Chapter 21
[ 529 words ]
Chapter 21:
Jarrod sat in the back seat. The interior of the car was pitch black, illuminated only by the harsh white light of the classified tablet in his hand. He was reading the latest intelligence report on the assassin who had attacked Caroline. His jaw was locked tight, a muscle ticking in his cheek.
In the driver’s seat, K.C. Bell glanced at the rearview mirror. “Sir, the perimeter is secure. We have four plainclothes agents deployed around the Thompson residence in Alexandria. No signs of hostile surveillance. However, our audio sweeps picked up Mrs. Thompson highly agitated. She referred to you as a ‘criminal’ and a ‘mobster,’ sir.”
Jarrod closed the file, the screen going dark. He pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling a long, exhausted breath. He checked the tactical watch on his left wrist.
Seven PM.
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his personal, heavily encrypted smartphone. He tapped the screen and dialed Caroline’s number.
Back in Alexandria, Caroline was hovering on the edge of sleep. The sudden, violent vibration of her phone on the nightstand made her jump.
She reached out blindly and grabbed it. The screen glowed in the dark room, displaying an unknown number with no caller ID.
She hesitated, her thumb hovering over the screen. Slowly, she swiped to answer and brought the phone to her ear.
“Hello?” she mumbled, her voice thick and raspy with sleep.
“Did I wake you?”
The voice on the other end was low, magnetic, and incredibly deep. It wasn’t the cold, barking tone of a military commander. It was soft, intimate, and laced with a trace of undeniable affection.
𝗧h𝘦 𝗆oѕt 𝗽o𝘱u𝗹𝖺r 𝘯o𝘃𝘦𝗹𝘴 𝗼n 𝗀а𝗅ո𝗈𝘷𝘦𝗅s.соm
The sound of Jarrod’s voice sent a jolt of electricity straight to Caroline’s heart. She was instantly, fully awake. She bolted upright in bed, clutching the phone tightly.
In the SUV, K.C. Bell heard his boss speak. The gentle, almost doting tone was so foreign, so utterly unlike the ruthless Colonel Romero, that Bell’s foot twitched. He almost slammed on the brakes in pure shock.
“No,” Caroline stammered, her cheeks suddenly feeling very hot. “I wasn’t asleep. What… what do you want?”
Jarrod let out a low chuckle. The deep vibration traveled through the phone speaker and seemed to tickle the shell of her ear, making her shiver.
“I’ll be at your house in thirty minutes,” Jarrod stated. It wasn’t a question.
Caroline gasped, her voice jumping an octave. “Come to my house?! Why?!”
“To visit my in-laws, of course,” Jarrod replied smoothly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “And to clear up their theories about me being a mobster.”
Caroline froze. Her mind immediately flashed back to the hospital, to the way his men had swept the ICU, to his own words in the stairwell. The walls have ears. Of course he had her parents’ house under surveillance. After everything that had happened in the past two days—the assassin, the lockdown, the guards stationed everywhere—the confirmation of an audio sweep barely even registered as a surprise. She didn’t bother asking how he knew. She had more pressing problems.
“You can’t come here! It’s not a good time. My parents are completely unstable right now, my mother is threatening to call the police—”
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