Harrison's Heart (Heroes for Hire Book 7)

by Dale Mayer

  He wanted her to see him in a completely different light. Not as a bodyguard but as a friend—or something more than a friend. He hadn’t really believed in instant love, although he certainly believed in instant sex, because, hell, that was the modern relationship for those who couldn’t do forever. He didn’t have a problem with that if everyone was available and willing. He looked at the tired but valiant warrior beside him—still so angry, prickly, and against the world—and he realized he’d been looking for the wrong kind of woman. He’d always chosen soft and weak. He didn’t really think of those women as weak, but they wanted different things. Those women had always been the kind who would’ve deferred to him, not faulted him when he was wrong. They would always back away when his own back got up. Instead, this woman beside him would shove her face in his and tell him to back down.

  And he needed that. It wasn’t something he’d realized before, but he really did need it. He didn’t want a doormat. He wanted somebody feisty, someone to partner with, not someone to look after constantly. He wanted to grow old with the same person. He envisioned him and Zoe sitting in two rocking chairs on their porch at seventy to eighty years old. She would never put up with his crap. She’d always dish it right back to him.

  It wasn’t like he had a confrontational personality, but he didn’t want someone who would back off and make him feel like he was threatening them, because it wasn’t in his nature to threaten—unless he was dealing with bad guys. But, if he got blustery and loud with his lover, he didn’t want her to cower. With Zoe, there would be no cowering. She was too damn busy snapping back at him.

  “What the hell are you grinning about?” she growled.

  At her tone, his grin widened. “I’ve decided I like turtles,” he announced. Followed by silence.

  She stared at him with confusion on her face. “That’s nice.” She rolled her eyes and settled into her seat, resting against the car door.

  He chuckled. “Snapping turtles in particular.” As he caught her glare, he realized she was catching on.

  “Better than having too much sweetness in life.”

  “I’m sure you were nice, sweet, and cuddly at some point in your life,” he said. “But you certainly aren’t right now. Nor have you been since I met you. But that’s what I’ve decided I like. Porcupines, snapping turtles, and she-bears.”

  She sat up. “I’m not that bad.”

  At that, he really chuckled. When his laughter died down, he saw her staring at him, and, dammit, hurt was in her eyes.

  In a low voice, she asked, “Am I?”

  He shook his head. “Nope, you’re not. You’re about the perfect amount of snapping and snarling. And you’re not pretending to be someone else. After a few months being with that kind of person, I’d be disappointed to find out it was all a facade.”

  “I don’t put on airs—anywhere. That drove my mother nuts. I always figured it was better to be me and honest.”

  “I agree with that.”

  “And I’m not always like this,” she said quietly. “Some of it resulted from Tamara’s death. I got so angry. I had no outlet for all that sense of injustice, and I could find no peace.”

  He squeezed her hand gently. “There are always life-changing events. How we react, how we deal with them, how we move forward in life is the trick. It’s not easy but so worth doing. And good for you for feeling that sense of injustice on Tamara’s behalf. It was a horrible time in your life. But you did the best you could. Now some of us who have more power, or who know certain people, will do what we can. Still we can’t guarantee justice for her, but we’ll try.”

  She squeezed his fingers. “Thank you.”

  He pulled into the hospital parking lot and drove around to the back. They got out and headed to the same exit they’d used before. Harrison punched in the new code Richard had texted them, then waved at the security camera, and the door unlocked in front of them. They walked in, and it closed. He could hear security changing the codes behind them.

  “Richard’s not taking anything for granted, is he?” Zoe asked.

  “No, not after the last intruder.”

  They walked upstairs without seeing anyone. When they reached the top floor, they found two security guards waiting for them as usual. As soon as they were cleared, they walked to her mother’s room. Two more guards were stationed close to Trish’s door.

  Zoe visibly calmed down when she realized her mother really was protected. “Does Richard do this for everyone or only for my mom?”

