No Woman Left Behind by Julie Moffett Read Free Book Online

perched on the edge of my bed. “So, what’s this I hear about you having a boyfriend? Has the world stopped spinning on its axis?”
    “Ha, ha. We just started dating, okay?”
    “And he’s already chasing masked intruders through our house?”
    “We’re really lucky he was there.”
    Rock sobered. “True. Look, something strange is happening. Both Beau and I checked our sources this morning. The incident at Mom and Dad’s isn’t being classified as a burglary or a home invasion. It’s serious, though. Two federal agents were executed. From what Beau tells me, they were following your boyfriend as part of some kind of protection detail.”
    “Slash holds a critical position in the US government and is apparently not expendable. Even I’m not sure exactly what he does.”
    Beau joined Rock on the edge of the bed. “Well, I thought you might want to know that as of one hour ago, the police reports have been closed out. The incident has been now been classified.”
    “Classified? Why?”
    “I don’t know, but it’s troubling. Speaking of trouble, how did Mom and Dad like Slash?”
    “I don’t have a clue. Dad was cleaning his gun when—”
    “Whoa.” Beau held up a hand. “Stop right there. Dad has a gun?”
    “Exactly. After brandishing it and informing us he knew how to use it, he interrogated Slash with his finest lawyerly skills before demanding to know about his intentions toward me.”
    Rock winced. “Ouch.”
    “No kidding. Then all hell broke loose. So, the whole meet-the-parents thing didn’t go as planned.”
    Before my brothers could comment there was a knock on the door. Rock looked through the peephole, then opened it. Slash stood there.
    “Hey, Slash.” He’d returned sooner than I expected.
    “Come on in and join the party.” Rock held out a hand. “Nice to finally meet you. I’m Rock, Lexi’s oldest brother.”
    Slash shook hands, then walked in. Beau leaned forward and gave him an open-handed, sideways palm slap that apparently served the same purpose as a handshake.
    “Good to see you again, Slash. Can you update us on the situation?”
    Something was wrong with Slash. He wouldn’t even look at me, and he
always
looked at me as if I were the only person in a room.
    “Not much,” he said to my brother. “But I’m afraid Lexi and I have to leave now for further questioning.”
    Even his voice sounded funny. Tense, coiled and worried.
    “Can we go with you?” Beau asked.
    “I’m sorry. Not this time. They want to see only Lexi for now. But you are all free to go home or to work. I should advise you, however, you’ll have a police detail for the foreseeable future until we get this sorted out.”
    “What exactly is
this
?” Rock asked.
    He shook his head. “I don’t know yet.”
    After another minute more of chatter, my brothers filed out while I shut down my laptop and grabbed my coat.
    “What happened?” I asked Slash.
    “You’ll find out. We can’t talk about it until we get to our destination, okay?”
    “Slash? What’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”
    He stopped, gripped both my shoulders and kissed me hard. “Just let me say that I love you and it’s going to be fine. Trust me, okay?”
    I stared at him for a moment and then nodded. “Okay.”

Chapter Seven
    We took the elevator in silence to the hotel garage, then climbed into his SUV and headed out. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a black sedan on our tail. A new FBI team had apparently been assigned.
    He drove to a non-descript building in Rosslyn, Virginia, not too far from my office at X-Corp. Slash flashed a badge and I had to produce my ID to the guy monitoring the parking garage. He checked his electronic tablet for our names, then waved us in. Once Slash parked, we took the elevator to the lobby. We both had to show our identification again, and this time Slash had to check in his gun. We both had to turn over our cell phones and endure a pat-down followed by a full-body scan. Only after