by Raina Wilde
Obviously his survival had raised questions. Despite their best efforts the analysts were unable to locate, or determine, infiltration by any enemy forces.
It appeared that the deaths had been an inside job. Cold-blooded murders.
Natalie could not blame his commanding officers for sending Chris to a therapist. Their theory was that if Chris was responsible for the deaths of his teammates, then a therapist might be able to draw a confession from him. If he was somehow innocent, they might be able to gather details about what actually occurred. If this were the case, though the odds did not sway in his favor, they figured that he would need professional help to deal with the trauma of such a brutal, internal attack.
Was Chris Ryker a homicidal manic? Had he murdered his own teammates and best friend?
Natalie tried to force that thought from her mind but it kept circling back to the same details.
A small notation at the base of the report concerned Natalie the most. One of the victims had almost survived the attack. While the medics had been struggling to keep him alive, he had spoken in short incoherent bursts. The only thing that anyone had been able to piece together was a short string of words, “Ryker took him out.”
Natalie could not keep that phrase out of her mind.
Ryker took who out? All of them?
Unfortunately, that is what the evidence pointed to. The sole survivor with a finger pointed firmly in his direction.
She had no idea how to process this information. Additionally, if she was expected to draw forth a confession, how could she manage that now, when their professional relationship was already so muddled?
Try as she might, Natalie could not find a solution. She only hoped that if he did show up for their session, she could remain calm and not act like a blubbering fool.
If Chris really did take out his entire team, should Natalie be afraid of him? Surprisingly, she did not feel that fear. Despite what she had learned, Natalie still found herself innately trusting of the man. Maybe it was because of the fact that they were already intimately connected, but at no point during their encounter at the bar had Natalie felt unsafe or uncomfortable with Chris. If she had, she would have been long gone before he could have said, “What are you drinking?”
Natalie needed to keep her wits about her on this case for sure. Not only would her evaluation have the ability to make or break Chris’s career, but she also knew that the committee would be watching the case closely. If she was suspected of showing preference, or irrational judgement in any way, it would be the end of her own career.
With a sigh, she turned back to the beginning of the file. Maybe if she re-read the notes she would come across something helpful. Not, she reminded herself, that it had worked the first dozen times.
Chapter 7:
With a soft knock Chris entered the office to find Natalie swinging her chair back and forth in front of the window. She must have been deep in thought because it was obvious that she had not heard him enter.
With the silent steps of a professional he crept up behind her chair. When the high-backed chair swung in front of him, he stopped it firmly in its tracks.
He had never seen a woman move so fast. Natalie was out of the chair in an instant and rounding on him as if braced for a fight.
When recognition dawned on her, she placed an open palm against her chest and took a series of calming breaths. The action was distracting, to say the least.
“You can’t sneak up on people like that!” She gasped.
Chris laughed. “Sure I can. I have years of training that tell me it’s OK.”
She slapped at his arm when she walked past, as if the minor punishment was anything other than playful. In response he slid an arm around her waist and turned her toward him.
With wary eyes she gazed at him. One perfectly arched eyebrow raised as she waited for him to release her. He did, but not before they both felt the heat that pulsed between their bodies as they pressed against one another.
“You’ve read my file.” He quipped as he flung himself lengthwise along a nearby couch. Placing his arms behind his head he closed his eyes and assumed what he considered was the stereotypical therapy position. “I’m ready for you to shrink me, Doc.”
He heard her sink into the chair directly across from him.
He knew from the look that had crossed her face that she was now intimately familiar with the details of the investigation. If that were so, then there was no point in Chris elaborating any further. He had made his statement and he was sticking to it.
“Are you going to take this seriously?” Her voice was low and calming.
“Sure.” He replied. “I’d say we are about as serious as I can ever remember being with a woman. We’ve seen each other, what… three times this week?”
He could almost hear Natalie roll her eyes.
“I’ll take that as a no.” she sighed.
“What do you want to know? I’m an open book.” He settled more comfortably into the sofa.
“Why don’t we just start with you telling me about yourself?” Her voice once again reverted to its professional tone.
“Well… as you know I’m extremely charming. Damn near irresistible, so I’ve been told. I mean by you.” He turned his head and glanced quickly at her blushing face. “You said that, you know.”
Natalie’s only response was a glare that could freeze fire.
“Anyways…” He resumed his pensive playacting. “I’ve spent more time overseas in the past ten years than I have on home soil. I own my own home, which my sister happily decorated, even though I can’t for the life of me find a thing in it, and I’m more of a dog person than a cat person but that’s really irrelevant since I don’t own either. If you want references I would be happy to pro…”
“Are you finished?” Natalie’s voice floated over him with steely precision. “As witty as you seem to think that you are, Mr. Ryker, your little speech actually reveals quite a lot about you.”
“Is that so?” He rolled to his side and stared at her. “I would love to hear your evaluation.”
