If Travis and Asher hadn’t been stationed outside the gates, Gavin would have stopped her. Instead, he let the men know she was headed for his truck while he hunted the general down. He found him in his office and offered his condolences once more. With a wave of his hand, the general dismissed him. Gavin didn’t take it personally. He could tell the package and Sarah’s attitude hung on him like an albatross.

“I’ll be in touch,” Gavin said. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

“Just keep her safe.”

His distracted order almost made Gavin pause and spur him to ask if there was something else going on, but the man didn’t invite that kind of relationship, so Gavin kept his questions to himself. He hurried to the kitchen and grabbed the rest of the mail Sarah had left, then rushed down the front steps to his truck. She was sitting in the passenger seat, the contents of Dustin’s envelope spread over her lap and the dashboard.

“I wish you would’ve waited for me.”

“This place is a fortress.” She turned a page. “No one’s coming through those gates unless the general opens them.”

“Or someone forces him to.”

She shot him a pained look and went back to Dustin’s materials. Gavin decided to shut up and not even mention the possibility of a drone strike. It sounded far-fetched, but so did Iraqi terrorists on American soil looking to take Sarah out because of her father.

Far-fetched, but not impossible. Nothing was impossible.

However, while Sarah had an impulsive side, she wasn’t stupid and could think for herself. Every moment he spent with her just reinforced that. And yet, the desire to protect her—even from herself—wasn’t something he could just ignore. So, he’d do his best and pray that was enough.

Sarah rubbed her forehead.

“Headache?”

“Yes.”

He opened the glove box and handed her a bottle of ibuprofen. She took two and replaced the bottle. “I need to call the detectives,” Gavin said, “or call Caden so he can meet us and we can show him what we found and he can call the detectives.”

“Sure.” She leaned her head back once again and closed her eyes, her fingers clutched around the manila envelope. “Sounds good.” A slight pause. “Let’s go to Caden’s house so we can study this stuff some more.”

“I like that plan.”

He let Travis and Asher know what they were doing, then drove in silence for a few minutes. Sarah still had her eyes closed, and her frown pulled her brows together over the bridge of her nose.

“What are you thinking about?”