Page 26 of Fearless Encounter

Genevieve ushered her in and gave her a hug. While she had coffee then showered, Brooke waited. It felt good to be in her sister’s condo. It was safe for the moment. But it wasn’t that way for Meg.

The scare of the parade incident had faded. Brooke had recovered from the shock. Sinking into an armchair, she finally had an opportunity to consider the situation—and it wasn’t promising. The threat still existed, and she had no clue what the consequences might be. Her safety wasn’t assured, despite Gabriel’s best efforts. Yet something else nagged at her. The danger she was in could affect her career, her coworkers, and those she was close to.

Missing her son, she texted. David might be between classes. Luckily, he was walking across campus to his next class and answered her. Brooke didn’t tell him what had happened. He’d be concerned, and she didn’t want to distract him. There wasn’t anything he could do about it anyway. His replies were reassuring. He was fine, making friends. He’d talk to her more when he had a chance.

Brooke let him get to class. She looked at a couple of pictures on her phone. He looked like his dad, with dark hair and dark eyes. He was handsome, but then, she was biased. Although her son had no problem getting dates. Everett Clark hadn’t been a great husband, but he was a good father. He got along well with his son and was glad to pay for college. That had worked out, as there was no way Brooke could afford it.

She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. Her family and friends were important to her. It was bad enough that she’d put herself in jeopardy. The last thing she wanted was for her bad fortune to affect those she loved. And the magnitude of Meg’s situation weighed heavily on her. There had to besomething she could do to put an end to the danger. Whatever it was, she’d find it. Gabriel’s protection only went so far. It was time to take charge, to step up and take care of this. Only…she wasn’t sure how to do that.

Chapter 7

The evening he’d spent with Brooke felt like a turning point for Gabriel. For sure, he’d shared more than he intended to. He’d felt comfortable with her and talked about his wife’s death. The more she’d listened with compassion, the more he’d talked. Opening his heart to Brooke had been a good thing, although he couldn’t have predicted that.

Try as he might, Gabriel had been unable to enjoy dating. He’d tried a bit, mostly because his daughters encouraged him. They were old enough to understand love and relationships. He understood that they cared about him and wanted him to find a woman to share his life with. That was surprising, as he would have thought it would be the other way around—that they’d resent any other woman he’d have a relationship with.

But his daughters weren’t young children, fearing that another woman would replace their mother. Although they had each grieved in their own way—and it had been rough—they’d come through it well. It was clear that their mother had a forever place in their hearts. But they loved him too, and wanted to see him happy.

Dinner had been more of a date than a business meeting. Gabriel could no longer deny that he had feelings for Brooke. It surprised him that it had happened in such a short time. But he supposed it didn’t take long for attraction to surface. He’d proposed to his wife not long after meeting her, and she’d felt the same. It appeared Brooke felt something for him too.

Gabriel felt close to her. He wanted to hold and caress her. But he settled for a kiss—two kisses, to be exact. The memory of her soft lips, of her tender touch, sparked desire. And she’d seem to enjoy the intimate gesture as he had.

But that didn’t mean that she was ready for a relationship. Or that she’d chosen him for anything permanent. Brooke was warmhearted and caring, which he appreciated. Yet that didn’t signal a deeper connection. He’d have to feel his way. For now, he needed to get to work protecting her and rescuing her friend. It had only been a few days since the abduction, but it seemed like weeks—because things seemed to be moving so slowly.

Gabriel had showered and headed for the office. He’d said goodbye to Brooke while she was doing laundry. For some reason, the sight of her involved in the domestic task turned him on. He had a flash from the past, how he’d liked being married, and how the simple daily chores were a joy when he had someone to do them with.

He got in his car and refocused. He needed to concentrate on more than a vision of Brooke in his arms.

He couldn’t keep her at his house indefinitely. It was only fair that she went home to her condo. Gabriel was aware that he’d pressed his luck already by persuading her to stay longer. He couldn’t stand the idea of her alone when criminals lurked. She may have a rosier view of the situation, but he’d dealt with the shadier side of life for too long to not be somewhat jaded.

First, Gabriel went to the office. He needed to check on cases to be sure there were no emergencies. Although his team did a lot of the investigation work, he outsourced other duties—particularly surveillance. Plus, Weston was known to work at all hours, so it was possible he’d learned more related to the recent disappearance. When he entered, Amalie greeted him.

He stood by her desk, staring at a swath of purple in her long blonde hair. “What did you do to your hair?”

“Oh, Dad,” Amalie said. “It washes out. I was just in a purple mood last night.”

Whatever that was—but he knew better than to ask. Gabriel had learned to wait it out when his daughters went through a phase. He hoped the purple was short-lived, because he much preferred blonde.

“Got anything?” he said, peering over her shoulder.

“Just going through social media,” Amalie said. “Looking for any sign of threat.”

Weston was at his desk banging away on his keyboard. He put up a finger to let Gabriel know to wait. Then he tapped enter and leaned back in his chair. “Good morning.”

“At least you don’t have purple hair,” Gabriel said.

Weston smiled. “It looks cool. I think she should keep it.”

Gabriel sighed. “Any chance you have more to tell me about Capstone Security?”

“I’ve researched the company, when it was founded, its mission statement and all,” Weston said. “So far, there are no obvious red flags. I looked into Peter Schwartz, the CEO. On the surface he appears clean, but I’m digging deeper. And I’ve started background checks on the other key employees. There is a guy named Luis Valdez, the company’s head of security.”

“And he’s important?”

“He’s a guy you’ll want to talk to,” Weston said. “He handles cybersecurity for the company, tracks vulnerabilities. I’d pick his brain, find out what kind of recent situations came up.” He swiveled in his chair. “After all, the company’s lead researcher was abducted. If it was related to what she was working on, he might help spot the source of the attack.”

“I’ll check into it,” Gabriel said. “Today, I’m meeting Abe. We’ll interview the party attendees…see if they can ID the guywho left with Meghan Reid. Or point us in the right direction. I’ll text the list of names when I get it. You can check them, see if there’s anyone we should focus on.”

Weston nodded, then went back to work. After Gabriel handled any pressing email and looked at updates on their usual cases, he headed to the police station.