Well, wasn’t that terrific?
She took a deep breath and counted to ten. Her heart still hammered and her hands shook, so she tried it again. The audience didn’t help, but she would not let panic plow her under.
“Jocelyn?” Ben’s concerned voice slipped through her misfiring brain.
She concentrated on the counting.
“You still with us?” Davis asked.
She tried to block them out and duck the embarrassment. These guys handled guns as if they were born holding them. She was halfway to a full-on screaming fit at the idea of an unlocked window.
“I’m fine.” She strained to say the words and winced over the rasp in her voice.
“There’s no need to panic. You know now.” Davis glanced at Connor. “We can hook that up for her, right?”
“Of course,” Connor said.
She needed a minute and wanted to tell them not to worry. From the wrinkled brows and joint staring, she knew she was too late with that assurance.
“Okay, that’s enough safety talk for now.” Ben clapped his hands together and all eyes went to him. “No more alarm discussion. Doesn’t matter anyway because she’s not staying here tonight or anytime soon.”
The change in his demeanor from listening to taking charge stunned her. She’d seen him in the hospital as he chased down a guy with a gun, but when he talked with her, he had always kept his voice light and his mood friendly. He had flirted and stopped by the hospital and generally swept her off her feet with his charm until she had finally agreed to go to dinner. Since that had ended with a rescue, she was grateful, but the truth was she had no idea which version was the real Ben.
But she knew one thing that was not happening. Scared or not, she needed a bed. At this point she thought she could sleep right there on the barstool. “Well, I’m not sleeping in my car, so let’s figure something out.”
Ben’s inviting smile reappeared. “I was thinking my house.”
He had to be kidding. They’d had one date and it had ended in a bloodbath. Not exactly the best introduction for more time together. “What?”
“Not a bad idea,” Connor said. “We need to do some investigating here and clean up. I can keep Joel with me.”
Seemed to her they were skipping an obvious step, which was hard to understand, since hints were all around them. She held out her arm and swept it across the room full of people trampling through her stuff. “The police—”
Connor waved her off. “We’ll back them up on this one.”
“Why? This strikes me as being a bit out of your jurisdiction, and I’m saying that because I refuse to believe someone wanted to kidnap me.” Every time the thought entered her head, she pushed it right back out again. “He had the wrong place or something.”
Connor looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Possibly. We’ll talk that through with Willoughby.”
“Does it have to be him?” she asked.
“Detective Glenn Willoughby is the man in charge, or so he said when he introduced himself.” Connor pointed at the man across the room in the dark suit and no tie. “He’s new but doesn’t seem that hard to handle.”
She wondered if they were talking about the same guy. The Detective Willoughby who talked to her had rapid-fired questions until Ben made him stop. “I’ll trust you on that one.”
“And for the record—” a smile spread across Connor’s face as he talked “—we’re stepping in because you’re dating Ben. That makes your safety our concern.”
“A major one,” Ben mumbled under his breath.
“They’re dating?” Davis’s eyes widened. He glanced around, as if checking to see if anyone else overheard. “That’s a definite thing?”
Before they could get carried away and totally lose focus, she tried to rein them in. “Date, as in singular.”
Ben shrugged. “I thought it went well.”
Wiping her hands over her face, she pushed her hair back off her shoulders and bit back a groan of frustration. “I can’t even think right now.”
“Put a bag together.” Davis hitched a thumb in the general direction of her bedroom. “My wife will be happy for some female company in the house.”
“I’m coming, too,” Ben said.
Davis nodded. “Fine, but you get the couch.”
Ben held up his hands as if in surrender. “So long as I’m in the building.”
Speaking of trampling, they went off on a tangent and left her behind. Never mind they were talking about her life. Maybe that was what happened with the savior types. They tried to control everything. Not her favorite male trait.
“Gentlemen?” They kept talking and the arguments turned into a haze of mumbling she decided to ignore. To keep from knocking their heads together, she looked around the room, at all the men standing around and the few trying to act as if they weren’t listening in.
Then she saw the blood puddle on her once-fluffy beige carpet and the body bag next to it. Reality punched her right in the stomach as she realized life had changed on her again. “I don’t get a say, do I?”
Ben stopped talking to his team long enough to look at her. “No.”
Chapter Three
Jocelyn liked Lara Bart-Weeks immediately. She had shoulder-length brown hair with perfect blond highlights and a warm smile. Pretty and trim, and she practically glowed when she looked at Davis. Even now she made up the guest bed while keeping up a constant stream of welcoming chatter.
The place was as inviting as she was. The brick two-story town house sat on a tree-lined street just off the historic center of Annapolis. The inside had been gutted and renovated, a project that was ongoing by the look of the dismantled kitchen downstairs. But this room, with the blue walls and stacks of pillows piled on the high bed, screamed comfortable.
Lara stood on the opposite side of the mattress with a pillow hanging loosely from her hand. “Hey, you okay?”
