Best Laid Plans by Allison Brennan Read Free Book Online

the next two weeks.”
    “I can work around your schedule. I know New York is quite a ways from Texas, but—”
    “Dev, I appreciate the offer. Truly, I wish I could say yes, the job would be a challenge and I love a good challenge. But right now, I can’t leave. Call my former partner, Patrick Kincaid. He’ll be able to help you.”
    “You’re the best at handling this kind of sensitive situation.”
    “I would drop almost anything for you, Dev. But right now—I have to be home.” If Lucy knew that he’d turned down a job because he was worried about her, she would be furious. She’d insist she was fine and try to hide her nightmares from him. He hadn’t told her about the offer, so she wouldn’t know he’d declined.
    Devlin said, “I won’t push it, but there’s no one I’d want more than you on this project.”
    “Patrick used to be the e-crimes expert at San Diego PD. He and I founded RCK East a couple years ago, and he’s now running the office. He was good before he became my partner, now he’s better. I taught him most of my tricks.”
    Devlin laughed. “From you, high praise.”
    “I’ll let Patrick know you’ll call.” He sent an email to Patrick with Dev’s information.
    “Is there something wrong? All you have to do is ask.”
    “I appreciate that, but it’s personal.” He cleared his throat and continued. “Patrick will call me if he needs to. I just forwarded you his contact information. You’re in good hands.”
    “I wish they were your hands, but I understand. Take care of yourself, Sean.”
    “You too, Dev.”
    Sean hung up. He wished his decision didn’t feel so wrong.
    He needed to find something to do locally. Money wasn’t the issue—he had a flush savings. If he took a couple big jobs a year he’d be fine. But he needed to challenge himself. Lucy had told him that he’d be bored if he didn’t have a puzzle to work out, and he’d told her he had plenty of things to keep him occupied. But she was right. He was bored. When he’d been a kid, boredom had gotten him into all sorts of trouble. He liked to think that now that he was thirty, he wouldn’t fall into the same bad habits. But he didn’t lie to himself: boredom had gotten him suspended from many schools, expelled from Stanford after he hacked into a professor’s email, and nearly cost him his freedom when he hacked into a bank while at M.I.T. The challenge of solving complex puzzles coupled with the thrill of straddling—and occasionally going over—the legal edge still excited him.
    When he first moved to Texas, he’d put some feelers out to local companies, not only in San Antonio and Austin but all the way in Dallas and Houston. He’d had a couple of temp jobs, but most of the businesses wanted to hire him to run their day-to-day security. He didn’t want to work nine-to-five, be responsible for staff, have an in-house office, or wear a suit. It would be fun for a week or two, but once he got the operation up and running, he’d be bored again.
    Maybe he needed a new approach. It was an election year, and he was well trained in event security. With his high-security clearance and contacts at the Secret Service as well as the FBI, maybe he could get on with a candidate or venue to run security for debates or speeches or rallies. He really didn’t like politics and had never met a politician he trusted with a dime of his money, let alone the national treasury, but such an assignment wouldn’t bore him because it would be different each time.
    And more important, he would be at home with Lucy every night.

 
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
    The head of HWI’s security was a tall, broad-shouldered man by the name of Gregor Smith. Barry had called ahead, and Smith was waiting for them when they arrived. Gregor was fifty, looked and talked like a cop, and was the first private security chief Lucy had ever met who carried a gun on his hip.
    Why did an accountancy firm need an armed security chief?
    “Let’s go