Iron Willed Warrior (Last Refuge Protectors #5)

13. Cole

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Cole

After leaving the roof, I was careful to shut the access door. Then I took the nearest entrance back inside the main building.

I had one last objective before finding Brynn. I wondered if she was relaxing by the pool right now. If she’d made friends with the other guests already. No doubt, she’d attracted attention.

In our preparations for the mission, River had given us a layout of the resort. One room in particular he’d circled. That was where I headed now. It was in the employee area of the main building. I walked casually down a hallway, ducking into the open doorway of a closet when a couple of cooks rushed past in their kitchen uniforms. Once they were gone, I continued down the hall.

The door I wanted was closed. Locked when I jiggled the handle. I glanced up and down, listening for anyone else coming. River had assured me there were very few cameras around the property except on the primary entrances and exits. But this area was still busy.

When I heard nothing, I took a lock-picking set from my pack. About a minute later, I had the door open. There was some electronic equipment in here. Lots of wires and lights. Not my specialty, but River had been clear about what to do.

Kneeling, I dug into my daypack. Mostly it held the usual stuff. A water bottle and sunblock, plus my cigarettes, though I’d used up my one smoke for today. Part of me wished I’d waited for Brynn to share it with me. But she hadn’t done that since the night before we kissed.

At the very bottom of the pack, my hand closed around a small plastic device. I shook my head. River and his gadgets.

I plugged the device into the hotel’s modem. Then took out my phone to send a quick message to River. He wrote back, telling me to stand by. Minutes passed. I heard voices out in the hall. Sweat began to bead at the back of my neck. If somebody caught me in here, it wouldn’t be easy to explain.

Come on, Riv. Hurry the hell up .

Finally, he messaged again, saying we were all clear. He now had access to all the hotel’s internet-connected systems. I unplugged the device and stuck it into my pack. Carefully opening the door, I stepped out, re-locking the room as I left.

In the next hallway, a man in navy cargos and a black polo stepped out of a guest room. I barely spared him a glance, though my mind was working fast. His clothing pinned him instantly as security. But I also recognized the guy. The shoulder-length hair, the mole on his chin.

This was one of Garon Westwick’s bodyguards, a guy named Troy Manning. Brynn and I had studied the lineup of Westwick’s regular security team so that we would be ready. Manning was a former cop who had left the force in disgrace after a corruption scandal.

So he was the advance man that Ryker, Westwick’s head of security, had sent. And his room was in the same hall as mine and Brynn’s, which suggested Westwick’s would be close as well. That could be both good or bad.

“Excuse me. Sir . ”

I froze in the middle of the hall. Looked back over my shoulder.

Manning was striding toward me. “You’re staying here?”

I couldn’t tell what that look meant. The scrutiny in his expression. But I quickly considered my options. That little spy device in my daypack wouldn’t mean anything to most people, but to a security expert?

I turned a little more, adjusting my pack on my shoulder. “What’s it to you?”

Brynn and River had both assured me that Stillwater didn’t know me. Had no idea that I had struck that Stillwater storage facility with the Protectors last year. But if they’d been wrong? If Westwick’s security team had been briefed about the Protectors, and I was among them?

This entire mission could be screwed before it had barely begun.

My breathing slowed as I tried to read the other man. Keeping my hand concealed at my side, I tightened my fingers into a fist.

But then Manning smiled sheepishly, holding up his hands. “No offense. Just curious if you’re military.” He pointed at my prosthesis, which was clearly visible beneath the hem of my shorts. “My brother lost his left leg above the knee in Iraq.”

I turned fully toward him, fingers easing out of their clenched position. “Oh yeah? Appreciate his service. But no, mine was a motorcycle accident.”

I felt him looking me over. Assessing. I’d been out of the Army for five years, and my hair and beard had grown out, but some of those military habits were hard to break. A way of standing, of carrying myself that could give me away. I cocked my hip.

He nodded like I’d passed. “Tough break, man. Do you still ride? ”

I chuckled, trying to keep to my Cameron Clay persona. “My girl wishes I didn’t. Good thing she doesn’t make the rules. I do.”

Manning laughed, and we kept chatting. He wanted to tell me all about his motorcycle. And his girl, who was waiting for him back home in Vegas.

Did Manning know he worked for the head of Stillwater? As a bodyguard, he would see plenty. Ryker, Manning’s boss, had threatened the nanny who Westwick had been keeping prisoner. Maybe Manning had been involved in that. He’d been a corrupt cop before his bodyguard days.

He was a threat, no question. But was he also a potential weakness I could exploit?

“I travel a lot for work though,” Manning was saying, “so what my girl doesn’t know doesn’t concern her. If you know what I mean.”

“Right on.” I grinned, wondering if I would end up killing this guy too. “That’s what you’re doing here in Arizona? Working?”

The door across the hall opened, and another face appeared. One even more recognizable, making my pulse leap and my muscles involuntarily clench tight.

Donovan Ryker stood there, frowning at the two of us.

Manning jumped, since he’d just been caught goofing off. “Ryke! Hey. Didn’t see you there.”

“Who is this?” Ryker asked, staring at me, his voice oily and threatening. A man who didn’t mess around. My initial shock had faded, and now I was wary, my mind spinning out what this could mean.