“Oh, you’re textbook.” She smiled. He could see that she knew very well that he would bristle against any claim of the sort. “You’re a classic loner. No time for personal relationships. Sure, you have friends and family, but no one would be surprised if you disappeared for several years and then showed up on the holidays as if you never left.” He felt his eyes narrow. He did not like where this was going. “You ride a motorcycle and run with the most elite men in the military because you think you’re tough. So tough, that you are perfectly unscathed by the brutal deaths of your team, best friend, and what should have been your own end of the line.”
She was mad. He could tell. She was annoyed by his refusal to take her session seriously and he was desperately searching for a way to get her to stop talking. Her words were hitting too close to home for his liking.
“Instead of being open about what happened, you keep your mouth shut because you think that you can deal with it. Well, you know what!” Her voice was quiet but from the tone she might as well have been shouting. “You can’t. I lost one of my brothers in Afghanistan and I thought the other four were going to tear themselves to pieces before they accepted help. That’s the reason I went into PTSD and grief counseling. I saw what it did for them. I know what it can do for you.”
“I don’t need counseling.” He sat up and faced her with a serious expression.
“Why not?” she challenged. “Tell me what happened and let me be the judge of that.”
Suddenly, he needed to make her as uncomfortable as she had made him.
“I’ll tell you if I can get a repeat of the other night.” He accessed his most captivating smile.
“Stop it.”
“Alright, fine. I’ll make an exception if you at least go on a date with me.” He pressed.
“GET OUT!” Natalie shouted.
For a moment he had thought that he had seen a flicker of interest
in her eyes. When Natalie’s office door slammed behind him he felt a moment of pride that she was so sensitive to his flirtations. Afterward, however, he felt like a jerk for giving her such a hard time.
Chapter 8:
Natalie was at a loss. What was she supposed to do about Chris’s impossible attitude?
He blatantly refused to talk, continuously upended their professional relationship with flirtations and reminders of their one steamy encounter. The problem was, a part of her had wanted to accept his offer.
That, more than anything else, worried her.
She should not be harboring feelings for a patient. She should not be thinking about, remembering, or fantasizing about sexual encounters with said person. She should NOT be considering a date, and where that might lead, whether or not it produced results.
The worst part was, she had liked the idea of a date even without the offer of information.
She just wanted a date. Period.
She shook her head and tried to regain some semblance of sanity. She was supposed to be focusing on his case, not his long legs spread over the length of her sofa. Not his killer abs that even the layered shirts that he had been wearing could not disguise. Definitely not the fact that he had picked her up, curves and all, and held her while they made love as if she were nothing more than feather.
Natalie needed to focus. She needed to find a new approach. A solution.
She drummed her fingers along the top of her desk as she thought.
Finally, she flipped open his case file and dialed the number inside.
While she waited for an answer, she lectured herself on the necessity of maintaining a professional relationship with her clients. Especially, one who could be as potentially dangerous as Chris Ryker.
“Barkley.” The gruff voice answered.
“Commander Barkley. This is Doctor Barnett at the VA Clinic. I was hoping that you had a moment.”
The man on the other end of the line grunted.
“Ryker’s giving you problems, huh? I’m not surprised.” He sighed and Natalie imagined a weathered man rubbing his brow in frustration. “What can I do to help you?”
“I’d like a little insight, if you don’t mind.” She explained. “I don’t seem to be getting anywhere and I was wondering what your thoughts were on the situation.”
“It’s a damn muck-up.” The commander spat. “Ryker is one of the best men I’ve ever worked with. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t fit.”
Natalie waited with bated breath for him to continue.
“He has an impeccable record. He is thorough, reliable, and resilient. His men loved him. They trusted him. I just don’t see how Chris could have done this. If Murphy hadn’t had said those words I’d have told the investigators that they were off their rockers. Even so, who knows what sort of mindset Murph was in at the time. Maybe he was confused…”
Natalie listened to the commander trying to piece together an outcome that seemed unlikely.
“Commander Barkley, I can’t seem to get your boy to open up. Do you have any suggestions?”
Laughter trickled over the phone.
“Ryker isn’t going to open up to anyone. Especially not a therapist. He’s rock solid and too smart for that. No, if he tells anyone, which I highly doubt he will, it will be someone he trusts with his life. Hell, he wouldn’t even talk to me and we’ve been to Hell and back more times than I can count.” He paused, and then continued. “Chris isn’t one to volunteer information about himself, and definitely not about something he has already decided to keep a secret. Those of us who know him well only have our own observations to work with. I can’t say that I envy your job, Miss Barnett, but I hope you understand how important it is that you succeed.”
Natalie considered the Commander’s words.
She thanked him and hung up with a new level of resolve.
He needed to trust her. Not as a therapist, but as a person.
