Phoenix Rising: A Fortis Security Novel Book 7 (Fortis Security Series) Read online

  He watched the tail lights fade into the dark night and fought back the urgent need to follow them, but he knew he was needed here and fussing would raise too many suspicions. Daniel prowled towards Will, who seemed to be in some sort of face-off with the female Detective.

  Zack was busy talking to the two Zenobi girls, with the male Detective, English if his memory served him correctly. He should probably go save Will from a sexual harassment suit.

  “Will,” he said slapping a hand on his shoulder.

  Will turned and looked at him, his eyes narrowed slightly, a smirk playing on his lips. “Dan, my man. I was just telling the delightful Detective Herbert that we can handle all the technical analysis of the crime scene.”

  “Is that right?” Daniel said, knowing from the woman’s expression that she was getting pissed.

  “And I told you, you have no jurisdiction here. You are for all intents and purposes civilians now.”

  “Ouch.” Will whistled and grasped his heart, feigning pain. “That hurt my feelings. Dan, did that hurt your feelings?”

  He nodded and looked at Detective Herbert, using the time to evaluate her. Professional, hungry for success, trying to prove a point. She was stunningly beautiful alright, she looked like a model. Gorgeous caramel skin, dark hair pulled back into a bun, high cheekbones, and dark brown eyes. He thought that perhaps in this job she found her beauty more of a curse which was why she was giving Will a hard time.

  “It did hurt my feelings. I have bled for queen and country, and now I am surplus to requirements. It is a sad old state of affairs.” He shook his head.

  “I didn’t mean your sacrifice wasn’t appreciated, but now you have to let me do my job,” she answered a little less aggressively.

  “How about we cut to the chase, Detective Herbert. You want Detective English and all the little boys that give you shit to recognise you for the clever, driven woman you are. We want to find out who the fuck caused this accident. I propose a partnership if you will.”

  She crossed her arms, cocked her hip. “I’m listening?”

  “Yeah, Dan, I’m listening too,” Will said as he stood beside the Detective, mimicking her stance.

  “Why don’t we help each other. You handle the scene now and we handle the tech. If we get any leads we tell you, if you get any, you tell us.”

  “How do I know I can trust you?”

  Daniel shrugged. “You don’t, that’s where trust comes in. But I give you my word, if we find anything that seems pertinent to this case, then we will tell you.”

  “Who will be my liaison?” she asked casting her eyes briefly at Will.

  Daniel could tell instantly that she had a thing for young Will. “William here will be your liaison,” he said with a smirk at Will’s glare. He hated being called William. He recovered quickly though.

  “Give me your digits, we can have a briefing on Friday night over dinner,” Will said as he held out his phone. She gave him the side-eye and then took his phone, quickly programming her number in.

  “We’ll meet Thursday for coffee at eleven am,” she replied. Then she turned and walked away, but not before she spun on her heel. “Don’t be late or the deal is off,” she called as she moved towards the uniformed officers that had just arrived.

  “I think I’m in love,” Will groaned as he watched.

  “Just keep her off our backs,” Daniel replied.

  Will quirked his head. “We aren’t giving her info?”

  “No, we’re not giving her anything of great value, just enough. This is above her pay grade and you know it. Just keep her sweet.”

  “I feel a bit guilty about it,” Will answered looking thoughtful before he shrugged.

  “Yeah well, you’d feel worse if her poking her nose in got her killed.”

  “True, I’ll just have to think of a way to distract her,” he said with a leer.

  “You’re such a dog.”

  “Jealous much?” Will laughed as Zack walked up.

  “What’s going on with Detective Hostile?” he asked.

  “Nothing, I just got Will to handle her for us.”

  Zack groaned and shook his head. “Here we go again. Last time Will handled something he had to go to France for a month.”

  “Hey, it was not my fault that chick was crazy.”

  “Whatever, dick,” Daniel said.

  The two Zenobi women moved in beside them, smiling in such a way that it made a man feel at once turned on and terrified for his manhood.

  “Gentleman,” said the dark-haired woman in a tailored red trouser suit.

