Deck parked and shut off the car. “No. And he’d be stupid to try.” I closed my eyes, feeling my heart cracking as I thought of the broken girl who refused to meet anyone’s eyes and trembled at the sound of a man’s voice. “Then that means Connor … ” I couldn’t finish. Was he lost to us forever, too?
Deck reached across the space between us and took my hand and squeezed. “Probably. But I’ll never give up on him.”
I nodded. Yeah, that was Deck.
“But keeping you safe comes first, Georgie. Not only because I love you, but because Connor asked it of me.” I opened my mouth and then shut it again because we’d already been over this. I argued that Connor was more important and Deck refused to listen. There was no discussion. No leniency. No give. Deck wouldn’t go after Connor if it meant my safety.
He let me go and opened the car door.
I got out and we strode into his office where his men were sitting in the glassed-in boardroom. It looked odd, three hot men wearing jeans or cargo pants and t-shirts sitting around a dark mahogany table in an office building.
When we walked in, all eyes went to me and I knew they were looking to see if I was still freaking over the news about Connor.
I wasn’t. I had my shit together and I knew that had to do with Deck. He grounded me. “Sweet, three cupcakes and a fancy coffee maker.” I went over to the machine and started making a cappuccino. I could feel their eyes on me and turned. “I’m good. Stop staring at me. Jesus.”
That got a snort out of Vic, a laugh out of Tyler and Josh merely looked away. Deck, on the other hand, shut the door harder than necessary, then walked over to me, picked up the cappuccino I’d just made then sat me down beside Tyler, He placed the mug in front of me then went and sat at the other end of the table.
Tyler snagged my mug and took a sip.
“Hey.”
“You think I’m hot, eh?”
I rolled my eyes. “You are until you open your mouth.” I grabbed for my mug, but he lifted it in the air out of reach.
“Nice get-up.” He eyed my track pants and sweatshirt. “Easy access, I guess.”
“Tyler,” Deck warned in a quiet tone. It was instant. Tyler’s laughter died and he was serious again as he passed me my cappuccino. “What have we found out?”
Josh slid a sheet across the table to Deck. “List of organizations which we know of. Seven we’ve had dealings with which I scratched off. Two are affiliated with hate crimes, also scratched off. The last one is a possibility, but unlikely. According to what I found out, it was established ten years ago and wouldn’t have been around to pull off something so elaborate as kidnapping a JTF2 officer while on a mission in the Middle East.”
Where Connor had supposedly been killed in a car bomb explosion. Deck had seen it happen. At least he’d thought he had. To pull something off that well-executed, these people had to have men who were just as good as or better than JTF2’s.
Tyler pushed back his chair and stretched out his legs. “We dig deeper, we raise red flags which—”
“Puts Georgie at risk,” Deck finished. “Okay, what about the guy, Tanner? Who is he? Where did he come from?”
I sat up straighter. “Deck, Tanner doesn’t know anything. Kai brought him in to watch out for me when he was away.”
“Yeah,” Tyler said as he looked at me. “But why him? Why a kid Connor used to know?”
I shrugged. “Because he knew me. When I found out Tanner was also working for Kai, it made me trust Kai even more because I had familiarity with Tanner.”
“And how long was Tanner involved with Kai before you were brought in?” Vic asked.
I didn’t know. Well, not really. When I didn’t answer, Deck said, “Bring him in quietly.”
I froze. “What does that mean? Are you going to hurt him?”
“Not if he talks,” Vic said.
I looked to Deck who wasn’t looking at me. “Deck? Damn it, Deck. Tanner’s my friend. Connor knew him.” I knew by the silence in the room what they planned to do and it was a reality check of what these men did. Of what we were involved in.
“Friends don’t let you be cut up while they wait outside.” Deck’s words plowed into me and it took me a moment to catch my breath. How did he know Tanner had been there? Who told him? Kai? But why would Kai do that? And from the look on the men’s faces they didn’t know about the purging. I guessed it was something Deck had kept to himself. He chin lifted to Vic and the scrape of his chair sounded on the hardwood floors as he came to his feet, snagged his cell and walked out.