B O O K  5

SHADOWED ALLIANCES

by Mavery Ellscott

Chapter One

“This is on the house.”

Emery Foster looked up from her cell phone at the barista as she set the slice of chocolate cake in front of her.

“I don’t think he’s going to show.” The friendly woman in her mid-twenties grimaced and gave Emery a sympathetic look.

She had mistakenly thought Emery had been stood up. The cake was a sweet gesture, but the woman would remember her. Not good.

“You’re probably right,” Emery said, and let out a disappointed sigh. She didn’t correct the barista’s assumption. “But I think I’ll give him a few more minutes.”

“Been there, done that more times than I care to admit. If you need a shoulder to cry on…” She touched Emery’s arm.

“Thank you. I appreciate the chocolate therapy.” Emery tilted her head toward the piece of pity cake.

The barista smiled and returned to her spot behind the counter.

Fifteen more minutes and Emery would leave. Her timing needed to be perfect for her to slip past the three men across the street and enter the building facing the coffeehouse.

She glanced once more at her cell phone. Still no word from Orlan. He should have returned her text message by now. She had arrived at the coffeehouse over an hour ago and had shot off a quick text message telling him to leave town.

A guilty pang shot through her as Emery picked up the fork and took a bite of the cake. She shouldn’t have agreed to let Orlan drive her to Ridgeton, Montana. If her former father-in-law-to-be discovered her friend Orlan helped her, the consequences would be ugly.

She knew what Rudolfo Manetti was capable of. Hidden from view, Emery had watched the network security mogul finish a bottle of champagne as the body of the woman he’d drowned floated beside him in the hot tub.

Emery looked through the coffeehouse’s window at the men watching the building across the street.

Rudolfo had sent Tomas.

Six months had passed since Emery Foster had last seen her former bodyguard. She knew Tomas would recognize her in an instant.

The coffeehouse’s door opened, letting in a blast of frigid air. Emery shivered and took a sip of her coffee.

She ate the cake as she watched Tomas. He gave a subtle nod to a man in a black overcoat walking past him. A man in a matching overcoat stood at the opposite end of the block. The three men intended to box her in once they spotted her.

Yesterday, Tomas would have looked out of place dressed in a light winter coat as he scrolled on his cell phone, his shoulder against the building across the street.

Typical below zero February temperatures had held Ridgeton in a deep freeze for over a week. Today, Tomas blended in with the steady flow of people on the downtown sidewalk that would have been empty during the past week. Parkas hung undone as passersby enjoyed an unexpected change in temperature.

How long had the men been waiting for her? The bored look on their faces suggested they’d arrived that morning.

More importantly, how did Rudolfo know she was seeking Shadow Defense Security’s help? Orlan had insisted they hadn’t been followed. A former Navy SEAL, he would have spotted a tail.

She finished the cake as she watched the men across the street. Getting past them and into the building Tomas leaned against would be tricky.

Guilt swept through Emery once more. She was bringing trouble to Shadow Defense Security.

Three months ago, Rudolfo had located the safe house in Key West where she’d been staying. It had been the third safe house compromised. She and the Deputy U.S. Marshal protecting her had been the only ones to make it out of the building alive.

When a storm had damaged their sailboat, Emery had been certain Rudolfo’s men would catch up to them. Fate had intervened, and Sebastien Tremblay, a partner in Shadow Defense, and Alexis Hayes had rescued them. Seb had been protecting Alexis from a group of ruthless men determined to retrieve the sample of a genetically engineered algae the oceanographer had stumbled across.

A partner in Shadow Defense Security, Seb had offered to help her disappear, but Emery’s trust level had reached zero. She had decided she’d be better off on her own.

She had been wrong.

Her thumbs tapped at the cell phone’s keys, and she shot off another quick text message to Orlan. She wouldn’t let her friend’s kindness put him in danger. 

Manetti knows I’m here. Get out of town.

The downtown offices and boutiques along the street would close soon. Emery couldn’t wait any longer. Her plan to get into the building housing Shadow Defense Security’s offices would either work or it wouldn’t.

She glanced at the back exit door at the beginning of the hallway that led to the restrooms. It didn’t have a sign warning bells and whistles would go off when opened.

Emery rose to her feet. She wove her way through the maze of small circular tables, tossed her empty to-go cup in a trash container, and then stopped in front of the brochure rack beside the entrance. Feigning interest, she scanned the handbills in the rack.

“If you’re looking for a restaurant, I can guarantee the Thai place is excellent,” the barista said, her voice competing with the high-pitched buzz of the espresso machine. “My boyfriend owns the place.”

“Thanks for the recommendation.” Emery turned to her and grinned. “I love Thai.”

“Tell your server Jessica sent you, and they’ll give you a twenty percent discount,” she said as she handed a to-go cup to a man who looked like he needed a shot of caffeine.

“Thanks. I appreciate that, and the cake.”

Jessica’s smile widened, and she nodded.

Emery plucked the restaurant’s handbill out of the rack. It would do for what she had in mind.

A closer look at the exit door as she passed confirmed the staff had left it unarmed. The door likely doubled as an employee entrance and required a key to gain entry from the alley behind the building. Emery had worked under-the-table in a couple of coffeehouses. Among the security precautions she took, insisting on working for cash was a rule she never bent.

The restroom was empty, but Emery locked herself in one of the two stalls. She couldn’t risk anyone asking what she was doing. A minute later, the handbill folded in her coat pocket, she left the restroom.

Emery paused at the exit door and patted down her pockets as if she was searching for her car keys while she scanned the coffeehouse. No one paid her any attention.

