Joe rose and crossed the room to pull her in for a hug. She went willingly and squeezed him back. “I really am sorry for the ambush, Sis. You forgive me yet?”
Because he knew she would sooner or later. And why not? He was her big brother and always on the lookout for her. “Of course. I love you, Joe.”
His arms tightened. “Love you too, Tansy.”
Graham gave her a cocky salute and a friendly grin, making the last of her tension disappear.
When Sam tugged on her hand to sit with him on the other couch, she didn’t resist. She had to start facing reality.
Even if reality sucked.
Joe put the kettle on the pellet stove. “How’s the project coming? Are you close?”
Tansy nodded. “I think so. I made some changes, and it looked good in the test, but it wasn’t ready before sunset. I need to test it in the daylight and see from there. I’ll do that tomorrow.”
Sam patted her leg. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you. Troy texted, saying that the new security equipment for the sawmill area will be here tomorrow. He and Marcus are going to bring it out.”
That was odd. “Why?”
Sam smiled. “I think they’re curious. They want to see how the new devices work. They want to know what happened today. I think they’ve become invested.”
The men smiled, but Tansy frowned. “I feel like I’m under a microscope.”
Graham laughed. “That’s what happens when you do the Tony Stark, Tansy Stark thing. If you weren’t making cool stuff, no one would give a shit.”
Tansy opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. How was she supposed to respond to that?
Sam and Joe laughed, then Joe handed her a mug of tea. Peppermint. He’d found her stash.
She sipped it while the guys talked about the new security devices. Invisible lasers to cover several areas around the sawmill. They would be a good addition, especially connected to their phones for easy monitoring, but the property covered more than thirty acres of land. They couldn’t block all access.
She needed more information. “Does anyone know where this Howard guy is? Is there any more information about him or James?”
All three of the men frowned when she mentioned James. They liked him even less than one of the FBI’s most wanted. All because he’d hurt her.
Joe answered her. “Nothing concrete. Nico’s digging into all the info they have and coming up with a profile for us. And he’s got someone looking into where he might be. The man has dozens of properties around the world.”
As every evil terrorist should, she supposed.
“How did James and Howard meet? Is that even likely? James isn’t the type to know terrorists.”
Eyebrows rose around the room.
She sighed. “You heard James today. He’s a slimeball on multiple levels, but he’s not a sophisticated criminal. Someone’s using him or he’s stumbled into something way above his level.”
Sam squeezed her hand. “Nico’s got his analysts working on it.”
Maybe she should pull in her own analyst. Tessa Flores was the queen of finding patterns in data. She was officially a zoology analyst. She studied a wide variety of fauna and studied how climate change was affecting them and their behaviors. She also knew more about hive mentality than anyone Tansy knew, and she was a whiz at seeing patterns no one else could pick out.
Joe nodded. “He’s also pulled in Flynn Walker. I think you met Flynn once?”
She had. When they’d lived in Sacramento, Tansy had shared an old Victorian house with Joe and Nico. They’d each had their own floor for their apartment.
Joe and Nico had hosted a few parties and convinced her to mingle at a few of them.
Flynn Walker was a cowboy at heart, even wore the boots and his Stetson most of the time. He worked in the organized crime division of the FBI. “You think Howard has connections with organized crime?” This kept getting worse.
Joe shrugged. “It’s possible. Or maybe Stephens is involved with them. Maybe both. It’s a line to tug.”