by Terry Spear
Upon arriving at the apartment complex, Charlie dropped Deidre and Dave off. He’d undoubtedly swing by the restaurant to pick up Ms. Johnson’s car. Then, Deidre knew Charlie had unfinished business with her as he pulled out of the parking lot again. Why did Deidre worry so about him?
Dave and she walked up the stairs to her apartment. Instantly, her usual reserve kicked in.
He kissed her, holding her shoulders in a firm grip, pressing her to her door. His margarita-sweetened lips tasted like a bit of heaven, and she kissed him back. His hands shifted from her shoulders to her breasts. She smiled and quickly pulled his hands away.
His mouth curved up a little. “Goodnight,” she said softly, not wanting to spoil the magic of the evening.
She unlocked her door, and he stood waiting.
“Listen,” he finally said, “a friend of mine has a boat, and I wondered if you’d like to spend the day with me at Lake Belton tomorrow.”
“Later in the afternoon?”
He nodded.
“With Charlie?”
“And his girlfriend, if you’d like.”
She hadn’t wanted to spend another second in the company of Marilyn. “All right. Since it’s close to three in the morning, how about three in the afternoon—”
“Good deal. But if Charlie and Marilyn don’t want to join us—”
Deidre smiled. “Sure.”
He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek quickly before she shut the door. “Pleasant dreams.”
His key twisted in his own lock. “Yes!” he said with enthusiasm, making her chuckle as she closed her door.
***
Dave hadn’t needed to visit Las Vegas to hit the jackpot. Deidre looked to be just the kind of woman he’d love to have on his team for the long haul. Was he nuts? Certainly. He knew so little about her, and yet he wanted to know everything…what fragrance perfumed her skin, what was her favorite color, hell, what made her angry and how could he make her happy again? He’d never been with a woman who stirred his loins like she did with just a flutter of her eyelashes and the seductive smile that tugged at her lips. Her shyness as she said goodnight totally amused him, making him want her that much more. In his wildest dreams, he couldn’t have found such an intriguing companion.
But how would she view him once she found out why he really acted as her shadow? She didn’t like reporters, but when she knew how he and his team investigated her brother, would she be happy about that? No. Somehow he had to ensure he didn’t lose her in the process of unraveling the mystery with her brother.
He loosened his tie, then yanked it off. His clothes still clung lightly to his damp skin from the workout he’d had with his dance partner. For the most part, he’d gotten away with his overzealous behavior, but he’d caught Marilyn’s eye a couple of times. She had that all-knowing look on her face like he’d taken his mission too far. He knew he had, only he kept telling himself his actions helped the operation. Besides, hadn’t Marilyn gone a little overboard with Charlie?
Dave planned on having a word with her about her behavior with Deidre. Marilyn’s sparring with Deidre didn’t help their case one bit.
Climbing into the shower, he pulled the lever to the cold setting to cool his heated blood. His thoughts shifted to his next plan…the lake and playing in the water with Deidre…alone this time.
***
Deidre had been alone for so long. Having her brother move in temporarily, only to leave so soon with Miss-Whoever-She-Really-Was, disappointed Deidre. She’d really wanted to find out what he’d been doing all this time. She slipped into a short black satin chemise emblazoned with bright pink and yellow blossoms. She rarely wore the spaghetti-strapped nightie, as the skinny straps slipped off her shoulders in the middle of the night, exposing a breast or two. Being the light sleeper she was, anything would wake her, even something so inconsequential as the strap slipping.
But tonight she wanted to feel the silkiness against her skin as she thought of Dave’s body working next to hers in their intimate dance. She pulled on a pair of black satin panties to match, then slipped between the ice blue sheets.
With visions of a day spent at the lake, she hugged her extra pillow to her body, wrapping her legs around it with a warm embrace. Then the phone rang, startling. She grabbed the receiver by the bed and stared at the caller ID. Out of area. She should have known. She fumbled with the cord in the dark, then unplugged it.
