by Laura Scott
She needed her memory to return. Before more innocent lives were lost.
* * *
Noah ignored the pain spreading throughout the right side of his back. As long as he could move, he wasn’t going to waste time stopping to inspect the damage.
The vest he was wearing had saved his life, and Maddy’s, too.
But not Jackson’s. The image of his partner threatened to send him to his knees and guilt choked him.
When would the deaths stop?
The boat lurched to the side, and he realized he’d loosened his grip on the wheel. This wasn’t the time to feel sorry for himself. He needed to stay focused, to clear his thoughts. To find a way to keep Maddy safe.
Nothing would bring his partner back. All he could do was keep moving forward. Find a way to bring Pietro’s henchman, if that’s who was behind all this, which was the only thing that made sense, to justice.
But his partner’s unexpected shooting begged the question about how the gunman had found them in the first place? Had Jackson’s phone been bugged? Or had his partner been followed to the marina? If the guy who’d rammed them into the lake was working for Pietro and had figured out Noah’s name, it stood to reason that they’d assume he’d go to Jackson for help. The gunman might have staked out Jackson’s place and when he figured out they were headed for the marina, went over to pick his spot on the hill.
Was it possible someone from within law enforcement was involved? As soon as the idea entered Noah’s head, he pushed it away.
No, he wasn’t going there. Besides, he had no evidence that these attempts against Maddy were the result of an inside job.
Maddy settled back against him. He told himself not to read into her gesture; she was likely freezing cold and seeking warmth. Even if she one day decided to forgive him for causing her twin brother’s injury, there would never be anything but friendship between them.
He didn’t do relationships. Losing his sister and then Gina had taught him that love hurt. He wasn’t about to open himself up to that again, and especially not with Matt’s twin sister. She was off-limits in every way.
The cinnamon scent of her hair was distracting and he kept his eyes on the water, making sure there weren’t any vehicles that seemed to be tailing them.
Should he turn around and head back to Milwaukee?
He considered the cities and towns north of Milwaukee. There were a few areas that would serve as a good hiding place.
But there was the temperature to consider. Maddy had already been exposed to the elements for too long. Dr. Hawkins had told him she needed rest and relaxation. The sooner he could find them a safe place to spend what was left of the night, the better.
Heading north was out of the question, so he focused on finding a place that was within walking distance of the southern shore of the lakefront.
Easier said than done.
Maddy shivered, accentuating the need to get her someplace safe and warm. He eyed the fuel gauge. Was there enough to take them to Chicago? Then again, maybe just getting across the Illinois border would help.
Five minutes passed, then ten. He was beginning to give up hope of finding anything close by when he caught a glimpse of a neon sign.
Vacancy.
Perfect. But where was the motel? Objects in the distance could look deceiving. What appeared close was likely farther away than he’d like.
He cranked the wheel, pointing the bow of their boat toward shore. The vacancy sign grew brighter and he was relieved to see that the small structure was adjacent to what looked like a truck stop.
Sweeping his gaze over the area, he stumbled across a small boathouse next to a pier. It looked private, but he didn’t care. They needed safe access to shore, and from there he would let the boat drift away, hopefully taking anyone working for Pietro far away from their hiding spot.
Maddy didn’t say anything as he steered the boat toward shore. In fact, she took over the wheel, leaving him to guide the vessel to the pier, as if they’d done this together a hundred times, instead of just once.
“Now,” he called. The engine immediately went into Reverse and he looped the line over the pylon. “Cut the engine.”
She did. Within seconds, she joined him in the bow.
“Take my hand,” he instructed, hiding a wince when his back muscles screamed in protest.
Maddy stumbled, her movements sluggish, and he knew hypothermia was beginning to set in. They didn’t have any time to waste. He needed to get her inside the warmth of a building as soon as possible.
“Come on, Maddy, we’re almost there,” he urged, taking more of her weight so that he could get her onto solid ground. When she was standing on the pier beside him, he quickly lifted the line off the pylon and gave the boat a firm shove with his foot.
“Wh-what are y-you doing?” He took it as a good sign that her teeth were chattering again. At least her body was still attempting to stay warm.
He needed her to fight for just a little longer.
“If Pietro’s men are watching, they’ll hopefully assume we’re still on board.” He wrapped his arm around her waist. “The motel isn’t far, see the vacancy sign? Warmth is just a few yards away.”
“I—I see—it.”
Was it his imagination or were her words coming slower and more slurred? He urged her forward, anxious to get to their destination. Dividing his attention between Maddy’s precarious health and searching for signs of danger, he took the shortest possible route to the motel.
The lobby of the motel was dark except for a small lamp he could see at the front desk. As they approached, he didn’t see anyone standing there and when he tested the door, it was locked.
Since the truck stop café was open and likely serving coffee, he gestured to it. “We’ll stop in there, get something hot to drink.”
