Get Geri

by Woods, Karen

  Delgado, he filed that name away, to look up later. “I’m just surprised you didn’t relieve the man of his skin an inch at a time with a very dull knife,” Josh offered.

  “Trust me, if Gee hadn’t put the man out of her misery, herself, I would have been profoundly tempted to do just that. And if I hadn’t succumbed to that temptation, Nate certainly would have,” Brad said, a flinty truth to his words. “We suspected who her assailant was, because he had gone AWOL. When we found Delgado’s corpse ten days later, it was obvious she had given him lethal wounds in the process of defending herself. We didn’t know for certain until she came out of the coma and told us what happened. Still, it was better this way. At least it was clearly justifiable as self-defense.”

  “Yeah,” Josh replied, hoping Bennet would continue talking. “That’s better than either you or her stepfather facing charges.”

  “True. It was better for all of us this way. At least, she has the satisfaction of knowing she went down fighting and came out in better shape than the animal who raped, and tried to kill, her.”

  Oh Lord, she was only nineteen.

  Brad sipped his coffee and added, “You know, I really don’t need this stuff. I’ve already had enough caffeine since midnight to keep the entire third fleet awake for a month.”

  Josh heard her climb out of the pool. He looked over at her. She quickly wrapped a long terry cloth robe around herself and put on her eyeglasses. Then she wrapped a towel around her braided hair, in the style of a veil.

  “Any coffee in that pot, Sailor?” she asked, as she came over to the table and sat down.

  “Probably,” Brad said as he poured the last of the dark brew into his now empty cup and handed it to her. “How’s my favorite girl?”

  “Alive. And I don’t want your dog germs, Brad,” Geri teased. “Besides, it’s been years since I’ve been young enough to be called a girl. But, thanks for the complement anyway.”

  Brad smiled at her, as he took the coffee cup back. “Fine, be that way, Gee.”

  “Thank you, I will,” she countered.

  Betty Henderson appeared with a service cart. A fresh pot of coffee, a basket of what looked to be homemade buttermilk biscuits, along with butter and honey, a big bowl of scrambled eggs and platter of ham slices, a platter of melon slices and whole strawberries, and tableware for Geri. After placing everything on the table, and removing the old pot of coffee, the housekeeper disappeared back into the house.

  Geri poured herself a cup of coffee and helped herself to the food. He watched as she bowed her head and crossed herself, obviously praying.

  “So, you’ve been talking about me,” she said.

  “Now, Gee,” Brad began.

  “As a matter of fact, we were,” Josh replied. “You are, after all, a subject of concern we have in common.”

  She shrugged as she broke open a hot biscuit and spread it with honey. Then she looked at Brad, “I didn’t expect to see you until later today. You made extremely good time.”

  “I flew back as soon as I heard. I wouldn’t have been able to find you quite so easily if you hadn’t left the message on my cell phone voice mail,” Brad stated as she tore into her breakfast as though she were starving. Josh was quite happy to see her eating. “Thank you for that courtesy.”

  “I told you I was okay,” Geri replied before sipping her coffee.

  “I know you did. But, woman, I learned a long time ago not to believe your own assessment of your condition,” Brad said with feeling. “You’ve lied to me before.”

  * * *

  Josh classified Geri’s expression as profoundly hurt. “Bradford Edmund, I’ve never lied to you, or to anyone else. Failed to complain about things that can’t be changed, yes. Spun the report to put a more favorable light on things, sure. But, I have never lied. There’s a vast difference between a lie and simply putting the best possible face on a situation.”

  “Right,” Brad replied, his tone dismissive. “Anything else you want to spin out to a more favorable light?”

  “So, here you come running back home to check on the blonde?” Geri asked, her voice sounding bitter.

  “If you say so,” the attorney agreed. “Now, you tell me all about these explosions.”

  “No,” Geri denied. “I’m not going to ruin a perfectly good day by thinking about any of that.”

  “I am your attorney,” Brad said.

  “I’m not charged with anything,” she stated, a defensive edge to her tone. “Nor am I likely to be. Besides, I’m sure you know as much about it as I do, if not more.”

  “You know, Gerianne Evelyn,” Brad replied in a tone Josh could only call resigned. “There are times I think you are the single most stubborn female the Lord God ever put on the face of the earth.”

  “Thank you,” Geri responded with a smile as tight as her tone. “It’s my overriding goal in life to be difficult, even bordering on obnoxious, especially to you, Bradford Edmund.”

  “Congratulations on meeting your goal, Gee.”

  The pair of them squabble like an old married couple. Somehow that observation did not put him at ease.

  Geri sighed. “Just give me a little breathing space. I don’t like the knowledge those children died because of me.”

  “You don’t have to do it alone,” Brad said.

  “Those children died because of that animal stalking you, not because of you,” Josh corrected her. “You didn’t do anything.”

