Watched from a Distance

by Allison B Hanson

  “Do you have the phone number for the United States Marshal’s office?” she asked, hoping the two cops wouldn’t laugh.

  The detective pursed his lips. “I can find one, I’m sure. Who do you need to call?”

  “Supervisory Deputy United States Marshal Josiah Thorne.” She half expected to see them tremble from just his title and name, but they gave another simple nod.

  After some redirections that still counted as one call, she got a voicemail and left a quick message explaining things. She asked him to call the Long Beach Police Department and get her out of this place.

  The detective’s questions continued, some of them repeated so many times she worried he was too tired to do his job correctly. She knew she was too exhausted to answer the same question four damn times.

  “I’m telling you, it wasn’t a robbery,” she gritted out. “He was taking my child onto his yacht, illegally, and against her will and mine. He’d threatened to sell her, as in human trafficking. I was protecting my daughter. Tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing in my situation.”

  Eventually the two cops left, and she must have fallen asleep in her chair with her daughter sleeping in her lap. When she awoke, it was light out, and the detective came in the room wearing a clean shirt and a smile.

  “You’re free to go.”

  “I am?” She’d been there so long, she worried this was some new technique designed to break her.

  “SD Thorne called and explained everything.”

  Lena wanted to point out that she had explained things multiple times and they hadn’t believed her, but she decided to keep her mouth shut and get out of there.

  She was so relieved, she might have jumped out of her chair if her leg wasn’t asleep from the weight of her waking child.

  And then it struck her.

  She was free to go.

  But where?

  Chapter Ninety-Eight

  The doctor had come in to talk to Dane about his leg and the discussion hadn’t gone well. He should have expected the bad news. How many times could a person be injured in the same place before the damage couldn’t be repaired anymore?

  For now, he still had his leg, but it was a wait and see kind of thing. The doctors were optimistic.

  Dane planned to do whatever he had to do to walk away from this intact.

  He wasn’t allowed to leave the hospital in case his artery decided to blow up again or his leg fell off. He also wasn’t able to get up and walk around. That, paired with not knowing what happened with Lena, had him restless and irritable. He refused to believe she would have bailed on him without so much as a goodbye.

  Which meant something must have happened to her. Something bad.

  It would be just her luck to be kidnapped by some other drug-smuggling asshole immediately after escaping Kulakov.

  Angel and Colton had left to go relieve Thorne and get back to the baby. Garrett and Sam had gone back to the house to wait for Lena, but last time he checked, she hadn’t shown up.

  Thankfully, Thorne arrived that afternoon and shed some light on the mystery. He explained how she’d been detained by the police, and how he’d called the precinct and forced them to release her.

  “When I was done reading Viktor’s rap sheet, the detective sounded as if he wanted to hold a parade in her honor for protecting the community from that monster.”

  Which explained where she’d been.

  But where was she now?

  An hour later, Lena arrived at the hospital with Kenzie in tow. When Lena smiled at Dane, he felt as if everything was going to work out just fine.

  Then she glanced down questioningly at his leg, and he remembered the situation he was in. He was facing months of rehab and physical therapy. He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

  He couldn’t ask her to stay with him through all that. She had her own life to go back to, to rebuild. She had her daughter. She could live a normal life now.

  Dane had left his own family behind so they wouldn’t have to live in hiding. He couldn’t ask anyone else to sign up for that.

  Thorne gave Dane’s good leg a hard pat and rose from the guest chair. “I need to make some calls. I’ll be back.” He squeezed Lena’s shoulder and whispered something to her that made her smile before he ruffled Kenzie’s hair and left the room.

  Dane reached out for Lena’s hand as she took the seat Thorne had vacated.

  “I would have been here sooner, but this place has some intimidating security. No one would tell me what room you were in. So, I went back to the rental house. Garrett and Sam gave me your room number.”

  He made a mental note to get her a working cell phone as soon as possible.

  “I heard you were detained by the police,” he said, taking her hand.

  “Yeah. It turns out the cops didn’t think it was cool that I was carrying a gun in a public place.”

  “Sorry about that.” Dane grinned, not as sorry as he should be since he was envisioning it. “Hi, Kenzie. How are you doing?”

  The little girl was tucked up against her mother. He wasn’t sure if she was normally a shy child, or if she was still traumatized from her ordeal. From the things Lena had said, and being in the room during a couple of their video calls, Kenzie had seemed like a precocious and charming child. But sometimes kids were different with other adults.

  Today, all she did was nod and keep her head down.

  “This is the nice man I was telling you about,” Lena told her. “He’s the one who helped me find you.”

  The girl glanced up and studied him for a moment. She stood straighter and held out a paper to him. It was a small piece of chain hotel stationary. Probably the hotel where Lena stayed last night after leaving the police department.

  There was a drawing of what he guessed was her and her mother. They were smiling, and there was something in Lena’s very large hand that looked like a gun. In uneven scrawl that tapered off the page were the words, “Thank you, Dane.”

  Dane’s heart squeezed. “You’re very welcome, sweetie. I’m glad you’re back with your mommy, and that you’re safe.”

