Everyone looked at Wade, who chuckled and shook his head. "Talk about a mic drop."
"Grandma's favorite kind of exit," Ace said, then smacked Wade gently on the shoulder. "Come on. What the hell was she talking about, bunkers?"
His dark eyes danced with humor. "It's not classified anymore, but even if I told you, you'd never believe it."
"Try me. The drama is strong in our family."
Wade took a sip of his beer and lowered the bottle back to the table. "The CIA was growing more and more suspicious about the Soviets toward the end of WWII, so they decided to take precautions and set up an intel network across the country. It included a system of underground bunkers in remote areas that served as bomb shelters, storage facilities, and think tanks."
Candace's dark brown eyes widened. "My grandmother was part of a secret CIA program?"
"Must have been, because there's no other explanation for how she knew the program name and the bunker's location." Wade picked up his beer again, a low laugh rumbling out of him. "Your grandma's the shit."
Well, hell. Ryan tugged his wife into his lap and grinned so wide his cheeks hurt. Apparently Ruby had been holding out on them all this time.
Chapter Seven
"I can't believe your grandma was a WWII spy!"
Candace rolled her eyes at Ryan as they stepped into the elevator, hand in hand, having just left dinner a few minutes ago. He sounded so excited and impressed, but she was stressed about the possibility of Ryan and the others having stumbled across something dangerous, and because she desperately needed to finish their conversation from yesterday morning.
She wanted it over and done with, so she could fully enjoy the rest of their stay here. "So what, now you're her number one fan or something?"
"I told you, she's growing on me. And come on, how freaking amazing is that?" He chuckled to himself as he hit the button for the fourth floor.
"I'm sure she wasn't an actual spy. You know how she likes to tell stories, and even the real ones are embellished. Maybe she had one too many drinky-poos and decided to use a little poetic license with this one to give it more … flair." Or something.
"Nah, she's the real deal. It's so awesome," he muttered under his breath, then grinned.
It wasn't awesome, it was bizarre and Candace couldn't picture it. She was definitely calling her dad in the morning to get answers.
Just as they entered their suite, her phone rang. She dug it out of her purse and sighed when she saw Grandma's number on the display. "Dare I?" she asked Ryan.
"Hell, yes," he said, all excited as he reached for it. "Let me answer it."
Shooting him an annoyed frown, she angled her upper body away to block him and answered. "Hi."
"Hope I didn't interrupt anything?"
"Unfortunately no." Although she would have been if she'd called a minute later. "What's up?"
"Bring everybody back downstairs. I've called a meeting."
Her eyebrows rose. "Now? What for? It's midnight."
"Oh, you'll have lots of time to enjoy your young stud of a husband after. Come down and meet us in the study right away. It's important." The line went dead.
Exasperated, Candace growled and began punching in a text, beginning with the word Sorry. "Come on, we gotta go back downstairs. Grandma's apparently called us all to a meeting."
Ryan paused in the act of unbuttoning his shirt, his expression lighting up. "A secret meeting?"
"Who the hell knows?" She was definitely calling her dad to find out what was going on. Her grandma was a character, but sometimes Candace worried she was losing it. A little damage control or medical intervention might be in order here.
Ryan practically tore past her out into the hall, a giant grin on his face. "I can't wait to see what she's got up her sleeve."
Shaking her head, Candace finished typing out the message, then sent it to the others and followed Ryan back to the elevator. After receiving several WTF responses from the others, she replied that no, this wasn't a joke, and yes, there was in fact an actual meeting. She hoped.
On their way to the elevator a door opened behind them. Candace looked back to find Maya and Jackson hurrying after them. Maya was tying the sash on her robe tighter, her hair was mussed, and her lipstick was gone. Her blue-green eyes shot sparks at Candace as she strode toward them.
"This better be damn important, Ace." Jackson was right behind her, the laid-back Texan looking uncharacteristically annoyed. Yep, her text had definitely interrupted some sexy times.
