A Time to Protect

by Lois Richer

  She saw Brendan in the doorway, waiting for his opportunity. She thrust Ziggy forward one more time and the attacker fell back. At that moment Brendan brought his fists down on the gunman’s wrist. The sound of bone cracking echoed loudly. Chloe lifted her heel and slammed it into his chest, finishing his fall.

  “Don’t come near my home again,” she said fiercely.

  “He won’t, Chloe. I promise.” Brendan kneeled atop the man’s back, holding his hands together so the spider tattoo was clearly visible. “Can you get me something to tie him up with? Then I’ll call for help. And put Ziggy away. I guess I owe him.” He grinned at her, his eyes brimming with laughter and something else she didn’t want to think about—not right now. “Chloe?”

  “Yes.” She set Ziggy in his cage. “Good boy, Zig. Way to go.” After replacing the lid she searched the room for something to tie up the attacker.

  “Chloe?”

  “Coming.” She pulled out the extension cord from the Christmas tree, carried it to Brendan. “Is this any good?”

  As he stared at the small green cord a smile lifted the edges of his mouth and zipped straight to her heart. “It’ll do,” he told her.

  “I’ll call the men outside,” she said, hurrying toward the door.

  “Wait.” Brendan pulled out his cell phone, dialed. “We don’t know who else is out there.” A moment later the wail of sirens filled the night and police came bursting into her home just as the power came back on.

  Brendan handed over the gun he’d retrieved once the man was in custody. “So you’re Redding,” he said, his eyes hard. “It is so not a pleasure to meet you.” He looked at Chloe. “Is this the man you saw before?”

  “Yes.” She studied his features for several minutes before nodding and pointing to his wrist. “There’s the tattoo. It’s the same man. I’m certain.”

  “Why go after Mrs. Tanner?” Brendan asked him.

  “I do what I’m told.” The blank face stared right back.

  “What were you told to do?”

  “Hit the mayor. She got mixed in and I was told to get rid of her.”

  “Told by whom?” Brendan demanded but got no answer. Redding simply shook his head and refused to say more.

  “He said I shouldn’t have interfered in El Jefe’s business,” Chloe told them, her eyes on the man who’d made her life a misery for months as her heart sang “thank you” over and over.

  “Seems to me we have some talking to do, Mr. Redding.”

  “I have nothing to say. Once bail is posted, I will be gone.” He smiled but refused to say any more and was finally led away.

  There were a host of questions after that. Both the local police department and the FBI wanted every detail and it didn’t seem to matter how many times she went over the night’s events, they kept asking. In the living room, Chloe could see Brendan answering even more questions.

  She tried to concentrate but found herself wishing they were alone and she could have a second chance to explain why she couldn’t get involved with him. Her heart mocked her feeble excuses. Her heart was already involved—deeply.

  “It’s been a rough evening and you’re obviously tired. Why don’t we study what we’ve got and if we need to, we’ll get back to you?” Duncan Dorne smiled sympathetically. “We need a chance to peruse what we’ve learned but I think we can tell you that Redding claims you’ll be safe now. He doesn’t believe anyone else will come after you.”

  “You don’t think he’s just saying that?” she asked, but in her heart she knew something had changed. She didn’t feel that panicked sense of unease she’d carried before. Suddenly she felt free—from more than Redding.

  “He was pretty certain. I think he’s looking for a way to bargain with us without giving away his boss.” Dorne shut off his recorder, motioned for the others to leave. “I’ll have someone stick around for a few days just to be sure, but I believe you’ll be safe, Mrs. Tanner.”

  “Thank you. For everything.”

  “You’re welcome. I must say Brendan seemed to enjoy the job.” He glanced into the other room, raised a hand. “He’s going to have to come with us. We need his statement and there are a few loose ends he’ll need to tie up.”

  “I understand.” So she wouldn’t get a chance to explain tonight. Chloe bit her lip. It seemed some things never changed. She was going to spend New Year’s Eve alone. Again.

  “You’re a nurse.” Dorne buttoned his jacket as he spoke.

  “Yes, I am. Does that make a difference?”

  “Not to your testimony. I was thinking more in terms of helping out. There was a big pileup on the interstate thanks to a drunk driver. The hospital is swamped.”

  “I’ll go if you can give me a lift,” she told him immediately. “Give me a minute to change then I’ll be ready.”

  “Sure.”

  Chloe hurried upstairs, grabbed a uniform and peeled off her glamorous clothes before slipping into it. She dragged her tumble of curls into the beautiful clip Brendan had given her for Christmas, slipped on her comfortable work shoes. A moment later she went downstairs. Brendan was waiting for her.

  “You’re going to work?” he asked, then spoke again before she could answer. “Me, too. I have to go in, Chloe. I have this hunch that this El Jefe Redding spoke of somehow ties into the same group Escalante ran. I’ve got an idea about Escalante’s death, too. I’ve got to follow a couple of leads, try and stop him before things escalate.”

