“You go and dig up some information on that high dollar computer in that immaculately decorated office I set up for you and don’t come back until you have some good news.” He gets up and makes his way to the door, whistling as he walks. I get his attention again before he leaves. “Hunter, I don’t want to give Johnnie false hope.”
He turns and looks at me seriously. “Dude, I can assure you that I’m not going to do anything to hurt that girl. She’s part of the team now. She’s one of the guys, you know?”
“That’s what I like about you, Hunter. You know when to get serious and when to goof off. Now, go find me something to make my girl’s day.”
“I hope I can. I really hope I can.”
I watch as he walks out the door and I know that if anybody can find a chink in Steven Taggart’s armor, it’s Hunter. If that guy has fucked up any paperwork, Hunter will find it. He is the worst enemy a person can have in cyberspace. The guy has the ability to ruin a person’s life with just a few keystrokes. The funny thing about it is that he has never even been to school for computer science. Everything the guy knows has been self-taught. He is an invaluable part of the team and, as immature as he behaves sometimes, he is exactly the kind of man I want on my side. When I tease him about being ADD, it is the truth and he even uses that to his advantage. He doesn’t use medication for it and the guy’s mind is all over the place. It makes hiding from him online nigh on impossible. There is no stone left unturned when he gets behind a keyboard. It amazes me how the guy’s brain works. It would drive me crazy being all over the place in my thought processes. He has a filing system that only works for him. The information he has on people can’t be infiltrated because no one else can figure out how to find it. I quit trying to figure him out years ago.
Rhonda
I cringe as I hear him open the bedroom door. It’s like every time he comes into a room, the hair on the back of my neck stands up. I don’t even need to see him to know he’s there. His voice cuts through the silence and immediately puts me on the defensive.
“I don’t want Talia outside for the next few days.”
“But she enjoys swimming outside so much.”
“She can use the indoor pool. It’s why we have it.”
I take a deep breath and set the brush I’d been using down on my make-up table. I brace myself, trying to muster up the courage I need. Steven is so volatile that I never know what might set him off.
“What’s going on, Steven? Who have you pissed off this time?”
“It’s business, dear. It has nothing to do with you.”
“It became my fucking business when you put my daughter’s life in jeopardy! Now, what’s going on, Steven?”
“Your daughter? My daughter would be a more appropriate term.”
“What have you done? Just tell me so I’m not caught off guard when some fucking crazy ass mobster comes in and kills you.”
“I don’t think it’s my death that needs to concern you. It would be very easy for you to fall victim to some accident. Hell, everyone already thinks you’re dead so it isn’t like I’d go to prison or anything.”
I look at the man threatening me and I know the first step to escaping the monster holding me captive needs to be letting someone I know that I’m not dead.
“Just keep her in the fucking house and quit being so melodramatic, Rhonda. I’m going to work.”
He walks out abruptly and I go to the window. I watch as he gets in the car with his chauffer behind the wheel, acting as both his driver and bodyguard.
I wish somebody would kill the bastard, I think to myself as I boot up my computer. The problem with someone killing him is that I don’t want my daughter and I to get caught in the line of fire.
My fingers fly over the keys, doing a search on Undercover Elite, the name I found on my husband’s desk. I know if they have any kind of contact with my baby sister, then they’re friends of mine and enemies of my husband.
The site is set up to pitch Undercover Elite as something between a private investigator and a mercenary group. It shows pictures of six different men. There’s Cash, who has dark hair with striking black eyes and looks like he stepped off the cover of a high fashion men’s magazine. Hunter looks like a mischievous college frat boy with his tousled, dishwater blonde hair and blue eyes that glint like he’s always up to something. Thorn looks scruffy, but sexy as hell because he owns it. He has dark brown hair, a five o’ clock shadow, and a nose that looks like it was broken once upon a time but it just adds to his dangerous good looks. There’s a guy named Harley, who looks like a biker, a guy named Sniper that the site shows on a shooting range with a sniper’s rifle, and the last guy’s name is Axle. It’s evident they all go by nicknames. When I delve deeper and go to their personal profiles, it shows more about their credentials and backgrounds. One thing I notice is that they have all served in the military at some point in their lives.