Bound by Duty

by Valerie Hansen

  Before he could stop himself, he’d brushed it away with his thumb. The sight of the vulnerable, innocent woman reached inside his heart and settled in as if making a home there. This kind of pure empathy was beyond his ability to resist. Without meaning to get in this deep, he had carried out his captain’s orders to befriend her. Boy, had he.

  The biggest problem Linc had now was how he was going to keep his emotions tamped down enough to properly do his job. This was why family members were seldom assigned together. They mattered too much to each other. And right now, right here, Zoe Sullivan meant more to him than was good for either of them.

  His relief K-9 officer showed up on time, removing his reason for staying. Linc was not happy that the night watch had fallen to a rookie. Nevertheless, it was not his place to question his superiors’ decisions, so he checked in with the airman, then headed for his quarters with Star.

  It was going to be a long night.

  * * *

  The sensitivity Linc had shown when they’d been together in her kitchen had stuck with Zoe long after he’d left.

  He’d taken copies of her lists with him, promising to check which of her possible suspects may have been off duty when the majority of her home invasions had taken place. Given the number of them, such a search was going to take time. In fact, she began to wonder whether one perpetrator was responsible for everything. The more she mulled over her life, the more people she noted who were not happy with her.

  Such was the lot of a dedicated instructor whose final decisions about a candidate’s flying abilities and reasoning in a crisis could make or break his or her career. The percentage of female pilots she had washed out was about the same as male. Although, with fewer women applying for flight school, the actual numbers were smaller. Then there was the gender bias some of the students had against her. Yes, this was the twenty-first century but old habits died hard, even now. Life off the base in rural Texas was proof of that, although since she rarely ventured into nearby towns, she hadn’t often run afoul of good old boys and their antiquated attitudes.

  Deep sleep came more easily than Zoe had expected. Freddy had been so tired after the stimulating Sunday he’d had that he’d gone to bed without argument and she had soon followed.

  Morning light was beginning to filter through the blinds in her bedroom when she finally stirred. Stretched. Swung her legs over the side of the bed, onto the floor and felt...

  Bolting upright, she gasped. Lifting her bare feet, she looked down and her eyes widened with shock and fear. The soles of her feet were covered in a warm, sticky red substance.

  Blood.

  The smell was so cloying. She started to gag, then forced herself to calm down. To take stock of the situation. Am I hurt? No. Nothing physical seemed to be wrong with her. But then where had the pool of blood come from? Whose could it be?

  “Freddy!” Zoe leaped up and dashed toward her son’s room with no thought of the bloody footprints she was leaving in her wake. A scream lodged in her constricted throat, kept there by sheer force of will as she braced herself to face the worst nightmare of her life. She slid to a stop at her son’s open door, one hand on the jamb to steady her trembling body and keep her knees from buckling.

  A sigh replaced the scream in her throat when she found Freddy lying on top of the covers in his pajamas, soundly asleep and clearly unhurt. As she watched, he made a sound like a sleepy kitten and rolled over to face her. He was fine.

  “Thank You, Jesus,” she whispered breathlessly.

  Zoe knew he’d be terribly frightened if he saw her feet, so she edged away and turned back, retracing her crimson footprints. The blood wasn’t from her or Freddy, so where had it come from? Why hadn’t she awakened? Moreover, who had managed to invade her privacy once more to carry out such a heinous act?

  Fear-based adrenaline had borne her to her son’s room. Now, though, she shook so badly she could hardly continue to move. She leaned on the walls, working her way along until she was back in her own room.

  The foul puddle remained beside her bed and she could see where she had initially stepped. A strong urge to wipe up the mess almost overcame her before she reached for her cell phone instead. She must not touch anything. She had to summon help. To call...Linc Colson. No one else would do, not even others on the Security Forces.

  Hand still extended, she struggled to subdue her tremors enough to properly pull up his number and prayed that the strong stomach on which she prided herself wouldn’t fail her. An unexpected vibration almost caused her to drop the phone before she could dial. She was receiving an incoming call. From Linc!

