by Dale Mayer
“We have work to do, but we also need some rest. Police station it is, then back to Richard’s to crash. A fresh start in the morning.”
“Sounds good to me.” Saul led Rebel away from the bloody stains on the floor, outside toward her car.
She moved automatically, her face blank with exhaustion. She got in the vehicle when he told her to, sat and buckled up. And she hadn’t said anything. She just stared, her arms wrapped around her chest. He closed her door, walked around to the driver’s side and, in a low voice, he said to Stone, “She’s in bad shape.”
Merk joined them. “I just told Foster that she’ll come home with us. If nothing else, it gives her a place to stay for the night.”
Saul nodded. “I’ll follow you guys.” He got into her vehicle, started the engine, waited for the jeep to pull out and then slipped behind it into the empty street. He heard her small voice.
“Where are we going?”
“First to the police station, then some place safe to get some sleep.”
“And me?”
“You’ll stay with us for the moment.”
Her relief was palpable.
He reached over and gently curled her fingers into his hand and squeezed. “We won’t leave you.”
“You guys are here on a job. For me this is my life. If I don’t find Tammy, I don’t know how I can even begin to start over.”
He squeezed her fingers again and dropped her hand as he put both hands back on steering wheel, shifting gears as he turned the corner and headed up Main Street. “We have to remember that was not Tammy. Maybe that’s a good sign. Maybe it’s not. What we do know is, Tammy could still be alive.”
She settled back and closed her eyes. “Why the police station?”
“Merk and Dakota have brought along the two men they captured. One was shot by his boss. The bullet didn’t go between his eyes like the others. It grazed one side of the skull. I suspect he’ll be okay, but we know he’s gone under guard to the hospital.”
She opened her eyes. “We got someone?” She half sat up. “Two someones?”
He nodded and explained.
When she collapsed in relief, her fervent whisper was, “Thank God, that’s huge.”
“I know, right? It’s not a total loss.”
“We should have questioned them before the cops came. Otherwise we can’t make them tell us what we want to know.”
He chuckled. “I trust Stone.”
“Is he the one who found them?”
Saul nodded.
She grinned. “Then let’s hope Stone is every bit as mean as he looks.”
“They are all teddy bears. Stone is just the biggest of the lot.”
“So many of those big guys are,” she whispered.
“Let’s just get through the police station visit, and then we can get some rest. A few hours’ sleep will make a hell of a difference.”
Chapter 13
The police visit was very short. Dakota arranged for the men to come back the next day to give their statements and potentially to see the jailed prisoner. They could do nothing more tonight.
On the promise of returning the next morning, they headed back to their vehicles. Before too long Saul drove onto a very large property. The owner waited for them outside.
“Wow,” she whispered. “I’ve never seen anything quite so fancy.”
“Richard is a doctor and runs a private hospital. He’s a really good man.”
She nodded. But she didn’t say anything else. They went in, and she was escorted to a second-floor bedroom. Saul pushed open the door, turned on the light and said, “Here is your bag you packed.”
She stared at in surprise. “So much has happened that I forgot all about this. Hell, I forgot about everything. I should have called Roger at HR and spoken to him.”
“It’s too late right now.”
She nodded. “I have his number. Maybe I’ll send him a quick text. He can get back to me in the morning.” Pulling out her phone, she sent Roger a message. “There. At least I can sleep better now.”
Her phone rang almost immediately. She shot Saul a surprised look. “It’s him.”
“Roger?”
“Are you serious about Samantha?” Roger asked. “Oh, my God. What’s going on?”
“Yes,” she said. “I have to admit, it’ll be a long time before I get the picture of her broken body out of my mind.”
“With both Tammy and Daniel missing from work, she was working really late in the evenings, making up for the shortfall. We’ll figure out exactly what’s going on here. And, of course, with you out, that’s reason for even more gossip.”
“I’m fine. But the others … I’m not so sure about.” She rubbed at the side of her forehead. “Is there anything you can tell me about Samantha’s life? I don’t even know where she lived.”
“I’m sure the cops would be on that.”
“I know. The cops will be all over you too,” she said, “but I’m working with the private security company that’s investigating Daniel’s disappearance.”
“I don’t know what I can tell you about Samantha. That department was tight. At least the men in her department were tight with her. Tammy not so much.”
“Yeah, I know that much from Tammy. Daniel’s apartment has been cleaned out. Tammy’s is untouched, as far as I could see. Mine has been completely annihilated.” She quickly explained what they’d found.
“Oh, that’s terrible,” he said. “Now you’re dragged into this mess.”
“I just want to find Tammy. I thought I had found her until the flashlights proved it was Samantha.”
“Good Lord.”
“Where did Samantha come from? What company did she used to work for?”
“Another telecommunication company back east. She was transferred here, and then, within a few months of arriving, she came to us. Look, I can give you her address. I don’t think it will help much, and I’m not sure you can get in anyway, not without the police.” But he quickly rattled off an address.
