Her Covert Protector (Rogue Protectors Book 4)

“Dmitry showed up in LA early this morning.”

With the phone between his ear and shoulder, John tightened the lacings on his boots as he listened to Bristow. He transferred the phone to his hand and stood. Though he spent the night in Nadia’s room, he kept his things in the spare bedroom. “Where?” He walked over to the window and peeked out the blinds, spying Clyde and Arthur returning from their morning walk.

“Club Sochi.”

“Russian?” John asked.

“Yep. Any idea who he met?”

“No. Levi didn’t go in because it was closing time,” he told the SEAL.

“Do we know how he got into the country yet?”

“We suspect private charter.”

“I need special clearance to tap into NSA Level One,” Bristow said.

“I’ll get on that,” John clipped and ended the call, searched his contact list for Grandpa Earp and swiped the number.

Admiral Porter answered on the third ring. “Any updates on the breach of Cal Traffic?”

“Powell said there were several claims of responsibility. She’s sorting through those today,” he said. “Dmitry showed up early this morning at a Russian club.”

“How did he get into the country?”

“No clue.”

Silence, and then. “You need Level One access and it’s not for a single subject.”

“I need a broader scope of access for my men to figure this shit out,” he told the Admiral.

The last Level One access John demanded from Porter was the file on Yehven Skoryk aka Stephen Powell. At the time he met Nadia, he didn’t know she was the daughter of a Russian defector, only that the trail of the bioweapon led to Los Angeles. John had instincts for people hiding in plain sight, and when he did do his own background check on Nadia, the previous DNI slammed down his efforts, but had the opposite effect, raising red flags in his head.

So, when Porter took over the acting director position, John demanded the file on Nadia Powell and used that information to blackmail her into helping him on that Mexican op to rescue Ariana.

“You think he came in through one of our Level One assets?” Porter asked.

“He could’ve. Or we could find an answer if we look for it there.”

Level One involved highly classified agency assets. Foreign assets like Stephen who were given new identities, and there were also companies that the agency used to shore up cover identities and move operatives. Most of the corporations were in it to facilitate doing business in foreign countries, which meant they were susceptible to a better offer.

A noise in the apartment told him Nadia was awake. The only thing John had gotten ready was coffee. They’d have to go drive-thru again for breakfast.

“Okay,” Porter said. “You trust your men, and I trust you. I’ll clear the access.”

“Appreciate that, sir.”

After ending the call, he texted Bristow to let him know that the request was granted. John slipped his phone in his pocket and left the room. He’d meet the team after he dropped off Nadia, and probably pull Roarke into the loop. So much for R and R, but clear and present dangers took precedence.

He found Nadia in the kitchen, dressed and ready for the day, pouring the brew in her travel mug. Was coffee okay for pregnant women? He’d need to research that.

“Just one for the day,” Nadia said. “Stop glaring at my coffee. I’m sure it’s better than having a grouchy analyst.”

“That mug is more than eight ounces.”

“Oh, shut up,” she mumbled.

“Already short-tempered I see.”

There was a knock on the back door. John sighed.

“That’s dad. He texted to come over, so be nice to him.” He headed to the door to let Stephen in.

“Morning, John.”

“Stephen.” He stepped aside for the man to enter.

“I packed you both breakfast.” The older man strode directly to his daughter. “I saw you rushing out yesterday. You couldn’t have eaten.”

“We woke up late and got drive-thru.” Her eyes went to the items in her father’s hands.

Her father glanced at John with displeasure.

“Dad, stop it,” Nadia snapped. “It wasn’t John’s fault that we woke up late. I made him watch Hodgetown.”

“Oh,” Stephen replied, still wearing a frown. “How did he like it?”

“I,” John emphasized, “think it’s interesting, but verdict’s still out. I just finished season one.” He was willing to make a lot of leeway for Nadia’s protective father, but John wasn’t one to let other people answer for him. And he wasn’t about to start now.

“Good,” Stephen said. “These are breakfast sandwiches from free-range eggs. I hope you eat eggs, John.”

“I eat anything. Nadia, we need to go.” His gaze locked with Stephen’s. The other man’s mouth tightened, but he nodded, backing away.

“I’ll catch up with you later, sonyashnik. John.”

Stephen left the apartment and closed the door quietly behind them.

“Why are we rushing?” Nadia asked. “I didn’t see any urgent call out.”

“I need to investigate a lead on Dmitry and drop you off at CTTF.”

“Oh, all right. I heard you talking in the other bedroom—I wasn’t eavesdropping.”

John looked at his watch, a little impatient.

Nadia raised a brow. He controlled his urge to curse.

