by Jodie Bailey
Adrenaline crashed through him in a lightning jolt of pain as the Nissan roared straight for them.
* * *
It was a nightmare. One of those nightmares where Casey wanted to run, but her body was paralyzed, struck by lightning as the friendly car that had stopped to let them cross launched into a bullet aimed straight for them. People running, screaming, the cars screeching to a halt across the street... Everything went into super slow motion as her reflexes locked her feet to the bricks of the pavement.
And then a force slung her sideways and backward. Her shoulder smashed into something hard, the air driven from her lungs as she slid to the pavement and the world spun faster, coming into focus as the sound of the engine grew deafening, the car so close the wind flung her hair as the vehicle roared past.
“Travis!” The shout tore from her throat. Had he been hit? Ignoring the pain in her side and the crowd rushing toward her, she rolled to her knees and slung her backpack to the ground.
Travis knelt beside her, his palms warm on either side of her face. “Case, look at me. We’re okay.”
She latched on to blue eyes she’d been avoiding since yesterday. “You’re not hurt?”
“Banged my knee on the sidewalk.” His voice was low, meant only for her, a strange out-of-context sound in the wave of adrenaline rising inside her.
They’d almost been mowed down by a car. Purposely. The shaking started in her core and radiated outward.
“Case...” Travis’s hands fell away as someone in dark clothes—a policeman maybe?—eased her back from Travis to sit against the car she’d smashed into, asking her questions she answered mechanically through a fog of fear and adrenaline.
Everything happened too fast. An ambulance, a blanket around her shoulders, more questions. Had she hit her head? Should she be transported to the hospital?
“No.” The fog blew away with the final question. “No.” She didn’t want to go anywhere but wherever Travis was. Resolve washed over her, ebbing the fear. She shoved off the blanket around her shoulders and tried to push herself from the ground.
“Ma’am.” The paramedic’s voice was a command as he eased her to the street. “Sit down. I really think you—”
“I’ll sign whatever you want, but I’m not going to the hospital. I didn’t hit my head. I can move my shoulder.” She rotated her arm, forcing herself not to wince at the forming bruise.
“A shock considering how hard you hit that parked car. Witnesses said the guy you were with grabbed your backpack and jerked you out of the way.”
Travis. “Is he still here? Take me to him.”
The young man eyed her, judging her resolve, then muttered, “Stubborn as the other one.”
The other one. “Where is he?”
The paramedic tipped his head to something behind her as he folded the blanket Casey had dropped. “Talking to the police. Well, trying to get over here, but they won’t let him until we clear you.” Holding a hand out, he helped ease her up.
The officer who stood in front of Travis glanced over his shoulder then moved out of her way. He looked familiar, maybe one of the policemen from John’s house.
John’s death. Their mugging. The car...
Without caring one bit what it might mean, she walked straight into Travis’s outstretched arms.
He held her tight against him, his arms firm around her waist. “Casey.” Her name was almost a sigh of relief.
The same sound her heart had made when she saw him standing on his own, uninjured. Right now, she’d be content to stay here forever.
When her legs stopped shaking, she eased away from him and looked at his face, checking for injuries.
He looked at her as though he wanted to draw her to him again. “You’re fine? Really? I tried to get to you and they kept telling me to—”
“I am.” The words cracked with an emotion she couldn’t begin to define. Her fingers ached to run across his face, to trace down his arms, to know with solid confirmation that she hadn’t lost him. “You’re okay?”
“Perfect.” Travis scanned Casey’s face, asking silent questions she didn’t want to answer before the straight line of his shoulders eased. He glanced from her to the officer beside him and lowered his voice. “This cop here’s a real stickler for the rules.”
The officer standing beside Travis straightened and bit back a smile. “You keep it up, Heath. I’ll start telling stories about the times you couldn’t have cared less about the rules.”
“Don’t even think about it.” Travis finally relaxed. “Casey, this is an old buddy of mine, Marcus Brewer. Marcus, this is Casey Jordan.”
“Not sure I like the term ‘old,’ but, hey, whatever works.” Marcus leaned around Travis and extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Casey Jordan. Saw you earlier at our other crime scene, but it didn’t seem like the time for an introduction. Seems like you’ve had your fair share of trouble the past couple of days.”
His hand was smooth in hers, his grip strong and reassuring. While his stance invited friendship and showed a little bit of concern, there was no need to let a stranger see how rattled she was. Casey slipped the mask into place that kept people from giving her sympathy, became the soldier who could handle anything. “I’ve had more excitement than I’m used to, for sure. Weren’t you at John Winslow’s house earlier today?”
“I was.” His head tilted slightly as he withdrew his hand, almost like he’d asked himself a silent question. “I was going to ask how you’re doing, but you seem to be handling things pretty well.”
She wasn’t. At all. If she let her true, honest self loose right now, she’d curl up in the middle of the sidewalk like an armadillo and take Travis with her, trying to deflect any more arrows fired their way.