This time she didn’t respond and it appeared she was having a hard time putting one foot in front of the other. The light shining from the café was like a beacon.
After what seemed like forever, but was less than a few minutes, they reached the building. He opened the door and practically shoved Maddy inside. When the door closed behind him, the interior warmth hit him like a welcoming embrace. He found himself closing his eyes and praying.
Thank You, Lord, for giving me the strength to get Maddy to safety.
As they dropped into the closest open booth, it struck him that praying for Maddy was instinctive and much easier than praying for himself.
* * *
Maddy cradled the mug of hot chocolate in her hands, taking tiny sips to warm her belly. She hadn’t realized just how cold she’d been until she’d stumbled into the warmth of the café.
She glanced over at Noah, who was sitting beside her, rather than across the table. Maybe it was her imagination but she thought she could feel warmth radiating from his hand that was resting on her knee.
Shivers racked her body, which made it difficult to drink the chocolate. In some tiny corner of her mind, she understood how dangerously close she’d been to succumbing to hypothermia.
“Thank you, Noah,” she whispered.
He stiffened. “You shouldn’t be thanking me,” he said in a flat tone.
“Yes, I should. Without your help, I’m fairly certain I’d already be dead,” she said, knowing she owed her life to this man, this officer who’d put his own life on the line to protect her. “I wish I remembered—well, everything, but especially you. I’m sure we were friends before this.”
Noah shrugged. “Friends might be pushing it. We were acquaintances, nothing more.” He cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable with the topic. “Since we’re here, we may as well order breakfast. When the motel opens up, we’ll grab a room.”
She couldn’t bear to let go of the steaming mug long enough to open the me
nu, so she rested her cheek against Noah’s shoulder and looked at his. “I’ll have a veggie omelet and a side of hash browns.”
A wry grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “You still don’t eat much meat, do you?”
That observation made her frown. Had she ordered the veggies because of a buried memory? And if so, were there other memories that might begin surfacing? She sincerely hoped so. “I guess not,” she said. “Is there anything else you know about me? You mentioned two brothers, earlier. Do I have parents, too?”
Their server chose that moment to approach their table, refilling Noah’s coffee mug and asking if they were ready to order.
Noah ordered a sausage-and-mushroom omelet rather than the veggie, but they both requested hash-brown potatoes as their side. After the woman hustled away, he turned to look at Maddy, his deep brown eyes, the color of melted chocolate, serious.
“You have a large family, Maddy. Five brothers, a mother and grandmother. Your father was killed in the line of duty almost two years ago. If you want me to call your brothers, I will. I don’t like the idea of using an unsecured phone in the motel, but if that’s what you want, we’ll find a way to make it work.”
A large family? Her breath caught in her chest. How was it that she’d completely forgotten everyone in her family? A mother? Brothers? Grandmother? It didn’t make any sense.
Thinking made her head ache. “I don’t know what to do,” she confessed softly. Logically it would make sense for Noah to call her brothers, handing her over into their care, but the idea of leaving him to go off with men she didn’t know wasn’t appealing. Granted, he’d been a stranger at first, but now she felt comfortable with him.
Scary how much she’d come to depend on Noah.
“Listen, let’s eat, get some sleep and see how you feel in a few hours,” he suggested. “It’s still pretty early. No reason to raise the alarm right now, and maybe by then your memory will have returned.”
She nodded, trying to ignore the lingering headache. “That sounds good to me. I’d rather not risk anything happening to my family, the way—” She stopped just short of mentioning his partner.
Noah’s expression turned grim. “Then we’re in agreement,” he said. He gently squeezed her knee, then removed his hand. She immediately missed the warmth of his touch.
The food arrived with surprising speed. Maddy bowed her head and murmured a quick prayer before digging into her breakfast. By the time they’d finished their respective meals, and a second hot chocolate, Maddy noticed the main lights had been turned on at the motel across the street.
She’d finally stopped shivering, and she didn’t relish the thought of heading back out into the biting cold, even for a short trip across the road. Yet sitting in the booth made her realize how exhausted she was. Her eyelids drooped and she wished she could lean again on Noah.
“Ready?” Noah asked, as she drained the last of her second hot chocolate. He’d paid the server in cash, leaving a nice tip.
“Sure.” She forced a smile.
He slid out of the booth first, then offered her his hand. She took it, glancing up at his face as he helped her stand. A flash of pain darkened his eyes, making her frown.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. From what she could tell, he wasn’t bleeding anywhere.
“Of course.” He didn’t say anything more, and she shrugged it off, thinking her tired mind was playing tricks on her.
He opened the café door for her and she sucked in a harsh breath as the biting cold hit her face. Instantly the shivers returned.
“I’m here, and we’ll be inside again soon,” Noah said, wrapping his arm around her waist.
She nodded and fixated her gaze on the single light in the lobby and the loops of garland hanging around the window. Within moments they were inside, sheltered from the icy wind.
