by Vaughn, Ann
"I don't..." Lainey began but felt heat rising in her cheeks. Kacee was right; she did already love the fact that she was never going to be able to push Mike around. He would push right back and she was pretty sure that if he ever asserted his dominance, he would win.
Kacee smiled and winked at her. "That, my dear, sweet, Lainey, is why I never introduced you to him. You weren't ready. He's not going to fall at your feet. You're going to have to work if you want him. You already know what he went through in his service. He is carrying some serious demons within him. You want him, you help him through all of that and hold on as tight as you can to him. Ride it out. But hold on. Mike is a really, really good guy. There is no one else who I think is deserving of you. My idiot brother included." She glanced at the clock. "I gotta get ready for my first appointment. But you remember what I've said, especially when he pisses you off, which will be often, I assure you. I love him like one of my brothers and after all he has been through, he has earned you, Lainey."
Lainey watched Kacee leave, standing in stunned silence. She always thought Kacee wanted her to be with Kevin. It absolutely floored her that all this time, her best friend had someone else in mind for her. She thought about Riley. Mike had been his best friend for years, yet he'd never introduced her to Mike, either. Was it for the same reasons? She couldn't wait for Riley to get home so she could find out.
Chapter Five
Mike forced thoughts of his morning with Lainey from his mind and concentrated on helping Colt get the security system for the offices up and running. He could tell that Colt was chomping at the bit to say something to him about her but was wisely staying quiet. Mike was grateful for that because he honestly didn't think he'd be able to keep himself in check if Colt were to rag on him. Fortunately, Colt was focused on his work and most likely picked up on the fact that it wouldn't be wise to provoke him.
The endless stream of children coming in for counseling astounded him. The girls had their schedules down to an art-form. They would escort the one they'd just ended with out to the reception area to reunite with their parent and then escort the next one back to their offices. There were very few times that an incoming patient had to wait more than five minutes for Lainey or Kacee to come get them.
"Hey, Mike," Cam Blackwell, Riley's step-son, greeted him when he walked in. "What are you doing here?"
"Working on the security system. How are you?"
"Good. Mom and Riley are coming home early. She said they'd be here on Friday."
Mike met Colt's gaze briefly, then looked back down at Cam. "Excited to have them back?"
"Yeah. Riley's going to teach me to shoot. I can't wait." Cam's eyes shifted to Colt and Mike saw them widen just slightly. "I know you from one of Riley's pictures."
Colt smiled and held his hand out to the kid. "Colt Harris."
"Cam Blackwell. You're the one who sent a card to Riley addressed to Malibu Ken."
Colt laughed and even Mike had to chuckle at that one.
"Yeah, I did. He kinda looks like Malibu Ken. I give him a hard time about that."
Cam snickered. "Malibu Ken. That's a good one."
"Yeah, but I wouldn't recommend you use that around Riley," Lainey said, coming into the reception area. She spoke briefly to the mother of the little girl who was leaving then came up to Cam. "You ready?"
"Yeah. Grandmother will be up in a minute, she was looking for a parking spot."
"OK, let's head back then."
"See ya, Mike. Colt."
Both guys paused and watched Lainey walk Cam down the hall to her office. Mike knew of the difficulties Cam had after being kidnapped and then dealing with drama from his father. The kid who just walked away looked like he was recovering nicely from all of that. Mike knew that was due in part to Riley coming into his life, and in part to the counseling sessions Cam had with Lainey.
"I still can't believe Stanton is a step-dad," Colt said, shaking his head and turning back to the electrical panel he was working on.
"None of us can believe you're going to be a father," Mike said, looking up when an older woman walked into the offices. It was Riley's wife's mother. He recognized her from their wedding. He stepped away from Colt so that the big man wouldn't say anything disparaging about Riley in front of his mother-in-law and headed down the hall to check on Tessa.
"How's it going?"
