by Dale Mayer
They stopped and stared at her. “Why would he be interested in talking with you?” Mason asked.
“If he’s got David and Theresa then he might be interested. I don’t know,” she cried. “I’m grasping at straws here.”
Cooper walked over and placed an arm around her shoulders. “Come on. Time for a meal and maybe an evening jog. Let some of this tension out.”
“We should go back to Ron – ask him about David and Theresa. Ask him about her husband.”
“We will. You don’t need to get involved.”
She wasn’t sure who said that but it didn’t matter, the answer was the same. “I might not need to,” she said. “But I am just as involved as anyone. More so as I was kidnapped and had my house vandalized. Thank you.”
She studied the men who had done so much for her and her country and softened her tone slightly. “I know that’s your job, just like I don’t like anyone interfering in my job. But if there is anything I can do to help, I’d like to.”
*
Cooper took her home after the meeting. A restless energy simmered inside. He wanted to do something constructive and couldn’t see any way to move forward. “How about barbecue steak and Greek salad for dinner.”
She froze. “You cook?”
“As often as possible.” He laughed at the interested look on her face. “You don’t?”
“I do,” she said, her smile flashing. “But my ex didn’t.”
“Ah.” He hopped out of the vehicle and walked to the front door of his house. “Good thing I’m not your ex. And more things for you to change next time around.”
“What next time?” she asked. “I’m not sure I’ll go there again.”
“You will,” he said, a serious tone in his voice. “You’re the kind of woman who likes to know she has her life in order so you can work on the areas you love.”
“I had that, remember. It didn’t turn out so well for me.”
He unlocked his front door. “And that just means it’s time for a progress check. In the years you were married, you made huge strides. You finished med school. Completed your specialty. Worked in your field. If your marriage didn’t quite work out the way you expected then analyze why, tweak, and move on.”
“Marriage is hardly a strategy.”
“No, but life is. You can go through it and make decisions on the fly or you can look a few steps ahead and work toward them. You already did that by picking a profession and back tracking to see what you needed to do to achieve it – and you did that and so much more.”
“It doesn’t feel like an achievement. It feels like…” She frowned as if uncertain how to answer.
He waited, interested to see how she’d respond.
Only she didn’t answer as her phone buzzed. She pulled it out. “It’s David.”
She read the text. “He wants to meet.” She looked at Cooper. “He says come alone. He’s in trouble. No explanation.”
Chapter 21
“I’m glad he contacted me,” Sasha cried out. “I was so worried.”
“I’m still worried,” Cooper said carefully. “Think about the message, come alone? He’s in trouble. We can’t confirm it’s even from him. We’d thought he’d left the country.”
She froze. “I forgot about that.”
“We will go but we’re taking precautions.” He turned around in the hallway as if trying to pull his thoughts together.
“It’s a public place,” she protested. “What could possibly happen?”
He shook his head. “That’s true as far as that goes, but we need to have backup just in case.”
She glanced down at the text. “I could change the location and make it one closer.”
“No, let’s not do anything suspicious.” He pulled out his phone. “Mason, we’ve had a development.”
She listened while Cooper explained. Her stomach growled reminding her food had been a long time ago. Walking over to the sink she got a glass of water. All the information they’d gone over this morning roiled around inside her head. Nothing made any sense.
“Mason said no one can confirm that David left the country.”
She spun to look at him. “What? You said he went overseas.”
He nodded. “That’s what we heard. However, his passport was last scanned when he came home with us and hasn’t been used to leave. According to Turkish officials, he hasn’t re-entered Turkey. Now he may have another way to travel and once over there he could have entered via another way, or gone to another location altogether but…”
“But he’s likely still here.” She held up her phone. “So chances are this is from him. And he is in trouble.”
Cooper nodded.
She drank her water, hating the bubble of acid in her stomach. “Let’s go.” She placed her glass down on the counter. “Do you want to drive or will I?”
She headed to the front door, not waiting for him to join her.
“Hold up,” he said. “You’re going to be a few minutes late for this meeting.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because Mason is grabbing a couple of men and he’s going to join us.”
She shook her head. “That won’t work. If it’s David it might spook him, and if it isn’t David then they could be looking for a trap.”
He smiled. “Sweetheart, we do this shit all the time.”
She growled at him. “Maybe, but I don’t. I deal with the people after you have done your shit.”
He laughed. The sound was so unexpected she found herself grinning in reaction. She sighed happily. “Being around you has been good for me.”
“How’s that?” he asked as he unlocked the Jeep.
She got in and waited until he joined her, trying to formulate her thoughts.
“After the divorce I changed. Became quiet. Depressed. Some said I was morose. I knew I had to do something and running away to help at the camp suited my change of lifestyle.” She slowly rotated her neck, even now struggling with the pain and suffering she’d seen.
