“It was a lap dance,” the senator snarled.
“It was her business,” Kell reminded him. “Not yours. And I would think about this while you’re getting ready to see just how many pieces of my ass you can chew while we’re in here. I’m not Charlie Benson. And you don’t have the power to strip my rank or my position on my team. So don’t bother trying to find leverage there. When it comes to political clout, I won’t mind a bit pulling in what’s owed to me to protect Emily. From your enemies, or from you.”
He couldn’t blame the senator for the look of amazement that swiftly crossed his face before he could hide it. Richard knew exactly what kind of clout Kell could pull if he wanted to. Just as he knew Kell had never threatened to use that clout once in the fifteen years they had known each other. “Richard, you found one you can’t intimidate,” the admiral drawled from the bar where he was nursing a glass of whiskey. “Leave the boy alone. We have other, more important matters to discuss.”
Kell stared back at the admiral, seeing the flash of anger that glittered momentarily in his hazel eyes.
“Has something happened?” Kell’s gaze sliced to the senator before returning to the admiral.
“Our Fuentes contact sent another message. The order to kidnap Emily has gone out, but they sent an assassin rather than a kidnapper. He left the Fuentes base last night, heading here to D.C. We need to capture that assassin, Lieutenant Krieger.”
The implication of that statement nearly staggered Kell. He stared at the admiral, then turned to Stanton as his body tightened in fury.
They were endangering Emily by allowing this party to go forward and that just pissed him off.
“I wasn’t informed of this.”
He should have been told the moment they heard. Protection for Emily should have been increased. Hell, she should be placed in a undisclosed safe house until this was over.
“That was my fault, Lieutenant.” The admiral’s voice hardened. “We can’t allow the Fuentes mole to know we’re receiving this information. We have to carry on as is. You and Ian will protect her, along with the security we’re putting in place at the Dunmore mansion. There was no need to relay this inf
ormation before you arrived and upset Emily further.”
Upset Emily further? Kell stared at the two men, and felt like shaking both of them furiously. Forget the fact that they were both superior officers; they were holding back pertinent information that could endanger her life.
“Sir, might I remind you that I am in charge of her security,” he gritted out. “This was information I should have had.”
“And you have it now.” Richard sighed. “The time delay wouldn’t have mattered one way or the other.”
“The party should have been canceled. It should be canceled now.”
“And if we cancel we won’t have a hope in hell of catching the kidnapper and/or assassin Fuentes is sending after my daughter,” Richard stated, fear flashing in his eyes then. “That’s my only child, Krieger. She’s my life. Do you think I like this any more than you do?”
“I don’t know, Senator, perhaps you thrive on the elements of danger. One thing is for damned sure. She needs to be out of D.C. now. She has no business being here.”
“And then she runs for the rest of her life?” Richard yelled back, the anger brewing inside him showing for the first time. “We have a time and place now. If we change our movements, Fuentes will change his. If we can catch the assassin then we have the chance of gaining the information we need on that damned spy that bargained with Fuentes for this hit. It’s our only chance.”
“So you keep me in the dark about the additional threat, and on top of that, you draw her straight into an assassin’s bullet?” Kell heard his own voice rising, felt the anger brewing inside him with a force he had never had to deal with before. “Are you forgetting, Senator, that her protection depends on my knowing even the tiniest hint of danger coming her way?”
“You have the information,” Stanton snarled in reply. “You have it in plenty of time for Durango Team to protect her. I do not take unnecessary risks with my daughter, Lieutenant.”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing, Richard,” Kell stated harshly. “Taking unnecessary risks. By not telling me the extent of the threat involved once she reached D.C. She will not be attending that party. Period.”
“Says who?”
Kell swung around to face Emily as she stepped into the office.
“Your voices carried.” She lifted her chin and her eyes glittered with defiance as she stepped into the room.
Her auburn hair gleamed beneath the overhead lights and her blue eyes glittered with challenge as she looked first at her father, then Kell.
“Emily, this doesn’t involve you, sweetheart.” Her father cleared his voice, giving her a smile normally reserved for an infant.
“Really?” Her brow arched, but the tone of voice had Kell wincing. He knew women. He knew that little drawl wasn’t a safe sound.
“Kell and I will take care of this, honey.”
“I don’t think so.” She turned her gaze to Kell. “Is this one of those times when I’m supposed to follow you without question?”