Tessa shrugged. "Kids in, kids out. They've got a good system going...and both are really good with the kids. A couple of them haven't wanted the doors closed so I've heard a couple of their sessions. Really interesting stuff, how they handle them."
"You want to take a break, get off your feet? I'll stay down here. Colt's just finishing up down there."
"Yeah, sure. Kacee already finished up with her last patient. She's just making phone calls. Lainey has one."
Mike nodded. "That's Riley's step-son."
"Really? Cute kid. He and Lainey were talking non-stop all the way down the hall and into her office. I figured she must know him a little better than the other kids she's seen today."
"Cam bonds fast with people," he said.
"I'm going to go sit down...maybe harass Colt for a bit."
"Oh, hey, don't bring Riley up...his mother-in-law is sitting up there waiting on Cam."
"Ten-four," she said, winking at him.
Tessa walked up the hall and Mike took her spot, facing Lainey's door. He took his phone out and checked his messages, seeing that Coop and Whit had arrived at Lainey's house and had begun work on installing the system there. Whit reported that the house had been swept for bugs and everything was thankfully clean.
He looked up when Lainey's door opened and she and Cam stepped outside. Lainey paused briefly when she saw him standing there, then continued walking Cam down the hall. Mike was about to follow, but stopped when Kacee stepped out of her office.
"Did Lainey just step out?" she asked.
Mike nodded toward the end of the hall. "Just walking her last appointment out."
"OK, good. Did you get the security system finished?"
"Colt is finishing up now."
Kacee smiled. "Colt is hot."
He shook his head. "Colt is also newly married with a baby on the way."
She laughed. "I was just stating a fact. You know I'm with Connor."
"Which is why you shouldn't be noticing Colt."
"The man is six five! It's kinda hard not to notice him."
"You know what I mean."
"Yes, I do," she said, then cocked her head and looked up at him.
"What?"
"What do you think of Lainey?"
"Don't go there, Kacee," he said, turning away from her.
"Why not?"
"Because we're not in junior high, and I've got a job to do."
"She's down there with Colt and Tessa. She's fine. Talk to me, Mike."
"Not about her."
She narrowed her eyes at him and grabbed his wrist to drag him into her office. Only he didn't budge.
"Oh, come on, Mike! It's just me."
"Not going to happen, Kace."
"Chicken."
"No, just not going to talk about it."
"Talk about what?" Lainey asked, approaching them.
"Nothing," Kacee said, sending Mike a dirty look.
Lainey looked back and forth between them and then shook her head.
"OK, if you say so," she said, then looked up at Mike. "Colt said he's done. I've got a couple of reports to finish up and then I'll be done."
"OK," he said, watching her go into her office.
"You are so bad," Kacee said, shaking her finger at him.
"What did I do?"
"You won't even..."
"MIKE!" Lainey cried, sending him rushing into her office.
"What is it, cara?" he asked, ignoring Kacee's gasp behind him.
He heard Colt and Tessa come running down the hall as he rounded Lainey's desk to look at what she pointed to on her monitor. It was a picture o
f him and her, standing here in her office that morning, arguing. A target was drawn over his face with a red marker and the words: Get rid of him or I will, was written out beside their images.
"See if you can trace the I.P. address," he told Colt as he stepped over to her office window. There was another office building caddy-corner to hers; the shot obviously having been taken from one of those office windows.
"My money's on the corner office there," Tessa said, indicating the corner office windows that were level with Lainey's floor. He nodded.
"I agree. Can you head over there, see if you can get into that office?"
"On it," she said, leaving.
He turned to study Lainey, thankfully finding her dry-eyed. She was shaken, to be sure, but she wasn't melting into hysterics. Her eyes were huge, though, and she seemed a little pale.
"Look at me," he ordered, using the hard voice he used on his team when he wanted to get their undivided attention. Her eyes met his, but he wasn't sure she was really seeing him. "Lainey. Look. At. Me," he barked, making her flinch.