"Yeah," she agreed, badly wanting some alone time with Ryan. After their talk yesterday she was anxious to hash out the rest of what she wanted to say, as well as talk about the timing of having a family, and she also craved the intimate connection that came only from having him inside her. She wanted all of that tonight, so she hoped this meeting didn't last long. "It better."
By the time they reached the study, located off the lobby in the main building, the others were there waiting. Everyone was gathered around the rectangular table, along with a well-built, dark-haired man Candace didn't recognize. A scar ran along the side of his face and jaw, and his intense gray gaze and bearing told her immediately he had some kind of military or law enforcement training.
"Grandma," she said by way of greeting. "Okay, we're all here." And nobody's too thrilled with you right now. "What's this all about?"
Grandma stood and took her by the arm. "This is my granddaughter, Candace. The gunship pilot I told you about," she told the stranger proudly. "Candace, this is Declan MacKenzie."
She recognized the name. "Hello," she said, shaking hands with him. Everyone around these parts knew who the MacKenzies were. "MacKenzie, as in co-owner of this resort?"
The man's eyes warmed a fraction as he smiled. "Well, not just me. Mostly I run the family security company here out of Surrender with my brother, Shane."
"I understand you two know each other," Grandma said to Wade. "Being that you used to work for the same … organization."
So MacKenzie was a former spook? It made sense that he and Wade would have crossed paths, if he had in fact been with the CIA.
Wade inclined his head. "We know of each other. Good to meet you finally, MacKenzie."
"Likewise. That was great work on the Rahim case. One for the books."
"Yeah, it was memorable." Wade held out his hand.
The details of the Rahim case were classified, but the story had been splashed all over the news for weeks after the dirty bomb attack outside of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Erin had been directly caught up in it. Thankfully she had suffered only a broken arm and some mild radiation exposure, but Candace and their entire group knew all about what had happened.
Ryan wound an arm around her waist and she leaned into him, savoring the feel of his solid, muscular body against hers.
Wade shook hands with MacKenzie, then the man smiled at Erin. "And this must be your beautiful bride-to-be I've heard so much about."
She shook his hand. "I'm Erin. I'm a Montanan too, grew up outside of Billings. I recognize your name and know of your family."
"Well, sorry to interrupt your night, but given what Ruby told me tonight, I thought this needed to be looked into more."
"Sure, no problem." Erin took the seat Wade pulled out for her and scooted in closer to the table.
After all the introductions, Grandma clapped her hands once. "All right, let's sit down and get started."
"On what?"
She shot Candace an exasperated look. "On the camp your boys found up in the hills."
Everybody looked at MacKenzie.
"My company does contract work for the government. I've been gathering intel on something, and given what you found the other day, I thought you should all see what I've got."
They all moved closer to the table. A map was laid out in the center of it, this one complete with all the topographical information the previous one had lacked. "Ruby tells me the site you found was about here?" MacKenzie said to them.
Wade nodded. "Ryan's got the exact coordinates."
Ryan released her to pull them up again on his phone and MacKenzie marked them on the map. "And about how many casings would you say were out there?" the man asked.
"High hundreds at least, maybe more," Ryan said. "Some of the smaller trees up to about ten inches thick were cut in half by the volume of fire."
"Know something about it?" Cam asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"There've been rumors," MacKenzie said. "Stories about hunters hearing large volumes of fire in the distance, but no one's ever seen it happening. People are saying they've heard talk about a militia operating in the area."
Jackson frowned. "What kind of a militia?"
Wade spoke before MacKenzie could answer. "Are you talking about the March Madness?"
The man nodded, face grave. "Yes."
"What's that?" Candace asked, not liking the sound of it or the direction this was taking.
Wade straightened but kept his palms flat on the tabletop as he answered. "For over a year now there've been rumors of a guy named Eric March forming a secret militia here in Montana. He's former army, and after he was court-martialed and convicted of conduct unbecoming, he received a dishonorable discharge."