“Not really.” A thousand different emotions bombarded her, but Jocelyn couldn’t seem to hang on to any of them long enough to find a steady center. But one thing she knew for sure—she was not okay.
Lara’s smile turned sad. “It’s all going to work out.”
Rather than pretend to be fine or wave off the concern, Jocelyn slumped down on the end of the bed. She held out her hands and turned them over, stunned at the constant movement. “I can’t stop shaking.”
“That’s normal.”
“I don’t feel normal.”
Lara sat down next to her with a pillow tucked on her lap. “It’s aftermath. Nerves bouncing around as you come down from the dramatic episode. Once the adrenaline is gone, the memories of the horror come rushing back. This is the hard part, but it will get easier. I promise.”
Jocelyn still battled the need to double over and saw blood pooling on her carpet whenever she closed her eyes. Still, something in Lara’s tone caught her attention. “Sounds like you talk from experience.”
“Unfortunately.” Lara sighed. “A time not that long ago, a man hunted me down and tried to kill me. When that didn’t work, more men came.”
Her comment touched off a new round of trembling. Scenes of the night tumbled through Jocelyn’s mind as she glanced at Lara. “What are you talking about?”
“I had this job performing security-clearance checks for government agencies. I’d go in, ask questions, do the investigations.” She tossed the pillow on the bed behind them. “One job went wild and ended up with this mess in the NCIS.”
Memories clicked together. The news, the shooting, slim facts and a sense there was a piece of the story the public didn’t know. Jocelyn knew about the scandal because anyone not buried underground knew. Between the headlines and cries of corruption, the NCIS story a few months back had been hard to miss.
Then the
re was the personal angle. The Ben part. That was what had Jocelyn sitting at her laptop and searching for more information for two weeks before she said yes to a date. “The murders and the deputy...something. I can’t remember his title but it’s the case where Ben testified against his boss about the corruption.”
Lara frowned. “Did he tell you about it?”
“He didn’t really have to. His name was all over the papers.” The boss was an accomplice in an old murder, and the boss and his connected friends had tried to cover up a leak of information, leading to a long line of deaths and Ben leaving NCIS under a cloud of suspicion. “It’s not very attractive, I know, but I started with the scandal, then did a few more searches under his name.”
“Sounds smart to me.”
Maybe it was the way she said things or how genuine she came off, but something about Lara had Jocelyn wanting to open up. She’d hidden parts of herself away for so long. After being scared and having no one believe her, fighting off a policeman stalker with all the power and reputation on his side, she had stopped reaching out for help.
After it all blew up and she changed her life around, the anxiety remained. She battled it by limiting contact and coming up with routines that comforted her. A few times the other nurses insisted she come out with them and she did, but she barely knew Lara.
Still, the words flowed and Jocelyn was helpless to stop them. “When Ben started asking me out, I thought I should figure out if the man I met at the hospital as a guard was as decent as he appeared to be, because I’ve met some who aren’t.”
“We all have, but he is. I knew it from the second he walked into Corcoran headquarters. Not that much later, without even thinking about it, he put his body in front of mine and saved me from being shot.”
Apparently that sort of thing was a habit with Ben. “Sounds familiar.”
Lara’s smile came back, more subtle this time but definitely there. The kind that said she was about to go on an information-fishing expedition. “So, he started asking you out?”
“I made him work for it.” Jocelyn ran her fingers over the outline of the flower print on the comforter.
“Good for you. When it’s easy for them, their egos are unbearable.” Lara got up and went to the dresser. She turned around with shampoo and other bathroom essentials in each hand. “Since I’m a bit of a bath-gel collector, we have a lot of choices, but you might like a few of these.”
Figuring out which fragrance to use seemed so mundane after seeing a dead man on her floor. Jocelyn didn’t know how to switch the fear off and go back to regular conversations. The idea of sleeping in a strange bed already had her insides jumping around.
She rubbed her hands together but stopped when she felt a burn on her skin and saw how red they were turning. “So, at some point I’ll go back to not being terrified of being attacked again?”
Lara’s arms dropped. “I won’t lie to you. It will creep up on you now and then, but you’ll get through it. And you’re safe here.”
“I can’t exactly live in your guest room.” Though Jocelyn had to admit she didn’t hate the thought.
She winced at the idea of returning to her apartment. She’d considered it a safe place, her sanctuary. An easy walk to the water and a few miles from the heavy traffic of the touristy historic district and the Naval Academy. But no way could she stay there now.
“You’re welcome to live here as long as you need.” Lara handed her two bottles.
Jocelyn took them without reading the labels. “Aren’t you guys newlyweds?”
“Almost three months, but we’ve known each other a long time. We were engaged before.” Lara held up a hand as she rolled her eyes. “Long story.”
That sounded better than talking about murder. “Apparently I’ve got time.”
“Right now you need sleep.”
