Threshold of Danger (A Guardian Time Travel Novel Book 1)

by Rachel Trautmiller

  Simon's gaze flicked to where Sam still stood with Jeff. Her arms were crossed and she pulled away before he could touch the gash on her face. Simon's crew had returned to their tasks, working in the area Simon had spotted the medallion. "And if she's playing some game?"

  Elliot shifted. "You don't have to interact with her. What I need is someone to check up on her. Even from a distance."

  Simon shook his head. Rubbed his jaw. With Haley there was no distance. It was in your face. It was all out there. Good. Bad. Ugly. And some really demented part of him always hoped that she'd eventually get it together and live up to her potential. "You obviously have no issue being indebted."

  "Not for the right reasons."

  Simon hesitated. "If she's drunk and behind the wheel, I'm taking her to county lockup, I'm impounding her car, and I'll make sure her license is revoked."

  "Understood."

  Not that it would stop Haley. "If she's committing any crime—or looks like she's about to—"

  "Lockup."

  Maybe that wasn't the worst place for her right now.

  "I don't think you understand..."

  "Do me a solid. Track her down. Take her off the streets if you have to."

  Simon shook his head. It wouldn't be that easy. He had years of experience to prove it.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THERE WAS NO walking away from this. No, hey this has been fun, but I'm out.

  Elliot should've hopped in his car and followed one of the Billings' sisters immediately instead of getting sidetracked by Lucinda's questions. Her offering of cookies. Her grumbling about some kid who'd shown up and once again put his grimy hands on everything.

  And while he probably should've made sure Haley wasn't causing mayhem—wasn't creating another mess her sister would jump into without reservation—he'd gone after Sam. Arrived at Shaver Lake in time to witness Jeff ask Sam for a chat.

  That she'd been uncomfortable was immediately obvious. Everything inside him wanted to rush right to her side.

  Right between them both.

  Get some answers directly from the source.

  The guy wasn't checking in on Sam because of the Colonel. He might use that as an excuse. He probably used a lot of situations as an excuse to come into contact with his ex-wife.

  Elliot had stayed put, because this morning—the moments before he'd opened his eyes to the light of day—Sam had been nothing more than an operative he worked with on occasion. One he'd intended to avoid and tried to keep out of mind.

  Her glossy chestnut hair. The way her gray eyes crinkled at the corners when she smiled. The way she dived headfirst into any issue.

  It wasn't fair to change the rules just because he'd seen a side of her that resonated somewhere inside himself. Brought out the urge—one he'd thought long tamed—to jump without a safety net no matter the situation.

  Right alongside her.

  The fact that Elliot was headed toward the marina and in their direction didn't have anything to do with him interfering.

  Nope.

  Sam moved up the hill a step, Jeff mirroring the motion. She had one leg braced above the other on the slight incline of the terrain. The wind blew a strand of her hair around in a swirling pattern before she tucked it behind one ear. Then she lifted a water bottle to her lips, drank, and recapped it, her free hand instinctively going to her leg.

  Massaging.

  A grimace crossed her face for the briefest of seconds. Jeff didn't even pause. Just kept on talking. Probably about the next marathon he'd join, or charity he'd create, or how he and Sam should get back together.

  Elliot didn't want to know about any of it. It wasn't his business. He didn't want it to be his business.

  And he couldn't ask her about her leg. Not after he'd told her the slight limp she had was an issue.

  Sam's gaze hit Elliot as he approached, her gray eyes scanning him. Her cheek was an angry shade of reddish-purple. The cut she'd sustained earlier had split a little farther and was now covered by a butterfly Band-Aid.

  "This is too dangerous." Jeff's voice held an authoritative tone. As if he expected Sam to obey an unspoken safety rule. "You shouldn't be out here. In the middle of whatever is going on. Why don't you let us handle it? Maybe we can meet for dinner later. And if Chief Lewis approves Hope Alive's involvement, we can discuss it."

  Sam shifted, her gaze flying back to Jeff.