  All self-control fled the moment she heard his voice. Before he could finish his good-morning greeting, she was shrieking unintelligibly. It was the closest she could come to shouting, “Help me!”

  * * *

  Linc had been standing in the street observing her apartment window when he’d called. There was no way to tell what Zoe was trying to say, but he didn’t need words. Her shrillness and sobbing were plenty.

  “I’m coming!” Phone pressed to his ear, he straight-armed the outer door and raced up the stairway. Star was way ahead of him. He noted a fleeing figure dressed in black at the far end of the hallway and made the split-second decision to drop the leash, point and command, “Get ’em!”

  Training dictated he must follow his K-9. And he would have. If Zoe had not appeared in her doorway with both feet covered in blood.

  Linc’s heart and gut clenched simultaneously. Sliding to a halt he shouted, “How bad?” as he eyed her from head to toe, expecting to see injuries. Would his skills be sufficient to save her life if she was bleeding out?

  “It’s—it’s not mine,” she stuttered. Arms extended, palms up, she simply stood there as if in shock.

  “What do you mean it’s not yours?” Linc’s already-taut muscles knotted more. He could barely get “Freddy?” out or believe Zoe when she shook her head.

  “No. Not him either.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes. I just checked. I don’t know where this awful stuff came from. There’s a big puddle of it in my bedroom.”

  Linc saw her start to waver as if she might faint. He reached out, ready to steady her if need be, yet failing to fully grasp her explanation. She was panting as though she’d just finished a marathon and her eyes weren’t focusing well. They were wide and glassy.

  He reached for her. She started to pull away and staggered. Linc caught her by the arm. “You need to sit down.” Truth to tell, so did he.

  “I—I—I woke up and...”

  “This happened while you were asleep?”

  Another nod.

  “Did you see anything, anybody?”

  “No. I’m a sound sleeper except for sometimes when Freddy makes a noise at night. I never heard a thing.”

  “Okay.” He guided her all the way inside, preparing to close the door behind them.

  She started to fight him. “Let go. I need to wash. I have to get this off me!”

  There was panic in her tone. Little wonder. Though Linc commiserated, he stopped her. “No. You can’t wash until the crime scene techs get here. We’ll need pictures of everything in situ. I mean, where it is now.”

  In the background, he heard Star barking ferociously. She had someone cornered. “I need to go help my dog. Will you be okay?”

  Zoe nodded and leaned against the doorjamb. “Yes. Go. Catch whoever did this and bring him back so I can take a good swing at him.”

  “Atta girl. I mean, affirmative, Sergeant.”

  Star’s barking reached a crescendo. Linc knew that as soon as it stopped she’d capture her prey with a painful bite and be holding fast until given the command to release.

  His boots hit the floor hard, the sound echoing along the empty hallway, reminding him of a beating heart. His own was pounding, more from seeing
what had been done to Zoe than from actual exertion.

  Star gave one last intense growl before a human screamed. She had him! Good girl, Linc thought. Hold.

  The screams turned to curses. Almost to the corner where he’d last seen his K-9 partner, Linc heard a scrambling sound followed by Star’s yip. Then all was silent.

  He whipped around the corner so fast he almost lost his footing.

  For the second time in minutes his heart stopped. There lay his dog, alone and prostrate. It took several more seconds before Linc was close enough to tell she was still breathing. Falling to his knees beside her, he gently touched her quivering side.

  “I should have stayed with you,” he whispered haltingly. “I’m so sorry, Star.”

  TEN

  Mayhem reigned in and around Zoe’s apartment. When Linc didn’t return quickly, she’d put in a call to Security Forces and reported all she knew, including the sounds of human and dog doing battle. That would certainly explain why Linc and Star had not come back yet.

  Further proof was the arrival of other K-9 teams. Among them was Master Sergeant Westley James, handling an all-black German shepherd, another man with Watson on his name tag and what looked like a Belgian Malinois, and a stern-looking guy in a dark windbreaker displaying FBI in large white letters across the back.