  “Probably for anybody who needs it, but, I think, in this case, your mom has a special place in his heart.”

  She gave Harrison a smile. “Yeah, I don’t think Mom will be alone for too long now. Richard is a good man. I can’t ever see him beating the crap out of her.”

  “No, he’s not your father.”

  They walked in the door to see her mother sitting up in bed, a small table over her lap, enjoying a cup of tea. As soon as she saw Zoe, her face lit up. Harrison could finally see the shadow of the beauty Trish must be when her face wasn’t puffy and purple.

  Zoe ran to her side, gently leaned over and gave her mom a hug. “You’re looking so much better.”

  “I’m feeling much better.” She patted her daughter’s hand and searched her face. “I must say though, you don’t look well.”

  Zoe gave Harrison a look and said, “It’s been a bit of a rough day.”

  Her mother nodded. “Richard explained. I’m so glad the police let you leave.” Trish turned her head toward Harrison and gave him a small smile. “Where are my manners? You must be Harrison.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He took one step closer.

  “Thank you so much for helping my daughter through this.”

  “My pleasure, ma’am.”

  “Mom, we have to find Alex.” She couldn’t explain why to her mother. Not while she was still recovering.

  “I have no idea where he is.” But her gaze looked to the side.

  “Mom, did Father give Alex one of the houses?”

  Her mother winced and said, “I don’t know for sure if it went through.”

  “And you didn’t want me to know because there was no house for me, correct?”

  Her mother nodded. “I don’t know why your father never treated you fairly.”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter anymore because he’s not alive now to physically dish out his particular prejudices.”

  “There’ll be lots of paperwork to deal with yet,” her mother said. “I’m not even sure what financial holdings there are.”

  “Or that he left anything to you,” Zoe warned her mother. “Father was nothing if not very closemouthed. It’s quite possible he would turn it all over to Alex.”

  Her mother shrugged. “To be finally free of all that physical terror and the nightmares, it’ll be worth it.”

  Zoe sat back, a big smile on her face. “Good, that’s the attitude. I can always find a job and support the two of us.”

  Her mother patted her cheek. “I have some money of my own. Don’t you worry about me. I won’t live in the style I was used to, but, on the other hand, I’ll be safer, happier, less afraid.”

  Zoe smiled. “As long as you’re safe and sound, and the police find these terrible men, it’ll all be good.”

  Harrison listened to the exchange with interest. He saw a wealthy woman cheerfully trading her moneyed lifestyle she’d always lived to have a simpler one now that was peaceful and without constant pain and terror. And he really appreciated how Zoe had willingly stepped up with her offer to support them both, though he had no idea how or what she would do. She didn’t have a full-time job. But they were an interesting mix. Both women were survivors. And, as such, although they could use help, they didn’t need it from anyone in their lives. He felt he should leave the room and give them some privacy.

  His phone rang at that thought. He pulled it out and saw it was Saul. He motioned to Zoe, saying, “I have to take this.” He stepped outside and a
nswered the call as he walked down the hallway. “What’s up, Saul?”

  “Dakota’s been shot.”

  Chapter 13

  Zoe looked up as Harrison stepped inside her mother’s hospital room.

  His face was hard, locked down.

  Instantly she knew something bad had happened. She bolted to her feet and ran to him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Dakota’s been shot.”

  “Oh, dear God.” She threw her arms around him. “Is he alive? How bad?”

  Harrison hugged her up close.

  She couldn’t give him comfort up until now. It had been him helping her to this point. She stared at his face to see his ravaged expression. “Is it that bad?”

  “He’s in surgery. I don’t know how bad it is.”

  “Do you know who shot him?”

  “Not yet,” Harrison snapped. “But we will soon.” He shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m heading straight to the hospital.”

  She reached out to stop him. “I know that’s what you want to do because he’s your friend. But he’s in surgery. Probably for hours. You can do nothing for him right now. Let’s be reasonable about this. Is there anything we can do to catch the guy who shot him?”

