Page 17 of Nanny for the SEALs

He held up the wad of cloth. “And I can go back to this.”

I quickly shut my mouth.

“Who do you work for?” he asked, less patiently this time. “Is it Pegasus, or Heimdall?”

“Dude, I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“They’re companies. Do you work for them?”

“No,” I said with a groan. “I do not work for Pegasus Steakhouse, or Heimdall Steakhouse.”

“They’re not… ugh. You’re making this difficult.”

“See?” Mr. Pink said. “She doesn’t fucken know anything. We should throw her back in the car and bounce.”

“I told you to stop talking,” Mr. Green hissed.

Something in the way Mr. Pink spoke jogged a memory. Something he said earlier, and just now. The way he pronounced itcahinstead ofcar.

Boston. He was from Boston.

The memories collected and built up speed in my mind, like a snowball rolling downhill.

“Oh shit!” I blurted out. “You are the guys from last night. The ones in the suite I broke into.” I looked at Mr. Green. “You’re Rogan Holt!”

7

Rogan

As soon as the words left her mouth, I cursed.

“This was why I didn’t want you to speak,” I said to Brady in the pink mask.

Behind Heather, Asher slumped his head and sighed. He removed his mask, then pulled his glasses out of his pocket and fixated them on his face.

“Rogan Holt,” Heather said, nodding her head. “I definitely remember your voice. HLM Security.”

“HLS,” Brady corrected.

I let out an annoyed sound and glared at him.

“What? It doesn’t matter now. She knows who we are.” Brady removed his mask too.

“This isfucked up,” Heather said. “You kidnapped me in the middle of the day. Is this some sort of payback for last night? I mooched a beer off you, so now you’re torturing me?”

“Nobody is being tortured.” My mask was hot and stuffy, so I finally pulled it off my face. I let out a resigned sigh. I was tired of all this. “Who do you work for, Heather?”

“I told you!” Heather said. “Outback Steakhouse. Are you guys, like, agents from Red Lobster or something? I’ve never been part of a chain-restaurant mob hit before.”

She was a good liar. Enough that she had fooled us last night, and enough that I suspected she was putting on a show for us now. We couldn’t let her leave without knowing the truth, though. There was too much at stake.

“This is nuts,” Heather said, swiveling her head to look at each of us. “You’ve kidnapped me. I know who you are. It’s over.” She froze, eyes widening. “Unless you’re going to kill me…”

“We’re not going to kill you,” I exhaled. “We just want the truth.”

“I am telling the truth! What do I have to do to convince you? I’ll take a damn lie detector test if you want…”

I perked up at that. “Really?”

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