Page 52 of Winters Heat

Parker poked his finger on the war room’s large flat screen. “We’ve heard that Silva’s men have showed up here, here, and here.”

His fingerprints left smudges everywhere he touched.

Bring on the assholes. Winters was ready to end this shit.

Parker pulled up a new map on the big screen. Bright white dots blinked along his path from Kentucky to Virginia. “Everything shows that the Silva teams followed you back to DC. They’re likely already here again and have searched Mia Kensington’s office and home.”

“Which safe house did you stash her at?” Jared asked.

“She’s not at a Titan safe house.” Winters tried to add an uninterested inflection and focus on the screen of illuminating dots.

He could hear the wheels grinding in each head around the table. All stilled. Every set of eyes narrowed on him.

“Pray tell, Winters. Where might little Miss Mia Kensington be if she’s not aTitansafe house?” Jared arched his eyebrow.

Winters had heard of a slow clap before, but this was a slow laugh. Each man coughed a chuckle, then another, until it was a full-scale assault. Fuck them.

“She’s at my place. Leave it alone.”

“With Clara?” Parker piped in for good measure.

“And your mother?” Jared asked, though his rigid tone was the same as always. Boss man lifted an eyebrow, even smiled a little.

Winters pressed his lips into a tight, thin line. “I might just kill all you fuckers. What’s it to you, anyway?”

Now even Jared laughed and leaned back in his chair. “Well, hell, Winters. This is kind of cute. What do you think, boys? Winters found himself a girl?”

They all drum rolled on the table and hollered.

What did he expect? Of course, they’d find out. He wasn’t trying to keep her a secret. But the safe house revelation didn’t need to come on the heels of the honey pot photo.

“Screw you all.” It was the only thing he could think to say when he wasn’t cursing them each by name. So he said it again, and again, and again, only making the room more and more raucous.Damn it.

After what Jared apparently determined was the appropriate amount of misery, he settled into his normal gruff self. “All right, all right. Enough with Winters’s bullshit. Silva will go after that list again in DC. It’s his last chance to get it before our client destroys it. We’ll arrange for Winters to do the drop off. Parker, you and lover boy will ensure Mia’s safe when she matriculates back to the real world.”

Winters’s phone beeped, and dread sunk to the pit of his stomach, landing hard. Knowing what the sound meant before he looked at the phone screen, he interrupted Jared. “We’ve got bigger problems.”

“Yeah, your phone is set to annoying,” someone called from the back of the room.

“The perimeter alarm at my house was breached.”

He pushed the stored number in his phone, reaching out to Mia. No answer. He hit redial.C’mon, c’mon. All he wanted was a quick hello. Still no answer. He hung up and punched each number into the phone to make sure the number dialed right. More ringing. Nothing. He pressed the end call button and dropped his head, muttering a prayer and a promise.

“Winters, don’t you have an alarm on your gate?” Parker asked. “And sensors on the fences? If those didn’t go off, then it’s just Mia triggering it. I mean, if no one has come on to the property—”

“Don’t be stupid, man. It can be done. Even with as good a system as I have.” He hit the redial button once more. Just to be sure. “Something’s wrong. Parker, hack my security system. And don’t bullshit me. I know you can do it.”

Parker looked at Jared, who nodded, and Parker pushed away from the war room table to a keyboard under the wall of flat screens. Winters checked his phone while anxiety blossomed. It was early, but Mia would be up by now. She should be answering the burner phone. His fingers jabbed as he dialed his home number. Same result. She wouldn’t pick it up anyway.

“Where’s the NOC list?” Jared asked.

Winters pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to his boss, readying to hightail it back home. “You take it. I’ve got business to attend to.”

“Hold it, Lone Ranger. If there’s a problem, we’ve all got business to attend to.”

He wanted to argue. Hell, he wanted to ignore him and walk out.

Jared could read his mind. “Sit your ass down, Winters.”

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