  Elliot slowed. Not that he would interfere, even if the urge to pummel the guy pounded in his veins.

  "This is my scene as much as it is Fresno County's. I'm here within my right of the law." She stepped back from Jeff.

  "I understand that, but this is one case I need you to drop."

  Sam's lips firmed. "I'm not obstructing your investigation or hindering it. I'm staying. Danger or not. Although I doubt a few birds and squirrels pose a huge risk."

  "You still want to hunt down that family?" Annoyance rushed over Jeff's face. "Figure out if they saw anything this morning, even with what I'm telling you? Someone shot at you. Repeatedly, from the sounds of it. That's no accident."

  All true.

  "And that someone knows who you are, leaving you at a disadvantage because you have zero description."

  "I'm staying." Her voice held conviction.

  "That's the dumbest thing you could do. It's a miracle you even evaded this guy."

  Anger flared from Sam. The emotion latched onto Elliot. Swirled around him. And all his good intentions died right there. He moved close to her. "Pretty sure I saw the family over at the marina renting a pontoon." His eyes hit hers. An emotional inferno raged inside them. "Want to head down there? See if we can catch them?"

  "Sam." Jeff's voice held a warning tone, his gaze flicking to Elliot as if he were a snake. As if he'd drug Sam into this situation and tied her to the danger.

  She didn't even flinch. Just moved from Jeff and fell into step next to Elliot. Didn't say anything, her strides long and angry.

  Elliot tucked his hands in his pockets, glanced back to find Jeff in the same spot, a scowl on his face. His gaze found Elliot before he turned and headed back toward his crew.

  Next to him, Sam still took furious strides toward the beach. "So when you said it was complicated with Jeff, you really meant that he was a controlling jerk that the Colonel loves to push around."

  "The Colonel does that with everyone, so that's not a fair assessment. And I meant 'it's complicated' as in I don't have all the answers."

  "Don't have them or don't want to share them? Because those are two different things."

  She glanced over at him, those gray eyes hitting him in a way that sent a shock right through him. "It seems you're getting to see all the really embarrassing things I'd rather not show people."

  "Like an ex-husband who is totally self-absorbed and completely blind when it comes to body language?" He paused to dial down his intensity. "He knows what you do for a living, right? I mean, you didn't have a secret life when the two of you were married, right?"

  She bit the corner of her lip. "I'm mostly referring to the thing with Haley."

  "And avoiding what I imagine is a very personal subject."

  She shot him a glare. "So, about my sister."

  "Haley? Your sister, Haley? Dark hair. Interesting personality. Really poor management of alcoholic beverages? Kind of prickly when you point out her obvious flaws." He paused. "Never heard of her."

  Sam stopped at the edge of the dock. Faced him. "How long have you known she's been in trouble?"

  "Swing and a miss with the humor approach on my part."

  She let out a sigh. "Elliot, I'm serious."

  He held in a smile. "I know as much as you do, probably less. I just clean up the mess from time to time."

  She shook her head, her hair blowing in the wind with the movement. "You should've called me."

  "Believe it or not, that was my full intention this morning. Before everything hit. And you would have done all those things she doesn't want
you doing—the things she needs to do for herself. And she'd end up right where she's been. Back on my couch. Drunk."

  Or worse. And he'd be stuck contemplating if he should throw in the towel or call Sam. Call the cops. Call an addiction center.

  "Was she drunk this morning?"

  "It didn't appear so." Which would've been a first. Something he maybe should've questioned immediately, but he'd gotten sidetracked. By the Colonel. By Sam.

  "The time before that?"

  "Yes." Everything inside him clenched with the memory. He didn't like where this was going. Wanted to fast-forward through the conversation to a point where Sam had already digested everything. "With a concussion."

  "Before that?"

  That time was even worse. "Do we really need to go into this? Ask Haley. She should be the one to tell you this. Maybe it would give you an insight into the reason behind it all so she can get better."

