Page 33 of A Colby Christmas Rescue

“I will,” Kenny assured her. “Thank you, Victoria.”

He ended the call and considered that for months he had heard Jamie talk about her grandparents. He had done some deep research and despite how nice and normal they seemed, Jamie hadn’t exaggerated one little bit. The Colby Agency was unlike any other agency of its kind. Victoria and her husband, Lucas, were legends, as were most of the investigators. If Kenny were in trouble, he would definitely want the Colby Agency on his team.

Frankly, he hoped to get to know them better in the future. He hoped to get to know Jamie a lot better as well. There were moments between them that made him believe the idea was possible. Either way, their friendship was invaluable, and he would do whatever necessary to protect that relationship.

Amar’s voice sounded and Kenny turned to move closer to the speaker of the receiver.

Amar had apparently gotten a phone call.

His responses gave Kenny basically no information. Hopefully he would relate the update to Jamie when the call ended.

Whatever was going down was scheduled to do so tonight. Kenny needed to be prepared to intervene if necessary. To provide backup for Jamie either way. Listening and watching until there was a move was the only way for him to actually have her back. Had he stayed at the house, Amar would have made all the decisions and Kenny would have had no choice but to follow his orders. Amar would have possessed all the power.

This was the right move—as difficult as it had been to walk away from that house knowing he was leaving Jamie behind. The decision gave him some leeway to move as he saw fit.

The conversation between Amar and his caller appeared to be coming to an end.

Kenny held his breath. He couldn’t afford to miss a word.

“Was that your point of contact?” Jamie asked.

“It was.”

Kenny hoped the man intended to provide more detail than those two words.

“Do we have some change or addition to the mission?” Jamie prompted.

“Nothing I need to share at this time.”

Her sigh was audible. “Really, you’re going to stick to that worn-out line? Why even bother to involve me in this if you’re going to keep me in the dark?”

“I have my orders, Jamie. When I can tell you more, I will. Every step of this operation is a strictly need-to-know basis only. You’re familiar with how this works. I know you are. Let’s not get bent out of shape with the rules.”

“When you decide to stop playing games, let me know.”

The sound of her walking out of the room wasn’t what Kenny had hoped for. Maybe she was bluffing in an attempt to prod him into talking.

Then again, he had to admit that hearing her tell him off like that gave him a little kick of satisfaction.

As satisfying on a personal level as the exchange was, the real question was, how long did the guy intend to keep the details from her?

This was not the proper way to run an operation.

Chapter Nine

2:30 p.m.

“Jamie, wait!”

She hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. She was over his secretiveness. If they were in this together, he needed to tell her what the hell was going on. Good grief, they were only hours from when this thing was supposed to go down.

And Poe, damn it, was nowhere to be found.

She took a breath and turned to face Abi. “This thing is scheduled to go down tonight and you’re still keeping me in the dark. Why am I even here?” She braced her hands on her hips. “You apparently intend to do this entirely alone. What am I? Arm candy?”

He laughed softly, then looked away. “You surely could be, but we won’t go there.” He blew out a breath then. Obviously not looking forward to coming out with it.

She braced her hands on her hips, out of patience. “Are we in this together or not?”

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