Ultimate Courage (True Heroes Book 2) by Piper J. Drake Page A

a bad thing, but he wasn’t planning on classifying it. Especially not after he’d discussed almost the same line of thought with Elisa. She’d been damned cute chewing on that bit of logic.
    “Happens when you interact with people.” Forte was all sorts of agreeable this evening.
    “She’s got some serious personal baggage, though.” Rojas took another spoonful and chewed on the accompanying gummy bear. He tended to give Boom fruit with her frozen yogurt, but tonight he’d indulged in sour gummies, gummy bears, and gummy worms. Because he was an adult and could choose to dive into a sugar high before bedtime with no one to hold him accountable but himself.
    Forte snorted. “We’ve all got personal shit tossed in the back of our closets.”
    Rojas waved a free hand in the vague direction of the front door. “And here, we all know enough to watch each other’s backs. That’s my point. If she’s going to work here, we need enough of a briefing to be prepared for any issues.”
    Forte raised an eyebrow. “You think she’s bringing actual trouble to our door?”
    No doubt. It was his practice to keep his teammates informed in as timely a manner as possible, so he suffered no guilt bringing Forte up to speed on the text Elisa had received.
    “Huh. All on its own, the text is harmless.” Forte took a slow pull from the beer.
    Rojas waited. They’d all sent similarly harmless texts, messages, and various electronic communications in the past. Worded properly, such a communication could be completely overlooked when taken out of context. And they were meant to be. It was the context they’d been trained to look for in the right circumstances.
    “You think someone’s looking for her.” More fishing. It was Forte’s way, and Rojas didn’t mind at the moment. Helped him get his thoughts straight.
    “She went paler than a ghost when she got it. Thought she was going to pass out right there in the kennels. Souze tuned into her reaction from three kennels down.” Rojas closed his mouth as his temper started to heat his words. He took another mouthful of frozen yogurt.
    His temper needed to be kept cool anywhere near Boom. Asleep or not, she could wake at any moment, and she deserved a dad with his own issues under control. He still struggled with keeping his calm in public, crowded places, but here at home he could keep his shit together. This was a controlled environment. Secure. Safe.
    “Yeah? Souze?” Forte sounded surprised. “Whole reason we didn’t place him along with the other two was because he didn’t take well to any of the potential handlers. That dog doesn’t warm up to anybody.”
    Rojas didn’t blame him. The dog in question didn’t miss much of anything, true, but he also didn’t spare strangers more than the amount of attention it took to warn them away usually. For Souze to react to Elisa’s fear, it had to be unusual.
    “If we make some assumptions…” And Forte made them all the time, though they were more like educated guesses. But it made him excellent in the field, able to anticipate and plan for unusual circumstances that might otherwise catch a team by surprise in a very bad way. “We’re figuring she’s got unwanted attention to deal with and a need to stay hard to find. Could be an issue with authorities or a stalker. I’m thinking the latter more than the former, though. She didn’t seem the type to participate in illegal activities.”
    Forte wiggled his eyebrows.
    Rojas barked out a laugh and nodded. Elisa Hall did not have a good poker face. Every thought showed up on her expressive face, and it was fascinating to watch. It also made her a seriously bad liar. “She seemed relieved to hide out at Revolution once she got over a hefty fear of strangers.”
    And she hadn’t flinched at the idea of the police showing up when he’d warned her about tripping the security alarms. If anything, she’d filed the bit of information away as if it could be used in the