One of them, Officer Austin, cleared his throat. “Surprised to see facilities so open to appreciating the view outside.”
Diaz smiled but there wasn’t a lot of humor in the man’s eyes. “We like having clear view on all approaches to the office building. The exterior windows are Thermopane, of course, and blast-resistant. The interior pods are fitted with ballistic-resistant glass in case of unfortunate, unforeseen occurrences. For us, line of sight is incredibly helpful.”
Austin harrumphed. “Business must be going well.”
“We do all right.” Diaz pulled open the glass door to the pod and ushered them in. “Our parent organization, the Centurion Corporation, was willing to invest in these facilities. As I said before, the Safeguard Division is new.”
Deputy Marshal Decker remained a quiet observer throughout. But then, he tended to be a man of few words in Kyle’s experience over the past forty-eight hours. Officers Austin and Weaver didn’t comment further as they took seats on either side of Kyle.
Of course not. Neither of them had revealed personality to speak of over the past several weeks since he’d entered witness protection. And they were both more than minimally put out when he’d insisted on additional security. He’d registered concerns to their superiors at the Seattle PD and the Office of Enforcement Operations responsible for the administration of coordinated US Marshal and local enforcement. Decker hadn’t offered a reaction.
Kyle was not planning to play poker with the man. Ever.
To be honest, Kyle had gone so far because he’d been rattled. There’d been warning signs after the initial appearance at court, escalating to significant threats after the preliminary hearing. None of it could be directly traced to his previous employers, but there weren’t many others with the resources to find him after he’d entered witness protection. Last night’s incident had proven standard safety precautions were obviously insufficient. He was certain there were representatives on the local police force with both the intelligence and sense of humor to be exemplary guardians but, thus far, he’d yet to meet them.
So when he’d encountered someone who might fit his specifications, he’d immediately tracked her down. It hadn’t surprised him at all to find she was attached to a mercenary group. The price tag associated with her services as personal security had been enough to raise even his eyebrows though. The Seattle police department had collectively choked. The OEO had expertly evaded addressing the fees.
“You did mention how new your organization was, yes.” Kyle crossed his legs at the knee, not a posture most men adopted in the United States but Gabriel Diaz didn’t blink. Interesting. Perhaps he’d done business internationally. In Kyle’s experience, body language common to Europe or the Middle East or Asia could make those unfamiliar with it uneasy. “You also mentioned that most of your resources were out in the field. I had the pleasure of witnessing one in action just last night. Were you able to contact her?”
“We’ll want a statement from her.” Weaver sat forward. The woman was brusque at best, and no-nonsense.
Kyle could respect that in a woman but there was no humor left in her. She’d made a career for herself but she’d shown him very little joy in what she did. Cooperating with her was boring at best, unfortunately irritating most of the time.
Diaz raised an eyebrow. “It was my understanding that the Seattle police department didn’t need a statement from Safeguard in regard to the incident last night. My resource was on contract to augment the personal security of a guest at the hotel in question and dispatching potential disruptive elements was within her purview.”
Kyle tuned out the next few minutes of police administrative red tape. As far as he was concerned, it fell into the too-long, didn’t-listen category. What mattered was when the corner of Diaz’s mouth lifted in what was thus far a rare hint of a smile. Conversation ended, in Diaz’s favor, apparently.
“If we could return to the main point for being here, I’m requesting the services of your resource. Specifically, the woman I saw last night.” He didn’t know her name. Luckily, she’d been the only female contracted to augment security at the hotel last night and all of the extra security had been supplied by the Safeguard Division. Amazing how much information the pretty little assistant to the hotel manager had provided with just a few minutes of flattery.