Page 4 of Taylor’s Warrior

“If that’s what we need to do, then we’ll do it.”

As Charity stood, he stepped forward to intercept her by taking her in his arms for a kiss. “Thank you for working your magic again. Have I told you you’re amazing lately?”

She adopted an over-the-top thoughtful expression and tapped her lips with her forefinger. “Hm, let me think. I’m not sure, but don’t let that stop you.”

He kissed her again. “You’re amazing.”

She hummed with contentment. “Don’t stop thinking that. I’d better go. That took a little longer than I expected, and I don’t want Tay to start thinking we’ve abandoned her.”

“Good thinking. Make sure she knows she’s not alone in this. We’ll do whatever it takes to work this out. Tell her it might take some time, but it’ll be ok. I promise.”

Her fingers drifted over his cheek and cupped his jaw. “I think you’re pretty amazing, too. I’ll see you later.”

Once she’d gone, and safe in the knowledge he couldn’t unwittingly obliterate the network she’d worked so hard to set up, Nick made himself comfortable at the laptop. He might not be able to access some of the files, but there were others with more familiar file extensions. As he browsed the contents of the drive, the concerns he already had with regard to the paper documents snowballed.

The readable files referenced some of the bespoke files, and from what the former contained, it appeared that the latter consisted of technical specifications for military equipment, more contracts, and more complex financial records.

The last of those were easy to identify, so Nick separated them out for closer examination later. As for the contract files, even though it wasn’t his area of expertise, he could spot a few glaring red flags. No doubt their recently hired general counsel would be better placed to evaluate those once Nick secured Taylor’s approval to send them on.

By the time he’d finished, Nick had a somewhat clearer picture of what was going on and it was shocking. He was incandescent with rage at the thought of his comrades and allies possibly being dependent on substandard equipment because of the greed of whoever was behind this. When he found Markham’s notes, referencing the documents and where the audit trails led, more patterns began to emerge. Markham hadn’t stumbled onto something of little consequence. The individuals behind a fraud of this magnitude—and Nick was willing to bet this was the tip of the iceberg—were likely to be merciless in their desire to conceal their activities, so anyone they identified as a threat to their continued success would be in very real danger.

And then, after sitting on this for years, the bastard had blithely sent all of this to his daughter, putting her squarely in the sights of the ruthless people behind it. Why the hell hadn’t he taken it to the authorities?

That was the sensible, rational thing to do, even now. And while Taylor had acknowledged that in principle during their earlier conversation, whatever his faults, Markham was her only family, so understandably, she wanted to give him a chance to redeem himself. Nick doubted it was possible; hell would freeze over before he’d contemplate giving the other man even the tiniest benefit of the doubt, because the more he thought about it, the more Nick questioned Markham’s actions and the motivation behind them.

It was time to bring in the heavy artillery. While Taylor might not want the FBI involved at this stage, she couldn’t object to a far more effective alternative not hindered by the constraints of official procedures.

He picked up his cell phone and tapped in a number he’d committed to memory for occasions such as this.

“Tex? It’s Nick Blackmore… Yeah, we’re fine, thanks. You and Melody?… Glad to hear it. So, when are you coming down for a visit? The sooner the better… Look, I have a favor to ask.” Nick coughed. “Yeah, another favor. Just let me know when you want to collect. If I send you some specs for military hardware and supporting information, can you take a look and let me know if there are any negative indicators? Thanks… One thing, though—some of the files seem to have been downloaded from some sort of bespoke system, so they’re inaccessible using standard software.”

Nick laughed at Tex’s explosive response to that statement. The man relished a challenge. “That’s what I thought you’d say. Yeah, I’m afraid it is quite urgent. I owe you. Big time.”

>>><<<

The knock on the door was not unexpected; Taylor had hoped to have regained control over her thoughts and her emotions by the time it came, but it was not to be. When she opened the door to her best friend, her teeth clamped down firmly on her lower lip to quell the urge to burst into tears.

Charity’s smile was as gentle as her greeting. “Mind if I come in?”

Taylor didn’t mind at all, but struggled to articulate the words. Instead, she simply stood back and opened the door wider to let her visitor enter. She barely had time to turn after she closed the door, before Charity continued.

“I meant what I said, Tay. This… thing with your dad has nothing to do with our friendship. You’re not responsible for what he did. I just wish…”

Taylor’s heart turned over. Whatever Charity was going to say, it couldn’t be good.

“I just wish you’d felt able to tell me sooner, is all. Then we could have maybe figured it out together and been prepared for this. At the very least, you wouldn’t have had to go through all this worry alone for so long.”

Relief almost had her collapsing to her knees. “You mean that?”

“Of course I do, you fool. I wouldn’t lie to my best friend.”

Somehow, they ended up in a hug, the kind that helped Taylor let go of the tension and remember her manners. “If it were later in the day, I’d suggest a beer, but would you like some coffee?”

“I’d love some—although I agree about the beer.”

Nursing their drinks, the two women remained in the kitchen area of the cabin. Taylor had jumped at the chance to move to Honey Fields, and had quickly fallen in love with her new home. She certainly felt more comfortable about discussing her problems here, in her own space.

“Did you have a chance to see what was on the drive?” That she hadn’t dared access the data on the device was one of the first things she’d told Nick when she’d tipped the contents of the box onto the table at their meeting.