The driver’s door opened and Ellie stared warily at the man who circled around the front of the SUV. He wore a business suit and dark glasses. He stopped, his head turned toward the cop, and then he seemed to be looking at Ellie by the way his face lowered in her direction. His hands were open at his sides and he spread his fingers, moving his hands away from his body to show the cop he wasn’t armed.

“Ms. Brower? I’m Dean Hoskins. Mr. Fury sent me. You called Mr. North’s office and he has been made aware that you were having some kind of situation.”

Fury? Ellie relaxed. “It’s okay,” she assured the policeman.

Dean Hoskins let his hands drop as soon as the policeman released the butt of his gun. He reached up, removed his sunglasses, and it revealed he had green eyes in a nice face.

“Mr. Fury asked me to collect you and your things. I’ve been asked to give you a message. I’m not sure what it means but Mr. Fury assured me you would understand it. He told me to say that after saving your life, you owe him this time. He requests you follow me back to Homeland to talk to him in person. He would have come himself but regrettably, because of the situation outside Homeland, it wouldn’t be advisable for him to leave.”

No shit, Ellie thought. Fury wanted to talk to her. She wondered what he wanted to discuss. He may have regretted not really saying goodbye to her. He might even want to say he’d forgiven her for what she’d done to him. Of course he might just want to know what had happened. She didn’t want to get her hopes up that he just wanted to see her again. She’d never know unless she spoke to him. It would bother her, wondering, if she didn’t go.

She nodded at Hoskins. She had no doubt he was on the level. Only Fury would talk about who owed who. “All right.”

He placed his sunglasses back onto his face. Ellie turned to the policeman.

“Thank you so much for everything. I’ll go to the car rental place as soon as my meeting with Mr. Fury is over.”

Ellie climbed into her car and waited while Hoskins turned the large SUV around inside the parking lot. Ellie backed out of the space to follow the SUV back to Homeland. She hated the stares she received from other drivers and dreaded when the protesters got a load of what had been spray painted on her car.

The hateful words humiliated and embarrassed her. The guard who let her inside the gate gaped at her with raised eyebrows. Ellie softly cursed and resisted flipping him off. She had no choice but to drive her vandalized vehicle. She followed the black SUV to the main office to park next to him in the visitor section.

Ellie grabbed her purse as she exited the car. She wasn’t about to let her wallet out of her sight after already being tossed out of Homeland. She needed to have options if they kicked her out again without a car. Dean Hoskins studied her vehicle with a frown.

“Was this the trouble you ran into?”

“Partly. It seems some idiots think I’ve been brainwashed and three jerks were set on trying to supposedly save me. God only knows what they thought they were going to do if they’d gotten away with kidnapping me.” She shook her head. “Some of them are just insane.”

* * * * *

Fury paced while Justice watched him closely, studied everything about him, and it annoyed him. He stopped, shooting a glare at Justice. “What? She was in trouble. She mentioned police to your secretary and needed an escort out of there. Do you have a problem with my sending Dean to collect her? He works for us. What good are having humans help us if they don’t do anything?”

“I’m not disputing your reasoning. I believed she’d be safer in her world but I freely admit when I’m wrong if she’s experienced trouble so soon. I’m just wondering if you’re going to explode when she arrives. You look about ready to totally lose control again.”

Fury snarled, fought his rage, and met his friend’s worried gaze. “Every protective instinct inside me is battling. My first impulse was to jump into a Jeep and go out there to track her down. I am in control since I sent Dean.”

“Good to know.” Justice inched closer. “If it means so much, you can keep her here. I’ll smooth things out somehow with the director and if that doesn’t work, I’ll outright order him to allow her to stay. Under the circumstances it may not arouse too much suspicion from him that I’d go over his head. He’s very paranoid about how much power we flex and he’s attempting to retain absolute command of Homeland. He is being an ass by treating us as if we are children but the bottom line is, he works for us. I’m sure there is housing available at the visiting-human section. I’ll make some calls.”

Fury’s eyes narrowed. “And have the director go behind our backs again? You put me in charge of security. I won’t allow her out of my sight.”

Justice’s mouth dropped open. “Where will you assign her then?”

“I have two bedrooms. She’ll be safe inside my house. No one would be stupid enough to go after her there, and I can guard her.”

“You mean protect her.”

“It’s the same thing.”

“It’s a bad idea.” Justice shrugged. “But you are in charge. I have enough headaches trying to figure out the business side of Homeland, how to afford to pay for everything and where to find more funds for us to use after we start running it ourselves. While the president is generous, we’re bleeding out a lot of money with the construction costs for all the extra preventative measures we need in place after the attack. Don’t forget that you have a meeting in the morning with the architect. I want you to go over the plans carefully and it’s your call on whether what they have come up with will prevent another breach at our front gates.”