Staring back at the other man thoughtfully, he considered the angles he could see. Elijah was doing the same, he knew. As laid-back and relaxed as Elijah appeared to be, Graham could detect the tension just beneath the surface.

“No one’s contacted me yet,” he murmured. “Dawg has a system set up . . .”

Elijah cleared his throat uncomfortably. “He took you off the list the night before he left.” Shoving his hands in his pockets, his gaze met Graham’s regretfully. “He didn’t say why. Brogan called me to let me know a few hours before I passed you heading out of the county last night.”

Graham straightened slowly, anger beginning to simmer inside him. “Then let them look for her. Once the bastard and his asshole cousins get home then I might let them know where the hell she’s at.”

“Come on, man.” Elijah grimaced. “Don’t put me in the middle here. Jed and Brogan find out I know shit and haven’t told them, then they’re going to try to hurt me.”

“Try” being the operative word.

“Then duck faster than they try to hit,” Graham growled. “The least he could have done was let me know he didn’t fucking trust me to protect his sister anymore.”

Elijah rubbed at the back of his neck as amused mockery filled his expression. “Maybe protecting her safety isn’t what he’s worried about, boss. Dawg has it in his mind it’s her virtue he’s protecting, I think.”

“And why the hell would he worry about that?” There were days Graham was damned thankful for his training and his ability to lie in the face of his own guilt.

Elijah laughed as knowing surprise filled his face. “Come on, man, you two get around each other and it’s like setting a fuse to dynamite. It just hasn’t exploded yet.” His brows lifted. “That I know of anyway.”

Graham’s jaw clenched. “Keep your damned mouth shut about her whereabouts,” he ordered the other man again. “Let’s see if any of them are smart enough to know where she’s at.”

He pulled her cell phone and battery from his back pocket then and tossed the two on the kitchen table. “I’ll call the airfield and authorize the chopper for you. Fly out to D.C. and meet with Doogan. Give him the battery and phone and tell him to find out who the hell is tracking it and how they managed to block her entire contact list from incoming or outgoing calls. When he locates the bastard, I want to know where the hell he’s at.”

“Damn, I have to meet with Doogan?” Elijah asked him in disgust. “Come on, Graham. That ain’t right. I’m convinced that man has bad mojo or some shit. Every time I get around him, I get my ass shot at.”

Graham’s boss wasn’t the sanest man in the world, but he focused his insanity at the enemy rather than at any friendlies.

“You have thirty minutes to get to the airfield. I want you back this evening and I want you taking care of those cameras. You keep the outside secure; I’ll work on keeping Lyrica out of sight.”

And the ideas he had for that threatened to make his jeans damned uncomfortable.

“But Doogan gets me shot at,” Elijah muttered, repeating the earlier accusation. “I don’t like that man, Graham.”

“Damn, Elijah, what makes you think I care if you like him?” Graham glared at him, amazed at the agent’s cowardice in the face of the new assistant director of Homeland Security. “Tell him I said if he gets you shot, I’ll shoot him. How’s that?”

“Does he listen to you?” Elijah frowned back at Graham far too seriously.

“For god’s sake, are you two?” Doogan wasn’t that bad. The man was a little eccentric, but Graham knew he wasn’t actually dangerous. He just tended to get a little overly daring when he had the right agents for the job. No doubt he would consider Elijah the right man for some job that could put him in the line of fire. But hell, that was part of the job description.

Right?

Invariably, someone did get shot if they weren’t extremely careful.

Graham was always extremely careful.

It sounded as though Elijah needed to learn caution.

“I feel about two whenever I get around that bastard,” Elijah muttered. “Hell, I was almost cryin’ for my mommy last year when he hijacked my ass from FPS. And trust me, my momma wouldn’t give a shit. That should tell you how desperate I am.”

“You have twenty minutes to get to the airfield,” Graham stated blandly. “Give Doogan my regards.”

“Give Doogan your regards?” Elijah grumbled mutinously as he threw Graham another disgusted look. “I’ll give him something. My damned Glock shoved straight up his ass. That’s what I’ll give him.” Then his dark eyes narrowed. “And you’re forgetting something. Sam Bryce knows exactly who went after her last night. You think she’s not going to tell her boss?”

Sam Bryce knew better. Until he gave the word, she wouldn’t say shit if Dawg himself held a gun to her head.

Elijah turned then, opened the door, and stalked from the house as Graham continued to stare at him expectantly, intently.

The fact that the agent wasn’t happy with his current orders didn’t worry Graham. Elijah would follow the program whether he liked it or not.

The question was whether the man would keep his former commander out of the loop. The fact that Lyrica was Brogan Campbell’s future sister-in-law and that Elijah’s orders were more personal than agency related threatened Graham’s assurance that he would do as he was told.

Fuck it.

Knowing he’d been cut out of Lyrica’s protection list without so much as a notice changed all the damned rules. He wasn’t risking possible exposure to call Dawg, his cousins, his buddies, or his friends. If they didn’t like that then they could kiss his ass.

Lyrica’s safety, and her place in his bed while she was there, was more important than Dawg’s paranoia where his sister’s virginity was concerned.

Pushing his fingers restlessly through his hair at the thought, Graham moved to the door Elijah had stalked through and tested the lock. He then pulled the shades down over the windows before adjusting them to allow him to glimpse anyone moving outside, while hiding the inside away from curious eyes.

Moving through the house to adjust the rest of the shades similarly, he took his cell phone from the belt holster he wore and quickly pulled up Sam’s number.

“Hey there,” she answered, her voice soft, her tone familiar. “How’s it going?”

“As expected,” he answered. “Sis still there?”

“Still sleeping.” Amusement filled her voice. “She was up most of the night pacing the floors and cursing you.”

Graham grinned at the knowledge that Kye had no doubt cursed him loudly.

“Sorry about that. She may be staying there a while longer.”

“Not a problem. She filled the car with cases, so I think she may have suspected. Tell me, did you contact the lost puppy’s owner?”

The lost puppy. No doubt Lyrica would be incensed if she knew the title she’d been given for the call.

“Naw. It’s a cute little thing, though.” He grinned as he spoke. “I’m thinking about keeping it for a while. It’s lonely around here by myself.”

Silence filled the line for long moments. “The puppy has a home, my friend. Don’t forget that. And the owner might not be the sort to appreciate anyone thinking he can steal it away.”

“Then I guess they should have been more careful about the care and security of the little thing,” he growled. “As well as the fact that they dropped a friend from puppy-sitting duties without informing him. I might have been more inclined to give the puppy up if he had.”

Sam laughed.

The muffled sound was rich, filled with amusement and wicked knowledge.

“You are in so much trouble, my friend,” she continued, laughing. “And I can’t wait until the fireworks. I think your sister and I will find front-row seats to the spectacle.”

No doubt they would, and sell extra tickets in the process for the hell of it.

Graham snarled silently. “I used to like you.”