“You know the task force can lend me a car, seeing that my own was sidelined in the line of duty.”

“We’ll talk about that later,” he said shortly. “Come on.”

“I hate being rushed,” she said. “And I hate keeping you from doing your covert stuff.”

“Nadia,” he said, transferring his impatience to the act of opening the door. “Let’s go.”

She gave him a shake of her head and walked out. He followed close behind, making a mental note to get new locks for her. Hell, maybe for her dad’s apartment as well. John thought back to the real estate listings he was looking at a few hours ago when his head was in a domesticated cloud until Bristow’s message yanked him back to earth and reality.

He was determined to give a life with Nadia a go. He was all in. But having Dmitry show up Stateside was huge and might mean the end to thirteen years of trying to pin the bastard down. For the first fucking time in his life, he was envisioning a future with a woman, and he didn’t want his fixation on Dmitry hanging over it.

When they bypassed Clyde’s apartment and the man was predictably standing outside, John preempted the questions by muttering, “Rushing…” and firmly grasped Nadia by her bicep, making sure that their path was straight to the Escalade.

“Glad to see you’re still an asshole,” Nadia commented. “I keep wondering when he’ll show up.”

Jaw clenched, he let her into the passenger side of the Escalade without answering. It wasn’t until they were on the road— after exhaling a long-suffering breath—that he said, “I’m still getting used to your nosy neighbors.”

“You said we can’t dodge them forever, right? They’re a part of my life, John. Granted they can be annoying sometimes, but I like them in my life. Is that going to be a problem?”

“No,” he gritted. “Look, I’m not making excuses. I’ve always been single-minded in pursuit of a case. It’ll sort out, all right?”

“Fair enough. But don’t be surprised if they’re forming bad impressions of you.”

“I’m used to bad impressions.” He thought back to Stephen’s expression this morning.

“And you’re doing nothing to dispel that, and you don’t have to. But I’m just caught in the middle, okay? Change can’t be forced. And I’m not asking you to change, because I know what that feels like, but we’re having a baby together, and I just want to bring him or her into a stable environment as much as possible.”

That pissed off John. “And I told you not to bring your pregnancy into our disagreements.”

Nadia went silent and looked out the window.

When they were about to get on the freeway, he glanced at her. “I don’t want you stressing about how I handle your dad and the other guys. I get that they care about you. I may not live up to their standards yet, but I intend to exceed them, but not on their terms, but mine. Got it?”

“They have their quirks, and I’m sure you’ve done a background check on them. Clyde—”

“I know about his daughter,” he cut in. Clyde’s daughter died from a traffic accident which could explain the ambush from the merry men last night when they got home. “But don’t feel like you’re a replacement.”

“I’m not a replacement. People care, John. You seem to have a problem grasping that.”

“I’ll cop to my inability to empathize at times, but it’s because it helps me not let emotions rule my decisions. But see my side of it. I’m trying to avoid resentment in the future. I’ve seen this happen many times when someone tries to be everything to everyone and has nothing left for themselves. They start to resent it.”

She didn’t say anything.

“I’m just saying we need boundaries, all right?”

Nadia glanced at him then, and he was surprised at the relief he felt when he saw a dawning understanding in her eyes. Then she fucking smiled.

Christ, that was all he needed to start his morning on the right beat.

A genuine Nadia smile.

I’m sorry about yesterday. I just wanted to help my mom, but older brother tainted the program and inserted the worm.

Help me,

Harriet V.

Nadia stared at the unusual message from the CTTF chatroom. The userid was Anonymous_754, but interestingly enough it was signed. After John dropped her off at her lab, her priority was going through the three hundred messages that had come over their secure boards that served as their tip line.

Nadia marked the message to double-check later.

She was in the middle of wrapping up this task when an aha moment about John’s behavior came to her.

Boundaries.

With that one word, Nadia understood where he was coming from. It still didn’t mean he was right. It was his CIA training, the instinct to look at future threats. He was preempting the nosiness of the four merry men at her apartment by setting boundaries early with a precision strike—nip it in the bud, so to speak. She shook her head, knowing John needed some help decompressing from what was second nature to him.

Clyde, Arthur, Dugal, and her dad had a median age of sixty-five—far from terrorists conspiring to do evil in the world.

A smile touched her lips.

“Now, who could have brought that smile to your face?”

She glanced up to see Gabby striding through the doors.

Nadia felt like she’d been caught daydreaming, but she just shrugged.

“I knew Garrison was up to no good when he kept on pulling you into his crap.” Gabby made a funny face. “Although some of it was to my benefit.”

“The first time our team went rogue was for your benefit,” Nadia reminded her.

“Yeah.” The detective smiled slyly. “So, how is he?”