"Mike, come on," Kacee started but stopped when he held a hand up to silence her.
Lainey blinked, then took a deep breath and really looked up at him.
"I'm all right," Lainey said, and he could see some color returning to her cheeks.
"Everything will be all right," he assured her.
"It was sent from that building," Colt said, coming to stand beside Mike as they looked out the window again to the office in question.
A few moments later, Tessa approached the window, and called Mike's phone.
"These offices are under renovation and are between tenants," she told him.
"Are there any computers in there?" he asked.
"No. The building manager said that a couple of technicians have been in and out today. He's bringing me the sign-in logs."
"How did you manage that?" he asked, since they had no real authority to see any of that.
"You're forgetting I am a part-time deputy for Shane. I showed him my badge. Not my fault he didn't really look at it."
"Nice. I'll be sure to let Lainey's father know so we can cover our bases. See what you can find out and then head back."
"Will do. This is definitely the office, though. Views match."
"Copy that."
He ended the call and cursed low, under his breath in Italian.
"Nothing good?" Colt asked.
Mike shook his head. "There have been technicians in and out of there. The building manager is bringing Tessa the logs but..."
"SHIT!!!" Colt yelled at the same time Kacee and Lainey screamed, tearing out of the room at a dead run.
As they watched, Tessa was attacked from behind and was in a fight for her life with a man wearing a ski-mask. Mike had never felt more helpless in his life. He directed Kacee to call 911 but he couldn't leave Lainey unprotected. Colt was on his way over, but he had to go down ten floors in this building, cross the street, go up ten floors in the other building and find the right office. Tessa was holding her own, but the initial blow she'd taken from behind was slowing her down. He saw Colt hit the street, dodging cars and people and dashing inside. He'd made it down ten flights in record time, but he was afraid it wouldn't be fast enough.
"Oh, God, oh, God!" Lainey cried, seeing Tessa go down. "Mike!"
"She's tough," he assured Lainey, though he had to admit, it looked bad. The assailant disappeared from view. Mike called Colt. "Tessa is down. Assailant is MIA. Go in hot."
"I've got building security behind me. We're on the express elevator. Two floors to go. One. I'm out. Hall is clear." Mike heard Colt bust through the office door, and then they could see him. "She's in the corner office. She isn't moving."
"Tessa!" Colt called. He'd gone in with gun drawn and was clearing each room as he went. When he entered the office where Tessa was, he cleared the room first, then dropped to his knees beside her. "Tess! Talk to me! Tess! Oh, shit! Boss! She's been stabbed. I've got a pulse, but it's weak."
"Figlio di Troia!!" Mike roared, causing Lainey and Kacee to flinch.
"Tess!! Come on, Little Bit, talk to me," Colt urged, ripping his shirt off to stuff against her side to staunch the flow of blood from the stab wound.
Tessa groaned and Mike thought it was the best sound he'd ever heard.
"Call Sh-Shane," she said, referring to her husband.
"We will," Colt told her.
"Call him now."
"Tess..."
"Colt. Please."
"God...OK," he said, pulling her phone from her pocket. Mike watched Colt scroll through her phone then heard him hit speaker as he called Shane.
"Hey, babe, I was..." Shane answered, but Colt cut him off.
"This is Colt, Shane. I'm here with Tessa. She's been stabbed. It's bad. She wants to talk to you."
"What?" Mike heard Shane's shocked voice over the speaker.
"Shane?" Tessa said, her voice weak.
"Tess? Baby?"
"Shane. I love you," she whispered, her voice weak.
"Tessa!"
"She's, um," Colt began, but stopped to clear his throat. "She's passed out. You need to get to Springfield, McCanton. Now."
"What the hell happened??" Shane roared. "You were supposed to be protecting her."
"We got separated. She got attacked from behind," Colt looked up when the paramedics came rushing in. "The medics are here. Just get your ass to Springfield. I'll call you as soon as we get to the hospital."
