I’d only met Alex once before the wedding and a few times after, but Eden’s father trusted him implicitly, which backed up the impression I had of him. I didn’t hesitate to put Eden’s life in his hands. I knew he loved her like a sister and would do everything he could to protect her. Eden grabbed my hand as I gingerly slid off of the hospital bed and stood up, holding the side rail with my other until the brief sensation of vertigo passed.
“There’s a safe house just outside the city that isn’t being used right now, completely off the grid,” Alex explained.
“I need access to a secure computer, though,” Eden insisted. Her hand was gripping mine so hard her knuckles were white. I carefully unclenched her fingers and kissed the back of each one.
“I don’t want you near this anymore, Sunshine. You promised that if you were in danger, you would back off.” I tried to keep my tone soothing, but inside, I was raging at the thought of her being further involved. Over my dead fucking body.
She turned pleading, ocean blue eyes on me and I felt a small fissure in my determination. “I’m so close, Isaac. With Alex’s help and a little more digging, I think I can find out who owns the bank account. And, I need to get my hands on a copy of the environmental report they released. The more I think about those double payments, the more I think it was a bribe.”
My instincts were a jumbled mess and I didn’t know whether to follow my head or my heart. I pulled her close and met Alex’s steady gaze over her head.
“It’s completely secure,” Alex informed me. “And, I’ll put her in touch with my best tech guy. I’m sure he can get his hands on all the reports, as well as the evidence that went into it. If they don’t match up, it will at least give us a direction to focus on. The whole process will go faster with them working together, and he can make sure that she doesn’t trip anymore fail safes.”
Eden lifted her head from my chest and gasped, clearly offended. “I didn’t leave a trace!” I heard the tiniest thread of doubt in her voice, and Alex dropped his eyes to her with a sympathetic smile.
“You are one of the most talented and intelligent people I know, kiddo. But, you’re still young and fairly new to the scene. There was a very sophisticated security measure installed on their system and once you inserted the bug, it tripped it. You didn’t leave a ghost trace behind, but all they had to do was access the banks security video. It didn’t take them long to tie it back to you.”
“Dammit,” Eden grumbled.
I sighed. “Would you stop swearing, Sunshine?”
She glared up at me. “Really? Right now?”
To my complete and utter shock, I felt my face heat just a little. I was fucking blushing. “Habit,” I mumbled.
Evie started laughing and looped her arm through Eden’s. “Come on, let’s get you two out of here.”
Alex turned towards me, but hesitated, silently asking if I needed help. I shook my head and though I wobbled for the first few steps, I eventually steadied and was able to walk out unassisted.
A black town car glided to a stop right in front of the exit and a man with a buzz cut, black suit, and an ear piece alighted from the driver’s side. Wow. They were pulling out the big guns. However, instead of the sight giving me comfort, it ratcheted up my anxiety at Eden’s connection to the situation.
The man came around and opened the back door for Eden, Evie, and I to climb inside onto the back bench seat, while Alex took the front passenger spot. “Can I use a phone?” I asked, realizing I had no access to communication.
Alex looked over his shoulder and frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I need to let my partner know I’m going to be unreachable for a while, and I especially need to speak with my co-counsel, Natalie, since she’s going to have to step up to first chair in this case, and she needs to get the court to put my client into protective custody.” When Alex still looked dubious, I steeled my tone and held his stare with a determined one of my own. “It’s not just Eden’s life or my own on the line. And, I can’t let my client down.”
Evie sat forward and laid her hand on Alex’s shoulder. Their eyes met as they silently communicated and finally, Alex sighed and tossed a phone back to me. My dexterity was a little slow, but I managed to catch it.
I placed a call to Jax first. I’d have to convince him to allow Natalie to stay on the case. I didn’t trust anyone but him to back her up, and he didn’t know the case well enough to take over. I had to do it without revealing too much, and I felt like I was walking on a very thin tightrope. With Evie’s help, I managed to prove that simply defending Mark wouldn’t put his wife in danger. Eventually, he agreed, making sure I knew I owed him “fucking big time.” Next, I called Natalie and filled her in on as much as I could as well. She told me not to worry (fat chance of that) and she would handle everything.
She asked to speak to Eden and I handed the phone over. Something Natalie said caused Eden to laugh and the sound was like coming home. Eden had always been a bright ray of sunshine, energetic, happy, full of life. As we worked on the case, she’d gotten more serious and hadn’t smiled as much. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it until that moment. Fuck owing Jax, I would forever be in Natalie’s debt for bringing my sunshine to the surface again.
After hanging up, Eden handed the phone to Alex, who promptly removed the sim card and tossed it out the window. Eden frowned. “I thought you said it was a secure line?”
“It was,” he affirmed. “But, it’s likely your phones at the office have been tapped and if you call a tapped phone from an untapped...” he trailed off, making a circling motion with his hand like he was saying, etc. etc. “Better safe than sorry,” he warned.
It wasn’t long before we were pulling to the parking lot of a small, nondescript apartment building. The driver parked, then quickly exited the vehicle and jogged to the front door and typed a code into the keypad under the handle. He went inside and came back out about three minutes later, returning to his seat behind the steering wheel. “All clear,” he said gruffly.
Eden, who was sitting on my left, leaned around me to whisper to Evie on my other side. “Does the CIA specifically recruit guys who grunt and have permanently scowling expressions on their faces?”
Evie laughed. “It seems that way sometimes.” Her door opened, and Alex helped her from the car before I scooted out and did the same for Eden.
We swiftly made our way into an apartment on the third floor, the inside as bland as the outside. A computer was set up on a scratched up wooden desk in one corner of the room and Eden made a beeline straight for it. Before she could get far, I snagged her around the waist and held her back. “You need to eat and rest, Sunshine. Everything else can wait.” Her stomach backed me up when it growled loudly.
“I will, but—” she started to argue and I cut her off, splaying an open palm over her middle.
“You’re eating for two, Eden.” At those words, she stilled, coming to the same conclusion, which was conveniently punctuated by another gurgle from her belly.
I took her hand and led her over to a brown, corduroy couch. It was ugly as hell and clearly a relic from the 90’s, but it looked comfortable. “Lay down while I get you some dinner, then you can talk with Alex’s contact at the CIA and maybe, do some work on the case from here.” I wasn’t committing to anything until I talked to this Martin guy personally.
She opened her mouth, no doubt poised to debate the issue, but wisely stayed quiet and swung her feet up so she could stretch out. Alex and Evie were standing by the door, talking in hushed tones but they quieted and turned to face me when I reached them.
“Is the kitchen stocked?” I inquired.