Page 14 of Mile High Baby

The walls of the large den threatened to swallow me whole. I could barely breathe. "I tell you what. I'd like to talk to the cops on your case. Then I still need to talk with my supervisor at Saint Security. I can’t just pick up a case on my own. Once I have the investigation information and the okay from my boss, I’ll put something together for you.”

"That includes your watching my daughter,” Henry insisted.

"Let me make sure I can clear it with my supervisors."

Victoria looked at me like she had yesterday when I thought she was staring straight into my soul. Only this time, she was seeing the lie that I was telling. Sure, I was going to do everything I could to protect them, but I was also going to make sure that my supervisors didn't want me to be Victoria’s bodyguard.

Henry gave me a hug. "Thank you. I knew I could count on you."

I patted his back and then extricated myself and got out of there as quickly as I could.

Each timeI returned to the States to visit Saint Security, there were always more people I didn't know than those I did. It made sense. We were shipped off to various locations around the world. Several of the men and women I’d worked with before were retired, and new people were hired to replace them.

Walking into the company offices today was no different until I saw Dax Shepperd. He was younger than me by about ten years, but he’d been a great operative right out of the gate, so we’d worked together with Noel and another friend, Bastion. It was such a fucking shock and shame to have learned that Bastion turned against Noel, trying to kill him. Last I heard, Bastion was sitting in a Mexican jail.

"Hey, look what the cat dragged in," Dax said as he came over to me with his hand extended.

I gave his hand a hearty shake. "I could say the same about you. I thought you were out West."

"I am, but I'm back taking care of a little bit of business and visiting my wife’s family."

I shook my head. "When I heard you got married, I thought it was a joke."

Dax flashed a grin, which was unusual for the man I had known before. "Love of a good woman. You should try it."

I shuddered at the thought. Especially since I had the worst taste in women. I had one who had stolen from me, and another turned out to be the daughter of my friend. Nope, I was better off being a lone wolf in this world.

"What brings you in?" Dax asked.

"Technically, I'm on vacation, but I have a friend who has run into some trouble with George Pitney."

"That's never a good thing to do," Elliott Watson said, joining me and Dax. Like Dax, Elliott was someone I’d known from the old days and another person who knew firsthand about George's ruthless, sometimes bloodthirsty, ways of doing business.

"Do we have anything else going on right now related to George?" I asked Elliott, who, like me, retired from the field and was now running the New York office of Saint Security.

"As a client?"

I shook my head, knowing that ever since Noel had changed the direction of the business, we no longer did business with unscrupulous people, at least if we could help it. "No, I mean has anybody else hired us for protection or investigation?"

Elliott shook his head. "Not at the moment.”

"My buddy has been getting threats and in fact was recently assaulted by one of George's people. He wants to hire me to protect his daughter, but technically, I'm on vacation. And I really don't do that kind of work anymore.”

“Old man,” Dax quipped with a smirk.

I ignored the comment. “I told him I would come in to see what sorts of arrangements I could help make."

"Just for protection?" Dax asked.

"Definitely some protection, but it's my understanding that law enforcement is involved in an investigation and maybe we could pick up on some of that as well. Anything that we can do to make sure that George finally gets his comeuppance would be good."

Elliott frowned. "Why isn't this friend of yours here, hiring us himself?"

"He's understandably nervous and unsure who he can trust."

"He thinks Pitney's infiltrated St. Security?" Elliott asked dubiously.

I shrugged. "I think he's just trying to be cautious. That's why I told him I'd make all the arrangements."