She wondered how serious he had been about his offer… she just might have to take him up on it and find out.
Chapter 9:
Chris was lounging in his living room, pretending to watch television, but really just lost in his own wayward thoughts. A knock at the door drew him from his reverie.
When he opened the door, Chris wished that he would have glanced through a nearby window first. By the time he was standing in front of the glass frame, it was too late.
The visitor could clearly see his shadow approaching through the tempered panes.
Annabelle Pomeretti stood on his covered porch with a weathered box cradled against her hip. The look on her face meant business. She was not going to be avoided any longer.
“Anna.” Chris greeted her.
She stared at him for a long moment before responding.
“I expected you to come visit.” Somehow she managed to sound cold and full of emotion at the same time.
“I know.” He admitted. There was no point in denying it. He had no excuse. No reason that he could give her for not visiting.
She shifted slightly, angling the box toward him.
“I thought that you might want these…” She thrust the box forward in such a way that he was forced to accept it. “It’s just some old photos of the two of you and a few of Tony’s things that he would have wanted you to have.”
“Anna, I…” He began.
“Don’t.” She held up a hand to stop whatever speech he had been about to make. “I have no idea what is going on with you, Chris. I’m not going to pretend that I have any idea what happened over there. They aren’t telling any of us until after the investigation is complete. All that I know is that Tony was your best friend. You two shared so much, and I want you to know that the kids and I still consider you a part of the family.
“Anyway…” She continued, “We are all mourning his loss. I just wanted you to know that you don’t have to go through this alone. Stop by sometime.” She turned to leave. “The kids would love to hear some old stories about their dad.”
Before he could respond, she was shuffling down the sidewalk to her vehicle.
Chris felt as if he had been punched in the gut. The last thing that he had expected today was a confrontation with Tony’s widow. Whether he wanted to help the family through this rough time or not, he simply could not. It was not an option. There was too much that he could not explain to them. Too much that he could never share with them about their father’s last moments.
Guilt crashed over him and he slammed the door so that it shook in its hinges.
Once more, a soft tap sounded on the door and Chris took a moment to collect himself. He had no idea what Anna might have returned for, but he felt as if he deserved more of her anger than he had yet received.
He prepared himself to apologize to her. With a deep breath of preparation he opened the door once again.
To his astonishment, it was not Annabelle, but Natalie who stood outside of his door. It took a moment for Chris to collect himself. He stared at her in dumb silence for a moment before greeting her with a frazzled grin.
“What are you doing here?” He asked. He knew that he owed Natalie an apology as well. It appeared as if that was the theme for the day.
Natalie shot him a killer smile that caught him off guard. If anything, he expected her anger for his behavior this afternoon.
“I’ve decided to take you up on your offer.” She began. Chris struggled to remember what offer he had made. “A date.” She explained.
The memory of his joking offer returned to him.
“In exchange for information…” His voice made it clear that he was not actually a fan of this option.
“Nope.” She smiled. “Just a date.”
Chris stared at her with suspicion.
“What’s the catch?” He asked.
“No catch.” Natalie continued to stare at him with an honest grin. “I would love to help you. If it ever comes to the point where you want to talk with me, I will always be willing to listen.
Until then, or perhaps never, I’ve decided that we might as well get to know each other a little better. Either way, I don’t think that we are going to get anywhere with formal sessions.”
Chris narrowed his eyes.
“What if I never talk?” He asked. He still had no intention of sharing his story. He would love to take Natalie on a date, but not if she was only interested in information.
She shrugged.
“Then I’ll write my report and we will both have to hope that the investigators can piece together the case on their own.”
He knew, without a doubt, that they never would. Without his testimony they would be unable to determine with any certainty, how the men had died. That was a secret that Chris was prepared to take to his grave. He only hoped that his previous records would be enough to preserve his career, despite the suspicion that had been cast over his name.
“I’ll grab my keys.” He slipped inside the door for a moment to grab the keys to his bike. If Natalie was open to the idea of a date, he was not going to wait long enough for her to change her mind.
When she moved to climb on top of her own bike, Chris shook his head. He patted the seat behind him, indicating that he intended for them to ride together.
“Where are we going?” She asked with a chuckle. Her laughter sent tendrils of excitement through his body.
“I think a ride along the coast would be nice.” He explained as she settled behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Afterward, we could grab some dinner?”
Natalie expressed her satisfaction with the plan. She found Chris much more relaxed outside of the office environment and, she had to admit, she took great pleasure in his casual company. The pair melded together like old friends.
By the time that they had stopped for dinner, Natalie was shocked at how much Chris seemed to have opened up to her. They shared stories about their childhood, families, and personal interests.
Natalie learned much about Chris’s relationship with his Navy Seal unit. Though, he pointedly avoided any discussion about their final mission. The men had been close, very close. They spent every waking moment together while on duty and, when off, visited each other frequently.