She didn’t have to look directly at Travis to know he was still watching her, trying to read if she was really doing as well as she claimed to be. Hopefully, he was out of practice. The last thing she wanted was for him to realize she was about to crumble.
SEVEN
Shifting the truck into Park, Travis turned to look at Casey for the first time since they’d left downtown.
She didn’t move, simply stared out the front windshield as though she hadn’t noticed they’d arrived at her apartment.
She’d put on some crazy brave face in front of Marcus, but the act couldn’t be real. Even Marcus had sent him a cocked eyebrow, a sure indicator he wasn’t buying Casey’s routine either.
Sure, they’d been apart almost longer than they’d dated, but still... He knew Casey, and he knew when she was lying. The woman was strong, but nobody could stand under what she’d endured in less than twenty-four hours. There had to be a breaking point. If Travis was going to be honest, he was barely holding it all in check himself.
His own emotional high-wire act made him worry about Casey more. She’d always had a need to appear stronger than she was, almost as though asking for help made her weak. Maybe it had to do with something in her childhood. Maybe it had to do with being a female in the army. Travis had never been able to figure it out, and he’d been cracking the shell around her when he realized he had to leave her. Still, he knew when she was hiding.
The straight posture, the set of her jaw, the way she held her hands casually at ease on top of her thighs... Everything said she was holding in major emotions and trying to act as though she wasn’t.
The question was whether to call her on it or to let her keep right on lying to him and maybe even to herself.
As though someone had flipped a switch, Casey swung into motion, leaning forward to haul her backpack onto her lap. “Thanks for going with me today.”
“Any time.” Surprisingly, he meant it. In spite of the insanity, something about being with her reminded him of what he’d seen in her the very first day, when she’d followed Kristi
n into Lucas’s house and walked seamlessly into his life. Something in her quieted him, made him feel like he could take on anything, even cars careening out of control.
And that was a recipe for disaster.
Getting involved with her again would make it harder to walk away when he had to. And he already knew, if he was going to follow the path God had laid out for him, he’d have to.
He shut his eyes and reveled in the nothingness, wishing a map would appear in the darkness and show him a clear path for his life. God didn’t work that way. He’d already told Travis what to do, whether he liked it or not.
He blinked and stared at the front of Casey’s apartment building, where the shadows were long and deep in the moments before sunset. With the darkness not yet settled, the exterior lights had yet to come on, leaving the breezeway to her apartment cloaked in semidarkness. Clicking his seat belt to release it, he turned to Casey and prepared for battle. “I’m going in with you to make sure everything’s safe.”
“Seriously?” All the pent-up emotion she’d been holding in unleashed in his direction, a volcanic eruption of words. “No. Travis, you don’t get it at all. I’m fine. I’m safe. Nobody’s after me. It’s you. Your team. Your mission. This evening did nothing but prove it.”
He wanted to argue. The words tried to pound their way out, but he couldn’t do it. She was right. There was no longer a way to deny he was somehow tangled in this.
But so was she. Letting her think differently was dangerous. “Not even the police know who the target was today. It could have been both of us.”
“John’s dead. You were on a mission together, and they tried to take you out.”
“You talked to Deacon this afternoon and he’s fine.”
She dropped her head against the truck seat, fingering the strap on her backpack. “I’m not conceding. I know nothing of value. Nothing. You said it yourself earlier. What I know is what your guys have told me, and it’s readily available public information. There has to be something more. Either that, or the laptop really is a very strange coincidence. But, Travis, honestly. It looks like somebody has your former team in the crosshairs, and I’m worried about you.” Her hand eased across the truck seat and found his wrist, tentative, as though she was afraid he’d bolt.
She shouldn’t worry he was a flight risk. As much as he should let her walk away, he couldn’t do it. The warmth of her touch was enough to cement that firmly. He stared at her fingers, light on the bare skin of his wrist, then slid his gaze up her arm until he caught her eyes, those gray eyes he still saw every night as he tried to fall asleep. His voice had better not betray him now. “You’re worried about me? Deacon was on my team, too, and I don’t see you hovering over him like you feel...”
The world seemed to pause. He was holding his breath, and he was pretty sure she was holding hers, as well.
The urge to meet her halfway and press his lips to hers like he had so many times before in this very front seat in this very parking spot was overwhelming. He wanted to wipe away the obligations of his calling, forget either one of them might not survive the next explosion. All he wanted was Casey in his life, making him feel as though nothing else in the world really mattered.
His gaze drifted to her mouth. He could kiss her right now. He could beg her to forgive him for being an idiot and ask her for another chance to have everything he’d ever truly wanted.
As though she could read his thoughts, Casey’s head jerked. Her fingers stiffened, and her chin rose as she broke contact, then shoved the truck door open without a break in the action. “Thanks for the ride, Travis. And for being there this morning when...” She dug her teeth into her lower lip, staring at the radio. “You know what? I’ve got this. Thanks again.” She slammed the door so hard the truck rocked and the thud echoed off the building.
