Hidden Away (KGI #3)(54)

CHAPTER 20

GARRETT let himself back into the house with his bag and rifle. He did a quick run-through and secured most of his equipment to his belt. He slipped two knives into loops on either side of his pants and made damn sure his grenade was secure. He still hadn’t lived down Sophie lifting a grenade from him when all the shit had gone down with her father.

He made the rounds again, securing the broken back door in the process. He rigged a nice little surprise for anyone who decided to make an unexpected entrance. He prowled down the hall and nudged Sarah’s door open so he could peek inside. Not that she had an escape route. And not that he even expected to find her awake. She’d been dead on her feet, and the deep shadows under her eyes had lent a bruised, defeated look that hadn’t improved his mood one iota.

No, he liked watching her sleep. There was something infinitely fragile—and angelic—about her. Delicate eyelashes rested on her cheeks and the soft, even rise of her chest signaled that she was deep under. He watched her for a long moment, still perplexed by the hold she seemed to have on him.

When he should have been motivated to grab her ass and beat a path out of the country as fast as he could, instead he’d kissed her and acted like an ass**le on the make.

But she hadn’t been pissed. She’d laughed—and lord but she had a beautiful laugh, even when she was laughing at his damn hard-on. He’d grumbled, but the truth was, he’d have stood there all day, dick flapping in the wind to bring such merriment to her eyes.

He backed out of her room and went into the kitchen to set up the sat phone and the small laptop he carried with him. Then he began a meticulous search of the house. He needed to find that laptop. There weren’t many computers Donovan couldn’t woo like a lover.

It didn’t take too long to find, wedged underneath one of the cushions on the sofa. He needed to work fast because he wasn’t sure how long Sarah would sleep even though she was completely dead on her feet.

He opened her laptop next to his equipment on the kitchen table and placed the call to Donovan. Donovan answered on the third ring. He sounded distracted though, and there were odd noises in the background that sounded like a cat in distress.

“What the hell is going on there?” Garrett demanded.

“Give me a minute. Charlotte isn’t happy.”

“You’re holding the baby?”

“Well, yeah, Sophie needed a nap and Sam has been up all night. I think Charlotte needs a diaper change.”

“By all means, don’t let me interrupt all that domestic bliss,” Garrett said dryly. “Never mind I’m on a tight schedule over here and need this done like yesterday.”

“You ever try changing a baby’s diaper while trying to save the world? It ain’t easy. These things need to come with instruction manuals.”

Garrett listened and cringed when he heard what sounded suspiciously like baby goo-goo nonsense coming from Donovan.

“You have lost your damn mind,” Garrett muttered. Several moments later, the noise died down and Donovan spoke back into the phone. “Miss Charlotte is all happy. Now, what can I do for you?”

“I’ve got my hands on Sarah’s laptop. I was hoping to get you dialed in so you could poke around and eavesdrop on her conversations with Lattimer.”

Donovan immediately went into a series of directions that made Garrett’s eyes roll back in his head. Garrett followed them to a T and listened to Donovan’s satisfied exclamations as he “got in.”

As Donovan continued to talk to himself and to the computer in question, Garrett glanced over to see a folded piece of paper that had fallen out of the laptop when he opened it. Idly, he picked it up and opened it up to see a bunch of stuff that didn’t make a lot of sense to him. But he guaranteed it would mean something to Donovan.

“Hey Van, this might be something.” He started reading off the list of what looked to be instructions and Donovan broke in excitedly.

“Wait, go back. From the beginning. Let me get all this down.”

Garrett repeated everything on the piece of paper and periodically cocked his head in the direction of Sarah’s bedroom, but all remained quiet.

“Give me a sec to get back to my desk. I think you just gave me access to her email account. I also have some other info for you.”

Garrett sighed and waited for his brother to get his act together. Although he couldn’t say much because of all the Kellys, Donovan was the most organized. It bordered on some obsessive-compulsive disorder that the rest of them damn sure didn’t suffer from. Sam was probably the closest to being an anal bastard as Donovan.

“Okay, while I’m getting into this account, I’ll tell what else I’ve found. I’ve been doing some digging. I’ve called in some huge favors—the kind that could get people in some deep shit, if you know what I mean.”

Garrett perked up at that. “What kind of favors?”

“I wanted to know if Resnick has been feeding us a line of bullshit. I also wanted to see if I could figure out Lattimer’s last known location. And what his connection to Allen Cross was.

“Resnick’s already started squawking. He doesn’t buy for a minute that you bailed on the mission. He’s pissed and raising hell. Threatening Sam and KGI and making all sorts of threats against humanity.”

Garrett rolled his eyes. “I’m sure that breaks Sam’s heart.”