Parker: A Reed Security Romance

you go after his family, I can guarantee that he will come after you and take out not only you, but everyone you love. This will not end in us getting what we need.”
“I agree.”
“I say we put it to a vote,” Senator Allen said.
“No,” I said firmly. “We don’t do anything to draw more attention to ourselves unless necessary. We don’t know that he’s even put anything together based on the information he has. If something comes of it, we can make that decision then, but we will not risk everything now when we have no information on what he knows.”
“And what if he goes to someone?” Helen asked.
“A former assassin? A man that is doing his best to lay low? You think he’s going to ruin all that, get sent to prison all to talk with someone in power that might rat us out? Based on what?” I asked. “He has nothing right now. Let’s not poke the hornet’s nest.”
“We know where he is,” Brunswick said with a nod. “I think our best course of action right now is to wait and watch. We know he’s at Reed Security. If we find an in, we take it, but unless we find out that he knows something, we move on with the project as planned.”
“Alright,” I said, standing up, “now that we have that cleared up, let’s move on with the meeting.”
I saw the fear in the others’ eyes, so it was best to push this aside like it didn’t matter. We would continue to monitor the situation, but I couldn’t have them dwelling on it. Fear made people do stupid things, and I couldn’t afford for any of them to be stupid right now.

Chapter Two


Knight
The last light had shut off over an hour ago. I knew that OPS was monitoring the house. They had been out here for months after Reid came to live here with his aunt and uncle. Now they were just monitoring from their home base in California. I turned the volume up on my earpiece, allowing me to hear inside the OPS tech room. I had hacked into their system so I could control what they saw. They didn’t have any microphones in the house, but I still needed to be sure that my plan kept anyone from knowing I was here. It had been difficult enough to get out here without anyone knowing.
After I was sure that no one was awake in the house, I turned off the security system for the Fullers’ house and crept in the side door after picking the lock. I had to make it up to the second floor, walking right past the aunt and uncle’s bedroom, but I wasn’t worried about it. I had done this many times before. The stairs were the hardest part, since this was an old house and the stairs were bound to creak.
I took them one at a time, slowly climbing and avoiding any weak spots in the joists. His door was the last on the right. I was just about there when I heard someone in my ear from OPS.
“Something’s going on at the Fuller house. Are you seeing this?”
I quickly checked my monitor, but it was clear. Whatever they were seeing, it either wasn’t me or it was a faulty sensor. It was very possible that’s all it was. Whenever you hacked into someone else’s system, especially a system as large as OPS, there was a chance that something would go haywire.
“Check the feed.”
“I’m doing that. I’m not seeing anything. It all looks clear. It looks like a few sensors are acting up. I can reboot the system and get it all back online.”
“How long will that take?”
“Five minutes.”
“Alright. Call the local PD. Have them send someone over to monitor the house while you’re doing that.”
“It could take them a fucking half hour to get there.”
“Get Rodriguez on the phone. He’ll take care of it. He owes me a favor.”
I lowered the volume and continued through the house. I only had five solid minutes until I risked getting caught. I slipped into Reid’s room and moved quickly over to his bed. Slipping my hand over his mouth tightly, I steadied him as he jerked awake. I could see the fear in his eyes as he came awake and I fucking hated it, but I needed answers. When he finally realized who I was, he relaxed and nodded, letting me know that he was okay.
“What’s wrong? Are Florrie and Alec okay? Is the baby okay?”
“Everything’s fine, kid.”
“Then what are you doing here?” he whispered.
“I need some answers, and I don’t have a lot of time. Understand?”
He nodded.
“Okay, I need to know if when you were living with your step-dad, if you ever overheard any conversations that were sensitive.”
“Sensitive?”
“Things you shouldn’t have heard. Maybe something he was planning?”
His eyebrows scrunched together and he shook his head. “I heard a lot of stuff. Stuff I was never supposed to hear. Is there anything specific you want to know about?”
I didn’t want to go into specifics, but I needed answers. “Plans he would have made for something happening this year. Something-”
His eyes went wide and I shut my mouth, waiting for him to say something. He squeezed his eyes shut and his lips moved rapidly, like he was trying to recall something. “The last week I was with the senator, I overheard a conversation he was having with another man in his study. Fat guy, gray hair, balding. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. The man had come to him with information, some kind of plan. He said that it would take about a year and half for everything to fall into place. He said they would get everything they wanted.” He shook his head slowly. “I think there was something about a lab working on something.”
“Did he say who else was involved?”
“No. I know there were others involved, like a group. He made it sound like there were