Page 15 of Tracing Her Stolen Identity (Secure Watch #2)

“We have a problem,” Mina said as soon as Reece connected with her.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” he said with a wink. Sky had wheeled beside him in front of the computer monitors, ready to sort through her social media posts.

Mina offered a rare grin that said she was amused. “My apologies. We have a new problem.”

“Fantastic, because why not?” Sky asked, rolling her eyes.

“Enlighten us,” Reece said, grabbing a pen and pad of paper. “How big of a problem is it?”

“He knows where you are.”

“Impossible,” Reece said, his heart rate ticking up at the thought. “It’s been calm and quiet here all night.”

Mina held up her finger and grabbed her tablet, tapping around on it while she kept one eye on the camera. “I was able to tap into her Facebook account. He’s using it as a vlog of sorts.”

“Whatever for, if no one can access it?” Sky asked, her head tipped in confusion.

“We’ll get to that. But—” Mina flipped the tablet so they could see the screen.

Binate was in front of the cam era. Reece felt a shudder go through Sky, and he put his arm around her back to ground her.

If Mina noticed, she didn’t react. Instead, she pushed the play button, and Binate’s electronic voice filled their space again.

“It’s cute how you think I don’t know where you went with that agent, Skylar.

I know everything about you, including your address—1993 Cherry Hill Lane is so far out in the sticks that calling for help would be futile.

I’d have you before the cops could even circle their wagons.

Oh, sure, you think you’re safe hiding there with an ex-cop, but I’m not afraid to hurt him to get to you.

Bide your time, Skylar, I’m coming for you.

It’s too bad you’ll never see this and know that.

Then again, I do love a good surprise.” The video ended with an electronic horror laugh that sent a shudder down his spine.

“My truck is clean,” he said the moment Mina put the tablet down. “I have a device that tells me if any GPS was tacked to the truck.”

“You might be clean, but I’m not entirely sure that Skylar is,” Mina said, glancing at her. “You left your phone, but did you take anything else?”

“Just the things that were in my suitcase from my trip north and my chair.”

Reece raised a brow at the camera, and Mina nodded.

“I’ll wand the chair.” He jumped up and jogged to the garage, cursing himself the whole way.

Why the hell hadn’t he checked her chair before they left Duluth?

They all carried wands to check for bugs and GPS clips.

He knew the answer—he’d dropped his guard when he’d come face-to-face with Sky again.

Big mistake. Big, big mistake. Mina would have words with him about this if they found a tracker.

When he ran back in, he was already addressing the camera.

“Rookie move, boss, I know. Dammit, I should have checked before we left.”

“Relax, Reece. It was a situation that required you to get her out of there quickly, which doesn’t always leave us time to think clearly. I also didn’t think to remind you, so I’ll share the blame if you find one.”

Reece offered her a smile of appreciation. She was right, but that didn’t make him feel any better about forgetting something so important.

“I think I’d know if it was in my chair. I’m never without it, and there aren’t a lot of places to hide something where I wouldn’t find it. How long do they even stay active?”

“Depends on the kind,” Mina said. “Some are solar powered and can last up to thirty days.”

After taking in the wheelchair, he knew. “The bag,” he said, running the wand over it. Sure enough, the wand beeped.

Sky looked up. “The bag is always there. I have to carry things.”

Reece ran it over the bag again several times, the beeping louder each time until he was right over it. He wand-ed the rest of the chair for completion’s sake but got no other hits.

“Aren’t you going to get rid of it or something?” Sky asked when he put the wand down.

“No.” He shook his head as he took her hand. “It will stay where it is until we decide what happens next. Then, when we’re ready to go, we’ll put the entire bag beside the bed. If I lift the tracker out, he’ll know we found it. We need to get out of here before he catches on.”

Mina nodded, agreeing. “Leave everything in place and the lights on. Sky, can you duck low enough in the truck to not be seen?”

“I’d have to be on my side with my legs propped, but if he covered me with a blanket and it was dark, you wouldn’t see me.”

“Do that until you’re clear of the place,” Mina told Reece. “Can you hide the chair in the truck?”

He glanced at Sky for confirmation.

