Witness Pursuit (Bodyguards #1)

“Hey, no.” Brigs’s slammed a hand over his chest, barring him from moving. “You’re so readable right now, and Ronson will come to us. You know he will. Wait it out.”


Lydia. She looked so pale and shaken, as if she needed him ten-times over. Then she looked at him and her gaze softened. He itched for closer contact.

Brigs lowered his hand. “They’re coming. Keep your cool.”

They crossed the room, leaving the others behind. Her chest rose and fell with short breaths as she came to him. “Ronson.” Her tone was low. “As you guessed, this is Tyler. With him is Brigs.”

Okay, good. Ronson somehow knew who he was.

“I’ve heard plenty about you, Tyler.”

“I’ve heard very little about you.” Still, he stuck his hand out and they shook.

“We can’t talk here. Come up to the homestead later.”

“We’ll bring our bags.”

Ronson lifted a brow then placed his hand on Lydia’s elbow. “Like I said, we’ll talk later. Excuse us.” He drew her away.

Tyler’s control snapped. Ronson was taking her from him. No one would ever do that again. Not on his watch.

Brigs whipped around and blocked his way. “C’mon, snap out of it. She’s right here in this room. She’s not going anywhere. Although, you should. Go and walk it off.”

He wanted to hold his girl the way he needed to and couldn’t, yet with no choice, he turned and walked away, because it was either that or expose Lydia.

Down the hallway, he found a small room, one with a wooden cross on it marking it as a place to pray. He walked into the solitary space and chose the furthest of the four wooden pews where a small window above it overlooked the rooftops to the road.

He dropped to the bench and scrubbed a hand along his thigh.

What a mess.

And another shooting, one far too close to Lydia for his comfort. Yeah, he had to get control of this situation, which meant– His cell phone vibrated in his pocket.

He hauled it out and stared at the display. Ben. A call he couldn’t miss. “Hey.”

“Brigs just sent me a message. It said you wanted to go under. Isn’t there another way?”

“No. Lydia’s pregnant. I’m staying where she is.”

“Look, you’ll always have our support, but I want you to consider all your options. We can keep any visits you make there on the down low. I’ve worked with Ronson in the past. It was a few years ago, but I could speak to him.”

He’d never ask Ben to cross such a line. “It’s fine. Occasional visits with Lydia won’t cut it for me at this point.”

“Right, then at least let me get you a day or two. I’ll tell Ronson you need to speak to your family. You certainly can’t go under and leave me with the Whitehall brothers breathing down my neck. There’s only so much I can handle.”

“They will be pissed.” He’d be lucky if his brothers allowed this to pass, except they’d have no choice. Once he was under, they’d never find him.

“Yeah, I can just see the three of them taking me down, one after the other. And it won’t be pretty.” Ben whistled under his breath. “Okay, enough of that. Brigs told me about your flameout. I want a report, and I want it now.”

“I’ll get it to you tonight.”

“Good. I told Brigs about this, and I’ll update you too. I have news about the hacker who dropped the information about Lydia to the reporter. Our systems specialist has tracked the informant’s routed computer IP address to one M. Taita of Wellington.” He snarled. “Johnny was Mia Taita’s younger brother and she’s on the board of Taita Software, intending to take over once Taita Senior retires.”

His head swam with the new feed of intel. “I know the Taita family wants answers on Johnny’s death, but to place the only eyewitness in a vulnerable position is not the way to do it.”

“I agree. No matter how desperate, giving the killer easy access to Lydia’s name through that article has only placed her life on the line. I’ll deal with Mia Taita personally, but first I need to sort Saria’s re-identification now her finals are done. I’ll catch a flight to Wellington in a couple of days once she’s gone under. Until then, both you and Brigs need to stay alert.”

“Will do.” Tyler ended the call and rubbed his shoulder. The tension within him had his back knotted tight. Hell, he’d have to leave Lydia for a short time to see his brothers, and he would, but only because Brigs was here. That conversation with his brothers wasn’t one he looked forward to.





14




They’d all been given two minutes with Drake after he’d stirred, but he’d been so drowsy, his mumbled words made little sense. The nurse had sent them out, assuring them he’d be more lucid in the morning.

That evening at the homestead, Lydia fidgeted with the dining table’s lace runner trailing into her lap. Her nerves were shot.