  "Elliot..." Impatience lined the syllables. "You know she won't tell me. It's lie after lie. I don't even think she realizes it anymore. We'll just end up screaming at each other. Me—because I'm scared she'll get herself killed. Her because she doesn't even realize what we're fighting about. She'll throw something. I'll throw something back. We'll revert to childhood. It all goes downhill."

  He'd seen a lot of restraint today. "That didn't happen at the office."

  "Witnesses."

  Sure. Witnesses. He believed that. "What good is knowing all this going to do, then?"

  She folded her arms across her chest. Settled into that position as if she had no intention to move until she had the details. "I'm her sister. I need to know. How bad is it?"

  It had been so bad the one time that he'd called his parents and asked for their advice. His mom and dad had actually flown into town and sat with him at the hospital. Made him go home and get some rest. "She mixed alcohol and pain killers. Had her stomach pumped."

  Shock blasted across Sam's face. She paled, her arms falling to her sides. "When?"

  "Last year. It was the first time I'd ever seen her. She didn't have any identification on her. Just showed up on my couch." Half dead.

  It wasn't until much later that he managed to track down the Colonel and Sam—their family dynamics clear in an instant. He'd worked with the Colonel long enough to know the truth of what Haley had attempted would've been stoically received. He'd see it as a drama tactic and not for the serious issue it was. And Elliot knew Sam. Knew she'd shoulder the burden whatever the cost.

  "She made you promise not to call me."

  "Yes." A decision he regretted every day. And while Haley had kept her end of the bargain—to stay sober—for all of two days before she'd disappeared off the radar, he hadn't gone back on his word.

  And then he and Sam had been put together on the Theo Trenton case—not their first, but certainly the biggest.

  Sam's gaze trapped his. "Why help someone you didn't even know?"

  "She showed up. I learned she was your sister..." An awkwardness he hadn't dealt with since freshman year of high school snuck up on him. "This is what we do. We help where we can. Even when that means housing an unknown person at random and cleaning up her puke." And as soon as he'd found Haley on his couch that first time, he'd known. He'd known she wasn't the average stumbling drunk who'd happened upon an open door and a cozy couch.

  She could travel in time. She was traveling in time. Repeatedly. Trying to forget. Trying to die.

  He wasn't going to let that happen on his watch. Stranger or not. "It wasn't that hard to figure out how she was getting inside my house without a key."

  Sam's gray eyes lit on their surroundings. "She..."

  "No." He held up his hands. "She never told me. I can sense it. There's a certain feel in the air when someone slingshots or absorbs. I should've said something about Haley. About what we can do. This morning. This...this is a private thing for me."

  There were so many reasons for it. Traveling in time was dangerous. And there were people who wanted to use it. Exploit it.

  She didn't move. Just watched him in a way that had his blood surging through his body.

  Then she said, "Me too."

  He took a deep breath. "You know Haley isn't going to knock on your door later, right? She's not going to be over the threshold with an apology and some humility. Maybe someday, if you're both lucky, but not today."

  A small smile captured Sam's lips. "She might." She dug something out of her pocket, opened her palm. Revealed a flash drive. "Well, not the apology part, but maybe she'll come looking for this."

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  THEY'D PUMPED HER stomach.

  Haley had ingested so much alcohol and pills, they'd actually had to remove them from her system.

  The thoughts were on repeat in Sam's mind. The way she hadn't known. The way Haley had planned to make sure Sam wouldn't ever know.

  She always shut everyone out. Even now when she was likely in the thick of something sure to end her life, she wouldn't come to Sam for help.

  She wouldn't come to anyone.

  How was Sam supposed to combat that?

  Sam took a sip of her water and ignored the swirl in her stomach as she and Elliot hiked back to the public beach. They'd talked with various groups who'd been at the beach that morning. No one had heard or seen anything out of the norm.

  They'd talked to the park rangers about the family who had supposedly seen Anne. Harry and Benita Ramsey. They had three children. Came to Shaver Lake every year. Same weekend. Same site. And they'd rented a pontoon earlier that morning exactly as Elliot had said.

