Page 45 of Tracking Payton
Alex acted jealous. Anytime she mentioned another man’s name, he got this angry look on his face. He kept bringing up her lack of attire. And very verbally made mention of seeing her nipples. The thought still made her feel warm and giddy.
He acted like a man who wanted her but shouldn’t. She couldn’t understand why. They’d grown up together. They knew each other well. Or at least they had until she’d hit puberty and her boobs grew overnight. After that, he’d treated her like she had the plague.
She nibbled her lip in thought. Had he avoided her because she’d grown out? Because he was attracted to her? It was plausible. But why?
Then it hit her like a ton of bricks.
Her dad.
He’d taken Alex from a bad environment and given him a home. Stability. He’d think it was a betrayal to her dad if he started something with her. It could ruin their relationship if things didn’t work out between them.
It was out of respect, he’d pushed her away.
She almost laughed out loud. Silly man. Her dad wouldn’t care about all of that. He’d want them to be happy. Her dad already loved him like a son. He might grumble about it a little bit, but that was just his nature.
Alex glanced over at her while he talked in hushed tones with Colin. She kept her eyes glued on the computer screen. So many ideas now swirling in her head. This might be her one and only chance to finally be with him.
Knowing he didn’t hate her but was trying to be respectful changed the game. Too bad for Alex, she was raised by a military man and knew how to win no matter what. He’d just met his match.
She smiled a secret smile as she looked up one of the addresses. Now that she had a new direction, she was even more determined. As she was looking it up, she got an email from her boss. She tried not to be disappointed when he told her that her dad’s phone was indeed off. It had been a long shot. On the plus side, he did send her the phone log.
She scrolled through his most recent calls. There was her and a few other local calls. Then further down there were out-of-state calls. Pulling up the internet search, she looked up the numbers. Alaska, Texas, California, and Arizona.
All of the places that had base attacks.
Using her police log-in, she looked up who the contacts were. A search said they were military personnel. People who had recently gone missing or found dead. Each person was a colonel or close rank. All were part of communications divisions.
This couldn’t be a coincidence.
But how were the buildings connected to them?
She looked up the buildings and their business records. Bingo. The Alaska building was registered to a James Decker. The colonel who was killed in that area four months ago. She looked up another address. Same thing. Registered to a major who disappeared three months ago.
She typed in the address that was in Colorado Springs, already having a feeling she knew what she was going to find. Her dad’s name was listed as the business owner.
Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Alex get up and turn on the television.
“What’s going on?” Dozens of horrible scenarios went through her head.
Payton felt her lungs seize when he put on the news. There was a picture of her dad in a small box behind the reporter. The reporter wasn’t talking about her dad missing though. No, something much worse.
The laptop slid from her lap to the floor. She couldn’t care a less if it broke as the reporter spewed lies.
“Colonel Nick Weber, who was reported missing, is now wanted for questioning. Government officials have found evidence that he was selling government secrets to foreign leaders and staged his accident to escape authorities. The manhunt continues for him—”
Alex shut off the television.
Payton’s vision turned red as the bleach blonde news anchor spewed lies about her dad. She stood from her seat, wanting to strangle the woman through the television screen. “That is a lie.”
“Payton.” Alex was at her side trying to comfort her. He was saying something, but blood was rushing to her ears so she didn’t hear.
“I’m going to go down there and arrest them all. They can’t do that. My father is a good man. He’d never sell government secrets.”
“You’re not going down there,” Alex said calmly. His candid attitude infuriated her as much as the lying news anchor did.
She turned her murderous gaze on him. “Watch me,” she warned through clenched teeth. “I’ll arrest them all.”
“Under what law?”
