrienne to Giltenhouse’s machinations.

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