Page 34 of More Bite than Bark

“I’m fine.”She waved one hand at him, shooing him out of the room.“Go do what you need to do.I’m going to do a little shopping.”She folded her feet under her and picked up her phone.“I’ll get the address here before I order anything, but I’m not ready for that yet.Go do your thing.”

She pulled up her favorite home goods store and started looking for a throw blanket to keep on this chair.Maybe a small table to store a few things.

Chapter Nineteen

“NeverthoughtI’dseeit boss.Are you sure this is a good idea?”Wrath said as soon as he closed the door to the command center.

Hex turned and glared at him.He wasn’t sure which part to address first.The part that Elle might be a bad idea or what his VP had never thought he’d see.He’d go with the first part of Wraths’ statement and maybe by then, he wouldn’t be so eager to rip the other man’s head off for the comment about Elle.

“What didn’t you think you’d see?”Hex asked, fighting to keep his tone neutral, or as close as he could manage.

“You settling down.You said last night that you were letting her hide out, but now you’re actually moving her in.I know where the prospects are and what they’re doing right now.I don’t understand how she got to you so fast.”

Hex took a deep breath.He could see where Wrath was coming from.He wasn’t wrong, but he also wasn’t right.

“It wasn’t fast.I’ve known her for years, cared about her for years.We dated years ago, back when we were in school, but ended up going our own ways when I left for the Army.She didn’t think she could handle a long-distance relationship, not one where there was a significant risk that I might not ever come back.”Hex shook his head, his skin itched.He needed to move.He walked the length of the command center, then spun on his heel and retraced his path.

“But she was going to marry someone else less than twenty-four hours ago.You were bitching about having to go to the wedding.”

Hex nodded.He got it.It was like a complete one eighty.He wasn’t ready to share what was going on, not all of it.He remembered his VP’s statement the night before predicting her pregnancy and he wasn’t ready to confirm that, not yet.

“I get it.In that respect, you’re right.It is fast.After she left the wedding last night I had Cypher find her for me, you know that.She told me some of what was going on, Cypher has been looking into him, and I came in to see if there was anything new and if we’d heard anything from our friends out west.”

Wrath scowled.“Friends out west?Oh.About our guest.Yeah, I got a call from someone named Ruger.He said to turn him over to whoever we want.There are at least three alphabet agencies looking for him and once he’s in custody, they can fight over jurisdiction without any of us being stuck in the middle.”

Hex nodded slowly letting the information sink in and his mind spin with possibilities.

“Either of you know if we’ve got anyone being hounded by their agency for some show of progress?I don’t think any of the military branches will be interested, but if we can turn him over and get something out of it for us, why not?”

“I don’t know of anyone needing something to turn in, but I’ll look into it.Ideally, we’ll get him out of here today.”

Hex nodded.He stopped pacing, at least for the moment, and turned his attention to Cypher.

“What do you have to tell me?”

“I was able to set a trace on Anderson’s phone.He went to Elizabeth’s apartment today.”

“I know.I saw him there.We had a bit of an encounter.Hopefully, that will be enough to make him leave her alone.I’m not holding my breath.”Hex went back to pacing.“What did we find out about Biloxi?Have we figured out what he’s doing there?”

“I managed to get into the security video from a half dozen bars he frequents, the ones I can track from his credit card charges.He arrives alone, leaves with someone, nearly every time.I’ve not seen him leave with the same man twice.”

“What the fuck?”Wrath said.

Hex turned to look at him and found him staring at the hacker eyes wide and mouth hanging open.Before anyone answered him, the VP turned to look at Hex.

“This is the guy you’re woman was going to marry?I hope he was careful and not taking whatever he was picking up in Biloxi back to her.”

“They never had sex,” Hex informed him, shaking his head.“I haven’t asked, but I don’t know that they even kissed, or at least not a real one.”

“You mean like I walked in on?”

“Yeah.A real one.When she told me he insisted on waiting until after the wedding, it set off some red flags for me.Now we know why.”Hex nodded his head toward the bank of monitors, one showing the faces of a half dozen men that Cypher had taken from the security footage.It was grainy.The quality so shitty that Hex would hate to have to identify anyone from it, but it was clear they were all different men.

“Why was he going to marry your woman if he’s not into chicks?”

“We’re not sure, but we’ve also found he owes a good chunk to a bookie that he promised he could pay back after the wedding, and we haven’t yet found where he planned to get the money.Or have we?”Hex bumped the bottom of Cypher’s chair with one foot.

“Not yet.I have found that it’s not coming from Elizabeth or anything on her side, but I’m still searching for anything coming to him.If it’s out there, I’ll find it.But we should also consider the possibility that there’s nothing to be found.That he lied to Harry’s men and who knows what he has planned for when they come to collect,” Cypher said without looking away from the screen.