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Everyone in the spec ops community knew the story. It was a documented fact that he’d once killed an enemy with a single, well-placed stab of that finger. The battlefield was littered with men who’d underestimated my brother.
His voice grew louder. “If you’re not strong enough to stand up to a little woman who tells you to piss off, I don’t need you. You get me?” he said, pointing.
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” I’d never felt worse for letting a man down.
“Duke, don’t ever pull out of an assignment again. You sure screwed the pooch. And you’d better watch your back. That is one pissed off Russian father, and in my experience, they can be fucking unpredictable.”
My stomach churned. “Understood.” This was not the kind of lecture you survived a second time.
He looked between the two of us. “Now. Moving on, keep the Benson girl safe and find the asshole. This job is important to both the Covingtons and the Bensons, so do us proud. They are not families I want to be on the wrong side of.”
“Copy that,” I said, standing. Both families had infinite money and powerful connections.
“Yes, sir,” Constance echoed.
Once out of the office, I sighed. Lesson learned: stick with the client, period.
“Do you need to change your pants?” Constance asked with a giggle. “I don’t have spare men’s underwear, but I do have some sweats in the desk and wet wipes.”
“Very funny.” It had gotten close to being that bad.
“What the hell did you do?” Winston asked in a hushed voice when we reached his desk.
“You heard that?”
“Hard not to when he’s pissed.”
I opened the door to the conference room. It was empty. “Where’d you stash the girl?”
He lifted a shoulder. “She said you told her to leave, so I arranged an Uber to the hospital and then home.”
“Fuck. Text me the home address. Constance, you’ve got the hospital.” I ran down the hall.
Fuck me.A few minutes into the case, and I’d already lost track of my new client. Lucas was going to skin me alive.
Once I was in the car and on the way, I called Winston. “Hey, man, find out where they towed her car. We need to check it out. Serena said she was hit from behind and swerved off the road because of a deer.”
“You don’t believe her?” he asked.
“Lucas is skeptical, so we trust but verify. It was in the hills, so?—”
“Start with the sheriff’s office,” Winston said, continuing my thought. “Also, paint transfer might give us a clue once we narrow down the suspect pool.”
“Exactly.” I loved that we were often on the same wavelength in investigations.
“On it.”
I pressed the gas pedal harder. I was getting eyes back on Serena pronto before she did something stupid and got herself hurt.
Serena
It was eerilyquiet on the street after the Uber drove away. I checked both directions down the street for that black SUV, then walked to the side yard, lifted the fake stone, and pulled out the spare key my brother and I kept there. He only stayed here occasionally, so it made things easier. And at least one thing had gone right today—I didn’t have to break a window to get back into our house.
Closing the front door behind me, I flipped the deadbolt. Finally, relief settled over me. I was safe. I froze when the landline rang. We almost never used it, but Dad had insisted we have it in case of an earthquake, power outage, or dead cell phone battery.
I picked up when the caller ID indicated my brother Zach. “Hello?” I answered tentatively, in case it had been spoofed.
“I heard you had an accident,” Zach said. “And you’re not answering your cell. What happened? Are you okay? Do you need anything? I could loan you a car.”