Closing her eyes, she listened to the air conditioner turn on, the monotonous hum lulling her to sleep.
The scruffy man with the yellowed eyes stared back at her in a hazy daze. The same one who had accosted her at the mall. But then his face grew hard as his hair turned black. The diamond ring he wore cut her hand.
She ran her fingers over the hurt and moaned lightly.
To her surprise, he grabbed her arms and threw her hard against something that vibrated with the force. She couldn’t comprehend what it was, but he seemed determined to throw her over it. A fence perhaps? A railing? His apelike hands gripped her wrists with a stranglehold that brought tears to her eyes.
Remember, Deidre. Remember how to break free of a wristlock. Get the advantage. Throw him into the abyss. Hurry, Deidre, hurry.
In her dream, she hugged her pillow tighter as she ran across the prairie landscape, stumbling over clumps of grass and broken rock. She ran from some unseen terror and stopped abruptly at the edge of a red clay cliff. The dizzying height terrified her as she stared down into the canyon. Then the struggle began with the unseen force. Thrown from the cliff, she fell as if she’d been pushed from a plane without a parachute, open air, and nothing to impact. She knew the ground quickly approached. Before she reached the canyon floor, her body shuddered awake.
Her front door creaked open. Deidre sat up in bed. Charlie? She pulled her covers aside and crossed the floor to her bedroom door. Opening it, she saw the front door stood wide open. Jeez, Charlie, don’t you ever close the door? She stormed across the dark apartment and tripped over a sofa cushion lying in the middle of the floor. Tumbling to the carpet, she turned her head as the kitchen light flickered on.
Drawers yanked open, then slammed shut.
Charlie? Deidre stood, then walked gingerly toward the kitchen.
The black-haired man from her vision threw her phone book and receipts all over the floor. She backed away, but his ebony eyes caught sight of her before she cleared the doorframe.
Swallowing a scream, her heart in her throat, she dashed for the front door. His footfalls pounded the floor as he hurried to catch her. She wouldn’t make it. She knew she couldn’t reach the doorway fast enough.
He grabbed her arm and yanked her back. Pain shot through her arm and back, but she focused instead on her assailant. She quickly twisted free. He rotated around and slammed the door shut. She screamed then, not out of fear, but to wake her neighbors.
Grabbing a pillow from the floor, she flung it at him. He socked it away with his fist. She ran for the patio door and fumbled with the lock. His fingers touched her arm. She jerked the glass panel open. Screaming again, she ran onto the narrow patio. Lights flickered on in a couple of the apartments. Someone would call the police.
The man slammed her into the wrought-iron railing. The pain from the metal against her backbone shot up her spine. He grabbed her wrists and tried to jerk her over the railing. She twisted her arms free in the maneuver her brother taught her. The next skill, the Army had given her.
Want to play rough, do you?
She quickly jabbed her knee into his family jewels. Her attacker bent over, groaning in pain. Without hesitation, she jerked her knee upward and struck him squarely on the bridge of the nose. He thrust his head upward with the impact and grabbed his nose, crying out in agony. With her hand stiffened as a lethal weapon, she struck him hard in the Adam’s apple. The man choked and gagged as he tried to catch his breath.
Deidre shoved him back against the railing, turned, and ran inside her apartment. She cli
cked the lock shut on the glass door and glanced up to see the man leaning over her railing still trying to breathe.
Bang! Her front door slammed open, hitting the wall. She turned and screamed.
“Deidre!” Dave ran across the apartment with gun in hand, dressed only in a pair of silk briefs. He pulled her from the room into the hall. “Go inside my apartment and lock the door.”
“But—”
“Go!”
His frantic, but firm tone made her obey him. Cowboy to the rescue. Deidre hurried into his apartment, shut the door, and locked it. She listened for sounds of gunfire, but not hearing any, she walked into the living room.