  "I noticed you didn't mention the medallion." Elliot's voice came from beside her as they moved toward the marina. He'd been quiet through the uneventful adventure. Asking questions only when needed. As if he actually thought she could handle this job, unlike Jeff, who thought she was incapable of dealing with anything remotely dangerous.

  "I'm sure they found it." If Jeff hadn't, Simon had. The Fresno County Sheriff's Captain didn't miss much.

  "Any particular reason?"

  That was a loaded question. One she wanted to give her sister the benefit of the doubt on. "I found a lot more than a flash drive in Haley's car. I found research." And from the brief glance Sam had gotten, it was years' worth.

  "Research?"

  "Once upon a time, Haley was an investigative journalist and a foreign correspondent—probably one of the best. She'd go wherever the story was. It didn't matter if that brought her to a country without a source of running water. If it meant details and glory, she was in. Did you know she spent a few years in Iraq? Right alongside the troops."

  "You say that like—"

  "She stopped?" Her gaze trailed back to where Jeff had been a few hours ago. "Haley and Jeff went to college together. A big group of journalism and criminal justice majors would hang out. Study. Party. Dig up leads on stories that usually went nowhere. A year after graduation, she gets wind of this girl with a voice. Powerful. Amazing. And everybody thought it was just another kid with an ungodly amount of talent, but it turns out the kid is deaf—a freak accident. But she can sing like nothing I've ever seen or heard since. The story went viral—Haley's story.

  "Her career took off from there, her travel increasing with every article she wrote. She's always been looking for the next big break. The next sensation. The next way to have her name out there. And a few years ago she stumbled upon it. A charismatic war hero who embodied every core value the military ever embraced. Service before self. Excellence in all you do. Theo Trenton's crew loved him. His superiors wanted to fast-track his career. There wasn't a mission he'd say no to.

  "Haley was overseas covering the troops. He was overseas on his sixth or seventh deployment in as many years. Everyone knew he avoided the war reporters and correspondents as a general rule, but somehow she got him to agree to give her an exclusive interview before she headed back to the states. The next week he's reported Missing In Action."

  Elliot shook his head.
Stuck his tongue inside his cheek.

  "Naturally, she followed the buzz he left in his wake." The heroics heralded both stateside and abroad. People swore they'd seen him on every coast. The police were at their wits' ends. The family was distraught, the wife dealing with three kids all under five. And somehow Haley had dogged his steps—if they were indeed Theo's. "If she found him, she'd be—"

  "Golden. Any journalism job she wanted." He shifted. "This was an entire year before Hope Alive was given the case. So what happened?"

  "Wrong bar. Wrong crowd. Wrong friends." And Sam should've been there. Should've gone out with her that night. Haley had actually begged her. But Sam had her own case she was working on and she needed to be focused, not end up with a giant hangover and sleep deprivation. "One drink was all it took. Jeff found her in a back alley near the dumpster. Rushed her to the hospital. The doctors said she was lucky to be alive, but that she probably wouldn't ever have kids." Her gaze roamed over the boats around them and the dock they now stood on. "I know she doesn't feel lucky to be alive." She hadn't in that hospital. And from everything Elliot had told her, she didn't now.

  "And she hasn't written an article or chased a story since?"

  She paused. Would Elliot understand? Would he get that Sam hadn't run into that warehouse to be a hero. To prove that she had guts. To make a name. But to find a man who'd captivated a large part of the nation. Captivated her sister. Lured her into that warehouse through no fault of his own. And Sam had known Haley wouldn't come out alive.

  The truth had been in her gut. Had been confirmed by Ricky. But she'd gone in anyway. Because Theo Trenton deserved to go home. And Haley...

  Haley deserved closure to a story—after all she'd been through to get it. And Sam wanted to believe she wasn't the person her actions portrayed. That she wasn't aiding the men who'd held Theo captive. That this was not just another story where the players didn't matter as long as it brought the most notoriety.