  “Bebe,” replied Zack.

  “Introduce us, Zack,” Will said as he practically dribbled on the woman.

  “Aren’t you adorable,” Bebe murmured as she stroked a finger down Will’s cheek.

  “Don’t toy with him Be,” the other woman said, her accent American.

  “Okay cut the shit. Daniel, Will, this is Bebe and Astrid. They are two of Roz’s girls. They have agreed to help us out as they are in the country for the wedding,” Zack said impatiently.

  “What do we have?” Daniel asked.

  “Not a lot. Tyre tracks back about forty foot that probably belongs to a Ford Explorer. Footprints in the mud along the side of the road suggest they got out to look at their handy work,” Bebe replied.

  “I’ll analyse her watch data when I get it off her, also the CCTV and see if we had any satellite or drones in the area.” Will was all business now.

  “Can you handle this if I go to the hospital?” Daniel asked now, eager to see what was happening with Megan and get an update.

  “Sure, go. English and Herbert will handle things here.”

  “Thanks. Um can I get a lift?” he asked.

  “Yeah, we can drop you. I want to check on Meg too. Ava would have my guts for garters if I went back without an update.”

  Daniel was silent as they drove to the hospital, deep in thoughts of what might have happened if the car had hit her at a slightly different angle. But more importantly, his thoughts kept wandering to whether Meg was okay and if the baby was okay. It might be no bigger than a bean, but it was still his bean and he wanted to tear the fucker that threatened that tiny life apart.

  He also wondered why Meg hadn’t told him she was pregnant. Had she ever intended to tell him? The thought that she would hide it, would keep his child from him made fury pump through his veins. His fists clenched at his sides, and he forced his body to relax. Zack was a canny bastard and would guess before anyone if he gave him any clues.

  He and Meg would be having a very serious discussion about her hiding things from him going forward. He may be the quiet one at Fortis but by God, if she pushed him, she would find out to her cost that he was not to be fucked with. It was the quiet ones you had to watch, and she would find out why. But first, he had to make sure she was safe.

  CHAPTER 4

  SQUARING HIS SHOULDERS, Daniel slipped out of the car, and followed Zack through the double doors to the accident and emergency department. Green plastic seats were lined with a few people with cuts and bruises. A child of about four or five was cuddled on his mother’s knee, his cheeks red with a fever as he sucked his thumb. The poor mum looked worried sick as she swept a hand over his forehead, comforting him as best she could.

  He knew that feeling well. The most impotent feeling in the world as a parent was knowing your child was poorly and all you could do was comfort them until the medication kicked in and made them feel better. Paige had suffered from awful ear infections for the first few years and it had sucked not to be able to fix it for her.

  He offered the woman a sympathetic smile, one parent to another, which she returned. He looked around for Dane and Lauren but couldn’t see them. He stood a few feet behind Zack and waited impatiently as he asked about Megan and then where Dane and the others might be.

  “Mr Bennett and his family have been sent to a relative’s room to wait as he was causing a bit of a scene,” the grandmoth
erly receptionist said as she looked down her glasses at Zack, her face stern and more than a little imperious.

  “Please accept my apologies, Pat,” Zack said smoothly using the name on her badge. He flashed the older woman a killer smile that had her blushing and relaxing her stance. “He is very protective of his family as I’m sure you can imagine. I bet you have kids, don’t you?” he asked then winked. He actually winked at her and she giggled like a school girl.

  Daniel bit back the laugh that bubbled up in his belly, turned and headed for the relative’s room leaving Zack to extricate himself from that one. He heard a commotion from the room and took a breath before pushing through.

  His eyes scanned the room, Lucy was sitting beside Sly, her legs swung over his thighs as she spoke with a pacing Dane. Lauren was on the sofa, her phone in her hand, probably checking on the twins. He was glad Paige was with Claire’s parents tonight, it was one less thing to worry about.

  “Hey,” he said as he sat beside Sly in the chairs, leaving the spot beside Lauren for Dane. “Any news?”