  “Of course you do. You’ve hung around here so long, it must be a relief to get back to your regular life.” She didn’t look at him, afraid she’d see that truth on his face. “Go. Do your job, Brendan.”

  “I will. But, Chloe, I need to talk to you.”

  She glanced up and knew she couldn’t let it end like this. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough for what you’ve done for us. I know it went far beyond your job description and I truly appreciate it.”

  “I’m not leaving town, Chloe.” One hand grasped her arm when she would have turned away. “This is not the end. You and I have a lot of things to discuss and we’re going to hash it all out. Soon. I’m not giving up on what we shared in there. But right now I’ve got a job to do. Can we meet tomorrow? At the Stagecoach Café?”

  She tried to hide her expression as she thought of Fiona listening in.

  “Mom and Dad are away, remember? And we can’t talk here because I don’t want the kids to overhear. So how about the café?”

  “All right.” She couldn’t look away from the glint she saw in his eyes. A tickle of warmth slid straight through her heart. “You can call me at the hospital with a time.”

  “I will.” He studied her for several charged moments. His hand moved from her arm to her hair. One curling tendril circled itself around his index finger. He smiled. “So much beauty to be so tightly confined.” He leaned forward, brushed his lips against hers. “It’s not goodbye, Chloe. I’ll be back.”

  “Of course,” she whispered as the doubts formed a tidal wave that swamped her hopes. “Take care,” she managed to whisper.

  “Oh, Chloe.” He shook his head, trailed his knuckle against her neck. “After all this time, after everything we’ve shared—can’t you summon even a little faith in me?” He kissed her again, then turned and left.

  Several moments later an officer stepped through the door. “I’ve been ordered to drive you to the hospital,” he explained.

  “Yes.” She followed him out of the house, rode silently to the hospital and forced herself to bury all the questions and what-ifs in the back of her mind. There would be plenty of long lonely nights to go over it all again.

  Brendan sat in the booth, wondering if she’d come. He was three days late meeting her and he could only imagine what she’d been thinking. Work had consumed every moment. In between he’d prayed.

  “Sorry I’m late. It took me a few minutes longer than I’d expected.” She let him take her coat then slid in across from him. “Isn’t it cold out?�
��

  He did not want to talk about the weather.

  “I apologize that it took me so long to get here. I wanted to call you but—”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’ve been busy, too. A lot of the staff is out with colds and flu. Of course this is the season for it.” She accepted the cup of coffee a waitress brought. “The ski trip got canceled but we had Kyle’s party yesterday.”

  “How did that go?”

  She laughed. “He’s in love.”

  Kyle wasn’t the only one. Brendan studied her face and felt the same old rush he’d been feeling for the past two months.

  “We got some stuff out of Harry Redding. I was ordered to follow up on it.” He wasn’t interested in discussing business but it had to be done and he wanted it out of the way.

  “What did you learn?”

  “El Jefe is obviously the main man in this new setup, but how and why still isn’t clear. Redding is scared stiff to talk about him. Beyond that, I still have a lot of questions about Escalante’s death. Something seems off to me.”

  “Oh.” She sipped her coffee, pretended interest. But Brendan could feel the tension emanating from her. Was she still afraid?

  “Kyle and Madison are all right?”

  “We’re all fine.”

  “Ziggy didn’t suffer any complications?”

  Her head lifted. “Ziggy’s fine, Brendan. But you didn’t ask me to meet you to talk about my son’s pet snake.” She lifted one eyebrow in a question. “Did you?”

  “No, I didn’t.” He took a deep breath, reached across the table to grasp her hands. “Nothing’s changed, Chloe. I still care about you and the kids. I still want a chance to convince you that there could be something between us.”

  She wouldn’t look at him so he switched tactics.

  “My official job as protector might be over but I still want the right to watch over you, to be there, to share your life, and the kids. I love you, Chloe. That’s not going to change.”

  She did look at him then, fat tears welling in those beautiful eyes. They dangled on the end of her thick lashes before tumbling down her cheeks.

  “It’s not that easy, Brendan. I have strings, responsibilities I can’t duck. Which I wouldn’t, even if I could.”

  “I’m not asking you to duck anything. I want to share them.”

  “What if it didn’t work out? What if you found out that we aren’t the great deal you thought and you needed to leave? How could the kids deal with that?” She shook her head. “I can’t make them that vulnerable.”

  “I’m not leaving. That isn’t going to happen. You’re just going to have to trust me on that.” He searched for a way to make her understand. “Loving you—that’s not some accident that happened to me.”

  “But maybe—”

  “There are no maybes in love, Chloe. Caring for someone means you decide you’ll be there, always, through good and bad. It’s a commitment you make to each other, a choice to stick with each other through everything that comes along. I’ve made my decision. I choose you. And Kyle. And Madison. And even Ziggy. No matter what.”

  “What if you’re transferred? Or have to leave on a case and can’t get back for a birthday or something? What if you didn’t come back?” She swallowed hard, her voice wobbly. “Maybe it sounds silly to you but to me that’s very important. I have to be prepared for everything.”

