Page 15 of Trust No One

“Of course I do. But they didn’t sign up for administrative shit. They signed up to protect people.”

Mel knew he was right. They didn’t have a choice. “I’ll give Bree a call right now. See how she feels about flying in and find out how soon she can get here.”

Dev nodded at the phone she had clutched in her hand. “Good idea.”

She hesitated for a split second. Before she’d dumped Dev’s ass from Blackhawk Security, she wouldn’t have hesitated to make the call in front of him. And he was involved in this op now. So she looked up Bree in her contacts and hit call.

After two rings, Bree picked up. “Hey, Mel. What’s up?”

She sounded out of breath, and Mel wanted to hang up the phone. What had she interrupted? But hanging up would be worse than continuing.

“Dev and I are going to Washington next week to talk to someone we both know in the CIA. Find out what he knows about Kingsley. I was hoping you’d be free to come back here and run the compound while we’re gone.”

There was a too-long silence from the other end of the phone. Finally Bree said, “You trust me to do that?”

“Of course I do,” Mel said immediately. “You’re the first person I thought of. And if you don’t want to leave Jameson behind, he can join you.”

“He’s looking for another engineer to fill the vacancy at the lab since one of his engineers is sitting in jail. But I’ll let him know he’s welcome. And I’ll have to talk to Cody. Make sure he doesn’t need me during that time. I’ll call you back, okay?”

“That’s fine,” Mel said. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Okay. Wait,” Bree said suddenly. “You’re not asking me to come to the compound to protect me from Kingsley, or anything like that, are you?”

Bree sounded very suspicious, and Mel smiled. “It’s a nice side benefit, but no. You were the first person I thought of. If anyone can keep this group in line, it’s you, Bree.”

The silence on the other end of the line stretched taut. Finally Bree said, “Okay, assuming Cody doesn’t need me, I’ll be there. What day do you need me?”

Mel looked over at Dev, who had been listening to the conversation. “Maybe Wednesday next week?” she asked, and Dev nodded.

“I’ll give you a call after I check in with Cody,” Bree said.

“Thanks, Bree. Talk to you soon,” Mel said, then disconnected the call.

Sliding her phone into her pocket, she took a deep breath. “As soon as I hear back from Bree, I’ll make plane reservations. I’ll wait until we get to DC to look for a hotel. I want to scope places out myself, make sure they’d be safe.”

“Anything you need me to do?” Dev asked.

“Just stay out of my way until we’ve got the dates nailed down.” The last thing Mel wanted was Dev hanging around her office. Pestering her.

“I can do that,” he said. “Gives me more time at Trail’s End.”

“Good,” Mel said. The thought of him hooking up with his stable of fuck buddies made something twist in her chest, but she nodded. It would keep him out of sight. Out of mind.

She sighed. Hell, nothing would keep Dev out of her mind. But at least she wouldn’t have to see him all day, every day.

She’d take her small victories where she found them.

He stood up, then shoved his hand into his shirt pocket. Pulled out a folded check that she recognized. “While we’re on this op, I’m still part of Blackhawk Security. So you can hold onto this check.”

As he vanished out her door, she stared at the check sitting in front of her. Finally stood, opened her safe and set it inside. Slammed the door so hard that it bounced open again.

Sighing, she closed it carefully and spun the dial on the door.

Chapter 6

The following Thursday, Mel sat in the window seat of the United Airlines jet and watched the city of Helena recede in the distance. When all she saw out the window was mountains and ranches, she pulled out her computer and opened the document she’d been preparing for this trip.

She’d listed all the facts she knew about Kingsley and Larrimore, including their hidden stashes of money in Swiss banks and the properties they owned. Without using Bree’s name, she’d written down her story. And finally, she’d proposed a surveillance plan for Kingsley.

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