Dane

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Dane growled as his brother as he slammed the office door behind them. "You know you can't sleep with Delilah—or any staff member."

​​

"I wasn't trying to sleep with her. I was making peace. But forget that, what was that phone call?"

"A credible threat," Dane snapped, storming over to his desk to open his laptop and bring up their intelligence software.

"Against who?" Chris was suddenly all business. Dane appreciated that much, at least.

"Me." He sat down, so angry that they had yet another storm to chase. It was like all the possible things that could go wrong in his life were going wrong. At the same time. Did God hate him? Probably.

Chris strode towards his desk and leaned over it to see the screen Dane turned to face him. "I was coming to get you so we could plan that presser, but the call came in from Sam while I was in Reception so she just passed me the phone. I didn't want to say anything in front of her or the staff, but . . ."

He hit one more button then turned the laptop around.

On the screen was an intelligence briefing from Sam Howard, their information guy. A former FBI agent and petty thief when he'd been young. He had contacts at every level of law enforcement and in organized crime. And one of his informants had tapped on the shoulder today.

"Your name at a meeting between—"

"Yes, quiet." Dane snapped. "They were planning, not executing. It might be nothing."

Chris's jaw dropped. "Dane, that's not nothing."

"I. Know." Dane snarled. "But he doesn't have context. He doesn't know if it was just in reference to us—to the company—or me personally. We can't make this too narrow. The staff are at risk. The clients. We have to keep our eyes on everything."

Chris's lips thinned. "Lila."

Dane nodded. "We don't have a choice. She'll have to be read in on it. At least the basics. She needs to understand the risk. She has to be a target because she's new. No loyalty, and probably less vigilant." Dane clawed a hand through his hair. "It's too soon, but I don't see what choice we have."

Chris read, and re-read the information on the screen, his fingers tapping on the desk. Then he straightened. "Yeah, I can't see any way around it."

"Do you think she can be trusted?" Dane asked quietly.

"Do you?"

Their eyes held until Dane nodded. "Yes. I do. I think her values line up with ours."

Chris nodded too. "So, do you want to tell her? Or I could. We're in a better place now—"

"No, I'll do it." Dane stifled the heat that rose in his chest at Chris's easy sense of her. "I want to be in control of exactly how much she knows, and when."

"Okay. I'll grab Tank and—was it Sam?"

"Yeah." Dane looked at the briefing again and swore.

Chris sighed. "This is what we're here for, Dane. This is what we do. If we can't keep you safe—"

"It's not me I'm worried about," Dane admitted, sitting back in his chair. "I knew what I was getting into. It's all of them." He flapped a hand vaguely in the direction of the front office. "They didn't ask for this."

But he didn't meet Chris's eyes, because even though what he'd said was true. It wasn't the real story. Dane shrugged his shoulders and felt like his skin was too tight, not because of all the staff, but because of one in particular.

*****

Lila

Lila stared at the television screen and shook her head. Tonya had rushed into her office five minutes earlier, and she'd been forced to snap her laptop shut so the woman didn't see the research she was doing on Becky. But it hadn't mattered, Tonya had been focused on this press conference. Lila's head was spinning. How many disasters were they dealing with here?

On the screen, the beautiful young woman with tears in her eyes stood next to a grey-haired man in an expensive suit, several microphones taped to a stand in front of the podium where he spoke.

". . . and so we will be taking Daniels Security to court—"

"The court of public opinion, you mean," Lila muttered.

"—at the earliest opportunity offered by our justice system. In this day and age we cannot allow those who are legally bound and sworn to protect us, to be the very source of our danger. I thank you all for taking an interest in this case, and assure you we will share information as and when it is appropriate. That is all for today."

The voices of the reporters rose over one another as the man straightened his papers and turned away from the podium, putting an arm around Becky and leading her away from the fray.

It was theater. And it put Lila's teeth on edge. All very intentional, designed to give an impression to the hearts and minds of the public, to color the narrative, and place pressure on Dane and Daniels Security.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

And there was something else going on too. Now she was going to have to interrupt Dane and Chris with more bad news.

Did God hate her all of the sudden? Usually when she started a new role, she'd have her feet under her by now. A firm plan in place, and a team in action. But she couldn't seem to get ahead of this one far enough to begin moving the pieces.

What was she missing?

Tonya hit the button on the remote and the television screen clicked off.

They both sighed. "Thank you," Lila said, smiling at her. "Now pray for me. I have to go tell those two that there's yet another fire to fight."

Tonya nodded solemnly. "Let me know if I can get you anything, or help."

Lila thanked her. She didn't like the immediately tension she felt, the question about Tonya's motives. Knowing there were potentially staff working to undermine Daniels Security was going to make her paranoid.

But there was no point delaying the inevitable. Lila gathered her things, again, and headed for Dane's office.

*

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