  “You can’t be, sweetheart. No one can.” He caught her tear on his fingertip, kissed it away. “There are no guarantees in life, Chloe. Except one. God is always here, always with us, helping us get through whatever happens.” He lifted her chin until he could see past the shadows in her eyes.

  “I love you. I’d like to plan a future with you and your kids, but if that’s too much for you to handle right now, I’ll settle for dating.”

  “Dating?” She frowned at him.

  “Yes. You know—go out together. You can get to know me better, and I can fall even more deeply in love with you.” He studied her beautiful face, felt his heart give that bump of confirmation. She was the one. “Maybe once we’ve gone out for a while you’ll be able to let your spirit go free from the fear and see what God has in store for you. Maybe then you’ll be able to trust me.”

  “I do trust you, Brendan.”

  “Then what—” He read the truth on her face. “I can guarantee that I’ll be late sometimes, Chloe. And that I’ll have to leave unexpectedly. That’s the way my life is. But it doesn’t mean that I’m dumping you or that I want out of loving you.”

  Doubts flickered over her porcelain face.

  “Have I ever lied to you?”

  She shook her head.

  “And I never will. I can’t give you the guarantee you’re looking for, I can’t promise to protect you against everything life sends. But I can promise you that I’ll always be there for you, and I’ll always tell you the truth. Will you promise me the same?”

  She stared at him, a tiny frown pleating her forehead. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “If we’re dating and you decide you don’t want anything more to do with me, promise you’ll tell me. Because I don’t want to be walked out on, either.”

  Her eyes widened to huge blue sapphires.

  “It’s not just men who abandon, Chloe. Women do it, too. What guarantee do I have that you won’t make promises you can’t keep?”

  “That’s not very likely, Brendan.”

  “Why?” He needed to hear her say it, needed some reassurance that he hadn’t just made a colossal mistake by exposing his heart. “Where’s your guarantee?”

  “I don’t have one. I can only tell you that you’ve been the best gift I got this Christmas. You cared for my kids as their real father should have, you taught me to look beyond the past and see what could be. You’ve shown me trust is a two way street. I’d like to get to know who you are a whole lot better, Brendan Montgomery. But I already know that I care about you more than I ever thought I could.”

  His heart began rejoicing but Brendan used caution. “And?”

  “I want some time to give the kids a chance to think of us as a couple,” she said quietly, threading her fingers through his, blue eyes sparkling with excitement. “I want time for our families to blend, for me to change my focus to the future. I trusted God that night and He was there. I need time to dig deeper into that, to relax and let Him lead me.”

  “We have lots of time, Chloe.”

  “Not here you don’t. It’s past closing time.” Madge held out the bill, her bottom lip jutting out. “I’ve got to get home to my old man and my kids. You guys need to leave.”

  Brendan rose, held Chloe’s coat. “You heard the lady. Let’s go.”

  He hurried her out the door, fastened her coat, then drew her into his arms on the steps of the Stagecoach Café and kissed her with all the longing he’d kept bottled up inside for so long.

  And Chloe kissed him right back.

  Sometime later she pulled away, cheeks flushed, eyes dancing. “We’re drawing a crowd,” she whispered.

  “Do I look worried?” Brendan tucked her arm in his, led her down the street, away from the curious eyes. She pulled her hood up as soft fluttering snowflakes danced toward earth. They came faster, more furious, until barely a patch of ground could be seen. Still they walked, content to be together, unafraid.

  “It’s as if God is creating a clean white slate for me to write my future on,” Chloe said, amazed at the thought of such love.

  “One I intend to share. I can hardly wait to show you how good we’re going to be together.”

  “I can hardly wait to find out.” She drew him under a huge spruce tree, wrapped her arms around his waist and offered her lips as a promise.

  Which he accepted.

  Epilogue

  “It’s me, El Jefe.”

  “I was wondering when you’d call. For a mole you are extremely elusive.” He masked his frustration. Anger was only a useful tool when it could be used to accomplish som
ething. “And you’re late.”

  “I have many responsibilities. Since Alistair Barclay is gone, I suggest we proceed to the next phase of your plan.”

  “The next? But the first is not complete. The mayor still lives.”

  “He’s in a coma. There’s nothing he can do to us.”

  “I specifically ordered his death, but the idiot who was supposed to finish him is now in custody.”

  “I know. The woman identified him, Chief. There’s no point in pursuing her now. Pushing ahead with the plan will accomplish more than trying to kill some pathetic single mother.”

  He thought it over. “Fine. What do you suggest?”

  “Patience, Chief. Your plan is falling into place. The danger is within, though they don’t know it. Yet.”

  “You are right. They must be made to pay,” he repeated, then hung up the phone. “They must all pay.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-5133-9

  A TIME TO PROTECT

  Copyright © 2006 by Steeple Hill Books, Fribourg, Switzerland.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Steeple Hill Books.

  This book was not approved, endorsed or authorized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

  ® and TM are trademarks of Steeple Hill Books, used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.