Page 42 of Protecting Vera
“Are you looking out the window?” Thario’s question made her move faster to the window.
“Sorry. I’m scared and moving slow.”
“I’m looking for information about him. I’ve had alerts set up for him, and I’ve been checking. I don’t think he went anywhere. I can’t find…” Thario trailed off as she glanced out the window.
At first, she saw nothing. There were cars parked on the street, but there were always cars parked on the street. It didn’t seem like anyone was in the cars. She saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just as she was about to tell Thario she saw nothing, she swore someone moved out from behind one of the cars in front of her neighbor’s house. Before she could utter a word, Thario spoke.
“Shit. It looks like he might have flown out on a private jet with one of his dad’s friends. He could be in California.”
“Someone is outside. They are moving toward the house.”
“Oh, crap. I’m calling the police. Go hide.”
Vera couldn’t believe Logan was here, and they hadn’t caught his movements. She didn’t blame Thario. Who would have thought he would fly out here on a private jet? As far as she knew, he’d never been on a private jet before.
She raced into the bedroom, trying to come up with a place to hide. Maybe she should run outside, but she had no place to go. All her friends lived blocks away. She hadn’t made friends with the neighbors since moving in, and she regretted it. She would die here in this house, all because Logan couldn’t accept that she had ended their relationship almost a year ago.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Hop blew out a sigh of relief. The day had been so freaking long he’d wanted to rip his hair out while they were deep in the weeds of planning. But now they were done, and he could breathe easier.
“Yo, Hop,” Zip called to him. “You headed home or going to grab breakfast?”
“Home. I’m too tired. I’ll see you all on Sunday.”
“That’s a date,” Q called out.
Rider stretched and moaned. “I’m ready to get some sleep.”
Trip nodded. “Same.”
Hop got into his car and pulled out, waving to his buddies as he took off. He’d checked maps and saw that the freeways were shut down. Good thing he didn’t have to take them to get home.
Work had been wild this week. They’d been at it for so long today and he was so exhausted, all he wanted to do was drop into bed and sleep for days.
He didn’t have to go to work in the morning, and he was excited to see Vera. He hoped she wasn’t upset that he would be spending the day at home instead of heading to base. She shouldn’t be.
She’d texted while he’d been in his meetings, telling him that she loved him. He liked that they had such a great relationship. She’d been so understanding about him working late the entire week. It didn’t happen all the time, but some weeks were worse than others.
He was almost home, about to pull onto his street when his phone rang. He wasn’t expecting any calls since it was close to four in the morning. But Thario was calling, and he answered with a smile on his face.
“Thario, my man.”
“I fucked up. Logan traveled private. I’ve called the cops, but they are about ten to fifteen minutes away because of that wreck that happened at midnight. I checked the tracking device you wear and saw you were almost home.”
“I’m pulling onto the street now. Text my team and Kevlar’s team. See if anyone is close by.”
“Got it. Call me if you need anything more.”
Hop had cut the lights as he’d turned onto the street so when the call ended and he stopped his car two houses down, he knew no one had seen him. He immediately reached for his piece he stored under the seat. He’d almost not installed the device that would only unlock with his thumb print, but he’d pushed away his thoughts that he was being paranoid and placed the holder, praying he never needed it.
Now he was glad he had the gun in arm’s reach. He grabbed a set of zip strips from his glove box and made sure the lights were off in his car before he opened the door. He didn’t need Logan alerted to his location. He didn’t trust the guy and didn’t want to end up painting a target all over himself with light.
He had his earpiece in, so when Thario called back, he answered fast but didn’t say anything. Thario was used to this kind of behavior from people he called, so he just started speaking.
“She’s in the closet, your room. The doors are locked. She thinks someone just entered the house.”
“I’m going in,” Hop whispered.