She made it sound so easy. Jocelyn knew from experience it wouldn’t be. “I’ll never be able to drift off.”
“I’ll bet you a doughnut tomorrow morning that you will.”
* * *
BEN SAT AT Davis’s dining-room table and spun a water bottle around, watching it tip and using his palms to make sure it didn’t fall over. The edges thudded until it came to a stop. Then he started again.
Davis reached over Ben’s shoulder and snagged the bottle-turned-toy. “So you and the nurse are dating, huh? A guy goes on his honeymoon, misses one case and comes back to all sorts of changes.”
Skipping the groan, Ben wiped his hands over his face then let his arms fall against the table with a slap. “You held that in longer than I expected.”
“You know, if you had convinced her to let you into her apartment for some after-date time, the guy may have taken you out before you could have saved her.” Davis shrugged as he sat down sideways in the chair across from Ben and stretched his long legs out in front of him. “So it’s good she had no trouble resisting you.”
There were times Ben hated the lack of privacy in this group. They were connected by the intercoms in their watches and phones. Joel tracked their movements and each had cameras in their houses that reported back to Corcoran headquarters and could be turned on in the event of an emergency call. It reminded him of his time in the navy—all structure and little alone time. Having been out for years, it was taking time to get used to the intrusions again.
“Are you doubting my abilities?” Because by the fifth time Jocelyn said no to coffee, Ben had started to.
Davis shrugged. “Just pointing out that Dating Ben might not be as on top of things as Agent Ben.”
“Feel free to go to bed. I don’t need conversation.” But he would stand watch. Ben stared out the double glass doors to the backyard and into the darkness beyond.
He knew from hanging out there that the large rectangular space consisted of mostly mud in the middle covered with some boards, thanks to all the renovation work Davis and Lara were doing. They also refrained from building anything out there or working on the landscaping because Davis wanted a clear sight line and limited places for intruders to hide.
Not that the guy was paranoid or anything. Though the elaborate security system complete with heat and motion sensors and a secret door to the neighbor’s yard suggested some trust issues.
All those precautions meant they should be fine staying there tonight. But almost anything could be breached, and until Ben knew if the attacker wanted him or Jocelyn, or was just part of some unlikely random event, he planned to be ready.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Davis said.
“Worried?”
“Let’s say confused.”
It wasn’t a surprise that Davis phrased it that way since he was the more serious one of the group. Much more than his younger brother, Pax.
Like Connor, Davis led by example and wouldn’t hesitate to throw his body in front of any of them to make sure they survived. He ran them through drills to keep their instincts and skills sharp.
He demanded the best and gave the exact same back. That kind of dedication inspired loyalty. So when Davis showed signs of concern, they all did.
Ben gave a voice to the questions churning in his mind. “None of this makes any sense.”
“Any chance the attack is about you?”
That was the worry. The one Ben wrestled with as guilt sucker-punched him. “The guy asked Jocelyn to give him something. Wish we knew what.”
“Could be subterfuge. We’ve seen that sort of thing before. The guy fears he’s caught and throws some nonsense out there to send us spinning in the wrong direction.”
“It does seem convenient.” That ticked Ben off. The idea he put Jocelyn in this position kept his mind turning to find a way to save her now.
“You start dating a woman and someone comes after her. It could be a one-plus-one thing.” Davis wiped a hand across t
he wood top of the table. “I don’t like it.”
“You think it’s blowback on the NCIS deal.”
“There are some angry people out there who don’t like that you spotlighted the corruption.”
“Well, that’s tough sh—”
Davis held up a hand. “Hold on there. I’m not one of them. You helped save Lara and put your neck out there to weed out the losers in an otherwise fine group. It’s all pretty damn heroic to me. I’m just saying some of the crazier elements might not agree.”
Three beeps cut off Ben’s answer. He glanced around for a phone. “What was that?”
But Davis was already up and opening the small door beneath the cabinet holding dishes and other delicate things that looked far too easy to break for Ben’s liking.
After pressing a few buttons, Davis took out a gun and another clicked against the table when he set it down. Next he took out his phone and talked in a low voice.
Two words: stay upstairs.
“Motion sensor,” Davis said as he pulled out of the direct line of sight through the back doors and motioned for Ben to do the same.
“An animal?” But he didn’t wait for an answer. Taking up position on the side of the opposite door, Ben peeked into the yard now bathed in a bright yellow light. Something out there had those shining through the trees.
“Maybe.”
Ben checked the gun and prepared for battle. “So, no.”
“Contact the team and I’ll check on the women upstairs.” Davis pivoted and froze.
“Too late.” Lara and Jocelyn stood at the bottom of the staircase in sweatpants and T-shirts.
From their wild hair and big eyes, Ben guessed they’d gotten Davis’s message on the way to bed and found clothes.
That wasn’t good enough. Ben wanted them locked down. “You two need to get out of here.”
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