“He must have because I watched him go for a jog. That was all he did. He ran around the block for almost an hour, made a phone call and talked for about twenty minutes, and then slipped back in the house.”
Hutch fisted his hand, anger and fear curling in his gut. “I’m going to check the logs on the system. If he left us vulnerable, I’ll kill him myself.”
What the fuck had he been thinking? And who did he call at that time of night? It might be time to take a hard look at Kyle’s phone and computer and his presence on the web. He hadn’t because he rather thought Tag was being paranoid, but now he had to consider the fact that Kyle was putting Noelle in danger.
“You’re worried about him?” Michael asked. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I’m only trying to figure out how to handle this detail. I’m supposed to hand the reins over to Boomer this afternoon.”
Boomer wasn’t good at blending in, and sometimes he got distracted by food trucks. Or ice cream trucks. But he would be useful if Hutch decided to snipe Kyle. “I think you should bring in Jamal. He knows how to not be seen, and he won’t talk.”
For a six-and-a-half-foot heavily muscled Black dude, Jamal moved like a ghost, could oddly blend in when he needed to, and was absolutely one of the most solid guys McKay-Taggart had hired in the last couple of years.
“I’ll talk to him, and I’ll talk to Wade as well. We can watch Kyle for a few days, rotating shifts. Damn, I like him. I really like his brother. If he’s doing something he shouldn’t, Grace is going to be devastated,” Michael said with a long sigh.
“Hopefully he’s just a dude who likes to jog. He didn’t meet anyone?”
“I couldn’t follow him closely at that time of night,” Michael admitted. “Don’t you have a tracker on his phone? Give me access.”
He did. Hutch opened his laptop and did not like what he saw. “He must have a second cell because according to my report, he didn’t leave his room all night. Damn it. I do not want to tell Sean Taggart his stepson is doing shady shit.”
“Have we considered he’s an Agency plant? He was Navy. It would have been easy enough to recruit him, and they would look at him because of his ties to Big Tag.”
Well, it hadn’t taken Michael long to get there. It didn’t surprise Hutch since Michael used to be on the same CIA team he’d been on. They knew all the hallmarks of an undercover operative. “I hope that’s all it is. I hope he’s reporting back to the Agency and that’s the extent of it. But we need to know.”
“All right. I’ll follow them and then Jamal can take over this afternoon. I’ll see you at the office?”
“Yeah, I’m coming in with Theo.” Hutch pulled up his security system. His shower was going to be a quick one. “We can talk more there. I’ve got a tracker on Noelle’s car, but Kyle knows about it.”
“I’ll let Jamal know. See you in a couple of hours.” Michael hung up the phone.
Hutch set down beside his laptop and stared at the report on the screen. According to that report the system had been engaged all night with no disruptions. Either Kyle had found a way out without setting off the alarm or he had some skills he hadn’t mentioned when he hired on.
Had he hacked the system and changed the report? He hadn’t told Kyle the password to disarm it. He’d taken care of that himself. The system had been locked down tight when he’d gotten up this morning.
He would have to look into the reports but he could do that from the office. He could access his home server from there. A shower was necessary, and he needed to talk to Tag. Things felt like they were getting dangerous, and he didn’t want Noelle in the way.
He shut his laptop and started for the bathroom when he heard the doorbell ring. He considered ignoring it but caught a glimpse of who was standing on his porch through the half-open drapes.
He caught sight of a blue uniform. Police.
What had happened? He rushed to the door, a million bad thoughts going through his head.
“Officer?” Had something happened to Noelle? Had there been an accident? He wasn’t being reasonable, but he couldn’t in that moment.
So much of his life had been a tragedy. He couldn’t handle it if something happened to her. She was the one thing he needed. He knew it in that moment. He was in love with Noelle LaVigne, and it wasn’t going to go away. This feeling couldn’t be placated by sleeping with her a thousand times. She was in his heart, and she would be there forever.