Briar shook Dunphy’s hand. “Hey.”
“Hey,” he echoed, still assessing her as though he didn’t know what to make of her. “Why do I get the feeling this had something to do with you?”
Briar didn’t feel like answering and was grateful when Alex spoke. “The others here?”
“Yeah, waiting out front.” Dunphy bent to pick up his cane but Zahra scooped it up and handed it to him.
Wait, others? Briar glanced at Alex, who was watching her.
“It’s okay, I’ve just brought in some reinforcements for the time being.”
Matt wound his arm around her waist. “I met a couple of them in New Orleans. We can trust them.”
“When did you guys decide on this?” she asked under her breath, annoyed that she hadn’t been included in the decision.
“When you were out so hard on the plane that you drooled on my shoulder,” he answered with a grin, and started walking with her toward the terminal.
Briar pulled the hood of her jacket closer around her face and kept her head averted slightly as they entered the small building, to help avoid a good shot of her by security cameras. She vaguely recalled the murmur of male voices on the plane when she’d dozed off. Just went to show how exhausted she was, to have missed all that.
They hurried through the building and out the other side then down the sidewalk to where two men awaited them in front of two black SUVs. The lighting here wasn’t as bright and she suspected they’d chosen this spot because it was out of range of any security cameras. Both were big guys, one with military short dark hair, the other’s a closely shorn reddish-gold. They wore jeans, boots and black leather jackets. All they were missing were the wraparound shades to complete the imposing appearance. Even standing still their posture and body language screamed former military. If they were friends of Alex’s, she was betting former SOF.
“This is Hunter Phillips,” Alex said of the dark-haired man when they reached them, “and Gage Wallace. The one-two punch of Titanium Security.”
She knew of the company. They’d worked with Alex over in Afghanistan and Pakistan, had a good rep.
Next to her, Dunphy snorted. “And what am I?”
“You’re the comic relief,” Alex said without missing a beat. “You guys already know DeLuca,” he said to Phillips and Wallace, “but this is Briar.”
They nodded to her and she nodded back, glad they didn’t seem to expect any social niceties, even though she had a feeling they knew all about her current situation.
“You guys ready to roll?” Phillips asked. When they nodded he stepped aside and opened the back door of one of the SUVs while Wallace did the same to the other.
Zahra and Dunphy climbed into the first with Wallace. Alex, Briar and Matt piled into the back of the second while Phillips slid into the shotgun seat. Behind the wheel sat a woman with dark hair just slightly longer than Briar’s. She wore an earpiece and didn’t so much as bat an eyelash when they all climbed in. As soon as Matt slammed the back door shut, she pulled away from the curb and followed the lead vehicle out of the airport parking lot.
“This is Jordyn,” Phillips said of the driver, leaning around in the front passenger seat to talk to them. “She’s quite the expert with a long gun too, Briar.”
Briar glanced at the woman, who met her eyes for a brief moment in the rearview mirror before focusing back on the road. Even if these people were here to help and both Matt and Alex trusted them, they were strangers and Briar didn’t like them knowing who she was or what she did. Keeping to herself was something she’d learned to do early on and it had been reinforced throughout her training. Opening up to people took monumental effort and she was extremely choosy in who she allowed in.
It said a lot about her feelings for Matt that she’d let him in so deep in the short time they’d known each other.
“Anything said here stays here,” Alex said to her, accurately reading her wariness. “These guys all have top security clearances. I brought them in because I’ve worked with them before and because they’re not directly tied to any agency. You two’ll be staying at an undisclosed NSA safe house in the area for the time being,” he said to her and Matt. “Zahra and I’ll be in touch with you about any developments, so rest assured we’ll be working on this behind the scenes while you’re off grid.”
“Thanks,” Matt said. Briar didn’t reply, still resenting that this was all out of her control. But she knew Alex would never sell her out, so if he thought the safe house was secure, then she would trust his judgment on that. At least for tonight.