“Oh God.”
“We also caught one of his personal bodyguards meeting with a pimp. Could be the guy who supplied the girl. Could be he’s done it in the past too.”
She felt queasy just thinking about it.
“Thing is, there’s something else. We can’t be certain that it’s related to the senator, but it seems the
most likely explanation.”
“What else?”
“Remember the day I came home to find you mowing my grass?”
“Yeah, vaguely,” she teased.
“Brat,” he muttered. “Right, well, that day you remember getting my mail and accidentally ripping one of the envelopes?”
“Yeah, and you got all grouchy and accused me of opening it.”
“Well, inside were some photos. Of me and the guys on surveillance of the senator.”
She frowned. “Why would someone take photos of you watching the senator? And why send them to you?”
“That’s what we want to know, baby girl.”
“And you don’t know who sent them?”
“That’s where it gets a bit trickier. There was no note or anything, but on the back of one photo there was an image of a fox’s head.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, there’s been stories or rumors, whatever you want to call them, of an assassin who calls himself the Fox.”
Her heart raced so fast she felt ill. “An assassin? That can’t be true, right? Why would he send them to you? Why would he be involved?”
“That’s what we don’t know. It’s got to be a warning to stay away from the senator.”
“But you didn’t?”
“No, we weren’t willing to do that. We’ve tried to be more careful. To go in pairs. To keep well hidden.”
“Has he sent any more warnings?” she asked.
“Yeah. That same image of a fox’s head was spray-painted onto a wall at the compound. That was a few weeks ago and he’s been silent since. He could have done what he was here to do and gone or he could be still around, waiting for something.”
She swallowed heavily. “He knows where you live. He could come after you, hurt you.”
“So far, he hasn’t been violent. He hasn’t done anything but try to warn us off. And we haven’t had any warnings in a couple weeks. However, if he decides to act, I don’t want you caught in the crossfire. And yesterday taught me that I can’t watch you every second, much as I’m going to try.”
She frowned. “But yesterday can’t have been anything to do with the Fox. It was too random, right? He had no idea I would come out then. And that guy didn’t strike me as a deadly assassin.”
“I don’t think that has anything to do with the senator or the Fox. But my protective instincts have gone into overdrive. I’ve also told Reyes I can’t be on senator watch anymore.”
She heaved a sigh of relief. “Good. Although I’m still worried about the other guys.” She bit her lip. “But someone has to help those girls. Shoot. I don’t want you to stop just because you’re worried about me. I’ll be much more careful, I promise. I won’t go shopping with Jewel.”
He ran a hand through her hair. “No, that’s not fair. Not when I’m probably just being paranoid. But I’d feel better that if you want to go anywhere in the near future that you have either me or one of the guys with you. Madden would do as well. Not Rory.”
No. Not Rory.