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But my eyes weren’t deceiving me.It was him.
The beard he now had made him harder to recognize, but I would know that look of predatory pride anywhere. Those eyes and those cheekbones too.
Lennox.
Oh my God.
I squeeze the binoculars too tight, straining to get a better look, and they slip from my grasp. My fingers fumble to grab on to the slippery plastic and fail. Jerking to the side to catch the strap before they fall to the ground, my arm extends too far, throwing me off balance.
I’m too slow to stop myself from slipping off the branch. Desperately reaching out, I try to grab on to any branch as I fall down through the tree. My eyes grow wide as lightning pierces the sky and I hit the ground.
The edges of my vision fade to black as pain radiates up my back.
The last thing I see is Lennox’s face before I give in to the heavy pull of sleep.
Chapter Four
Lennox
Smug satisfaction spreadsacross my face in twisted grin. I knew someone had been watching me. The alarm alerting me that someone was on my property is vindication. I hadn’t been imagining things today.
After quickly scanning the screens and spotting where the spy was located, I tap my keyboard to silence the alarm. It didn’t notify anyone but me of the breach, but I could hit another button and make Cohen and Connor aware if I wanted to.
I’ll hold off on that. I want to play with my prey a bit if I can.
I strut out of the control room and head back to the front entrance. I don’t hide from the spy, instead standing in full view and grinning out the window. The storm raged on, but if they were a professional, they’d have the gear to still see me properly.
Whoever is out there has been careful up to this point. My sensors hadn’t picked up anything until that branch collapsed, the weight and impact sounding the alarm. They’d probably gotten this far up my property by tree jumping.
Ingenious. I’d have to rig up something new to prevent that in the future.
“Gotta learn from your mistakes,” I mutter to the window. A reminder to myself and the asshole outside. They’d been stealthy but not enough to get past me.
There were only two reasons why someone would be sent to watch me.
To kill me. Or to get something.
I was betting on the latter being the goal. If they wanted me dead, they’d had ample opportunity.
It must be the USB. I have nothing else of importance. The military hasn’t sent me any commissioned security work in a while, so that was the only answer.
Whatever is on that drive, someone is willing to risk it all to get it back. I grab my cell from the side table, tap into my remote security app and scan the cameras again, trying to identify why the breach notification went off again.
I scan each image, looking for what had set off my sensors. It takes me a minute of flipping through the images before I see the cause. Whoever was sent must have fallen out of the tree.
I begin to smirk, amused by their failure, but then all humor is killed when I realize the body is too small to be a man. Dragging my eyes down the body, I see dainty hands, awkwardly open on the ground. It’s a woman.
Spy, thief, whatever the hell she is, my protector instincts roar to life. I can’t leave her out there unprotected and exposed to the elements. The rain won’t let up for hours, maybe even days. I could lock her up in the guest room until I determined her goal then call the authorities because there was no way I wasn’t going to retrieve her.
I grab the gun I keep hidden under the side table, steel myself and head out into the night. They’re about twenty-five feet from the front of the cabin, hidden in the dense trees. Rain cascades down my face and body, but I pay it no mind. My focus is on the trees, on my surroundings.
The sensors didn’t pick up anything else, but this could still be a trap. I spot the body easily but don’t immediately make my way to her. Pressing my back up against a tree, steps away from her, I wait. Listening for any sign someone else is here.
Minutes pass with nothing. Only the sound of thunder and hum of rain can be heard around me. The area is clear.
With a steady inhale, I grab my gun. The heavy weight feels right in my hands. I twist around, my gun aimed at the prone figure. Nothing moves in the surrounding area. My eyes once again scan the trees, listening and watching for anything out of the ordinary.
Drawing closer, I dart my eyes from the woman on the ground to the dense trees around me. Still, nothing and no one else makes themselves known.
