Page 59 of Protecting the Nerd

“Did York ever mention he had a housekeeper?”

“Yes, Ania.”

“Did he happen to mention she’s Russian?”

Oh fuck. “No, he didn’t.”

“Well, it took us a while to do background checks on everyone within EDS who had knowledge, and when that didn’t reveal anything, we widened the circle. Ania popped up on our radar, and when we saw she immigrated from Russia in the nineties, we dug deeper. They threatened her grandkids. The terrorist cell contacted her and threatened to kill her grandkids unless she cooperated. She gave them info she came across in York’s apartment, though we’re not sure yet what exactly.”

A cold hand of fear clamped around my heart. “Does that mean they also know where he is? Because she knows he’s out of town.”

“That’s what we’re afraid of, yes. Four extra agents are already on their way and will arrive around midnight. We’ll have to figure out a reason for them to be there.”

“I’ll talk to the sheriff, but if they already know he’s here, does it really matter?”

“They may not know for sure, and we don’t want to give it away. But he’s on house arrest now. You can’t leave the house anymore, Quillon. It’s too risky. We may have to relocate him to a safe house, but we’ll make that call when we have to.”

“So what do I do now?”

Coulson was quiet for a while. “If you ask me, you need to stay on as his bodyguard, even if you are his real-life boyfriend now. I can’t get someone else cleared this quickly, and besides, you know him better than anyone. You know how to keep him safe.”

I swallowed. “Yes, but if I fail…”

“I know.” Coulson’s voice was as soft as mine. “But no one will protect him as well as you.”

He was right on that one. “I’ll do it. I’ll have to get permission from my boss because this is an obvious violation of our rules, but I already told him about us, so he knows.”

“Let me know how it goes. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry you can’t focus on being his boyfriend at a time when he might need you the most. But trust me when I say he needs you more as a bodyguard.”

I wasn’t too sure about that.

19

YORK

“What’s wrong?” Something had changed between Quillon leaving to talk to Auden and his return. His face was tense, his jaw tight. “Do you have bad news?”

He rubbed his chin and let out a tired sigh. “I’m afraid so.”

“What is it?”

“I spoke with Coulson, and they’ve found the leak.”

“Isn’t that good news? Oh wait, was it someone close to me? Not Terry or Shannon, right?”

He took my hand. “It was Ania, nerdy.”

“Ania? But…” Oh fuck. Quillon had told me the terrorist group that was after me was Russian. How had I not made that connection? “She’s Russian…”

“They threatened her grandkids.”

Yeah, that would do it. Those babies meant everything to her, and I couldn’t be upset she’d chosen them over me. “She knows I’m from Forestville. Won’t be a stretch for those guys to figure out where I am.”

Quillon nodded. “Coulson concluded the same. He’s sending extra agents.”

Fuck.

“And I’m sorry, but you can’t leave the house anymore.”

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