Page 32 of Too Guarded to Love (Project VIPER #3)
N ic left Olivia with Gran and headed to the war room as two words rang in his mind on repeat.
Arrow’s Revenge.
He’d heard of the dark hacker responsible for dozens of malicious cyberattacks and assassinations in the last few years.
Nobody had ever unmasked the mastermind behind the criminal for hire.
Until tonight.
Maybe.
When he received a message minutes after returning from the coffee shop that the sniper from the boardwalk had been caught, his adrenaline kicked in. When he learned the sniper had identified Arrow’s Revenge as the entity behind a revenge plot, something in his mind clicked.
God, he hoped the suspected connection was wrong.
Slipping in behind Kane and Chris, he took a seat at the table next to Linc and nodded to Edgar and Ryan.
He tensed as Ryan detailed the timeline of the intricate plot the sniper described, from Olivia being targeted, to the lightweight, compact bomb that was shot onto Hudson’s car as they approached the garage.
Nic’s neck buzzed so loud it hurt his ears. Whoever was behind Arrow’s Revenge was scary smart. Fuck. Hope that he’d been wrong about the mastermind’s identity burst into flames as quickly as the car had.
Nic cursed again as Olivia appeared in the doorway. “What is she doing here?”
Edgar motioned her in. Apprehension flashed in her gaze as it landed on Nic. He stood and held out his chair. As she sat, he breathed in her flowery scent.
“Olivia.” Edgar rose from his seat next to Ryan. “Does Arrow’s Revenge mean anything to you?”
“No, what is that?”
“They’re a criminal for hire. Intel indicates they’re behind the attack on Gran and the bomb on Hudson’s car. The sniper said the night of the attacks, he’d been hired to watch Nic. When he reported that Nic was with a woman, he was told to take a shot at you.”
“What?” Her hand flew to her injured shoulder as she looked up at Nic. “I caused this by…by meeting you?”
“No.” Nic dropped into the chair next to her and clamped his hands on her knees. “What happened is all my fault.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Nic spun to face Kane. Setting his jaw, he braced for the past he’d buried to resurface. “I don’t know if what I’m thinking is true, but I have an idea about who might be behind Arrow’s Revenge.”
Kane leaned forward. “Who?”
“From middle school through high school, I lived with a foster family in Toledo. When I was a freshman, I became friends with a girl named Natalie Durham.”
It had been so easy to hang out with the perky, confident computer whiz who changed her hair color every month and cheered him on at baseball games. Easy, until he’d realized she was just like his mom.
“Natalie lived in a group foster home a few blocks away called Arrow Place. Toward the end of the school year, my coach’s former police dog found drugs in my catcher’s bag. I almost got sent to juvie, but I was a good kid with good grades and my teachers and counselors went to bat for me.”
Except his foster father. He’d burned more than a bat.
Nic coughed into his hand as he fought memories of the sharp grass under his feet and the burn in his legs as he’d run from the house to the edge of the two-acre property.
He’d smelled the smoke from his bedroom.
Could see the flames from his window. Before he’d caught a glimpse of the bonfire, he knew what smoldered in the center.
He squared his shoulders and ignored the phantom smoke choking his lungs. “It took a few weeks to piece the events together, but I suspected Natalie had planted the drugs there. She was pissed I’d ended our friendship because of her addiction. She denied using and setting me up, of course.”
“I would never do that.”
“It was all Nic.”
He shut out her candy-coated razor-blade voice. “I turned her in, and she was sent to juvie. The last time I saw her in a courtroom, she swore she’d get revenge.”
Kane stood. “And you think this girl is behind tonight’s attacks because you sent her up the river when she was a kid?”
“I think Natalie, who used to live in Arrow Place and swore revenge on me, is behind more than that. And I think she’s punishing the four of us who were with Rachel Matthews the day she died.”
Olivia gasped. “The dead reporter.”
Nic looked at Chris. “Remember when we met for Italian in DC, right after you and Scarlett got engaged? I was upset because Will’s wife had been killed in an alleged drive-by shooting.
Natalie randomly showed up at the restaurant that night.
I saw her again the day we buried Brian’s wife, who was allegedly run off the road.
And then she appeared at the hospital after Olivia was shot. ”
Chris cursed under his breath. “Which was also the day of Joe’s sister’s funeral.”
Realization flashed in Olivia’s features as she caught Nic’s gaze. “That’s why you looked so sad at the beach.”
Nic ignored the sympathy in her voice. “Natalie was in the waiting room while I was talking to Jonathan with some story about her friend being in a motorcycle accident. And she showed up outside the coffee shop today.”
“The woman with the bright-blue hair, right?” Kane’s leg jittered. “That’s too many coincidences. How the hell did she find us?”
Ryan loosened his tie. “We’re working on that, along with trying to track Jonathan Garrity since he left the coffee shop, but can’t pinpoint him. Someone is jamming the surveillance. The bigger question is, what motive does Natalie Durham have for avenging Rachel Matthews’s death?”
Nic raked his steel hand through his hair. “I have no idea, but she said we’d both paid the consequences of my actions and need to put the past behind us.”
“Your actions? Seriously?” Olivia’s voice rose with each word. “What about her actions? And you didn’t earn any consequences to pay.”
Linc rolled his head to the side and cracked his neck. “Earned or not, looks like he’s paying those consequences now.”
Olivia tried to catch Nic’s gaze, but his attention seemed to be in a place far away from the war room. Gripping the seat of the chair, she restrained herself from throwing her arms around his neck and kissing away the pain etched on his beautiful?—
Patience rushed into the room. “Gran’s awake.”
Nic bounded to Olivia’s side and kept his hand in hers as he guided her to MedLab. A few tears escaped despite her attempts to blink them back as scenarios rushed through her mind.
Was Gran coherent? Was there any brain damage? She stopped outside Gran’s room and spun to Nic as Kane rushed past her. “What if she’s not okay?” She choked on a sob. “What if she’s…”
Nic cupped her cheek. “You know when Edgar gets something done and you ask him how, and he shrugs and says, ‘I’m Edgar.’”
She sniffed and nodded.
He wiped away tears with his thumb. “Well, Gran is the female version of him. If she’s not one-hundred-percent okay now, she will be, because she’s Gran. It’s as simple as that.”
“You’re right. She’s going to be fine.” Somehow, saying it out loud with Nic squeezing her hands in agreement calmed her fears. “Thank you.”
He pulled her into him. “No, thank you for sharing Gran with me. I’m so sorry you two got caught up in my past.”
“It’s not your fault.” She tugged him toward the door.
He let her go. “You and Kane should spend some time with her alone.”
She held out her hand. “Please…come. You’re family too.”