The Edge of Courage (Red Team) (24 page)

“I live there.”

“Mandy didn’t say anything about anyone else living there,” Rocco said.

“Mandy? Is she here?” the girl asked, looking around.

“She’s here. She’s sleeping,” Rocco told her.

Kelan felt the girl relax a little upon hearing that Mandy was here—until another thought hit her. “Is she also a prisoner?”

“She’s not a prisoner. Nor are you. Mandy’s my sister. I’m Kit Bolanger.”

She straightened and faced Kelan. “If I’m not a prisoner, then I’ll thank you to take me back home.”

“No.”

“What’s your connection to Alan Buchanan?” Kit continued with the questions.

“How about you show me some ID first?” she demanded.

“We’re private investigators,” Owen explained.

“I didn’t know private investigators traveled in packs.” She answered with more bravado than Kelan would have expected from someone so young and so small. “What are you investigating? What has Alan done?”

“We’re not at liberty to explain. Answer the question,” Owen told her.

“He’s my stepfather. He asked me to come back and work the office for the summer. His counter help keeps quitting.”

“There was no sign of your mother at the apartment,” Kelan said, wishing she were still leaning against him, wishing the guys would back off a bit and give her some room.

The girl shoved her dark blond curls off her face and glared at him. “She died a year ago. She was murdered when I was a freshman at CSU.”

“How long have you known Buchanan?” Owen asked.

The girl shrugged. “My mother married him two and a half years ago, just before they moved up here. I don’t know him very well. I’ve spent most of that time at school.” She looked at the stockade of men standing shoulder to shoulder around her.

Kit and Owen exchanged a look. Kelan clenched his jaw. He could see they intended to press the girl for every bit of info she had on Buchanan. It was going to be a long friggin’ night. And he did not intend to let them question her without him.

Chapter 16

Mandy woke to loud voices coming from the living room. She’d tried to stay awake until Rocco returned from his mission, but she’d been too tired. She pulled her robe on over her pajamas and hurried out to see what had the men so excited.

As soon as she stepped into the hallway, she saw the guys standing in a tight circle and heard a familiar voice. The plumber’s daughter.

“Fee?” she asked, pushing her way into the ring of men.

“Mandy?”

Mandy reached out to hug her friend, who was ice cold. She glared up at Kelan. “You couldn’t have let her get dressed?”

“It wasn’t a social call, Mandy.”

She drew Fee to the sofa and wrapped her in the quilt before pulling her down to sit next her. “What’s going on? I didn’t know you were out of school already. Why are you here?”

Fee folded her legs in front of her on the cushion and glared at Kelan and Rocco. “They broke into Alan’s home and kidnapped me.”

Mandy gasped. She looked at Kelan’s shuttered face, then at Rocco for confirmation. He shrugged. “She was an unforeseen complication.”

Kit looked at the men gathered in the room. “I think you have some work to do downstairs,” Kit ordered. “Owen and I will chat with the girl.”

“I’m staying.” Kelan crossed his arms and planted his feet. “She’s my complication. I’m responsible for her.”

“True, that. And we’ll discuss it shortly. In the meantime, I need you to do as I asked and give me an update ASAP.”

Kelan didn’t move. “Rocco will get your update. I’m staying.”

“Why are these men in your house, Mandy? And don’t tell me they’ve come out for a vacation—I won’t for a minute believe it,” Fee asked.

“They’re friends of Kit’s. They’ve come to help me with the center. I’ve been having all sorts of problems.” Mandy said with a sigh, unsure how much she could or should tell Fee. “They have some questions for you. Please answer them as completely as you are able.”

Fee frowned. “I don’t know anything about what’s happening here. I just got back from school.”

Mandy nodded. “This isn’t only about the center.”

Fee looked at Kit and Owen. “My stepfather’s in trouble, isn’t he?”

“What makes you think he’s in trouble?” Owen asked.

“He was always a little off.” Fee got up and started pacing. “I’ve always wondered about him.” She looked at the men. “I never understood why my mother married him. She wasn’t in love with him, I don’t think. They didn’t even know each other. I was a senior in high school. She came home one day and said she’d found a way for me to go to college. They got married, and we moved up here. They seemed happy enough. And he did pay for my college. It was just odd, that’s all.”