  “Did Mama shoot you, too?” she asked timidly.

  Obviously, there was some interest in her mother shooting a gun. Dane smiled and deferred to Lena on the question.

  “No, baby,” Lena said. “Remember? I only shoot bad people. And only when they are trying to take you away from me. Dane is a good guy.”

  Kenzie nodded, pacified by the answer for now, though Dane guessed it would come up again.

  “Can I draw another picture?” Kenzie asked.

  “Sure.” Lena pulled the pad of paper from a small pink backpack and handed over a pack of crayons. Kenzie took them over to the deep windowsill and set up her art studio.

  “How is she?” he asked Lena.

  “She’s fine. Completely fine. Thanks to you and Task Force Phoenix.”

  He grimaced. “I’m not the one who took out Viktor. You did the right thing, Lena. I’m not sure if you’re having trouble dealing with…everything. It’s not easy, no matter how much the person deserves it.”

  She nodded. “It’s strange. I know I did the only thing I could do. I know it was justified. But then I’ll have a random thought, like, maybe he would have been reformed in prison and would have used all his power for good.”

  Dane shook his head. “Kulakov would never have ended up in prison. Angel found where the prosecutor was holding his dirty money. Viktor would have walked away scot free. He would have caused other people the same pain he caused you. The way it went down was best, all around. Trust me on that.”

  “I’m sure it will get easier to deal with.”

  “With time,” he said.

  “How about you? How are you feeling?” she asked.

  “Good, but I’m stuck here for a few more days.” He was staying positive.

  “I thought it was common policy for a hospital to push you out the door as soon as you opened your eyes. You must have some great
insurance.”

  He shrugged. “My artery was nicked, so the doctor doesn’t want me moving around until he’s sure it will hold.”

  Her face paled, and the smile dropped from her face. “I didn’t realize it was so serious. You were talking and joking when they loaded you in the ambulance. I’m so sorry. I should have stayed with you.”

  And this was why he couldn’t tell her he wasn’t out of the woods yet. Because she would stay. Then what?

  “From what I saw, you didn’t have much choice in the matter,” he said.

  He had given up his chance at having a family when he was forced to leave Caroline and Tobey. Besides, Lena had other things to take care of. Like the little girl who was smiling at him.

  “Besides,” he added, “it wouldn’t have been good for Kenzie to see all that. The blood and everything.” Such as when they cut off all his bloody clothing and he’d been buck naked for the ride to the hospital.

  “I suppose.”

  Her fingers clenched his, and he pulled them from her grip so he could stroke the back of her hand to calm her.

  “I’m okay. Really. A month or two of physical therapy, and I’ll be good as new.”

  She seemed to relax a little at that.

  They sat there for a minute or two watching Kenzie draw by the window. The sight reminded him of Tobey. He had been about her size when Dane left. Tobey had liked drawing and creating things, too. Each day a new exhibit had been added to their growing art gallery of Tobey’s works.

  The silence, though comforting, grew…until he decided he needed to broach a difficult topic, the elephant that had sneaked into the room.

  “What are your plans now?” he asked.

  There. It was out in the open. He’d been the one to ask.

  She swallowed and glanced over at her daughter. “When I left Miami to go find Kenzie, I didn’t realize how long I would be. I gave one of my friends a key to my apartment so they could take care of the mail.”

  “And you never came back.”

  “Right. I called her today at the salon. Before the landlord evicted me, she managed to get some of my stuff. She has a few boxes of pictures and files she’s kept at her place. She didn’t have anywhere to store the furniture, so I guess it’s all gone.”

  Lena shrugged as if it wasn’t important. Having your child’s life threatened put material things into perspective.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “That sucks.”

  “Yeah. Garrett helped me rent a car. I’m going to Miami, then I’ll see what’s next.”

  “Do you still have the credit card I gave you?”

  She dug in her purse and pulled it out. “Yes. Here.”

  He pushed it back in her hand. “No. You keep it. In case of an emergency.” He pointed at her when it looked like she was going to protest.

  She let out a breath and bit her lip. “I’m never going to be able to thank you enough for everything you did for Kenzie and me. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d left after you got Tobey back.”

  “I would have blamed me,” he said. He picked up his phone and handed it to her. “Can I have your number?”

  “You’re trolling for women’s digits at the hospital?” she joked.

  He winked. “Desperate times, and all that.”

  She hadn’t said a word about…them. So, he knew he should just let her go. No strings. No guilt. But he wanted to be able to check in and make sure she was okay. Even if he couldn’t offer her anything else, it didn’t mean he didn’t care about her. A lot.

  She tapped the number into his phone. As he watched her fingers play over the screen, he thought of how good it felt to have those fingers touching him.

  “Make sure you take my number, too. In case you need anything,” he said wanting at least that small tie to each other.

  She gave him a warm smile. “Are you going to jump out of bed and come running to save the damsel in distress again?”

  “Of course.” He sat up a little straighter and winced at the pain. “Or, you know, I could send in the troops.”