  “Not yet, but she was bleeding a little when we arrived.”

  He felt the blood drain from his face at Lucy’s words. “Bleeding?” he asked trying to remain calm and holding on to it by a tiny thread.

  “Yeah, Meg is pregnant. She was bleeding a little, so we aren’t sure if she’s lost the baby or not,” Lucy said sadly.

  Air whooshed in his ears, and his vision tunnelled with worry and fear for Meg and the baby. A baby he hadn’t wanted until he thought he might lose it. Sitting forward he rested his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands.

  “I’m gonna kill the fucker that did this to her.” Dane raged as Daniel felt sweat edge his brow.

  “You will do no such thing, Dane Bennett.” Lauren scowled at Dane. “Now come sit down.” She patted the seat beside her. Daniel noted how his friend paused his stride and then as if under a spell, went to sit beside Lauren. She leaned into him as he pulled her against his side.

  “Can I maim him?” Dane asked only half joking.

  Normally he would be right there with his friend but in this instance as the threat was inadvertently aimed at him he kept quiet.

  “Depends on his intentions towards Megan,” Lauren said with a smirk as she looked at him with a question in her eyes. It wasn’t something he could answer, he had no idea what his intentions were as he’d had no intention of carrying things on with her, but now? Well, everything was different now.

  “See this is why I love you,” Dane said as he kissed her head.

  “You okay, Daniel?” Lucy asked.

  He angled his head from his hands and she was watching him, suspicion in her eyes. Fuck, the last thing I need is Lucy on my case. “Yeah, just tired.”

  Lucy nodded but he knew she wasn’t buying it. He was saved from explaining further by Zack walking in followed by a doctor in scrubs. Daniel quickly stood at the same time Dane did, both advancing on the doctor until Daniel realised what he was giving away with his actions. Dane shot him a puzzled look, so he held back just a fraction.

  “How is she?”

  “She’s going to be fine,” the doctor said as he held up his hands to calm Dane, his tired face telling just how long this shift had been for the man. “Megan has a few cracked ribs, a small gash on her eyebrow from where she hit the steering wheel, a minor concussion, and a dislocated shoulder, which we have re-set. We did an ultrasound and the baby is fine. All seems to be perfectly normal in that area, no obvious signs of any continued bleeding.” Daniel felt his shoulders sag with relief, a feeling of light-headedness washing over him as he let his head drop for a second. “I’m not sure who called the gestation, but he had it right almost to the day. Megan is indeed twelve weeks pregnant. So, she is over the danger period mostly. We will get Obs and Gynae to follow up with her though.”

  Daniel felt eyes on him and ignored the urge to look at his best friend.

  “Thanks, Doc. Can we see her?” Lucy asked.

  “Yes, we are just sorting a bed for her and then you can go see her for a few minutes.” He shook Danes and Lucy’s hands and then left the room, letting the door swoosh closed behind him. Silence descended on the room, to the point it would be possible to hear a pin drop. The air seemed charged with electricity as Daniel waited for the penny to drop.

  “Right, let’s go see Meg,” Lauren said as she wound her arm through Danes and pulled him from the room. Dane didn’t fight her, but Daniel knew he was on borrowed time. Dane may not have twigged just yet, but he would soon, then the shit would hit the fan.

  He stayed back, even though everything in him was urging him towards Megan, he just needed to see her. Her sweet nature, with that underlying core of steel, just did something to him. She was like an addiction he had been fighting since the first moment he saw her, and he could feel himself losing the battle. He just prayed the fallout from it didn’t ruin his friendship with his oldest and closest friend.

  As Lucy followed Dane and Lauren, Sly hung back. “I’ll wait here, you go, babe,” he said kissing her.

  “Okay, love you.”

  “Love you, too,” he replied as she walked away.

  “I’m going to head off too. I don’t like to leave Ava for too long.”

  Sly chuckled. “You do know she is going to kill you before this baby is born right?”

  “Nah, she loves me,” Zack said with a grin as he left. He stopped at the door and twisted back to look at them. “Tell Dane we’ll have a meeting in the conference room at ten hundred hours tomorrow to go over things. I want everyone there.”