Mandy watched as Fee moved around the room, gesturing with the blanket as she spoke. “And when my mother died, I really became suspicious. They said she ran off the road in a drunken stupor, that her blood alcohol level was higher than .14.”

“That’s good and drunk,” Kelan commented.

Fee glared at him. “She was a teetotaler. She never drank. Ever.”

“Was her death investigated?”

“No. I had a fight with Alan over it. He didn’t want me to raise any questions, or make any noise. I did anyway, but the sheriff couldn’t see beyond the coroner’s irrefutable conclusion that she’d been drinking. They had only been here a year by then. No one knew my mother very well. No one could vouch for the fact that it was exceptionally odd behavior from her.”

“Does your stepfather ever have unusual visitors? Is he a member of any associations or groups that you know of?” Kit asked.

“I don’t know about his professional organizations. I don’t think he belongs to any social groups. That’s another weird thing about him. He doesn’t have friends. He’s been in half of the houses in Wolf Creek Bend. Everyone knows him, yet he eats by himself at the diner most nights. He doesn’t socialize with anyone. Every now and then, he’ll go down to Denver unexpectedly. I usually work in his office in the summers. Several times I’d have to rearrange his schedule so that he could take a day off and drive down there.”

“Do you know where he went?” Owen asked.

“No. He never talked about it.”

“How would you describe his demeanor those days?”

“I don’t know. Edgy. When he got back, he’d take out his whiskey and finish off whatever he had left in the bottle.”

“Kit,” Mandy looked at her brother, “I don’t think she can go back. I think she should stay here.”

“Agreed,” Kit said. “Give her my room,” he offered.

Owen gave Mandy a dark look, clearly not pleased to have to deal with this complication. “Get her settled. Fiona—hold off calling Alan until we talk in the morning.”

She glared at Kelan. “I can’t call anyone. He’s got my cell phone.”

Owen nodded to Kelan. “Good. We’ll give it back to you in the morning.”

* * *

Rocco tossed Buchanan’s phone to Max, who immediately started digging into the plumber’s online accounts.

“Any problems—besides the obvious one upstairs?” Blade asked Rocco.

“None.”

“You look around while you were there?”

Rocco handed him the appointment book. “Seems at least once a month he clears out an entire day, as if he decides to take off without any forethought or planning. The bounced appointments all get rescheduled. No idea what that might mean, but it’s a pattern worth checking into.”

“Can you tell what he texted the night we came in, to whom, and how?” Blade asked Max.

“He’s got an email account, but there are no in-coming or out-going emails stored. He has no saved drafts, either. The only social networking app on here is Twitter. Last night, he sent a direct message to @A__akbar. No text, just a picture of our guys.”

“Who’s A Akbar? That short for ‘Allah Akbar’?” Rocco asked, remembering the crazed battle cry of Afghan insurgents.

“There’s no profile data for that account. I don’t know.”

“What was Akbar’s response?”

“No response. @A__akbar has never interacted with our plumber. He isn’t even following him. The next thing @A__akbar posted, barely an hour later, is, ‘Lovely evening to drink coffee in Denver. I’ve ordered a single espresso.’”

Blade and Rocco looked at each other. “Does he say something like that a lot?”

Max shook his head. “Can’t tell from this phone. A search shows nothing. He might have deleted his Tweets. Let me get into Twitter’s database to see what’s passed through his account.”

“I’ll a make copy of his appointment book,” Rocco said. “I want to return it and the phone before Buchanan wakes up.”

Kelan came downstairs after Fiona was settled. He handed her phone to Greer. “This is the girl’s phone. Best check it out before we give it back to her.”

* * *

The house was silent as Rocco made his way to Mandy’s bedroom later that night. He felt an unexpected rush of joy at the prospect of spending a few hours with his woman—sleeping and anything else that might happen while they were together. He stripped, then sent the dogs to their pillows. Slipping beneath the covers, he pulled Mandy to his side. This was the closest he’d been to heaven his entire life.

He eased her long T-shirt up, hoping not to rouse her too much. He liked her this way, warm and sleepy and soft, wanted to feel her skin against his. She shrugged out of the tee when he had it up about her arms and head, then snuggled back into his side. Rocco tossed it off the bed. He pulled her over his chest, then drew the covers around them. Slipping his hands under the blankets, he rubbed her back, her hips, her buttocks. She sighed and nuzzled her cheek against his chest.