As she slipped out the exit door, she wedged the folded ad for the Thai restaurant into the doorjamb.

Slightly ajar, the lock wouldn’t catch, and Emery could return to the coffeehouse using the back exit. It wasn’t the first time she’d used that trick.

Emery sauntered down the alley to the end of the block and suppressed the urge to hurry. It would attract attention she couldn’t afford. The entrance to the women’s clothing boutique on the corner was located off the main street. Manetti’s men wouldn’t see her.

A string of cow bells clanged against the door, announcing Emery’s presence. The woman behind the counter looked up. The place was empty. Not ideal. Another person who would remember her if asked.

“Can I help you?” The woman asked as she approached her.

“I need to pick up a winter coat for my granny,” Emery said.

The woman’s bright red sheath made Emery uncomfortably aware of her parka. Orlan had stopped at a thrift store on the way to Ridgeton from Florida. In another life, the washed-out blue would have been fashionable.

“Do you know your granny’s size?” The woman asked as she led Emery to a rack filled with coats.

“No, but I’m pretty good at guessing.” Emery scanned the line of coats in dark hues.

Perfect. She needed to blend in with the pedestrians walking along the downtown sidewalks.

Thirty minutes later, Emery stood in front of the coffeehouse’s restroom mirror, examining her reflection with a critical eye. After a quick adjustment to the toque and scarf, she figured her plan would work.

The nondescript coat buttoned over her parka made her look three times her size. Only the top of her nose and eyes peeked out between the hat and scarf in the same brown as the coat. Anyone over ninety would covet the floral skirt that hung under the coat. She couldn’t do anything about her hiking boots, other than hope Tomas and his men didn’t notice them.

Emery grabbed the shopping bag that now held her jeans, hunched over, and left the restroom. The barista was helping a customer and didn’t notice her leaving the coffeehouse.

The sidewalks filled with people as the workday ended. Emery’s timing was perfect. She stayed close to the shadows shed by the buildings. The quick paced people passing her screened her from Rudolfo’s men on the other side of the street. She joined a crowd crossing the intersection and kept to the middle.

Heart hammering in her chest, Emery approached the building. Tomas’s gaze traveled up and down the sidewalk. The three men’s bored movements had transformed into intense concentration. They’d assumed she’d hide among the office workers.

Emery kept the same plodding pace. When she reached the building’s entrance, she placed each foot on the steps leading to the front door, as if it took great effort to climb the stairs.

“Let me help you with the door, Ma’am.” Tomas sprung past her and opened one of the heavy glass doors.

Crap. Chivalry wasn’t something she’d expected.

A bead of sweat traced a line down her spine, and Emery shivered. She didn’t know if her disguise would hold up to Tomas’s scrutiny.

People see what they want to see. The words uttered by the woman she called Grandmother, who’d taken her in and saved her from a life on the streets echoed in Emery’s head.

Tomas thought he was helping an elderly woman. Emery only had to play the part.

“Thank you, young man,” she croaked, grateful the scarf muffled her voice, but still worried Tomas would recognize it.

“My pleasure,” Tomas said as the door closed behind Emery. “Here, let me take that for you.” He took the boutique bag dangling in her hand.

Double crap. He intended to walk her to the elevator.

“What floor are you going to?” He asked as he helped her to the elevators. Office doors lined the hallway on either side of the elevators.

“Third,” Emery said, hoping Tomas wouldn’t escort her. He’d see through her ruse.

Seb had added the address to his contact in her cell phone when he’d told her to call him if she found herself in trouble down the road. He’d left out the floor number. Emery had intended to stop at the building’s directory board when she arrived.

Tomas punched the up button on the elevator, and the doors opened. He handed her the shopping bag.

“I hope the rest of your day goes well,” he said as he reached around the elevator doors and punched the button for the third floor.

“Thank you so much for your help, young man,” Emery croaked as the doors slid shut.

“You’re welcome.” He smiled and turned to leave the building.

The elevator doors opened up to a carbon copy of the hallway on the main floor. Careful to keep in character, Emery shuffled into the hallway.

Great. Now, she’d need to check out each floor in the five-story building.

She slipped her cell phone out of her pocket. It was close to five o’clock.

What if Seb wasn’t in? The tension in her body increased.

From the bits and pieces she’d overheard, Javier Escarra, the tech guru among the five partners, seemed to live at the office.

Emery pictured the computer geek in his mid to late thirties, like his partners. She knew the type.

Glued to a computer screen and liberated from the intense training routine of a SEAL team, firm muscles would have spilled over his jean’s waistband. He’d probably sport oversized black glasses, a computer geek aesthetic, and a t-shirt with a witty slogan only another nerd would understand.

Emery relaxed. He’d be there. The digital wizards she knew didn’t have much of a social life offline.

If everyone in the Shadow Defense offices had gone, she’d camp out in a restroom until morning.

“Can I help you?” A tall, slender woman in her mid-forties stepped out of an office two doors further down the hallway.

“I’m looking for Shadow Defense Security,” Emery said, hoping she could direct her to their offices and save Emery from searching every floor.

“You’re in the right place. I’m Nicolette. Their administrative assistant.” The woman smiled and pulled out keys from her handbag. “Please come in.”

She unlocked the door and stepped aside, motioning for Emery to enter as she called out, “Javier.”

Emery walked into the reception area as the man sitting behind the desk turned away from the computer and toward the door. She assumed it was Javier as her breath caught in her throat.

If he had glasses, he wasn’t wearing them. As he stood, his jeans stretched tightly over powerful thighs. The black t-shirt defined every muscle across his eight-pack. No witty saying on the t-shirt.