Page 36 of Grayson’s Challenge

He reached for her hand and squeezed it. To his surprise, she didn’t withdraw it, and instead, held on to it. There was nothing sexual about the touch. It was a gesture between two friends who showed their support for each other during a difficult time. There was no need for words. They were both thinking about the same thing: how to rescue their fathers.

16

The Woodford residence was guarded like a fortress. Two human bodyguards were standing sentry outside the home. Grayson knew both of them. They let him and Monique pass with a short greeting. In the foyer, they ran into Patrick.

“Hey,” Patrick said, patting him on the shoulder. “Any news yet?”

Grayson shook his head. “Nothing. How’s Mom?”

His brother shrugged. “Physically she’s fine. But she’s an emotional wreck.” His gaze strayed to Monique. “You must be Monique. Faye mentioned that you weren’t home when the attack happened.”

“Yeah. You’re Patrick, right? How’s my mother doing?”

“Putting on a brave face.” He motioned to the end of the hallway. “They are in the study looking through Scanguards’ database. I’m on my way to HQ. Thomas needs more people to go through traffic cams and security footage.”

“We’ll see you there shortly,” Grayson said. “Monique managed to get us access to the prison database. We’re just here to set it up for them to look at.”

Just before they’d parked outside the house, Monique’s cell phone had pinged with a message from Clarice. She had indeed been able to convince her husband to grant them access to the database of all VCONs in North America.

Patrick left, and Monique let her gaze roam. “So this is where you grew up.”

“Yes. Though when we were little, the house was half the size. But later, my father bought the house next to ours and combined the two homes and turned it into one. It’s about 6000 square feet in total.”

“But you decided to move out nevertheless?”

“After I came back from my stint at the Stealth Guardian compound in Baltimore, I just never moved back in. I wanted to have my own place. And the loft suits me.”

“Hey, guys!”

Grayson turned at the sound of Isabelle’s voice. She descended from the stairs. “Hey, Isa.”

She forced a smile, and he noticed the strain she was under. He took a step toward her and embraced her. For a moment, nobody said anything, then Isabelle peeled herself out of his arms and sighed.

“Thanks, Grayson.” She smiled at Monique and reached for her. “Hi, Monique, sorry we didn’t get a chance to properly say hello earlier.” She put her arms around Monique. “Have you spoken to your brothers yet?”

“No. I can’t get through to them.” Monique motioned to him. “Grayson arranged for a Stealth Guardian to travel to Switzerland to look for them.”

Isabelle cast him a quizzical look.

“Virginia,” Grayson said. “She took Cooper with her.”

“That’s good,” Isabelle said. “Virginia is one of the best warriors. She can kick anybody’s ass. And Cooper is great.”

“I hope they’ll find them soon,” Monique said. “I haven’t told Mom yet that I can’t get a hold of them. I don’t want her to worry even more.”

“If she asks, just tell her they’re on their way back,” Isabelle suggested. “Sometimes a little white lie is kinder than the truth.”

“You may be right.” Monique forced a smile.

“Where are all the other guards?” Grayson asked.

“Orlando is in the study with Mom, Faye, and William. William is healing. He’ll be at his full strength in a few hours. One of the vampire guards, Conrad, is upstairs in your old room, where he has a view of the street, and Robbie is in the master bedroom overlooking the backyard. When the sun sets, vampire guards will replace the two human guards out front.”

“Good. Orlando and the two vampire guards upstairs should be relieved at sunset too so they can rest,” Grayson suggested.

“Not gonna happen.”

Grayson looked to the kitchen door, from which Orlando suddenly emerged. “What’s not gonna happen?”