“Thanks. I won’t tell anyone where I got it from.”
“Almost anybody here could’ve told you. One of our Christmas parties was at her place. You never went or you’d know where she lived too.”
“She’s not married, doesn’t have a family, right?”
“No kids and I don’t know if she was living with anyone either. I thought something may have been between her and Daniel. Well, something was between her and Daniel for a little while, but that broke off a year ago.”
“Really? I need to know about that.” She spoke with him for another few minutes, then hung up.
“Why didn’t you go to the Christmas party?” Saul asked.
She shrugged. “Tammy and I had plans to do something together, and the last thing she wanted was to see somebody who she saw enough of at work and didn’t like to begin with.” Rebel smiled at her surroundings, her focus landing on the freshly made bed. Staring at her clothes, she said, “I need a shower first.”
He walked through the room and opened a door. “You have an en suite bath right here.” He turned on the light so she could see no one else was around. “My suite is to the right, beside yours.” He pointed to the left. “Stone is on the left.”
She managed a tired smile. “Now I should sleep the rest of the night.”
He walked up to her and dropped a light kiss on her nose. He started to walk past, stopped, came back. She still stood there, staring at him. He lowered his head and kissed her on the lips. As he lifted his head, he murmured, “Now sleep.”
And he walked out.
*
Walking out was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. Yet it was necessary. Even if he wanted to stay and hold her through the night, chances were good neither would get any sleep. And she needed to rest.
He walked to the suite he shared with Dakota.
“Wasn’t sure if you would make it back,” Dakota joked.
“Of course I was coming back.
No chance of it being anything other than that.” He tried to keep his voice light instead of letting Dakota know of his turmoil inside.
“But you’re interested?”
Saul shrugged. “I’m only here for another day. Like you, I now live in Texas.”
“No reason you can’t convince her to move back to Texas. Look what Harrison just did.”
“Not only Harrison. It’s amazing how many women have made the change from the West Coast to Texas.”
“Levi should set up a California office. I’m sure we SEAL men can hook up with lots of women who want to stay on the West Coast.”
Saul shook his head. “I’m enjoying living in Texas. Apparently plenty of women are already in Texas or are happy to move there.”
“But you know what? I think, once the heart reaches out, it snags whatever the hell it wants regardless.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about her. There is one thing that I really admire about her.”
Dakota said, “Loyalty.”
“Okay, so more than one thing.” He nodded. “Integrity, honesty and loyalty. They’re all the qualities we’ve cultivated over the last decade. It’s the reason we’re all happy at Levi’s company. That’s what we value.”
“And that’s what all the women who have joined us value too.”
Saul walked to the bathroom and took a quick shower. They were short enough on sleep now. And tomorrow could be another busy day. By the time he was done, Dakota was already in the far bed on his laptop. Good, because Saul wanted the bed nearest the door. “What are you looking up?”
“How long it would take you to drive from here to Texas with that jeep of yours.”
“Yeah, I keep going back and forth over that one. I should just sell it.”
“Don’t do that. You love that thing.”
“She’s been sitting in California for months now, and it was damn nice to have it again, but I’m not even driving it while I’m here.”
“You could.”
“Not really. Not if I’ve got to keep a close eye on Rebel.” He got into his bed and turned out the light. “You should get some shut-eye. Morning is coming very damn fast.”
Dakota closed his laptop and turned out the last light. “You aren’t kidding. Our night is already over.”
“Well, I hope tomorrow is a hell of a lot better than today was.”
“If you drove the jeep back, we could send a trailer with her belongings, although she has so little left, you might not need a trailer. She could just buy what she needs in Texas.”
“Not happening.” Saul refused to even contemplate such a move. Rebel was incredible, but that didn’t make her the one for him. At least he didn’t think so.
“You know something? I’m not so sure about that.” And on that cryptic note, Dakota rolled over and went to sleep.
The trouble was, his words left Saul thinking hard and long before he finally fell asleep himself, taking thoughts of Rebel into his dreams where she made him feel right at home.
Chapter 14
Rebel stared at the closed doorway after Saul walked out. She hated to admit it, but, as soon as he left, she felt so alone. The thing was, inside her room she had the privacy to bawl and cry and scream in frustration. But she couldn’t find the release to do any of those things. Inside she was just frozen.
Images of Samantha’s beaten body tortured her imagination. How could anyone do that to another person? It just wasn’t right. It was hard to think of what she might have gone through. Samantha might not have been Rebel’s favorite person, but Samantha was still somebody’s daughter, mother, sister, sister-in-law, cousin. Someone, somewhere, cared about her.
The fear, the torture and the torment Samantha had gone through was something Rebel wouldn’t wish on anybody. The depravity of the human condition was not something she’d been exposed to before this—not to this extent. And she was learning a whole lot she wished she could unlearn. She wasn’t sure she could sleep, even though she was exhausted.
