Page 38 of Special Agent Isabella

ChapterThirty-One

Tanner had typed at least three texts to Bella before he gave up and deleted the last one. Hell, they all sounded pathetic. Either she’d think him a loser or the showoff which she already had him pegged for.

How did one go about telling a girl that he’d never experienced anything like the night before? To say he wanted to be with her again would be an understatement. But when he tried to put it into words, they all came out stilted and sappy.

Quitting for now, he opened the spy app he’d installed in Leslie’s phone. His heart stopped, flipped over, and started again. His lady. She was in trouble.

The crazy journalist had just recorded a video of Bella in front of the governor’s house. Surrounded by crazies, the agent tried to administer help for some poor old woman suffering a heart attack. Listening to Leslie’s English accent describing the incident, he saw the happening through her eyes. But something didn’t ring true.

Absolutely certain Bella would never have gone out there to harass the people, he relistened to the tape. Seeing instantly that shooting off her weapon, though dangerous, had done the trick in making the mass move, she had run straight to the victim.

Yet Leslie’s version twisted the facts to make them sound dangerous and wholly wrong. Her distortion of the tale made it seem as if the woman had a heart attack after hearing the shot. During the time they waited for the ambulance to appear, Leslie had panned the street and the placard waving crowd, only returning to Bella as she was being arrested.

Rather than letting the voices of the crowd be heard, she spoke over them.“It shows how quickly control can be lost when firearms are brandished foolishly into a crowd. This is Leslie Bolden coming to you from Phoenix, Arizona.”

What the fuck?No way he’d believe this garbage, even if he saw it with his own eyes. There had to be another side to the story.

Heading toward Stacy’s office, he slipped the cell in his pocket and knocked. Stacy and Bruce were together in the conference area, working hard, piles of papers spread everywhere. Though there still lingered a smell from the earlier explosion, the mess had been contained to other sections on the floor.

“There’s been a situation at the house with Bella.” Tanner briefly told them what he knew.

Stacy’s disbelief showed visibly. “Bella would never act so foolishly, Tanner. Something’s not right.”

“I know. I need to see for myself that it’s under control. Are you two okay here?” When they both nodded, he pointedly spoke to Stacy, “Don’t leave the building and keep your guards nearby.”

“Will do. Now go. Make sure everything is okay with Abbie too.”

“As far as I can tell, the situation occurred outside with Bella. I’m sure Nan kept Abbie away and safe. But I’d feel better if I checked it out for myself. I’ll be back as soon as I’ve looked into it.”

Stacy waved him off. “Yes. I’ll feel better too. Let me know as soon as you can.”

“Right.” He rushed away, making sure that security knew he’d be gone for a while.

* * *

After a nerve-racking drive, he arrived at the house. Searching for Bella, he found her in the kitchen with Abbie and Nan, Leslie nowhere in sight. Upon seeing such domestic calmness, the hammers pounding on the sides of his heart stopped their ridiculous tom-toming and settled back into a normal rhythm.

As soon as Bella saw him, she lowered the cookie dough she’d been smushing rather than forming it into balls like the other two. She stepped forward. “Where’s Stacy?”

“She’s fine, working with Bruce. Her security are on alert. We need to talk.”

As if his expression conveyed urgency, she nodded. “Right. Fine. I’m not getting the hang of making these little doodads anyway. Abbie is much better at it than I’ll ever be. Right, kiddo?”

Abbie had waved to Tanner, her hands full of flour and cookie dough. “Hi, Uncle Tanner. Look at me. I’m a big girl, helping Nan. Bella’s naughty. She’s playing with the dough… Nan said it, not me. But my cookies are perfect. Right, Nan?”

“Perfecto, mi amor.” Nan beamed at the child and handed her Bella’s dough. “You fix now that the destroyer is leaving.”

Abbie giggled, her hands digging in, glee showing all over her face.

As they left the room, Tanner had to ask. “How’d you get her to take off the wig?”

“Nan said it would get messed up with flour, and she should keep it safe until they finished working in the kitchen.”

“And she fell for it?” Mockery appeared in his grin.

“Nope. I told her I’d bet her five bucks she wouldn’t listen. Then she told me gambling was naughty, yet darned if she didn’t make me pay.”

“That’s my girl.” Tanner glowed with pride. He led the way to the office and shut the door, then he pulled out his phone. “Did you see this?”

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