  Zoe stayed out of their way while being examined by ambulance personnel. She’d kept her head enough to insist on photos before allowing the first responders to check her from head to toe. While a young female airman kept Freddy occupied and isolated, crime scene investigators had taken samples from Zoe’s bedroom and had bagged everything before allowing her to shower in private.

  Getting clean had never felt so wonderful. If she hadn’t been so worried about Linc and his dog, she would have felt total relief. No one was telling her a thing. After having got used to the way Linc had begun treating her, she was taken aback by the cold shoulder she got from both his team and other investigators.

  Emerging in clean, dry PT clothing and with a towel around her wet hair, Zoe recognized Captain Blackwood from the warehouse investigation. When her eyes met his, she was not soothed in the least.

  Nevertheless, she approached him and saluted. “Captain.”

  His blue steel glance was almost enough to give her the shivers. “Sergeant Sullivan. I’m told you can’t explain what took place here this morning.”

  “Only that I woke up and stepped in—” Zoe swallowed hard “—blood. I have no idea when it was put there or who did it. I didn’t see a soul.” She watched a shepherd dog leaving with its handler. “Did the dogs turn up any clues?”

  “Some. Whoever supposedly attacked you is most likely the same person Star apprehended. A scent trail led from here to the spot where the dog was injured.”

  Zoe’s heart skipped a beat. “She’s going to be all right, isn’t she? Nobody will tell me a thing except that she’s alive.”

  “I don’t have the veterinary report yet, but she was conscious when she was transported.”

  Clasping her hands, Zoe felt tears welling. “Oh, thank God. Literally. I’ve been praying for her to be okay.”

  Blackwood didn’t seem impressed by her spirituality. “I would think, Sergeant, that you would put your son’s welfare first and stop resorting to cheap tricks. Believe me, we will not be distracted that easily.”

  “What do you mean, tricks?”

  “You know as well as I do that the red substance was not real blood.”

  “What? It wasn’t?”

  “No. It was not.”

  “Then why did you take so long examining my apartment?”

  “Obviously something occurred here. If you didn’t set up this fiasco to throw us off your brother’s trail, perhaps you would like to stop withholding information about the person or persons who have been harassing you.”

  “Is that what you call it? I call it attacking me, especially this last time. That stuff sure felt real. How was I to know it was fake?”

  He studied her as if she were a slide under a microscope before saying, “We’re running tests on it to see if it can be traced, not that that will help much.”

  Zoe didn’t try to suppress a shiver. “There’s nothing more I can tell you, Captain. If I’m free to leave, I plan to drop my son at day care early, then begin conducting my regular classes. Any objections?”

  “Not from me. When you’re not teaching, Master Sergeant James will make sure you’re covered until Sergeant Colson is able to resume his regular duties.”

  “Will that depend on Star? I mean, does she have to be well before he can come back to watch me?”

  “That will be up to Sergeant James. As long as Sergeant Colson isn’t involved in aggressive tracking or apprehension, I see no reason why he’d be sidelined until his K-9 is fit for duty.”

  “Thank you.” Zoe truly meant it. The captain might not be smiling but at least he was speaking to her. She thought of teenage Portia and felt a twinge of empathy. It was hard for her, being of a lower rank, to speak openly with Blackwood. What must it be like to be his daughter and be forced to get used to his stern demeanor as part of daily life at home? Nightmares were made of notions like that. Although, given her own dad’s overly permissive attitude toward his only son when Boyd was a naughty child, she guessed she’d rather have a strict father like the captain.

  “Too bad we don’t get to choose our parents,” she murmured as she headed for her room to dress for work. In a way, she could choose another parent for Freddy, couldn’t she? By finding a suitable male role model for her son while he was young and impressionable, she could help him mature into a far better man than her brother ever thought of being.