She shivered in the cool, air conditioned room as she took in its appearance. Illuminated with soft lamplight, a cowboy roping a steer embossed the shade. A leather couch rested against the wall while wrought-iron tables sat on either side. Two chairs covered in hairy cowhide made her smile. A real cowboy. Her spaghetti strap dripped over her shoulder. She realized then she stood half naked in her neighbor’s apartment.
A key twisting in the door’s lock made her turn and cover herself. Her breathing grew heavy and fearful.
To her relief, Dave opened the door. “The police are here.” He took in her appearance, then hurried to his bedroom.
When he returned, he pulled one of his western shirts over her shoulders and wrapped his arm around her, giving a firm squeeze of reassurance. “Are you ready to speak to them?”
Despite the upset over the thief, she worried more about her appearance before strangers. Dave’s shirt reached mid-thigh on her. Deidre frowned. “Don’t you have something else a little longer or better yet, I’ll return to my place and—”
“They’d rather speak to you here while they’re dusting for fingerprints.” He led her to the couch and she sat.
“Dusting for fingerprints?” she asked, confused. “They have his fingers! Why would they…don’t tell me he got away.” A chill snaked up her spine, but when she sat down on the couch, the ice cold leather shocked her. ”Oh!”
She pulled the shirt down as far as it would go. “The leather of the couch is cold.”
“Just a minute.”
He returned with a blanket, placed it on the couch, and once she was sitting on it, he folded the blanket over her legs.
“Thanks, Dave.”
“I’ll get the police.”
She glanced down at his briefs, and he smiled. In a jiffy, he returned to his bedroom. When he rejoined her, he wore jeans, his chest and feet still bare. Tanned, ripped, and mouth-watering. He crouched down in front of her and touched her cheek. “Be right back.”
His concern moved her, sending a curl of warmth spiraling through her. “Thanks, Dave.”
She’d become attuned to handling crises in her life. They didn’t unnerve her like being half naked in a stranger’s apartment did.
He kissed her cheek, then took a deep breath and hurried across the landing to her apartment to speak further with the police.
***
“Miss Deidre Roux,” the police officer said several minutes later as he scribbled onto his pad, “did you get a good look at your assailant?”
“You still didn’t catch him?”
She could handle the trauma of struggling with her attacker, but the anger simmered just below the surface that the police hadn’t caught the man. What if he returned?
“We’re still searching, but a description would help.”
“Large Adam’s apple—” She smiled inwardly at the officers’ and Dave’s strange looks. She guessed she hadn’t better mention anything about the small set of jewels the man packed. “Six foot, black hair and eyes, hefty build.” She rubbed the cut on her hand inadvertently, then added, “He wore a ring with a small diamond, black trousers, black leather shoes, and a black button-down collared shirt.”
She cleared her throat. “He might have a bit of a twisted nose from a recent break or just substantial swelling, blackened eyes, bloody nose…maybe.”
Dave raised his brows. Probably he and the others couldn’t believe she could have remembered so much detail when her life was threatened at the time. She would never forget while she trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky, how important noting peoples’ appearances could be.
Six enlisted basic trainees had threatened two of her fellow officer cadets for their money at summer camp. When the military police had questioned them, the cadets only remembered the muggers wore Battle Dress Uniforms. What were the names on their nametags? The cadets had been too scared to notice.
Deidre had never been accosted by a gang while she trained there, but nevertheless, she learned a good lesson. Making a mental note of peoples’ appearances came naturally to her now. Not to mention she had earlier visions of them that helped to warn her what they’d look like before she encountered them.
Even the police officer who now took her statement, she noticed, had stained teeth from drinking coffee or possibly tea. Smoking was ruled out because there was no odor of it hanging about his neatly pressed uniform. He fidgeted, either tapping his pen or his foot in between writing. And his ring finger sported a new wedding band.
Her gaze shifted to Dave’s fingers, and he caught her interest and smiled. Her cheeks warmed as she turned her attention back to the officer.