The picture of that woman’s jaw, her face so damaged, her eye socket bruised and the bloody mess she’d been lying in—this would haunt Rebel’s dreams for the rest of her life. If one very small light burned at the end of this, Rebel was thankful the battered body she had found was not Tammy’s. But even knowing that, it could still be Tammy lying in a ditch somewhere.
Heartache and grief overwhelmed her. She walked into the bathroom, quickly shedding her clothes. A hot shower would help. Maybe clear her mind and her heart somewhat. Ease the stress in her system.
She caught a glimpse of her face in the bathroom mirror and winced. Somewhere between helping the poor woman and her arrival in this room, she had smeared blood all over her face and the palms of her hands. She stared at the haggard woman looking back at her and realized just how much this week had taken from her.
She turned away resolutely. There would be no quitting until she found Tammy. Unmindful of the time, she stepped under the hot water and let the heat pound on her back, her head and her shoulders. When she turned her face into the rainlike downpour, she wasn’t sure where the shower started and her tears stopped. Or how long she stood there, letting her emotions ripple through her system.
Finally, wrapped up in a towel, she walked toward the bed and gave her hair a quick towel-dry, then pulled out a T-shirt and panties to wear as she crawled into bed.
Her head barely hit the pillow, and she was tossed into a nightmare that screamed with rage and pain.
She woke less than an hour later, covered in sweat, her body shaking, panic coursing through her. She kicked off the blankets and lay trembling as the cool morning air dried off her sweat-soaked skin. She shuddered.
Her life had become this never-ending nightmare. She didn’t know how to get out of it.
As she lay wondering if it would be okay to search for the kitchen and get a glass of herbal tea, sirens ripped through the house. She bolted to her feet and froze. It wasn’t a fire alarm. The raging drive of an odd pitch had her slapping her hands over her ears. Footsteps raced outside in the hallway. She ran toward the door as Saul opened it from the other side.
“An intruder is on the property.”
She stared at him, her mouth dropping. “Holy crap, that’s the security alarm?”
He nodded.
She put on her bathrobe, slipping her arms through the sleeves, and returned to the hallway with him.
“Do you want to stay here?” he asked, searching her face.
She shook her head. “No, I’ll stay where you are. No way do I want to be separated from you guys.”
He nodded and led the way into the kitchen.
She glanced around at the empty place. “Where has everybody gone?”
“Foster’s in the security room, checking out the video cameras. He will have sent everyone off in different directions.”
“Then we should be there to show we are fine?”
He gave her a lopsided smile. “I’m here to keep you safe.”
She rolled her eyes. “That means you’re on babysitting duty. I can be in the security room with Foster just as easily as anywhere else.”
He seemed to consider that, then nodded. “Come this way then.”
He led her through several halls and up a short set of stairs into another room.
By the time they walked through the doorway she was completely lost as to how they got here. “This place is a maze. Nobody would ever find their way here.”
Foster glanced up and smiled at her. “I’m so sorry for disturbing your sleep,” he apologized.
She smiled at the older man. “I’d just woken up from a horrible nightmare, so this is a grateful reprieve. I hope whoever it is has not caused any real damage.”
“He’ll have to get to that point first,” Foster said cheerfully. “And I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”
She smiled. “I’ll just sit here. You all have something useful to do, I assume.”
Beside her, Saul muttered, “Keeping you al
ive and well is useful.”
She shot him a look. “I’m fine. Go do your hero stuff.”
At that term Foster chuckled. Saul glared at her.
She stared at him in surprise. “What did I say?”
“Nothing,” he muttered. He shot Foster a hard look. “Right, Foster?” But Foster was laughing too hard.
She shrugged. “I’m glad you guys are having fun with this, but what about the intruder?”
Saul reached out and tapped the monitor. “There he is.”
Sure enough, a black-dressed figure slid alongside the guesthouse.
“Don’t even know where that building is,” she said.
“It’s my house,” Foster said with a note of outrage.
“Oh, dear,” she said. “That doesn’t sound very good.”
But the intruder slid past Foster’s house and raced across the distance toward the main house. While she watched, a second man stepped in, his arm straight out, connecting with the intruder’s throat. And just like that the intruder went down.
“Oh, my God! Is that one of our guys?” Then she recognized the shape and snorted. “Of course that’s Stone. No way it isn’t him.” Inside she was elated. Not only had the response time been very short, but they had caught the intruder. Then another thought crossed her mind. “Do you think there’s a second man?”
Saul said, “Almost certainly. No reason for them to come alone on a mission like this. I’m presuming you know why they’re coming?”
She shook her head.
“The only thing that’s changed is you. They’re here for you.”
She stared at him in horror. “But I’m nobody.”
“Apparently you’re somebody who had the USB key. You’re the one who’s been the driving force behind the search for Tammy.”
She shook her head. “That is not good. I didn’t want anything to do with any of this.”
She sat back in her seat a little dumbfounded, considering that any of this revolved around her. “The focus should be on Tammy,” she announced. “This has nothing to do with me.”
“And what if there was more information than what was on the USB key, and they think you might either have a copy of it or a second key?”