Nadia’s mouth gaped open. “I hope you’re not asking me to spill about how he is in … you know. I mean, do you hear me asking personal stuff about Declan of the sexual nature?”

Gabby laughed. “You have a point there. It’s just that Garrison is this anomaly. I couldn’t imagine any woman putting up with his steamroller personality.”

She hunched behind her computer screen to hide her smile, but she remarked primly, “Some women may dig that.”

Her swivel chair went spinning as Gabby whipped it around, the detective’s shocked comical face almost sent Nadia into a fit of laughter.

“Tell me,” Gabby lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Is he like … one of those Doms?.”

“What? No! He’s just … a lot…” Nadia faltered, feeling her cheeks flame.

“Aw, come on. I was hoping you could give the kinky scoop on Garrison.”

Her brows knitted together, suddenly feeling protective of him. “Why?

“You know, so we can hold something over his head. He conveniently has dirt on all of us while he remains controlled and detached.”

“He’s not as controlled as you may think, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

“Who’s not as controlled?” Kelso asked, walking in and joining the two of them.

“Garrison,” Gabby said.

“Yeah, that man doesn’t know what hit him.” Her partner winked at Nadia.

“What am I missing?” Gabby demanded.

“If you didn’t keep disappearing every time your husband crooked his finger, then maybe you’d know what’s going down between Powell and our favorite spook. John hung around all evening to take Nadia home,” Kelso continued. “And, from what I’ve gathered, he dropped her off this morning.”

“Don’t you have something better to do?” Nadia snipped.

“Just looking out for you.” Kelso’s sincere expression warmed her heart.

“So, this is getting serious?” Gabby asked.

Is getting pregnant serious enough? Nadia didn’t say. “We’re taking it slow.” She almost choked on those words.

And she knew better than to fool these two detectives because they were staring at her dubiously. So she tried to distract them. “Aren’t you all going to ask if I have any lead on our cyber actors from yesterday?”

Gabby snapped out of her I-know-you’re-lying stare. It was funny how she always played the bad-cop when she and Kelso were doing their good-cop-bad-cop routine. “What do you have for us?” she asked, switching to all business.

“A couple of white hats said a new malware emerged from their pen test on universities and government agencies with weaker security. They sent me a sample of the code and parts of it look like a copycat of the Crown-Key source code.”

“Are you saying …” Kelso started.

“That someone might have the device. But, like I said before, it can only contain certain modules of the source code at a time.”

“Because Huxley was paranoid?”

“Depends what you mean by paranoid. But if it’s having a device with all the power then yes. He was wise to keep it separate.”

“Anything else?” Gabby asked.

Nadia turned in her chair to show them the message from ‘Harriet V’. “I don’t know why there’s something about this message that grabbed my attention.”

“Because Harriet is apologizing, not bragging,” Kelso said, staring at the message again. “She wanted to help her mom. Is this about money? The ATM thefts?” He paused and tapped the back of Nadia’s chair. “We haven’t looked in-depth at the backgrounds of the employee roster of Hux Technologies.” He glanced over at Gabby. “Wanna go over them now?”

Though they were able to get a warrant for the employee roster, it was tougher to get the personnel files on them, so CTTF decided to do their own data collection via their driver’s licenses or social security numbers. Any further background check would require the employee’s consent, especially medical records. But Nadia was confident the detectives would be able to infer information with what was readily available to them until a further warrant was needed.

Besides, suspect number one was Cain Morris. John had provided his link to Maxim. The man had been low profile. No hits on a credit card or any online transactions. Morris probably had a separate identity ready and had vanished.

“Yes, but my bet is it’s still Morris,” Gabby said.

“But he’s not a hacker. He must have had help,” Kelso said.

“Sisters? Brothers? Cousins?” Gabby said. “Harriet could be anyone to him.”

“He’s got a sister,” Nadia said. She’d looked quite a bit into his background. “Estranged. Husband with three kids. An event planner.”

“And his parents are both deceased, so it couldn’t be the mother Harriet is referring to.”

“We’re looking at this wrong,” Gabby said. “Send all the files you have on personnel. Maybe we didn’t ask the right questions when we interviewed Morris’s colleagues.”

Hux Technologies was in limbo. For a company that made millions, it had a very lean staff. A total of thirty people. Fifteen of them were his software engineers, but Ken was still the brains.

“Many of them were told not to leave town while the investigation was ongoing. A few of them are already applying for jobs elsewhere,” Kelso said.

Henderson took that moment to sprint into the lab. “You won’t believe who walked through our door.”

Gabby and Kelso turned to their tac team leader.

“Dmitry Vovk.”