The SEAL's Surprise Baby - Leslie North Page 0,3
me, but I don’t know why.”
The bullet-filled hunk of metal on the street was way past a warning. Fortunately, he lived on a country lane outside town and had no immediate neighbors. No one would be freaking out and calling the police. At least not yet. He had a little time for his mind to tick over what he knew. He didn’t like any of it.
“We need to get out of here,” he said after a minute spent analyzing their best course of action.
“What? Now?” She stood, her body reacting to his suggestion.
“Yeah,” he said, “unless you want to wait around for them to come back.” She was too smart for that not to be obvious to her.
She glanced out the window. “I should report this to my supervisor.”
“Did you report the other things?” he demanded.
“Of course.” She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone.
“And what did they do?” he asked before she could dial.
“Nothing, which didn’t really surprise me—who knows; they might have more information than I do.” Her fingers stilled over the buttons. Since her area of expertise was risk analysis, he found it odd that anyone had doubted her assessment. “The threat seemed as though it originated from a minor source with minimal exposure, same as the original data breach. I’ve followed the usual protocols for enhanced threat, though.”
How much more complicated was that with a child to care for? Anderson didn’t want to think about it. He would later, after they were in a safe location.
“My car’s in the garage,” he said, ready to take action. “Let’s roll.”
“Wait. I can’t go on the run with a baby. All I have for him is what’s in this bag. Let me go home and—”
He cut her off. “No. Your place isn’t going to be safe.” He knew he was right about that, but fleeing a threat with a baby—with his son—wasn’t the way he wanted to spend his first day as a dad.
“I…” She only hesitated a couple of seconds; he could see her evaluating the situation in her head, assessing risks and options. “Okay. You’re right.” She grabbed the bag and took Nate from Anderson. “Car seat?”
“What?” It was his turn to be surprised.
“Kids have to ride in a car seat for safety,” she explained. “We’ll need to get it from my car if it’s not damaged.”
He wanted to argue that their situation was inherently unsafe, but her jaw had a stubborn set he remembered well. “I’ll get it. You can reach the garage by going through the kitchen.”
He pointed the way before pulling jackets from his hall closet and stuffing them into a tactical bag he always kept packed. A minute later he yanked the door of the bullet-riddled car open to retrieve the car seat. He had no idea how to manage the thing, but he managed to detach it and hauled it to the garage.
“Let me,” she said, taking it and quickly strapping it down while he held Nate. He watched her run her finger over a notch in the plastic where a bullet had sliced through. “Good thing he wasn’t…” She didn’t need to finish the sentence.
“We need to move,” Anderson said to hurry her along. Thirty seconds later, he backed out of his garage and headed in the opposite direction from where the black SUV had gone. He didn’t want to run into whoever had been at the wheel with Violet and Nate in the car.
The problem was he had no idea where the hell they were going.
2
Fourteen months earlier
The techno music thumped loudly in the neon and glass of the club as Anderson scanned his surroundings. Violet’s plan was simple: They would look like an amorous couple enjoying a night out, while getting some shots of a mobster who frequented the club. Anderson was glad to be out of the apartment he shared with Violet as part of their masquerade. He hated being pent up and idle. Watching Violet analyze data wasn’t doing it for him.
They took to the dance floor as soon as they entered the club. It was no hardship for Anderson to dance with Violet. They’d been dancing around each other enough over the past weeks while working together in Moscow. Butting heads, fighting for control. It was almost a sexual release to be so close to her, both of them bumping and grinding.
He had his phone out while they moved to the music, pretending to take pictures of her as she danced. She made a