He lifted his knees between her legs, nudging them apart as he rocked himself against her core. He captured her nipples, rubbed them, pinching just slightly. She sucked in a sharp draw of air as she responded viscerally to his touch.

“Shh. Don’t wake up. Don’t move,” he whispered. “I want you like this.” He pulled back and positioned himself at her opening, then slowly entered her, letting his cock stroke her feminine channel as his hands stroked her back. In and out. Up and down. Slowly.

“Rocco—”

He held her to him, keeping her from rising. He didn’t hurry this coupling. He wished it could last forever, leisurely and sweet. “We’ll go slowly.”

“Rocco—”

He could feel her body tightening, urging his to a faster pace. He took hold of her upper thighs, just below her bottom, keeping her still. “Not yet. Go back to sleep. I’m gonna fuck you for hours, so relax. Dream. Of me. Of this.”

He moved in her, his cock like hot iron. The restraint he imposed on himself strained his entire body. He could feel her passion heating up, rippling through her body. She cried out, her body tightening like a fist over him, pumping, grinding into him. She arched up and rode him hard. Rocco could feel his balls tightening, seizing. He gripped her hips, lifting and driving into her, over and over as he reached his own climax.

They both settled against the bed, still joined. It felt wonderful to have her warm, sated body on top of his. He tried to close his mind to the shadow stalking his euphoria, but it wouldn’t be silenced. One day soon, he would have to leave her. His arms tightened around her shoulders. He kissed her forehead. Leaving her was going to tear a piece out of his soul.

* * *

Mandy was hard at work in the kitchen the next morning when Fee came in. “What are you doing up so early?” she asked.

Fee shrugged. “I wait tables during the school year. I figured you could use an extra hand.”

“Well, I certainly could. There are only nine men, but I swear they eat like a whole battalion. Why don’t you get a cup of coffee, then I’ll have you make the biscuits.”

Fee paused beside the coffee pot. “Thanks for letting me stay here.” She looked over at Mandy. “After hearing that Alan is being investigated, I didn’t feel safe going back there.”

“I’m happy to help, Fee.”

Fee looked around them, checking the two kitchen entrances to be sure they were alone. “What do they think he did?”

“I don’t know exactly. I’m not sure they know, but I have no doubt they’ll figure it out.”

“So how long has your brother been with these guys?”

“Not long.” Mandy was gun-shy about answering questions. “He joined this private firm when he left the service.”

Fee looked down at her coffee, then back at Mandy. “This is really happening, isn’t it?”

Mandy squeezed her arm. “I’m afraid so.”

“Who hired them?”

“I don’t know. I’m just grateful that they are here.” She filled Fee in on the crazy things that had been happening with her construction site.

“Do they think Alan is behind that? I don’t know him that well, but it doesn’t seem like something he would do.”

“They are trying to follow the threads. That’s all.”

The next half-hour passed in a blur of preparations. Fee made the biscuits and cut up the fruit. She gathered a stack of plates and silverware. When she turned to take them out to the table, the big guy who’d kidnapped her stood there. Kelan, they’d called him last night. He looked to be of Native American descent and had to be at least a foot taller than her, about twice as wide, and whipcord lean. He’d carried her as if her hundred and ten pounds were nothing.

She felt the warmth of a blush creep up her face. “Morning,” she said, in as clipped a voice as she could muster.

He gave her a curt nod, then looked her over, his gaze clinical. “You slept well?”

“I did, thank you.” She stepped around him and carried her dishes out to the table.

Mandy saw Kelan turn and watch her. “She’s cute, isn’t she?”

“She’s an infant.” He poured himself a cup of coffee.

“She’s older than you think. She’s in college.”

He sipped his coffee, squinting from the heat as he watched Fee. His gaze shifted to Mandy. “That’s what I said.” He went to the dining room. “Want help with that?” he asked Fiona.

“Nope. I’ve got it covered.”

“Fiona, I’m sorry about last night. You must have been terrified.”

“I wasn’t scared. I had the Colt—which I want back, please. That was my grandfather’s gun.”

“You may not realize this, but guns are usually more effective loaded. You should have shot first and asked questions later. If we’d been the bad guys, you wouldn’t have stood a chance.”