Boulder (Riders of Apollo #5)

Chapter Six: Ford Wilson

I'm quite happy tucked into my seat in the lounge watching the news on the screen when Saviour and Lexie slam in with weird looks on their faces. "What is it?" Bear prompts, it's been a week of relative peace. I mean, he's not being weird anymore and we've managed to have some nice conversations without him lashing out.

"There's a new woman in town, just landed from England it looks like. She's five five, short blonde hair and green eyes, said her name was Riley but I imagine it's a lie." Saviour explains and Bear turns paranoid again.

"Romeo, find her." Within minutes Romeo has her pulled up on his screen, the camera footage of her in the airport and on the route to her place.

"Her name is Riley Everett... I can't find any background info on her, it's like she doesn't exist."

"Alias?" Bear continues, his eyes getting wider and his body tenser. Great, it's back to shit again.

"Maybe, it's the most likely option considering everything that's going on right now."

"Fuck. Saviour, Runner, tail her. I want to know everything, who she talks to, what she eats, where she goes."

"Ah shit!" Romeo throws his laptop as it starts to smoke and bubble. "She's got some strong malware on those phones, I can't help anymore, it'll destroy my computers."

"Saviour, Runner, now!" Within seconds they're out the door and you can hear their engines revving before they take off down the road. "Romeo, can you not destroy the malware?"

"It's above my paygrade, I've never seen a virus act that quickly when implanted in a foreign computer especially not from handheld devices."

"Fine, take Boulder and put up some cameras in that building and tag her car." I sigh and follow Romeo to his office to pick up everything we need. I carry his stuff and hold the ladder as he fits them in each corner and over the doors, we took off our cuts and dressed in a way that makes us look like everyday workman so hopefully she won't notice us doing this.

"Fuck off, you absolute moron. How am I supposed to do anything with you checking in one me every two seconds? Johnson, don't argue with me. I moved here because I hated it there so please, for god's sake, don't ride me all the time or I will fly back and stab you in the throat." She waves and smiles in our direction before heading out to her car that we've already put a tracker on.

"She is gorgeous." Romeo comments and I punch him in the back of the knee. "What? I was being respectful. Besides I'm gay as shit, women like it when gay guys compliment them."

He's not wrong, I mean Saviour did not do her justice with that explanation. She has high cheekbones and almond shaped eyes, with a slim body but wide hips. The short blonde hair frames her face perfectly and the dress she's wearing hugs everything.

"You're a dick, are you done?" I'm getting bored of holding the ladder for him and he finally steps down having completed the job.

"Hey babe, can you see the feed?" He asks into the comms, knowing Runner is in his office right now waiting.

"Yeah, all six cameras." Romeo nods and I follow him back out into the chill of the day.

"We never did this much surveillance on anyone before, do you know why Bear is all paranoid?"

"No, we all figured you would since you've known him the longest and been here the longest bar Gears. I guess we're all the dark, Lexie might not even know."

"No, she knows. You know what happened the last time Bear kept a secret from her?"

"You mean the glass being thrown at his head or the month of no sex and no sleeping in his own bed?"

"Both." We laugh as we head back to the clubhouse and Bear is still on edge when we get there.

"Does she seem like a threat?" Saviour is on the line and Bear is pacing anxiously around the room as they talk.

"She's smart but isn't doing anything completely random. A few phone calls but they sound personal, friendly really and she's done some shopping. Nothing particularly exciting."

"Maybe she's just visiting, ya know?" Runner suggests and I agree with him.

"We overheard her talking to friend, it sounds like she moved here to escape the shit at home." I tell Bear and he hardly pays my statement any attention.

"The timing is really fucking random, I don't trust her. Stay on her guys, tell me everything."

"Aye Prez." The line is cut and everyone falls into an awkward silence as Bear takes to his paranoia again. He's most likely spinning thousands of different stories in his head, trying to fit Riley into one that he can control. I doubt he'll be able to, he's a smart guy, don't get me wrong, but even smart guys can't get everything right all the time.

"I've informed Matias about her and he's tried searching for her on all his databases, nothing came up. One of his men tried to hack the phones too, their entire computer set up is destroyed. She may seem like she's not a threat but no average woman from England would go to so much effort just to protect her technology."

He's not wrong.

Okay, so maybe I was, he is smart and basically right all the time. Don't tell Lexie I said that, she'd murder me.

"Bear, you're escalating. You really need to calm down, somehow you manage to make a mountain out of a molehill." Lexie scolds, rubbing his shoulders while he downs a shot of whiskey with a grimace.

"This isn't a molehill and I'm not making a mountain. I'm tired please don't confuse me." She laughs and kisses the crown of his head while pouring him another shot. "Damn, this stuff's good. I don't think I've gotten drunk in like five years."

"That's only because every time you got drunk, we got attacked." I state with a laugh while he groans.

"Don't remind me. Dad made it all look so easy."

"I'm sorry to tell you this, Prez. But your father was terrible at his job." Gears tells him, clapping his shoulder as he walks passed.

"True." Bear concedes and continues drinking with a frown on his face.

Poor guy has to do everything around here and can never have a little fun because whenever he does... well everything goes to shit.