  He stared at her, a muscle twitching in his jaw. She could see him battling the present reality against his emotional needs. Then he nodded. “I’ll call Saul first. Stay inside this room.”

  She stepped back but watched him as he walked up and down the hallway, his phone to his ear.

  When he was done, he turned to her. “You should stay here with your mom.”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m coming with you.” He opened his mouth, but she placed her index finger against his lips. “No. Don’t even bother arguing.” She glanced at Trish. “Mom, I’ll call you later. Stay safe.”

  Her mother gave her a wan smile. “It’s probably good that you’re leaving right now. I’m feeling really tired again.”

  Zoe ran back inside, gave her mom a gentle hug and a kiss, and whispered, “Sleep. Just sleep.”

  She dashed from the room to see Harrison already walking toward the stairs. She rolled her eyes and ran to catch up with him. She hooked her arm through his and tried to keep up. She was short and small; he was tall and big. And those long strides of his made her run. The last thing she would do was complain. Like hell that would happen now.

  She raced down the stairs, keeping up with him. Outside, she quickly jumped into the passenger seat of the car he’d picked her up in earlier. “What did Saul have to say?”

  “He’s downtown. He has the shooter pinned inside an old house. He’s called the cops for backup, but they don’t have anybody available for like twenty minutes.”

  “See? It was a damn good thing you didn’t go to the hospital first. Saul needs you.”

  Harrison didn’t say anything. But, with the engine now running, he roared from the parking lot, hit the main road and punched the address into the GPS. Within minutes, they were almost there.

  “We’re not very far away at all,” she said in astonishment. “I wonder what Saul and Dakota were doing?”

  “They had followed us to the hospital, and then they were checking a few addresses Levi had found.”

  “Then who the hell took Dakota to the hospital if there are no cops available? And how did Saul get the guy pinned down?”

  “I’m not sure on all the details, but Saul mentioned soldiers were involved, so we must be prepared.” He turned a corner. “The address is for one of those names on your list.”

  She gasped. “That’s terrible.” She shook her head. “We have to find those two men, the weak links in Paul’s network.”

  “Maybe we’ll track them down after this.”

  He roared up the street and parked several houses from the address on the GPS. He looked at her. “Since you’re not armed, you should stay in the vehicle.”

  She watched as he bolted from the car and raced toward Saul, hiding in the cedars behind a neighbor’s house. She could see the two men talking before Harrison creeped along the fence and went to the rear of the house in question. She might not be armed, but she wasn’t helpless.

  She left the car and raced up to Saul. In a low voice she said, “I’ll stand watch. Go. We don’t want Harrison to enter that house without backup.”

  Saul gave her a hard look, appeared to like what he saw and pulled a gun from his boot, handing it to her. “According to Harrison, you’re ex-military. So you know how to use this.”

  She accepted the weapon with relief and nodded. “Go. Look after Harrison.”

  He was gone. She stood watch, her phone in one hand, gun in the other. She waited for the two men to enter the back. If they flushed somebody out the front, she had no problem putting a bullet in the runner. Especially if it was one of the assholes who had raped Tamara. She had to make sure she was justified in the shooting and that she aimed to maim not to kill. She wouldn’t go looking for an opportunity to shoot, but, if any runner didn’t stand down, well, that was his problem.

  She watched, soon hearing shouts, noises, gunfire, return fire, then the front door slammed open, and a man came barreling down the stairs. He was armed. He turned and fired through the front door. She raced up to the gate at the fence and held the gun on him. “Stop or I’ll shoot.”

  The man turned to face the new threat, recognized her, and a snarl ripped through his features. “You’re on, you fucking bitch. You’ve been nothing but goddamn trouble.” And he raised his weapon and fired.

  Saul was correct. She was military trained, and she fired off the first shot. It took everything she had not to shoot to kill. But, in the long run, she wanted this asshole to suffer in prison for one hell of a long time. She had taken out his gun hand, shooting between his fingers, ripping through his wrist. It would certainly destroy his right arm for a long time to come.

