Page 100 of No Regrets

Putting the phone down, she picked up the plain envelope. If someone was dropping something off, wouldn’t they at least put his name on it? And he definitely had new security at his house. Why was this bothering her? Hell, she was probably overthinking. She put down the envelope and went back upstairs to dry her hair and get dressed. By the time she was done, her concern over the envelope hadn’t diminished. Fear seemed to be a default emotion these days and she second guessed everything, but her instincts had taken her far in her career and they were telling her something was wrong. Screw it, if it was nothing, he’d forgive her. She ran back downstairs and ripped open the envelope, pulling out the slip of paper inside.

Not long now, payback’s a bitch.

She dropped the note like a hot potato. Her heart raced and she forced herself to take deep breaths to calm down. The words were handwritten in beautiful script. A threat, without a doubt. What if whoever sent this note planned the payback on the op he was leaving for right now? She hesitated for barely a second and then she called him, praying he would pick up.

“Kelly? I can’t really talk right now. We’re about to board.” His tone was clipped but she ignored it, knowing he was in op mode.

“I know but, Dex, there was an envelope in your mailbox, with a note. It said not long now, payback’s a bitch.” She tried but failed to conceal her fear.

After a long pause, Dex said, “Kelly, put the note back in the envelope and leave it alone.” His voice was calm, way too calm, chilling her to the bone.

“I’m not going to just put it back. It’s a goddamn threat. I was worried—”

“Kelly, leave it. I can’t discuss this now and I need you to stay away from my house until I get back.” Dex’s voice remained low and calm, but there was no mistaking the firm edge to it. She swallowed, a knot twisting in her stomach.

“Dex, what the hell is going on? You’ve added security to your house, and you don’t seem surprised. This isn’t the first threat, is it? What the fuck is going on?”

“Kelly! Leave. It. Alone. Please!” The tone of his voice shocked her. He’d never spoken to her like that before.

“OK!” Like hell she was leaving this alone, but he was about to leave, and he needed his head in the game. She heard him sigh at the other end of the line. When he spoke again, his voice was soft.

“Thank you. I have to go. Please, don’t go back to my house. We’ll talk when I get back. I promise.” He rang off, leaving her staring at the phone.

RYAN LOOKED AT DEX. “Everything OK?” They were walking across the tarmac to the plane. Sam was back in the ops room and would monitor the op from there.

“Probably not. She found another envelope in my mailbox.”

“What did it say?”

“Not long now, payback’s a bitch.” Dex slung his gear down. This was the last thing he wanted to be thinking about right now. There was no damn way she would sit back and do nothing. He knew her better than that.

The team stowed their gear and strapped themselves in for take-off. Ryan sat next to him. “She won’t do anything stupid.” Ryan was trying to reassure him.

Dex turned his head to face him. “You and I both know she won’t leave this alone. Digging into shit like this is what she does.”

“Which is why she won’t do anything stupid. But you should probably mention it to Sam.”

“I will. When we get back.”

“Your call. I would do it sooner. If she starts poking around, it will cause a red flag, one that Sam will be told about. Pretty sure he’d rather hear it from you directly.”

Ryan was right. Sam was going to love this. They had a few minutes. Unstrapping himself, he stepped back onto the tarmac to make the call.

“Sam?”

“Yeah?”

Fuck, this was the last thing he wanted to talk about now.

“There was another envelope this morning.”

“At HQ?”

“No. Kelly just called me. She found it in my mailbox.”

A beat before Sam spoke.

“I didn’t realize Lieutenant Kimber knew about the threats.”

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