“Only there wasn’t much to smile about there. Sure these people had escaped persecution. They were so damn thankful to be alive. But they were in a holding state. They had no place to go and no way to get to this hoped-for future. Of course I buried myself in work and although the depression eased, the lightness inside hadn’t returned. I didn’t analyze it. I had no time for such things but since being back I’ve gone through a complete overhaul of the experience…” she took a deep breath, “and realized that the lightness wasn’t so much gone but had been toned down by circumstances, yet it was there ready and willing to be turned back up.”
She smiled at him. “I’ve seen it pop up more and more in the last ten days, but there’d been no real reason that I could pinpoint other than the fact I was alive.” She laughed. “And that’s a huge reason, but I’ve come to realize the marked improvement is due to you.”
“Me?” he asked in surprise.
“Yes you. You make me smile.” She said the words simply. There was no reason to adorn them. They were the truth and so much more powerful because of that.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice warm and so damn caring.
She needed that. Needed to know that someone cared. That she wasn’t alone in this messed up world. That someone understood what she’d been through and wouldn’t judge her or expect more of her than she could give.
“No,” she said with a big grin, “Thank you.”
Now he laughed. “I don’t think it was me as much as your stress easing. A painful breakup hurts. We shove a lid on top and try to deal with every day. And if we’re lucky while the lid is on, some of the pain eases. Time is good for that. And if we’re really lucky some of the issues resolve in other ways. But when the time is right, you can open it up and find out that you’ve moved past everything.”
“So you just accept that you’re a good guy, huh?” she teased.
“I’m a good guy, yes. But the healing is in a large part due to your own ha
rd work.” He shot her a wicked grin that started in his eyes and made her heart beat faster. “And I’m happy to know you like being around me. Just as long as you don’t pin a hero complex on me, I’m fine.”
“Like you did to me?”
She heard him suck in his breath. Then he winced. “Ouch.”
“Just figured while we’re clearing the air that maybe we should be clearing the air.”
He took his eyes off the road to study her for a long moment. “In one way I suppose but that begs the question, what are we clearing the air for?”
Her turn to suck in her breath. “Ouch.” And she laughed. “Nice turning of the tables by the way while deflecting the questions.”
“And exactly just what you are trying to do yourself.” He pointed out with a grin.
“So what we’re clearing the air for is to see if there is anything between us that needs an open pathway to proceed.”
At the surprised silence in the vehicle she shrunk back against the passenger door and wished she’d kept her mouth shut. She added in a low voice. “Or not?”
He shook his head.
“Sorry I misunderstood,” she rushed to say, wishing she could go back five minutes. How mortifying. “I said it had been a while, and I wasn’t good at this to begin with. Forget I said anything. Let’s focus on David.”
She didn’t say the next words out loud but she thought them. Let’s focus on David so I can get past this and get my life together. Something that was past time.
Cooper pulled the Jeep into the parking lot and turned off the engine.
*
“Yes, it’s been awhile for you and maybe that’s a good thing. I do prefer to have an open conversation than not. I was just surprised,” he said calmly as he twisted in his seat to look at her. “I’m more used to mind games. Something I hate in a relationship.”
She reached for her door handle to get out, but he caught her chin up in his fingers. “So just for clarity because it feels like things got so very muddy all of a sudden,” he leaned forward, “yes, we are clearing the air to see what there is between us. No, I don’t have a hero complex, but I did and maybe still do have an angel complex. Don’t make me out to be anything more than a flesh and blood male and we’ll do fine.”
She went to tug her chin free but he wouldn’t let her. He’d waited too long to respond to her earlier comment, and now embarrassment had set in.
“I wasn’t rejecting you. I was surprised. Plain and simple. And just in case you have any doubts.”
He leaned forward and kissed her. It was a light searching kiss, looking for a response and wondering if he’d find one.
He started to pull back, but she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back. And that’s when he realized that Dr. Sasha, the tiny dynamo who raced from one place to another with so much energy and compassion was going to be exactly the same in bed.
Just then that passion boiled over as if a lid had been removed and quickly threatened to consume them.
A heavy knock on the window as a large male walked by brought him to his senses. She was sitting in his lap and his hand was under her shirt, cupping her delicious breast.
“Jesus,” he whispered in shock. “What the hell was that?”
She buried her face in his neck, her body trembling in his arms.
He held her close and rocked her gently. “Lady, I don’t know what you’ve been doing with all that passion, but holy shit…”
That gurgled a startled laugh out of her. She lifted her head and there was that cheeky grin he’d first seen right after his surgery. That was the doctor he’d fallen in love with. He rested his forehead against hers.
She took a second shaky breath. “That was…”
“Yeah, I know. Jesus.”
He lifted his head, not wanting the real world to interfere with the haze of intimacy they’d found. “We have to go.”
But he couldn’t release her, instead he cuddled her close.
“I suppose the others are here.”
