Page 20 of Instinct & New Identity

After talking it through, the plan was that the next morning, we would go withVinceto drop off his rental car and pick up a small towableU-Haulfor our stuff.We’drented a partially furnished apartment, so we didn’t have much in the way of large items.ValandIhad one vehicle we shared—a silver, very non-descript, mid-sizeSUV.Itwasn’t much, but it was big enough that we could load up most of what we had in a hurry if we ever needed to leave quickly.Vincepointed out, though, that we now had a cat with a whole bunch of stuff, plusVinceand his things, so we opted to get a small towable trailer and attached it to theSUV.

Vince said he’d had a feeling we would come around, so he’d gone out and picked up several boxes for us to pack our stuff up in.So, after dinner, he made a few phone calls whileValandIfinished packing up.

Here’s to our next adventure.

8

VINCE

Not taking any chances with that prick,Steve, we left early in the morning to drop my car off and pick up the trailer.I’dgone online and pre-registered for theU-Haulthe night before, so we were all set.

WhenValcalled me last night to let me knowStevewas back at their door, this time being way pushier than usual, my anger went off the charts.WhenI’dfinally realized whyCathad stopped writing and that she hadn’t ghosted me likeI’dthought,Iwas excited to find her and figure out if we could be friends in real life this time.Icouldn’t explain it, because they were just letters, andIgot plenty of letters from people at home whileIwas overseas, but hers were different.

Most came from old people who were just trying to be kind because they had someone in their family who was past military.Orwe would get letters from school kids.Thosewere funnier than anything else because kids had no filter and would tell you all kinds of random things; their favoriteTVshows, which teachers they did and didn’t like, who their favorite sports teams were, and most would draw pictures that were horrible renditions of whatever they should have actually been.Cat’sletters, though…Icouldn’t explain it.Therewas just this odd connectionIfelt with her from the very first letter, and even thoughInever admitted it out loud,Iwas crushed when she stopped writing.

When she andValtold me they were willing to take a chance onAtlanta,Igave a small smile, but internally,Iwas thrilled.They’dagreed to move in with me only temporarily until they could find a safe place.Iwould help her with that, thoughIhad a feelingImight be taking my sweet time doing it, if it kept her closer for a little longer.NowthatI’dfound her,Iwasn’t going to risk losing her again.

After loading the last box into the trailer, taking out the trash, and double-checking that everything left in the apartment was good to go, we went to the front office to close out their lease.Theyhad been paying month to month, so the only fee they had to pay was one extra month since they hadn’t given thirty days’ notice.Afterthat, we took off.Iwas driving,Catwas in the passenger seat, andValwas in the back row behindCatwith the hairless rat-cat in the seat next to her.

Val was self-selected to be in charge of all music on this trip, butItold her that as the driver,Ihad the right to veto any songIdidn’t like and make them skip it.Thankfully, they both agreed.Though,Iquickly realized both of these girls could talk.Alot.So, there wasn’t much listening to the music per se, but rather just having it on in the background.

“So,Vince, got any hot brothers?Cousins?”Valasked me to break the silence. “Sincewe’re gonna be living with you,Iguess we should probably know more about you.”

I grinned becauseValhad no boundaries and clearly just said whatever was on her mind.Icould tellCatwas still nervous about the move, though, so ifIcould tell her a bit more about me, maybe it would ease her concerns a bit.

“No brothers, sorry—at least no biological ones,”Itold them. “Ihave a sister who’s the same age asCat, twenty-five.Hername isJenny.She’san interior designer, and unfortunately a giantSwiftielike this one,”Isaid, pointing my thumb atCatnext to me.

Cat didn’t say anything to that, butIsaw her give a smile.

“Don’t be fooled,Vince.She’snot normally this quiet,”Valsaid to me. “Shehas the sameLatinaattitudeIdo—we get it from our mother—but she’s too busy at the moment thinking in her head of all the ways this was a bad decision and coming up with backup plans in case everything goes wrong.Theoverthinking part comes from our father, and thankfully,Ididn’t get that gene.”

Val winked at me through the rearview mirror, andIheardCatgive a low growl next to me.Ismiled because the dynamic between the two of them was very similar to the dynamic between my sister and me.

“I’m not overthinking,”Catspoke up, looking at her sister. “We’removing to a brand-new place, and we know nothing about it.Ihaven’t had a chance to really scope anything out.Ourcreepy neighbor got even creepier and slightly combative right before we left, and we’re moving in with someone we hardly know—no offense,Vince.Aguy, who happens to also have found out who we are and where we lived even though we were hiding.”Sheturned to me, andIcould see her twisting her hands together nervously in her lap.

“No offense taken,”Itold her, and while keeping my left hand on the steering wheel,Imoved my right hand to grab one of hers, squeezing it and then putting it on my thigh and softly rubbing my thumb over the back of her hand and hopefully calm her down.

Her hand, which had tensed whenIpicked it up and moved it to my leg, now eased a little, whichItook as a win for the moment.

“Tell us more about these other people you work with,”Valinterrupted. “Areany of them cute and single?”

Cat sighed. “Seriously,Val.”

“What?I’vebeen in witness protection for most of the latter half of my life, which is basically a no-go for dating of any kind,”Valsaid. “Iwould like to be normal for a change and maybe go out on dates.Andforgive me for wanting those dates to be with a guy who’s a hunk likeVince.Thoughdon’t worry,Vince,I’mnot trying to steal you away from my sister.”

I chuckled at her comment, butVal’swords lingered in my mind.Wasit the same forCat?Hadthey both missed out on dating while inWITSEC?Oddly, the idea made me smile.Thethought ofCatwith other guys triggered a surge of protectiveness—and jealousy.

“We’re not for-real dating,Val.Thatwas just to getSteveoff our backs,”Catsaid in reply.

“Sis,Ilove you, but where is your hand currently?”Valpointed out, noting it was still attached to mine on my right thigh. “Youmay be paranoid and sometimes crazy, but you aren’t dumb.Youtwo may not be officiallydating, but my guess is it’s only a matter of time before that changes.”

I feltCatattempt to retrieve her hand from mine, butIdidn’t want to let her go.However,IknewIcouldn’t come on too strong just yet, especially with her already having anxiety over the move in general, soIlet her have this moment and gave her hand back.BeforeCatcould interject, though,Valspoke again.

“So, about these co-workers of yours…Tellus everything.It’snot like we don’t have time.We’vegot hours before we get toGeorgia,”Valsaid.

I gave her the brief synopsis on each of the men, explaining howJack,WadeandIall served together overseas in theArmy, though not giving them the details of the types of missions we were on, nor that we wereSpecialForces.

“During down time on our last two deployments, we all talked about what we wanted to do with our lives post-duty,”Itold them. “MycousinArcherused to be a cop but was looking to get out and switch to private security.Consideringour special training, our skills made us highly qualified to do private security.Mydad, who was a bounty hunter, taught me everything he knows, and withArcher’straining as a cop, we knew that would also allow us to add private investigations and fugitive recovery to our business.Hence,RangerShieldSecuritywas born.”

---