Page 69 of Night Watch
“Fine, then if you want a play-by-play report, I’ll set an alarm on my phone and check in with you on a regular basis.”
She shook her head hard, almost violently. “No. No. I’ve thought about this. I can see you with your face glued to a computer screen, hunting down valuable information. Your alarm rings. You turn it off, planning to look at it in a minute, but then you forget.”
“I won’t—”
“Dude,” Drake said. “You totally will.”
“But I—”
“We all know you will,” Sierra said.
“And your mom’s right,” Kennedy said, wishing she didn’t have to be on the opposite side of what Erik wanted all the time. “Our health has to come before anything.”
Erik gritted his teeth and glanced around the table. If he was seeing what Kennedy was seeing, it was the determined set of his brothers’ and sister’s faces. He might want to argue, but there was no point. After all, that was what made these people so special. They would stop at nothing to protect a family member, and the same held true with a client, which right now meant her. Five men and one woman who would do anything to help her. Anything.
Oh, man.She was so blessed. So very blessed. Tears wet her eyes.
“Kennedy, honey.” Peggy’s fierce mama-bear gaze zoned in on Kennedy. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just feeling very blessed to know all of you, and so thankful you don’t hold the way I broke up with Erik against me.”
“About that.” Peggy dragged her chair next to Kennedy. “Sounds like everyone knows what happened but me, and don’t you think it’s time I’m in the loop too?”
Erik groaned, but Kennedy didn’t mind telling Peggy about the breakup. Kennedy had already blown her WITSEC agreement, after all. And she wanted this special woman to know that Kennedy didn’t abandon her son without a good reason. Why keeping Peggy in the loop was so very important to Kennedy, she didn’t know, and she wasn’t going to analyze it, because if she did, she might not like the answer.
Erik stowed the conversation from breakfast. He couldn’t think about how well Kennedy fit in with his family and still keep her safe as he drove her and Drake to their interview with the Hood to Coast racer. Didn’t take Erik long the night before to learn the guy in the picture’s identity, plus the identity of the other people on the team. Not surprisingly, the guy was a former pilot and major, Mick Hess. He lived in a four-story apartment building near the Portland Air National Guard Base, which was located adjacent to the Portland International Airport.
A commercial jet soared overhead, and Erik glanced up. The sun beat down on the area, and the snowcapped peak of Mount Hood fairly glowed, but there wasn’t a fighter jet in the sky.
“I was hoping to see the jets.” Kennedy peered out the window in the backseat. “But maybe you can’t see them from here.”
“You can,” Erik said. “They fly in formation in this area, but I’ve only ever seen them in the afternoon.”
It wasn’t uncommon to catch one of the F-15C Eagles the guard exclusively flew, roaring out of PDX on an almost daily basis. The Air Guard was a reserve component of the Air Force, performing both state and federal missions. And seeing the jets soaring through the sky in formation was a remarkable sight.
Kennedy’s eyes narrowed. “Then we won’t likely see them today.”
“Probably a good thing,” Drake said from the seat beside Erik. “Could be a distraction.”
Erik loved everything aeronautical and would be stoked to see the jets, but his brother was right. They couldn’t afford to be distracted by anything. He needed to keep Kennedy’s safety first in his mind.
Which was why they’d done a thorough threat assessment before coming here. Low risk, but still not no risk. He pulled into the parking lot and searched the area for danger. A few commuters heading to work but otherwise it was calm and quiet. Their other brothers had come ahead of them to do additional recon, and Aiden saluted Erik from the sidewalk.
Good.Everything was okay for their early morning knock and talk.IfHess let them in. A big if. Especially if the guy was their shooter. But Erik was going to get in that door no matter what happened.
He parked next to his brothers’ rental vehicle and turned to look at Kennedy. “Hang tight while I get the lay of the land.” They’d reviewed aerial footage, but he wanted a firsthand look before he allowed Kennedy to step out of the safe bulletproof environment of their recently repaired SUV.
He joined his brothers.
“We’re clear.” Aiden planted his feet on the sidewalk. “Apartment’s at the end of the first floor hallway. We confirmed exits include the apartment’s patio door and the front door with exits on both ends of the hallway, plus a stairwell and elevator.”
Erik lifted his hand to block the sun as he surveyed the building. “So Aiden will take the closest end of the hallway, Brendan the far end. Clay has the patio door, and Drake’s with me for the suspect’s apartment.”
“Exactly.” Drake’s droll tone said he wanted to move on.
Erik looked at the SUV where Kennedy waited. No way he’d rush this. He had more at stake here than his brothers. Erik was falling in love with Kennedy all over again, and he was powerless to stop it. In fact, he didn’t even want to try anymore. He just wanted to focus on her well-being and forget the past. Forget the hurt. And keep her safe.
Erik jerked his head at the SUV. “I’m going to do a quick pass of the first floor then I’ll meet you at the vehicle to escort Kennedy inside.”
