Free Deliberate Deceptions: Hauberk Protection, Book 3 by Leah Braemel Page B

press, Thalia’s manipulations, even Chad’s failure to come after her, to leave the States and fly to England, had her struggling to breathe. She flattened her hands on his chest and pushed—hard—making him stumble back. “Fuck you. You haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.”
    “Chad is still hurting. Same as you. When neither of you could have saved your daughter.”
    “I know that!”
    “Then for Christ’s sake, stop playing your stupid fucking games. Stop hiding from him. Tell Chad straight out and let him up his own mind about everything. About you. And about why you made those decisions. And where you went after you left him.”

Chapter Eight
    “We’re positive, Chad.” Sam stared out from the video chat session on Chad’s laptop screen. “There’s absolutely no record of an Edward Weir owning any mines in South Africa. There’s no record of him coming into the country any time in the past year either. I’ve put out some feelers about this Light Brigade Investigators’ firm Weir says he hired. They’re legit as far as we can tell, and the guy I spoke to at their international office told me exactly the same story as Weir.”
    Chad leaned back in his chair. If this had been a setup Sam wouldn’t have told him Weir hadn’t checked out. He’d be telling him the threat had ramped up or something to keep him there. “I’ll ask Lauren about it. She may be able to shed some light on the situation.”
    “Nah, tell Troy to do that. He can be in charge until we figure the rest of this shit out.” Sam rolled an unlit cigar between his fingers and frowned. “I’m telling you, buddy, something’s hinky about this whole set-up. I look back on it now—the phone call I got about the story on you, then Weir phoning right after? I’m thinking they were deliberately timed that way but damned if I can figure out why.”
    “But why? What would Weir have to gain?” Why would Lauren lie to him? No, this had to be a set-up; he just couldn’t figure out their aim.
    “Hey, bud?” Sam interrupted. “I hate to ask this, but is it possible Lauren’s a spy for another protection agency? That maybe she’s workin’ for our competition and they’re lookin’ for a way to discredit us? Or at least discover our weaknesses?”
    “If I were the competition, I wouldn’t use the ex-wife of an employee. That would make them more suspicious.” He’d set it up with someone they didn’t know. Someone who they wouldn’t suspect to be anything other than who he’d said they were, and he damned well would have made sure their cover story was in place.
    Sam cursed softly. “Listen, buddy, I don’t like this. I feel like a goddamned puppet being manipulated and I don’t that feelin’. Why don’t you head back? I’ll have Sandy arrange a flight for you out of Burlington.”
    Puppet being manipulated. If Sam hadn’t agreed to let him leave, he would have tagged Sam as the prime puppet master. So just who was pulling the strings? And why?
    Chad straightened the laptop so it was aligned with the edge of the desk. “Tell Sandy I should be able to make it to Burlington by this afternoon. I still have to find Troy and tell him I’m leaving.”
    Sam leaned forward, his face taking up nearly the entire tiny video chat screen. “You watch your back while you’re there, buddy, you hear? Tell Troy to watch his too.”
    “Thanks. I will.” Yeah, Sam wasn’t behind this. Sam would have just locked him in a room at his private club. “You know for a while there I thought maybe you and Thalia were setting me up.”
    “Shee-it, no.” The cigar disappeared, jammed back into Sam’s pocket with such force Chad was surprised the seams hadn’t ripped. “No, if I wanted to do that, I would have locked you up in a room at the club until you listened to me.”
    Chad suppressed his smile. Did he know Sam or what?
    “I would have staged a fuckin’ intervention or whatever the fuck they’re called,” Sam