  She chuckled at that, but then turned serious. “Thank you seems like a pathetic attempt to tell you how grateful I am for what you did.”

  He waved it off, when all he wanted to do was take her in his arms and cover her with kisses. “All in a day’s work.”

  After a glance at her daughter, she bent over to kiss him. It was a soft kiss on the mouth, a casual brush of lips that wouldn’t have meant anything except for the way she lingered just a little too long for it to be casual.

  Her eyes opened and gazed into his for a second, then she pulled away. Was that reluctance he detected?

  “Kenzie, we need to go. Can you say thank you to Dane?”

  Kenzie came running over with her newest drawing. This one was of the three of them. He knew one of the figures was him because he was lying in a square box and his leg was bandaged. He also had a line from his arm to a pole beside the bed.

  In the picture, Kenzie and Lena were standing next to him. He and Kenzie had big smiles on their faces. It was an apt representation—Lena wasn’t smiling in the picture.

  “Thank you for this,” he told Kenzie. “I’ll hang it on my refrigerator door when I get home so I can think of you every day.”

  Lena pressed her lips together and gathered up the crayons, then ushered Kenzie toward the door.

  It took all Dane’s strength not to ask her—no, beg her—to stay with him. But he couldn’t do that to her. She had a life and other responsibilities.

  “Take care of yourself, Dane. Don’t push it.”

  “You do the same,” he said.

  With that, Lena stepped out of the room.

  And out of his life.

  Chapter Ninety-Nine

  Tears were running down Lena’s face by the time she hit the exit of the hospital. She didn’t want to cry in front of her daughter, but it was impossible to hold them in any longer.

  She didn’t know what she’d expected. Maybe for him to ask her to stay? No. Why would he want her hanging around when he had his important job to get back to? She was just being ridiculous.

  Besides, hadn’t she told herself a dozen times or more she couldn’t get involved with him because doing so could potentially put herself and her daughter in danger again? No way could she live through these last eight months again. And what if the relationship didn’t work out? Look what had happened with Justin’s family after living that kind of life. It wasn’t as though she and Dane knew each other well enough to be making such life-altering decisions.

  She thought she’d prepared herself for this breakup. She’d known since the first time they kissed it was a temporary thing. Two people scared and desperate to feel something other than guilt and terror. They’d needed each other to get through the worst thing a parent could live through, and now that danger was past. Now they’d go back to being two normal people.

  Well, a normal person and a U.S. Deputy Marshal on a covert task force.

  So, why was this so much harder than when she and Brandon had split?

  Swallowing down the lump in her throat, she took a deep breath, ready to face whatever came next. She had been through so much and come out intact.

  She could do this, too.

  “Mama, what’s wrong?”

  She took her daughter’s hand. “Nothing, baby. I’m just sad I won’t get to see my friend anymore.”

  “I’m sad I won’t get to see Molly and Hannah anymore, too.”

  Lena frowned, then remembered the two little girls that had been taken from the house in Savannah. “I’ll bet. But it makes you feel better knowing they’re back with their mommy and daddy, right?”

  Kenzie brightened. “Uh-huh.”

  Then it should follow that Lena should feel better that Dane was going back to his family, of sorts, too, right?

  They would take care of him.

  She got Kenzie settled in the back seat and slid into the driver’s side as she fought the urge to sta
y in Long Beach so she could take care of him. It was more than just the urge to pay back a debt she felt she owed him.

  Smiling at her phone, she tucked it in the console of the rental. She had his number, and he had hers. Maybe he would call.

  She brushed away the tears and turned the car east.

  Chapter One Hundred

  “Goddamn! Son of a bitch! Motherfucker!” Dane shouted as he put weight on his leg for the first time at his nurse’s orders. It was amazing a human could forget how painful something was until they experienced it again.

  The last time he’d been shot in the leg, the bullet had hit muscle and flesh. It had still hurt like a bitch. This time, the bullet had hit bone. A piece of that bone had nicked his artery. Steel plates had been screwed into his femur to offer support as it healed. That hadn’t been pleasant. But he’d take whatever pain he faced now if it meant he got to keep his leg.

  He was officially out of the woods. But if he was being honest, the physical pain from therapy wasn’t the worst of it.

  His heart was in bad shape, too.

  In the two weeks since Lena walked out of his room, he’d been released from the hospital. Garrett and Sam had flown him back to his home in D.C. where he’d hired Nurse Sadistic to help him get back on his feet. Mrs. Fletcher had no bedside manners to speak of, but she had gotten him up and walking in record time.

  “Stop being such a baby,” Angel said as she stepped into the room.

  To add to his pain, Angel had come to visit for a few days to make sure he was going to survive. This, despite assuring her every night when she called that he would live.

  “Don’t you have a baby to take care of at home?” he grumbled.

  “I do. But his father is handling that baby so I could come take care of this one.” She flashed him a devilish grin. The one she used when she thought she was funnier than she was.

  “I want a new best friend,” he muttered.

  “We’ll fill out the appropriate paperwork and see what we can do about that.” She winked and came to stand by him as if he was supposed to lean his weight on her.