Page 11 of Protecting Bree
“Smiley? You gonna stand in the hall all morning or get your ass down here?”
Looking up, he saw his commander’s head peeking out from the meeting room. He sounded irritated, which wasn’t a good thing.
“Coming, Sir!” he called out.
“Smiley?” Bree asked.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“Nope. What did I say about thanking me? Come on. Let’s get this done,” he said gruffly, uncomfortable withthe feelings coursing through his body. He wanted to snatch Bree up and run away with her. Stash her in a cabin in some remote mountain region, so no one could touch one hair on her head. But he also wanted to integrate her with his friends. Make certain she didn’t even consider going back to Vegas once her pursuer was caught.
His fingers brushed the small of her back as he urged her to continue down the hall. He opened the conference room door and gestured for her to precede him.
Entering the room, Smiley wasn’t surprised to see not only the commander, but his entire team as well. He hadn’t known they’d be there, but since he’d told them about the meeting that morning, it wasn’t a huge leap to think they’d want to be here to have his back.
But Bree obviously wasn’t expecting to come face-to-face with so many people. She stopped in her tracks just inside the door.
“Oh,” she said under her breath.
“I’ve got three more meetings this morning,” the commander said brusquely. “I should’ve stayed in the field, it would beat sitting on my ass all day, talking to idiots. Not you guys,” he added quickly, to clarify.
Smiley led Bree to a seat and took the one next to her. And for the next twenty minutes, Bree went over her story—how she’d broken up with her boyfriend, then was abducted in the parking lot of her apartment complex, ending up in the car where Smiley and Blink had found her. How she’d gotten scared and run from the scene during the capture of her and Josie’s kidnapper…and that she’dbeenon the run ever since.
She also explained that she was no longer able to access her bank accounts because every time she did, shesuspected she was being followed. The men she’d noticed following her often changed, and that’s why she assumed it was some sort of organization after her, determined to get what they’d paid for.
Her ex-boyfriend, Carl, was found dead in Vegas shortly after she’d escaped the city, something Bree only discovered after Kelli had googled the man for her.
All-in-all, she didn’t have a lot of concrete information that would help figure outwhowas after her. Thewhythey knew: someone had paid a lot of money for her, and he or she wasn’t happy that they’d been stiffed. They were obviously determined to retrieve their merchandise—Bree.
She also had a lot of feelings and speculation about being followed, but not a lot of hard evidence. Some people would dismiss her as being paranoid. Would scoff and tell her that she was being ridiculous. But since Smiley and his team often staked their lives on those kinds of “feelings,” they were the last group of people to tell her everything was in her head.
“So, Smiley, you want out of the deployment rotation?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“For how long?”
“Until we figure this out,” Smiley told him without pause.
“That’s what I thought. You’re talking to Tex this morning?” he asked.
“Yes, Sir. Immediately after this meeting.”
He nodded. “With Tex on this, hopefully it won’t be too long before it’s finished. I assume the rest of you want off the schedule as well?” the commander asked, looking at the other men.
Sounds of “yes, Sir” rang out around the room.
“Ihavebeen working your team pretty hard, haven’t I?” he said, smirking. “And rumor has it that three of you are getting married soon. Figure you might want some time off for honeymoons, huh?”
Smiley’s lips twitched as everyone agreed with their commander.
“Fine. Two months. I’ll be able to take you out of rotation for two months—but any longer than that, I can’t guarantee. Will that be enough time, Smiley?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“If you need me for anything, you know where to find me. But being out of rotation doesn’t mean time off. You’re still expected to be at PT every morning, and you’ll have to participate in more meetings.”
