ASHFORD (Gray Wolf Security #5) by Glenna Sinclair Page B

mother. A nanny, perhaps. They spoke for a few minutes, then she turned to go back into the building. The play yard quickly cleared, parents rushing their children to dance and music lessons, or nannies rushing to get back to their afternoon soap operas. I crossed the street and entered the building without drawing any more attention to myself. The hallways were silent now, the smell of paste and urine and stale tacos almost overwhelming. I caught sight of her again, turning a corner a few yards ahead of me.
    She wore slacks and a white blouse, her hair pulled back into a loose ponytail. She once said that ponytails were for ponies. Clearly, she’d changed her mind. It bounced as she walked. She paused to stick her head in a classroom to ask someone about crepe paper for decorating the math center in her room. Then she was off, down the hall again. I thought I heard her whistling. But it wasn’t possible. She couldn’t be whistling Dixie the way she used to do to annoy me. Not here. Not in this place. Not now.
    Alexi.
     

Chapter 16
     
    At the Compound
    David watched Mina take the baby upstairs, wondering why she suddenly looked like the world had dropped out from under her. The woman always had a quick smile for everyone, and she was so gentle with that baby that he couldn’t help but stop and watch sometimes when she was talking to him. But someone had sucked the wind out of her sails today, and David was pretty sure he knew what it was.
    Ash had the proof that Alexi was alive since February. It was August, and he just now decided, overnight, that it was time to go see her. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
    David closed his eyes and sent up a silent prayer. Let Mina be as good a person as she seems. Let her be the one who can give Ash what he needs. Let Ash finally find a little happiness in his life.
    Everyone else had. It was finally his turn.
    David settled back down behind his workstation and reviewed the video feeds. He didn’t have to watch them all the time. The program was set to alert him to any anomalies. But he liked to take a look from time to time, just to make sure the program hadn’t missed something.
    Donovan was shadowing an executive whose new wife had a brother who was schizophrenic and had threatened to kill him if he got out of the hospital. He’d been accidentally released from the mental institution a week ago and the cops had yet to find him.
    Kirkland was watching over a socialite who was going through a nasty divorce and was afraid her husband would disregard the restraining order taken out against him.
    All the video feeds looked good. There’d been nothing unusual on either of the cases so far. But there was always the potential of violence, so they were vigilant.
    Then he started to answer emails.
    It was usually routine stuff, things he could answer with a few lines here or there. But then he came across an email that sent the hairs on the back of his neck sailing.
    Watch your back…

Chapter 17
     
    Ash
    I stood in the hallway a long time, even after she disappeared into her classroom. I still couldn’t quite wrap my mind around it all. Why hadn’t she come to me? Why hadn’t she found a way to let me know she was still alive?
    We’d had a plan. If one of us was ever in a situation we couldn’t get out of, we would leave a sign. Something that only one of us would understand. Hers was to leave her engagement ring in a place I could easily find it. I searched everywhere for the damn thing, tearing up furniture and making my fingers bleed from prying up window. Nothing.
    Nothing.
    She didn’t follow our protocol; she didn’t try to get a message to me. Yet, she was here in New York.
    I could have walked away. I’d seen enough. I even turned, even walked a few feet down the hallway toward the exit doors. But I couldn’t do it.
    I had to know.
    She didn’t look up when I opened the door. She was stacking dried paintings on a desk at the back of the room, giggling from time to