  So who’s a good candidate? It didn’t take a heartbeat for her to picture Linc Colson. Except I’m never getting married again, she insisted. Never, never, never. Freddy can have mentors without her marrying them. Besides, limiting his exposure to one man was too exclusive. He needed to meet lots of strong, honest, sensible yet gentle men.

  And there it was again. The image of Linc burning brightly in her thoughts and memories.

  Logic intruded to dampen her mood like a summer thunderstorm in the dry Texas hills. Colson was only hanging around because he had orders to. Now that he’d been through trials with her, seen her looking her worst and had his dog injured to boot, she’d be the last woman he’d be able to look at romantically, even if she so desired.

  Which I do not, Zoe insisted, hoping that stating the obvious would help her accept it. If she ever did decide to remarry, she knew she would choose a man a lot like Linc. Except with a more trusting nature, she added quickly. She might have a ton of baggage left over from childhood, but Colson wasn’t empty-handed either. They were both toting enough excess to fill the cargo hold of a C-130.

  Little feet pattered. Freddy ran to her as soon as she entered his room. He tugged on her skirt. Zoe bent down. “What, honey?”

  “I’m hungry.”

  “I know you are, Freddy. What do you say we go out for breakfast today?”

  “Why?”

  “Um, because the house is a mess and there are lots of people here.”

  “I saw. They made me stay in my room.” He brightened. “You can make pancakes for them, too!”

  “No, thanks.” Zoe helped him put on socks and shoes, then lifted him into her arms. “We can stop and buy breakfast on the way to see Miss Maisy at day care, okay? You can order whatever you want.”

  “Where’s Star?”

  Zoe had been hoping he wouldn’t ask, but she wasn’t going to lie to him. “Star got a little boo-boo so she’s at the doctor’s.”

  “Will he give her a shot?” The child’s fearful expression was so comical she almost laughed.

  “I don’t know, honey, but if she does get a shot, I’m sure she’ll take it like a good airman.”

&
nbsp; “Yeah. She’s real brave.”

  Braver than I am sometimes, Zoe thought with chagrin. While she’d been standing there feeling sorry for herself and inadvertently distracting Sergeant Colson, that amazing K-9 was chasing down whoever had messed with her. If she were authorized, she’d award Star a medal.

  Even though the blood wasn’t real.

  * * *

  At the Military Working Dog Training Center, in the veterinary hospital wing that was an integral part of the installation, Linc’s injured rottweiler lay stretched out on a steel table in an exam room. She was conscious and panting but not her usual energetic self.

  Linc hovered in the background while Captain Kyle Roark, DVM and head of Canine Veterinary Services at CAFB, went over Star, wet black nose to stubby tail. One young female tech dressed in blue scrubs stood by, waiting for orders while another was preparing a gurney.

  “I’ve given your dog a mild sedative and painkiller,” Roark said, turning a sympathetic gaze toward Linc. “Her overall condition is good, but her respirations are a little fast and shallow.” He was using a light but firm touch to examine Star’s body. “I don’t feel any broken bones, but I’m going to have Airman Fielding take her down to X-ray to make sure her ribs aren’t cracked. Why don’t you come with me and get a cup of coffee while we wait for the results of the films?”

  “I thought they were digital these days.”

  Roark chuckled. “They are. It’s an old habit to refer to plates and actual film.” He stripped off latex gloves and dropped them in a refuse bin before taking Linc by the arm and steering him out of the exam room.

  “I should stay with Star,” Linc said. “She needs me.”

  “What she needs is rest, which I will see she gets while she’s here. Don’t worry. My people know what they’re doing. Fielding may look young and afraid of her own shadow sometimes but she knows her job and does it well. You need to back off and settle down before your dog picks up your nervous vibes and gets upset herself.”

  Although Linc walked the hallway with the doctor, his heart remained with his K-9. “It’s all my fault,” he said solemnly when they reached the break room. “I stopped to check on a human victim and let Star go on alone. I should have stayed with her until we’d apprehended the suspect.”