“If we take the wheels off and fold the back down, it would be lower than the back of the truck. A tarp would then hide it.”

“To what end, boss?” Reece asked in confusion.

“If the perp is watching the house, he may approach if he sees you leave alone, with all the lights still on. It’s worth a shot to see if he bites. If he gets into the house, I can trap him there until the police arrive.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Reece said with a nod. “We need another place to go. Should I take the portable equipment so I can contact you?”

“Normally, yes, but it’s time for you to come home. We have an empty cabin since Delilah and Lucas moved to Wisconsin. It’s not perfectly accessible, but it will be better than a hotel room, and you’ll have access to the equipment in the command center.”

“I don’t want to bring trouble to Secure Watch,” Sky said, glancing between him and Mina. “I can’t put all of you in danger, either.”

His laughter filled the room, and he gently shoulder bumped her. “Sweetheart, that’s the very last thing you need to worry about. Let Binate show up on Secure Watch’s doorstep. It will be the last thing he does as a free man.”

Mina shot him a finger gun and a wink. “Normally, I’d tell you to watch your tail, but in this case, I won’t. If you bring along an unwanted pest, we’ll swat him and take care of the problem by daybreak. Do be careful, though—the guy is unpredictable. Stay aware.”

“You got it, boss. It will take us a few to get ready.”

“Once you’re in the truck, call in and I’ll take control of the house. See you in two hours. You can get some sleep and then go over the dupe I made of her Facebook page.”

“You said we’d get to why he would put up videos that no one could watch,” Sky said, glancing between Reece and Mina.

“You can look at that page as well.” Mina nodded. “He’s started a page on Facebook calling for your arrest for all the gallery crimes.”

Reece paused what he was doing to tip his head at his boss. “The page is set up like a petition?”

“It’s more like a hate page,” Mina explained. “He’s posting pictures of the galleries after the crimes.”

“Listen,” Sky said with a shake of her head. “I’m not a big name in the art world. Literally no one outside of Duluth even knows who I am.”

“While that may be true, he’s working hard to change that,” Mina explained. “He’s hanging out all the dirty laundry he can find about you. Whether any of it is true or not isn’t what matters. What matters is convincing the public that it is.”

“Is he having any luck with that?” Reece asked, anger filling his veins until his blood boiled and his ears turned hot.

“Not that I can see. As I said, we’ll look at it when you get here. I can’t convince Facebook to shut it down because he set it up as a business page using your personal page to do it, so to them, it looks legit.”

“But it’s my page!” Sky exclaimed, and Reece could tell she was holding back tears of anger and anguish.

“It is, but he changed the name and deleted all of your postings, so it doesn’t look like it was ever your page.”

“I don’t understand how he could do that,” Sky said, her tone telling Reece she was hitting the end of her ability to reason. Since he still had to get her to safety, he glanced at Mina, who nodded in agreement.

“I’ll explain that on the way,” Reece said. “We need to get out before we can’t.”

“I thought you said everything is quiet,” Sky said, the words filled with nerves.

“It is,” Mina said patiently. “And we want to keep it that way, so it’s time to move. Will you be ready in ten?”

With a nod, Mina disconnected. Reece took Sky’s hand to calm her. “I got you. Secure Watch is behind us, so don’t be afraid.”

“Too late,” she whispered, her smile watery. “That ship sailed.”

“I’ve let you down once, Sky. It won’t happen again.”

Not wanting to see the look in her eyes, he pulled her into him, his hand cradling her head as he held her to his chest. When she let out a shuddering sigh of relief, he silently vowed to protect her for life. All he had to do was convince her that she didn’t need protection from him.

* * *

T HE DARKNESS ENGULFED THEM , but Sky had never felt more exposed.

With the blanket over her, just her nose and mouth stuck out.

She couldn’t see where they were going and had to trust the man behind the wheel to get her to safety.

But then, she did trust him, or she wouldn’t have called him, right?

The truth came down to one thing, she realized.

She trusted him with her life but not her heart.

Call it a preemptive strike by not putting herself in the position to watch Reece walk away when he experienced how hard her life was.

That would be easier than believing for a heartbeat that they could be more than old friends.