"You better hope and pray that she pulls through this, Harris," Shane snapped, then hung up.
"Colt?" Mike said, watching Colt pacing behind the medics as they worked on Tessa.
"Yeah, I'm here. They're stabilizing her. Her face is beat to shit but her knuckles are busted up, too."
"She put up a helluva fight, man. He may have gotten away but he's not untouched. She got some good blows in on him. We need to be sure they collect evidence from under her nails. I don't know if she managed to get any blood on her but she tried to pull the mask off; he nails raked his face a few times, too."
Colt walked over to her and lifted her hand in his. "There is some blood there."
"Good. I'm bringing the girls down, I'll meet you on the street," Mike said when the medics loaded Tessa onto a gurney. "Get your things," he said to them, and they both silently collected their things, both shell-shocked.
In the elevator, Mike scrolled through his contacts and made another call.
"Hey, man, what's..." Riley began but Mike cut him off.
"Tessa was just attacked. She's on her way to the hospital."
"We'll head back tonight," Riley said.
"Thanks."
"Is she going to be all right?"
"She was stabbed. Colt says it's bad."
"Lainey?"
"She's here with me."
"OK. See you in a few hours."
They emerged onto the street just as the paramedics were wheeling Tessa out, Colt hot on their heels. Tessa looked extremely pale, from what he could see of her swollen face. Shane was going to lose it when he saw her.
"They were able to stop the blood loss," Colt told him after the ambulance sped away. "Her pulse got a bit stronger after that."
Kacee met up with her driver and bodyguard and offered them a ride with her but they declined. Colt rode with Mike and Lainey in Mike's Escalade, calling his wife on the drive, telling her he needed to hear her voice. Lainey glanced up at Mike as he drove, but his expression was closed. She supposed she was seeing the SEAL just now, closed and focused.
At hospital, she had the experience of seeing these two strong men pacing and looking ready to strangle anyone who dared get in their way. Colt had pulled on a fresh shirt on the ride to the hospital, but his pants were still stained with Tessa's blood. An hour into their vigil, the waiting room doors burst open and she saw a man with the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen come in and head directly for Colt.
"Shane, man, I -" Colt bega
n, but Tessa's husband charged him, fist connecting with Colt's jaw and knocking him back against the wall with a forearm to the throat.
"You promised you'd keep her safe!"
"Shane," Mike said, his voice low and calm.
Shane turned his head and looked at Mike. "What the hell happened?" he asked, releasing Colt. Lainey could tell that Colt wanted to retaliate but was holding himself back.
Mike filled him in on what he'd seen. Lainey watched Shane take it all in, thinking he was handling it all remarkably well.
"And he got away?" Shane pressed.
"Unfortunately," Colt confirmed, "I didn't get a chance to ask her anything about him. Hopefully he spoke to her. If she heard his voice, she can help identify him."
Shane raked both hands through his hair, pacing away from the guys. Lainey got up and went to him, introducing herself.
"Tessa put up a heckuva fight," she told him. "I've never seen a woman fight like that."
Shane gave her a weak smile. "She's always been a fighter."
"She was amazing. My friend Kacee called her an Amazon Warrior Queen."
He half laughed. "God, she would love that. I'll have to remember that one."
"She must be an amazing person...so strong. To have joined the Army and served with a bunch of Rangers like Colt, then to be picked for Mike and Riley's task force. And I know she was the agent who brought down the Naturalists a few years ago."
He nodded. "She was."
"That is impressive. She is impressive. You must be so proud of her."
"I am...she's been through a lot in her life. This is just the latest in a long line of injuries...and I can get mad and tell her that I won't allow her to do this kind of thing any more...and she would just laugh in my face and tell me I'd be welcome to try to stop her."
Just then, a doctor walked into the waiting room and all eyes turned to him.
"Tessa McCanton?" the doctor called.