“Yeah, that was Swede who pounded on the window.” Thank God the guys understood. Too bad he didn’t. He’d wanted a relationship, wanted to see what they could create. It never occurred to him that this heat simmered beneath the surface. And now that it had, there was no way in hell he could ignore it. All he wanted was to take her home to bed. She was already staying with him. At his house. And if they were lucky, in his bed.
“We need to go in,” she murmured, shifting back to her seat. “I can’t say I want to now.”
He winced. “The guys won’t say anything to you.”
“Maybe not, but that doesn’t make it any less embarrassing.”
He watched her slip out of the Jeep and slam the door.
“But it will make it that much harder to take you back to this point,” he muttered.
He exited and locked up then hurried to catch up with her. She might want to put a little distance between them, but he’d do his damnedest to remove the little bit that was already there.
Chapter 22
Inside the restaurant, she stopped and assessed the patrons. The hostess walked toward her, a big smile on her face. “Dr. Childs, I believe?”
Sasha nodded. “I presume my other party is here and waiting.”
“Yes, please come this way.” The woman walked Sasha toward the back. Cooper was just a pace behind. She refused to look around at the full tables. There were some men she knew but the last thing she wanted was to be any more embarrassed than she already was. Making out in the front seat of the Jeep. Like high school all over again. And wasn’t it supposed to be the back seat? Then again she didn’t think the vehicle had one of those. The hostess motioned to a small meeting room.
“I’ll bring the menus and would you like coffee?”
Sasha nodded, her gaze on the lone person in the room. She walked forward. “David?”
He froze then turned toward her. And she saw his haggard face for the first time.
“Oh my God, what’s wrong?” She ran to the table and sat down beside him and wrapped her arms around him.
“They have Theresa.”
His words were said so simply she didn’t know what to say in response.
Then Cooper sat down beside her and David cried, “No, you can’t be here.” He placed his hands on the table flat and pushed himself. His gaze zinged to Sasha. “I said come alone!”
Cooper was there instantly. With a hand on David’s shoulder, he settled him back down. “I am here. No games. What the hell is going on?”
With a shaky breath David sat down hard. He shook his head. “They said they’d kill her if I brought in the authorities.”
“Kill Theresa?” Sasha cried out softly. “Why, what’s going on?”
He gazed at her with a tortured look.
Her heart bled for him. “David talk to me.”
“I can’t,” he whispered. “I can’t be responsible if they hurt her. I thought if I talked to you, we’d be able to find a way to help her. But if they see these men…”
“They aren’t the police but they are the men that can help,” she said forcefully. “So please…”
“Start at the beginning please,” Cooper said. He brought out his phone and laid it on the table. “I’m going to record this.”
But David stared at the phone as if it was going to bite him.
Sasha reached across the table. “David,” she said in her no nonsense tone. “Talk to me.”
His breath released in a long shaky movement, and he gave her an abrupt nod. “Theresa and I were an item in the camp. We didn’t expect it to happen. Nor did we realize just what the relationship meant.” He splayed out his hands. “I didn’t know she was married.”
Sasha raised her eyebrows. “She didn’t tell you, or things blew up so fast that she was caught up too?”
“The latter – at least I’m presuming so. They had been having trouble for a long time so she joined the volunteers for the year so they could rethink their re
lationship. The camp was close enough they could go back and forth. But in the meantime she was there – on the spot – and missing out on one of life’s biggest glory moments – love.” He scrubbed his face with both hands.
“But she was still married,” Cooper prompted.
David nodded. “And no longer wanted to be married. Then the kidnapping happened. We almost didn’t make it and that brought us both a chance to rethink what we wanted.”
A waitress walked in with their coffees and several menus. Sasha thanked the woman.
David stared out the window until she left.
“And then,” Cooper prompted.
“I’ve never been married before,” David said. “I’ve been involved in lots of relationships but none that mattered more to me than my work. Until I met Theresa.”
“And did she reciprocate the feeling?”
Sasha listened to Cooper’s questions, but she was trying to reconcile the woman she’d known briefly. This explained the woman’s depression. Her melancholic state. But then why not get a divorce? “Was she going to get a divorce?”
“Yes, she planned to tell him that weekend, but it didn’t work out that way. Then when we returned stateside she acted oddly. I wasn’t sure what was going on. I tried to talk to her but she wouldn’t talk. She just kept saying things were different now.”
“So she wasn’t going to get a divorce now?” The kidnapping had been traumatic. Maybe it had been enough to change her mind, but not necessarily. Sasha had gone through a period of determining what was important in her life. Now she was getting back to living. Hence, Cooper at her side.
“She said she loved me more than anything, and she’d do everything she could to keep me safe. Then she walked out the door.” He shook his head. “I should have questioned her. Pleaded with her to explain. To tell me what was really happening.”
“Then how do you know she was taken?” Cooper studied David’s face. “Maybe she returned to her husband and is breaking contact with you.”
David shook his head. He pulled out his cellphone and slid it across the table.
Cooper opened the phone.