“Did he say anything to you, Miss Roux?”
“No.”
“What do you think he searched for?” the officer asked.
“He was a thief. I don’t know what he intended to steal.”
“We don’t believe he was a common thief, miss. He was looking for something specific.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You had silver in one of the drawers he opened. He didn’t touch it.”
“I have no idea what he could have been looking for.” She rubbed her hand again. “Maybe he raided the wrong apartment by mistake.”
“Maybe.” He handed her his card. “If you think of anything else that might help with the investigation, just give me a call.”
After the policeman left, Deidre stared at the door leading to the hall. Turning to Dave, she frowned. “How could he have gotten away?”
Dave sat beside her on the couch and took her injured hand in his and considered the cut. “I’m sorry, Deidre. By the time I pulled you from your apartment, then ran to the patio, the man had jumped.”
“But—”
“He injured himself, the neighbor on the other side of your apartment said. He saw the man holding his nose and limping at a run. Then he disappeared beyond the complex in front of us. The police are still searching for him.”
Deidre shook her head. With just the right maneuver, she’d either given him a bloodied nose, or knocked it out of place a tad. Maybe the fall twisted an ankle, too. At least she could always hope. Maybe they’d still catch him.
“Are you sure you don’t know what he was searching for?”
“Sure, as an Assistant G-1 for the headquarters of the 1st Cavalry Division, I had top secret documents at my disposal. Kept them in the bottom drawer under my phone book. Handier that way.” How stupid did he think she was? Besides in her position, she had no access to secret documents. He should have known that, having been in the military before.
Dave sighed deeply. “I want you to stay at my place the rest of the night.”
She realized then she was being hard on him. Yet, she had no intention of staying with him the night. The guy wouldn’t come back tonight, not with the police searching for him and not as injured as he had to be. “But—”
“No, buts. Until your brother returns home to watch over you, you’ll stay here.”
She ran her hand over the sofa. “The couch is too cold.”
He smiled and pulled her from the sofa. “I wouldn’t think of letting my overnight guest sleep out here.”
She tilted her chin up and wrinkled her brow to see his eyes focused on the opening in her borrowed shirt. She pulled it closed.
“But first, let me take ca
re of that cut on your hand.”
She made a disagreeable face as he sprayed an anti-bacterial medicine on the cut. When the stinging subsided, he wrapped a large bandage over the small wound.
The cowboy wasn’t so bad after all, and she was tempted, just a bit, to let him share the bed with her for the night. He led her into the bedroom, tucked her into bed, and sat beside her. “Are you going to be all right? Do you need anything to help you sleep?”
How many times had the doctors asked the same question? She shook her head. She’d be perfectly all right, if the black-eyed beast stayed away the rest of the night.
Dave leaned over and kissed her cheek, then ran his hand over her hair. He didn’t know what a handful she could really be. “Thanks for everything, Dave.”
“Sleep tight, Deidre.”
He kissed her cheek again, then left the door slightly ajar.
She shut her eyes, and seconds later the leather squeaked as he sat down on his couch.
***
Dave grabbed his phone and headed outside on his balcony. “Sir, our men are investigating the break-in of Miss Roux’s apartment. I’ve moved her into my place to keep her safe. Shouldn’t we move them to a safe house—”
“Where are the manuscripts?”
“No sign of them in Miss Roux’s apartment. I did a quick search while the police investigated the break-in.”
“Does the sister know about her brother?”
“I’m not sure. Marilyn’s not been able to find out much from Charlie about his past employer. You told us to take it easy…to learn what we could before—”
“If he’s involved, I don’t want him running. We have nothing on him yet to hold him. Whatever your team does, don’t spook him.”
“But I’m concerned about the break-in into Miss Roux’s apartment.”
“She’s at your place now. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Keep it professional…and keep her safe. She’s involved, but only because she’s his sister, as far as we know. But this could turn ugly if whoever’s in charge of this operation decides she knows too much.”