  He screamed, dropped the gun and stood there, blood dripping from his shattered hand.

  She stepped up and kept her weapon trained on him. “Down on the ground, Jeff,” she yelled.

  He snarled at her and crouched as if to attack.

  She lowered the gun, pointing right at his crotch. “I don’t give a shit if you have any balls or not when you are in prison. But maybe it’s a good thing if you don’t. You’re gonna be somebody’s bitch for a long time.”

  He stared at her, his mouth working as if he wanted to fight, but Harrison and Saul were now out of the house, standing beside her.

  Harrison pulled Jeff’s good hand back. He lifted up Jeff’s bleeding hand and said, “Don’t you know anything about looking after injuries like this? Keep it raised. It helps the bleeding to slow down.” His voice was mocking and hard. He had his phone out, calling the cops.

  With Saul’s gun leveled at Jeff, Zoe slowly lowered her weapon. She was a little shaky. She returned the gun to Saul and said, “You should be proud of me. I really wanted to shoot off his balls.” She paced the sidewalk, working out some of her tension, watching the men deal with Jeff. Then she approached him again. “I presume Randy and Lee took the man you shot to the hospital?”

  “I didn’t shoot him.” He glared at her.

  She turned away, and then whipped out her foot and kicked the elbow of his injured arm.

  He screamed so loud he could be heard all around the neighborhood.

  “Oh, look at that. Your girlie scream will get the cops here a whole lot faster.” She glared at him and said, “Do you really think I give a shit what happens to you?”

  “You should, bitch, because I’ll make sure something nasty happens to you,” he taunted.

  “Yeah, big tough guy who has to rape a woman as part of a gang. Why is that? Is it the only way you can get a hard-on? The military can’t protect you anymore, you know? You shot a civilian.”

  He sneered.

  She stopped, then nodded. “Right. It was likely Lawrence who shot Dakota. If the three of you were here, then he was too.”

&nbs
p; “It was self-defense, bitch.”

  “Yeah, what about my mother?”

  He frowned in confusion. “I don’t know about your damn mother.”

  She studied him. “What about my father?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

  “Nothing other than the rapes? So you weren’t part of shooting my father or beating up my mother? Or how about the two people who worked for my father who were shot and left for dead in the cottage?”

  Again he shook his head. “What the hell are you talking about? You’re not blaming any of that shit on me. I didn’t have anything to do with any of that.” He glared at her. “I don’t know anything about murder. Stupid bitch. You should never have been in the military in the first place.”

  Harrison pulled out his phone, flipped through the photos and held up a picture. “What about this man? He was your best buddy, right? The one you raped women with? Are you guys part of some brotherhood bullshit? You know he’s dead, right?” He held the photo closer so Jeff could see the bloated face of the man they’d found in Alex’s bathroom.

  Jeff’s face turned stark white. “Shit. I don’t know anything about that. Look to her for that. Jesus Christ. She’s probably picking us off one by one.” He turned his gaze away, looked back and said, “What happened to him?”

  “Someone garrotted him,” Zoe said. “I figured you did it for sure.”

  “What? No. He was my best friend. I didn’t know he was dead. I haven’t talked to him in the last couple days.” He shook his head. “I haven’t talked to him in like a week. Maybe longer, I don’t know. His father was pestering him for being in trouble a lot, so we gave it a bit of a break.”

  “Pestering him about what?” she snapped.

  He shrugged. “The military didn’t like all the problems. They considered you a troublemaker, but your campaign had raised a lot of attention.”

  “Instead, this father and son duo was at my father’s house, shot him and then beat my mother within an inch of her life.”

  He sagged in place. “Look, I don’t know anything about that, okay? So we had fun with some women in the military. They all wanted it. They all knew exactly what they were getting into when they enlisted. I’m so goddamn tired of all these women crying rape afterward.” He shook his head again. “Fucking bitches.”