Ryker wasn’t supposed to have arrived until tomorrow.

But Cameron Clay wasn’t the type to cede an inch, even around a tough guy, so I just stared back. “I don’t know, who the hell are you?”

Manning laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. “This guy is funny, Ryke. He’s staying down the hall. We were just chatting.”

Ryker’s hard gaze turned to his employee. “Then I suggest you get back to what you should be doing.”

Manning practically clicked his heels together and took off down the hall. What was he up to? Prepping security for Westwick’s arrival?

Unless the head of Stillwater had already arrived. A whole day early. Dammit, I wanted eyes on Brynn.

Ryker stepped out, closing the door most of the way behind him. He looked me up and down, pausing on my prosthetic leg, but unlike Manning he didn’t comment on it. Instead his scrutiny increased. There was a long pause.

“What was your name again?” he asked.

“I didn’t say. What’s yours?”

Ryker didn’t answer.

I didn’t intend to antagonize the man. But there was no buddying up to him, either. He would’ve found that more suspicious.

I lifted my chin. “Whatever, man. My girl’s waiting for me by the pool.”

“Enjoy yourself,” Ryker said, though his tone suggested I do something else to myself entirely.

If Ryker had recognized me as someone affiliated with the Protectors, then I would find that out very soon.

I had to get to Brynn.

When I reached the pool, Brynn was sitting in a cabana, holding court like the most popular girl in school. Relief flooded me at the sight of her, just knowing she was safe.

I’d had no reason to suspect otherwise, but dammit, I had a weakness for this woman .

I slowed my pace as my mouth went dry. Her cover-up was open, revealing a pale pink bikini underneath. She had her sunglasses perched on her head, legs tucked sideways in her chair as she laughed at whatever the woman beside her was saying. Several other guests looked on. They all held drinks like they’d been relaxing here for a while.

She gave me a playful look when she spotted me. Waved me over. “Cameron, there you are! I was just telling everyone about you. They’re here for the seminar too. This is?—”

“Need to talk to you, B,” I interrupted. “Now.”

She pouted. “But baby, I want to introduce you to my new friends.”

“ Now , B,” I repeated.

The two couples around her shifted uncomfortably, clearly unsure of how to handle my rudeness. They were older, maybe fifties or sixties. I vaguely remembered their names from the guest profiles we’d reviewed. They seemed harmless enough.

But this was an opportunity for me to establish my character as an asshole and get her alone to warn her. I was a fan of efficiency.

Brynn sighed, unfolding her legs and standing up slowly. The fabric of her cover-up swished around her, and the triangles of her bikini top tightened on her breasts. “Sorry, everyone. Cameron isn’t known for his patience.” She laughed it off, managing to come across as sad, embarrassed, and hopeful all at the same time. “We’ll be back soon.”

“We’ll save your seat, dear,” a woman said, shooting me a glare to make her disapproval known.

Yeah, Cameron Clay was a jerk. There was no denying it.

Brynn grabbed my arm, and we walked to a quiet corner of the pool area. “That might’ve been slightly more dickish than necessary,” she said. “You’re supposed to come across as possessive, not pathological. ”

“I needed your attention.” My eyes flicked down to the cleft between her breasts. A few tiny beads of sweat dotted her golden skin. And below that, the smooth expanse of her belly…

“What’s going on?” she asked, forcing me back to the moment.

Focus, Lynx .

“Donovan Ryker is here already. Which means Westwick might be here.”

Her fingernails dug into my arm. “ What ?”

I put my arm around her and drew her closer so I could speak into her ear. “I saw Ryker in the hall just now. Plus another bodyguard from Westwick’s security team, Manning. According to your intel, Ryker was supposed to arrive with Westwick.”

“They always travel together.” Brynn bit her lip. “That means Westwick changed his schedule. I wonder if something’s up.”

“That’s my thought as well. So much for us settling in.” It was a good thing we had gotten here today. Yesterday would’ve been better, though. We’d barely had any time to get our bearings.

“But he’s still having the seminar on Saturday morning, I assume?” she asked.

“I have no idea. I came straight here after seeing Ryker. He seemed suspicious of me. No clue how much to read into that.”

“From what I’ve heard, Ryker is just paranoid that way. It’s why Westwick trusts him so much. But the change in timing…” She shivered, leaning into me. “I don’t like it. We need to inform the Protectors and the—” She closed her mouth on whatever she’d been about to say.

“And who else?” I asked. “The task force? We agreed they wouldn’t be involved any further.” The last thing I wanted was the FBI butting into this mission.

“Relax, Cameron,” she said with a tight smile. She played with the collar of my T-shirt. “People are watching.”

I resisted the urge to look. She was right. We were in public. This wasn’t the time or place. “We should go back to the room.”

“Later,” she whispered. “We’ve drawn enough interest already. But I’m glad you’re here.” I didn’t know if she was being Brianna or herself. Either way, her words calmed me.

“Me too.”

She gave me a soft kiss on the cheek that made my spine straighten.

I wanted to shield her. Drag her away from here and deal with Garon Westwick and his thugs myself. But I couldn’t do it without her. I knew that.

This woman had me tied up in knots, and there was no way out but ahead.