  Zack had switched back to business, the relaxed demeanour of an overly worried father gone. It was like watching two different people inhabit the same body. It seemed natural to Daniel and Sly as they were the same, but he wondered if Meg found it strange when he did it.

  “Sure thing. I’ll make sure the others get the message,” Daniel said as he took out his phone and fired off a group text to the rest of the team. “Do you want Bebe and Astrid there?”

  Zack seemed to pause for a second, then nodded. “Yes, get their contact info from Roz before she leaves on her honeymoon.”

  “No problem.” He felt better handling this. Work he could do standing on his head. Fortis had literally saved him when Claire was murdered. Without them he didn’t know what would have happened to him or Paige. Especially the support from Dane and Lauren. And how did he repay him? By fucking his baby sister.

  “Daniel, my friend, you have got yourself in a right predicament,” Sly said when Zack had left, and the door had closed.

  Daniel turned sharply. “What do you mean?” His body was tensed for battle.

  “Calm down. I won’t be saying anything to Dane or Lucy. I don’t want to be the one to get a punch in the face for not saying anything sooner.”

  “You read my mind!” Daniel accused, his fists clenching at the intrusion. Since his kidnap and rescue, Sly had the ability to read people’s thoughts. He was learning to control it but was still trying to get his head around his new ability.

  “Believe me, it is not intentional. I hate knowing shit about people. I mostly block it, but this was coming through loud and fucking clear. Your guilt is like a fucking tannoy system blaring in my head.”

  Daniel closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, he was so fucking tired. “I didn’t mean for it to happen, it just did.”

  “Man, you don’t have to defend yourself to me, who you sleep with is your business. But I’m not sure Dane will see it that way.”

  “I know he won’t,” Daniel said as he stood and began to pace. “And he’s right. I had no business touching her. She’s too young, too innocent, and I’m too old and fucked in the head.”

  “Okay, I have a couple of points. One, why did you touch her then and two, why do you think you’re fucked in the head?”

  Daniel glanced at Sly, embarrassment etched on his face at the weakness he had shown. “I was weak. From the second
I saw her, I wanted her. She’s beautiful, clever, compassionate, gentle, strong and I wanted her. When she kept making it clear that she wanted me, I fought it and fought it. Then after we rescued the girls from Usov the adrenaline was pumping, she was upset, and . . . It just happened.” He let his head fall into his hands.

  “I get it, I do. Meg is beautiful inside and out. She reminds me so much of Luce, but why do you think you two shouldn’t be together?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Daniel was incredulous that Sly would even ask that. “She is ten years younger than me, innocent in so many ways, and I’m a widower with a young daughter. What sort of man goes after another woman barely a year after his wife’s death?”

  “What utter bullshit! Who the fuck says there has to be a time-frame with grief and moving on? Just because you let someone else in, it doesn’t mean that you didn’t love Claire. We all know you did and we all watched you grieve for her. You are one of the best men I know, Daniel. A great friend, a fantastic dad, and a good man. If she was my sister, I would be over the moon to see her with you. And so will Dane when he calms down.”

  Daniel stood and walked to the water cooler to get some water while he gave Sly’s words some thought. “Yeah well, I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m not convinced she’s even talking to me. I’ve been a bit of a dick to her since we got back. She didn’t even tell me about the baby, so I think I’ll have my work cut out to get her to speak to me, let alone discuss our child.”

  “You fucking prick. I’m gonna kill you.”

  Daniel spun to see the furious face of his best friend glaring at him, anger and betrayal in his eyes, but it was the hurt that twisted Daniel’s guts, slowing his reactions so that when the punch landed, he didn’t defend it. He owed his friend that one.

  CHAPTER 5

  MEGAN BLINKED her heavy eyes a couple of times, the brightness of the early September sun shining through the window making her head hurt a little. She tried to orient herself to where she was and what had happened. She remembered leaving Roz and Kanan’s wedding and then headlights in her eyes and then nothing until now.