Page 5 of Rescuing Erin

I moved out of the way and allowed Fletch to enter the familiar house.

“Like what you’ve done with the place.” His gaze searched the room. “I wasn’t sure I agreed with the architect when in the rebuild they suggested taking out the wall to the kitchen. But it opened the whole space up. I like it.”

I’d bought the house from Fletch only a month prior, and this would be my first time staying here. He and his family had decided to sell after the house had been severely damaged by an RPG. They’d rebuilt with the intention of staying but, in the end, they couldn’t move back in. Not that I could blame them. Fletch had almost died when his liver had been nicked by the two by four that had punctured his side in the explosion. It was his teammate Ghost’s quick thinking that had saved his life. Then there was Rayne’s brother, Chase; he, too, almost died trying to protect his woman, Sadie. It had been a bad situation all the way around.

“So do I. When I heard you were selling, I couldn’t pass it up.”

“The security system up and running?”

“Oh, yeah. You had a great set-up, I didn’t change anything. I thought Zane Lewis was an over-the-top bastard, then I met you. There’s not an inch of land that’s not covered.”

“After what happened when I first met Emily, I upgraded to cover the street in front of the house, too. You’ll be good here. Has Tex found anything new?”

John “Tex” Keegan was the go-to man for anything information related. If it was out there in the cyber world, he could find it. Hell, even if the intel was locked away behind the most encrypted system, he could still find it.

“The team is combing through security footage and traffic cameras now. Tex is also looking into it.”

“Have you thought about asking Beth? You know she’s the one who found that asshole Jacks when he took Em and Annie.”

I’d heard of Beth, she was making quite the name for herself here in Texas. What she hadn’t known before she’d met Tex, he’d made sure she learned. I didn’t know all the details of what Beth had done to find Fletch’s then girlfriend, Emily, and her daughter, Annie. But from what I’d heard, the intel had come in the nick of time. Annie had already escaped the shipping container Jacks had locked the two in and she’d been making a run for it.

“We asked Tex about it, but he said she has her hands full. He didn’t elaborate, just said there was a missing child.”

“Shit, I hope she—” Fletch stopped talking, and I looked to the stairs to see Erin had come down.

“Erin, this is Fletch. Fletch, this is President Anderson’s daughter.”

“Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

I almost laughed at his formal greeting, Erin was anything but proper. I was sure it drove her mother, Clarissa, crazy. Mrs. Anderson was a well put together, elegant woman. Erin was pretty much the opposite.

“Hi, Fletch. Please call me Erin.” She pasted a fake smile on her pretty face and made her way over to us. “Sorry to interrupt.”

God, I hated the phony persona she put on around people she didn’t know. I much preferred the real Erin. The one I’d gotten to know before the night I found her naked in the guesthouse at the charity event. Since that night, I’d done my best to keep things professional with her.

“You’re not,” Fletch reassured her.

“I invited Fletch over so we could go over the security protocol while we’re in Texas. Fletch and his team all live nearby and have offered to keep their eyes open for anything suspicious. We also need a contingency plan in place in case something happens to me, so you’re covered.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little overboard? I mean, no one even knows we’re here.” There was the snarky Erin she reserved special just for me.

“No, I don’t think anything I do, when it comes to your safety, is overboard. And just because you think no one knows we’re here doesn’t mean that’s actually the case.”

“Come on, Colin. When we left D.C., you drove all the way into Pennsylvania before turning back into Maryland to fly from there. Not to mention, you drive like a lunatic, it’s impossible someone could’ve followed you through all your speeding and weaving in and out of traffic. I thought I was going to die before we made it to the airport.”

“You’d be surprised what people can and will do when they want something badly enough. And for some crazy reason, someone seems to want you. Though if they actually got their hands on you, I suspect they’d return you quickly once you started bitching.”

“God, you’re annoying.”

“Right back ’atcha, doll.”

Fletch’s chuckle reminded me he was still in the room, witnessing my stupid squabble with Erin.

“Damn, you two sound like an old married couple.”

“Did you get the email I sent with the new login info for the cameras?” I asked, ignoring his comment.

“I did. I passed it along to the team as well. They’ll only be alerted if the alarm is triggered so don’t forget to set it. You didn’t say, has Tex found anything?”