Travis wanted to pound his forehead against the steering wheel. Stupid. He’d pushed her places he had no business pushing her. He’d given in to momentary selfishness, put his needs over hers because she made him feel ten feet taller than he was. He’d forgotten why he was here—not to follow his heart but to follow make right the mistakes he’d made years before.
Still, he couldn’t stop himself from following her to her door. If he drove away and she disappeared—or worse—because he’d sped off like a man rejected, he’d never be able to face himself.
The air in the breezeway was still and heavy, as though it mocked Travis’s concern. Casey was shoving her key into the dead bolt when he caught her, but she stopped after she twisted the lock. “I said thank you and goodbye. So...goodbye.”
In any other situation, he’d have laughed. She sounded so much like a character in one of those cheesy chick flicks. But the situation wasn’t funny, and his standing beside her had nothing to do with romance.
When she tugged the key from the lock, he reached around and pushed the door open, edging in before she could. If there was a bullet or a knife, he’d be the one to take it, not her.
“You’ve lost your mind.” Casey planted her palms against his back and shoved, but Travis refused to give. He scanned the living room and kitchen. Nothing was out of place. Even the French doors leading to the second-story balcony were tightly shut.
Maybe he was paranoid.
Casey pushed past him. “Nobody’s after me. And nobody’s...” She stopped, scanning the room as though she saw something he didn’t.
“What?” Every fight reaction he’d trained over the years stood at attention, ready to defend.
Ready to defend not only himself, but the woman in front of him, who still somehow managed to work her way under his skin.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head, thankfully oblivious to his thoughts. “It feels like...” Casey dropped her backpack to the hardwood entry and eased onto the carpet, scanning the room. “It feels like when run your hand through the water in a swimming pool and, before it washes in, there’s the track you left behind.”
Travis knew the sensation too well. It was the same one he’d had before Aiken had been killed. The same one he should have listened to then.
Well, he was listening today.
Before Casey could protest, Travis grabbed her shoulder, shoving her behind him. “Get out. Get in my truck and lock the doors.”
“Will you stop?” Ducking under his arm, she charged into the middle of the living room, the action driving Travis’s instincts into overdrive.
He almost made a running dive to push her to safety. She was going to get herself killed if somebody really was in the apartment. Instead, he balled his fists and strode in after her.
Throwing her arms out to the sides, Casey turned slowly. “If somebody was in here, they’d have been on us the instant we came through the door. If anybody was in my apartment, they’re gone now. Let’s attribute this to me being jumpy and move on.”
“I’m still checking your closets.”
To his surprise, she didn’t argue, simply nodded and pointed to the door leading to the guest room she also used as her office.
Something in her demeanor had changed, as though she were quitting. Travis didn’t have time to puzzle out why, not until he knew nobody lurked behind a curtain ready to do to her what someone had done to John.
The very idea sent fire through him. Nobody got to lay a hand on Casey. The thought of her in terror and pain...
He’d die before he let it happen. Would make a fool of himself sleeping in a sleeping bag against her front door. But he wouldn’t let anyone harm the woman he’d once loved.
Flipping on the bedroom light, he surveyed the room, stopping at her desk.
Drawers hung open, contents scattered across the floor. A monitor lay on its face, cables leading to nowhere. Two telltale dust-free squares shouted an indictment.
Her computer and her external drive were gone.
* * *
Frustrated with her brain’s inability to stay in the zone, Casey stalked into Kristin’s kitchen, where her friend was busy fussing with two huge jars. Casey slammed her well-worn sudoku book on the granite counter. Usually, focusing on numbers helped her let go of the day’s stress and relax. Tonight, she’d made such a mess she wasn’t even sure if two plus two really did equal four anymore.
Kristin glanced up with an arched eyebrow, then wrinkled her forehead as she studied a jar filled with what looked like tea. “Stress getting to you?”
“I wish.” Every time Casey had picked up her pencil to write, the slight tremor in her hand had frustrated her. She could shove and push and pack down the violent visions in her mind, but they refused to stay locked away. She was afraid of what would happen when she closed her eyes to sleep tonight. Even more afraid of turning off the lights and letting her mind drift.
And the way her head was all twisted up, she’d nearly forgotten the past few months and fallen into what she used to have with Travis. For her, nothing had changed. Time hadn’t healed her heart, it had only buried what she felt for Travis under a layer of ice he melted a little bit more every time he looked at her.
Casey dug her bare toes into the tile floor and watched Kristin slide another jar closer to the first one. She was desperate for distraction, to stop seeing the car spewing tire smoke as it gunned for them. Her grip tightened on the pencil she still held until the wood dug into the side of her finger. She had to relax. Both she and Travis were safe for now.
Rolling the pencil onto the counter, she flexed her fingers then glanced around the kitchen of Kristin’s small house in Haymount, giving herself permission to let go. Here there was more peace than she’d been able to find in her apartment. As much as she’d insisted the night before a babysitter was the last thing she needed, tonight she knew... Somebody else on vigil was a pretty good thing.
She wrinkled her nose and looked at Kristin, who was studying the contents of the second jar with a strange look on her face. “What exactly are you doing?”
