Page 62 of Cold Silence
He planted his hands on his hips and widened his stance. “And it goes without saying that you do not leave the room without us.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she said, but then wondered if she might indeed dream about it tonight. A nightmare for sure.
“Your bedroom is on that side.” Gage pointed to the left. “My team will share the bedrooms on the right.”
“Right now, I want someone on duty outside the door,” Travis said.
Gage nodded. “Coop and Jackson are still on Portland time so they’ll take the first shifts while I get some shuteye.”
“Good.” Travis gave his buddy a tight nod.
The men took off as if they’d already talked about leaving her alone with Travis to get acclimated to her new home.
“I’ll head to the lobby to get Eryn when she arrives.” Gage went to one bedroom.
Coop and Jackson started for the front door. Coop peered over his shoulder. “I’ll grab the luggage from the vehicle and then park it in the garage.”
“And I’ll stand duty,” Jackson said.
They stepped out the door, and just like that she was alone with Travis. Nervous now for some reason, she looked around until she spotted a small kitchenette. She looked in the refrigerator and found bottled water. She took one out and held it up. “Want one?”
“Sure.”
She grabbed another bottle and sat on the sofa.
“You should probably be getting some shuteye too.”
“I want to meet Eryn when she gets here and see if she found anything of interest in the network.”
Travis checked his watch. “Her plane’s on the ground, and she should be here soon. Until then, let’s review the security protocol again. I’ll be spending the night in this room. We’ll have someone outside the suite door at all times. If our suspect gets past them and me, you’ll have two guys and Eryn in the other rooms who’ll come running. But if for some reason I’m incapacitated, I want you to call 911 and request a patrol officer.”
“You think he can get past you?” She pushed her glasses higher on her nose and didn’t like that she was showing her fear.
“Not at all. The odds of taking out four spec ops guys and a former FBI agent are low. Just covering all bases. I won’t leave anything to chance when it comes to your safety.” His intensity had disappeared to be replaced with a tender, soft gaze that wrapped her in the warmth of his caring.
Oh, gosh.She was lost. Totally lost. And in love again. No, not again. Still. He was the man for her. Theonlyman, and she had to face that fact. So either she lived a life of loneliness or she got used to dealing with her fear of losing him.
Which would it be?
Eryn was not at all what Claire had expected. She had to admit to having a stereotypical picture of her looking like a tough law enforcement officer. But she didn’t come across that way at all. She was around five foot seven with a curvy figure, long dark hair, and a pleasant smile. However, her attire told of her former occupation as she wore black tactical pants and a red polo shirt with a gun at her hip almost hidden under an overshirt.
After introductions were complete, she dropped her computer case on the second sofa across from the one Claire sat on with Travis. “I got in right away and had a chance to look around. I was onto something when I got kicked off the network. I think we could be looking at White for this.”
Claire sat forward. “But he’s out of town.”
“Or so he says.” Eryn gave a proud smile. “Checked his credit card, and he’s holed up in a dumpy motel down the road.”
“He’s what?” Claire jumped to her feet and started pacing. “He lied to us?”
“About where he is, yes,” Eryn said. “I’ll need to get into the network to investigate my theory before we can prove he lied about other things and go after him.”
Claire stopped pacing. “Let’s go then. Now!”
“Not a good idea,” Travis said. “Everyone needs to get some shuteye so we’re better prepared for what we might face tomorrow. Especially now that we could be hauling this guy in. We need to bring our A game.”
He was right, but… “Like I can sleep anyway.”
“Trust me,” Eryn said. “You might toss and turn, but the guys can sleep through anything.”
