Dark Abyss by Kaitlyn O'Connor

protection without having to tell them the entire sordid mess, worried they wouldn’t believe her even if she did. “Thank you, Caleb.”
    He nodded, studied her a moment longer and turned to go again. She was tempted to stand in the doorway and watch him until he was out of sight, but she ignored the urge, closing the door and locking it. For a few moments, she leaned against it, relishing the memory of his kiss and his promise.
     
     
    * * * *

     
     
    “I’m not sure it was a good idea to take her back,” Caleb said the moment he entered Simon’s office.
    Feeling his belly clench, Simon lifted his head from the report he’d been studying and stared at his lieutenant, trying to decide whether Caleb would buy it if he pretended he didn’t know what he was talking about. “Why?”
    Caleb shook his head. “She’s afraid he’ll come back for her. I’m afraid she might be right.”
    Simon frowned, trying to ignore the uneasiness twisting in his gut. “We discussed this. I thought we all agreed that it didn’t seem likely.”
    Caleb glanced around and finally dropped his long frame into the chair by the door. “I know,” he admitted tiredly, “but I didn’t like it then and I like it even less now.
    She’s afraid. I’d like to think it’s just nerves after all we put her through, but I think maybe she’s right.” Crossing his legs at the ankles, he frowned at his toes. “He’s been keeping tabs on her for a while—at least since college. She told us that she’d gotten the grant before she graduated and then found out he was behind it. How long did she say she’d been working on that project?”
    Simon frowned. “I don’t think she did and I’m not sure it has any bearing on this.”
    “It does if it’s been years. Why watch her at all if he wasn’t … obsessed with her or at least had some kind plan for her? Why not approach her as soon as he found her if it was only a matter of a father wanting to find his only child?”
    “What do you think his motive might have been?”
    Caleb shook his head. “I don’t know. Do crazy people need motives to do the things they do?”
    “They do,” Simon dryly. “Their motives just aren’t rational. I’m not sure Cavendish is insane, though. In fact, I’m reasonably certain the cold blooded son-of-a-bitch is completely sane in the sense that he’s well aware of his actions and the possible consequences. He’s gone to great lengths, in point of fact, to cover his tracks very thoroughly.”
    “He’s not done,” Caleb said grimly. “And that means he isn’t done with Anna. I feel it in my gut. I don’t know why he picked this time and place to finally show himself, but he had a reason. What I can’t figure out is how he found out we were coming. Those floating houses can be moved, but they aren’t boats. They move slowly, too slowly for him to have gotten clean away if he’d only discovered we were coming after him when we got to Anna’s place. He left well before we got to Anna’s house.”
    “I’m fairly certain he left as soon as the bomb went off,” Simon said grimly.
    “She told us he’d been trying to arrange another meeting with her, though,” Caleb countered, frowning. “You think she lied to protect him?”
    Simon shrugged. “I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. I’ve been going over everything we found. I don’t think the bomb was supposed to go off—not when it did. I think that was a fuck up on the part of the man that planted it. It’s possible he didn’t even manage to plant it where they’d intended to or it would’ve done more damage than it did.
    “From what I can see, Cavendish had spent over a year carefully placing his agents where they could do the most harm. That was the confusing part. It didn’t make sense just to blow up the desalinization plant when he already had men in place in other critical sites—the power station, communications. When it finally occurred to me that the blast might have