Noah requested two adjoining rooms and used his badge to convince the manager to allow him to pay in cash.
The rooms were nothing fancy, but clean. Noah knocked on their connecting door, so she went over to unlock her side.
“I know you need privacy, but humor me by leaving your side unlocked and ajar, okay? Just in case.”
After everything that had transpired over the last several hours, she knew his request was more than reasonable. “Of course.”
“Get some rest,” he said with a gentle smile.
“You, too.” She left her door open an inch, then quickly washed up in the bathroom. When she returned, she heard a muffled groan from next door.
“Noah?” She pushed open the connecting door. Noah was wearing a white T-shirt and was bending over to pick up the bulletproof vest from the floor.
“It’s nothing,” he said, but the paleness of his skin and the beads of sweat gathering at his temples belied his words.
She crossed over and took the vest from his hands, running her fingers over the surface. The gear was heavier than she’d expected and it didn’t take but a moment to find the bullet lodged three inches to the right of center.
She felt her own color draining from her face at the evidence she was staring at with her own eyes. A bullet. Smashed beyond recognition embedded in the material. Noah had almost died tonight, protecting her. If he hadn’t been wearing his vest...
The consequences were unthinkable. She barely knew Noah Sinclair, didn’t remember anything about him, or her own history, but at this moment she couldn’t imagine her life without him.
FIVE
Noah mentally berated himself for being loud enough to draw Maddy’s attention. Unfortunately, bending over had caused a sharp pain to lance through him, which meant he may have cracked a rib or two.
He reminded himself that Maddy had been injured, too, worse than he had. So he sucked it up. “I’m fine, Maddy, the vest did its job.”
She tossed the vest over the back of a chair. “You’re bruised, though, aren’t you? I know that the force of a slug still packs a punch, in spite of wearing protective gear.”
Bits of her memory were coming back to her, which both gave him hope and filled him with dread. He forced himself to focus on the former. Maddy needed her memory in order to try the case against Pietro; his personal feelings didn’t matter.
“Yes, but I’ll survive. It’s not the first time I’ve been hit.”
Her blue eyes widened in horror. “It’s not?”
Oh, boy, that was the wrong thing to say. He tried again. “I’ll be okay. The bruises will fade in a few days. Please try to get some rest.”
She stared at him for so long, he had to fight not to squirm beneath the intensity of her gaze. “You should take some ibuprofen for your back,” she said. “There’s a convenience store adjacent to the gas station. I’m sure they have some.”
“That’s a good idea,” he said, even though he had no intention of leaving her alone. “They’ll have toiletries and other items there, too. Get some rest and we’ll check it out, later.”
She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her chin defiantly. “You need the ibuprofen now, Noah. I’m not leaving until you go out to get it.”
The familiar Maddy stubbornness made him smile. She was so tired she was practically swaying on her feet, but he also knew that she wouldn’t budge until she got her way. He considered taking her with him, then decided he could be there and back in a matter of minutes. Faster, really, than if he dragged her along.
“I’ll go if you stretch out and relax. Deal?”
“Deal.”
He dragged his jacket back on and crossed over to head outside. Walking swiftly and ignoring the pain, he purchased the ibuprofen along with two toothbrushes, toothpaste, a hairbrush and two warm fleece sweatshirts, one for each of them. If she was going to insist he shop, then he’d make sure to take care of her needs, as well.
When he returned to his room, he was relieved to see that Maddy had indeed stretched out on her bed and was already fast asleep.
Moving silently, he set the personal items he’d purchased for her on the dresser in clear view for when she woke up, before returning to his room. He downed the ibuprofen, and then sat on the edge of his bed. The computer case caught his eye, and it occurred to him that he might be able to find a picture of Maddy’s brothers to show her when she woke up. It was something productive he could do now, since he wasn’t about to risk using the motel phone.
Jackson’s dead body flashed in his memory, and he closed his eyes, willing the image away.
There was nothing he could do about his partner; right now, his priority had to be keeping Maddy safe. Which meant helping her to recover her memory as they stayed hidden.
Shoving his exhaustion aside, he pulled out the computer and turned it on. He silently groaned when he discovered the device was password protected.
Of course Maddy would be sure not to leave her work unsecured. He considered guessing her password, but didn’t want to risk locking it up for good.
He turned off the computer and turned his attention to the manila file labeled Pietro.
He carried the folder over to the bed and stretched out with the pillows propped against his sore back. The ibuprofen barely took the edge off, but he hadn’t expected it would help much anyway.
But a hot shower might. He rolled off the bed and headed into the bathroom. When he emerged twenty minutes later, the soreness in his back muscles had loosened up.
He dressed in his uniform pants and the sweatshirt, then began reviewing Maddy’s file. Maybe there was something in there, some detail that would help him uncover a clue as to who might be working on Pietro’s behalf.
It didn’t take long for the words to swim on the page. The next thing Noah knew, he was blinking at bright sunlight shining in through the window.