  “That’s right,” Geri countered. “I did nothing. I could have, should have, realized that he might do something like this and have been somewhere else, somewhere potential for collateral damage could have been reduced.”

  “What are you, psychic?” Josh demanded.

  “No,” she answered on a sigh cutting into her melon.

  “Then cut yourself some slack, woman!” Josh told her, keeping his voice gentle. “You aren’t responsible for this idiot’s actions. It would have taken a madwoman to foresee the man could have done this thing. You are the victim here.”

  She cleared her throat. “I’ve never cared for the ‘victim’ label. I don’t intend to start embracing it now. And I do seriously doubt the stalker is an idiot. If he were, he’d have been caught by now.”

  Brad took her hand in his. “Easy, Gee.”

  “I don’t want anyone else hurt,” Geri replied.

  “We don’t want to see you hurt,” Josh answered.

  Geri looked at him. “I’m not being fair to you, Josh. I shouldn’t be putting you at risk, either.”

  “I believe we’ve already covered this ground,” Josh dismissed. “You didn’t ask for help. I assumed the risk with my eyes wide open. I’m quite capable of taking care of myself and you.”

  “I’ll leave today,” she said.

  “I would rather that you stay,” Josh replied.

  Brad cleared his throat. “Gee, I think it would be better if you would remain here for the duration. Sutherland has very good security. Your tormentor will not be easily able to get to you here.”

  “There is a demonstrated a willingness to destroy both buildings and innocent lives. He obviously possesses explosives, or at least the ability to get explosives,” Geri said painfully. “You know exactly what explosives can do.”

  Brad sighed. “You have to take care of yourself. He’s not going to get to you if Sutherland’s taking care of you.”

  “Almost anyone can be gotten to. There’s no such thing as a perfect security system,” she challenged.

  “Finish your breakfast, Geri,” Josh encouraged her.

  “Lost my appetite. Excuse me, please, I have to go wash the chlorine out of my hair and get ready for a round of golf,” she replied. “It’s going to be a busy day.”

  “There are more important things than golf, Gee,” Brad said.

  “No arguments from me,” Geri replied easily as she stood. “But, this is business. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes or less.”

  “How’s the head?” Josh asked as
she walked past him.

  “I survived all the brandy I drank last night, barely.”

  “Drink a big glass of water. There’s some aspirin in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom off your room,” Josh advised. “Second shelf on the right. They’re extra-strength. Help yourself.”

  “Thanks,” she said as she walked away from them.

  “Brandy?” Brad asked after Geri disappeared into the house. How anyone could convey as much astonishment and suspicion in one word was beyond him.

  “She got more than a little tipsy late last night, or rather early this morning,” he admitted.

  “She doesn’t drink.”

  “Not usually, no. But, she needed something to help her unwind last night. I made sure she had it. She’ll have whatever she needs as long as she is under my roof.”

  Brad drained his cup of coffee. “I see… If you break her heart, I’ll break your head. And that’s the only warning you’re going to get,” the man said in a matter-of-fact tone.

  “I appreciate the fact you would have to try,” Josh stated. “She said my offering her shelter would be misconstrued.”

  “So, tell me how to construe it properly.”

  “I take care of my people,” Josh replied.

  “And bringing her under your roof is simply a fringe benefit of employment?” Brad asked in a tone laced with disbelief. “You really expect me to believe that?”

  “What you believe or fail to believe is nothing I care about,” Josh said, his tone flat, even to his own ears.

  “No. I don’t suppose you do care. I know I wouldn’t if the situation were reversed,” Brad allowed as he poured himself another cup of coffee. “Gee is quite a woman. And you rather have her as a captive audience. Just watch your step with her, or you will answer to me. I hope that much is clear.”

  “For your information, I offered her a roof, a solitary bed, board, and security. Nothing else,” Josh replied with heat in his voice. “She’s both a key person in my organization and a good friend. I want to keep her safe. I need to help her.”

  “She thinks highly of you, Sutherland,” Brad warned.

  “Meaning?”

  “I trust her judgment. She believes you to be a man of strong integrity. I suspect she’s more than merely fond of you. I can’t say I much approve of a relationship between you and her. You’re way too old for her, to begin with.”

  “Thank you,” Josh replied, his voice sharper than he’d intended. “I’m hardly ancient.”

  Brad sighed. “No, but you are twenty years her senior.”

  “Not quite eighteen, actually,” Josh corrected.

  “Close enough. She likes to hide behind that prim and proper façade she adopted a long time ago as defensive coloring. But, she’s far more vulnerable than she wants people to know she is. She’s especially emotionally vulnerable, right now. She’s survived a good deal of trouble. She wouldn’t survive you breaking her heart.”

  Josh looked at the other man for a long moment. “Believe me, I’m not playing games.”

  “Then you are serious about her?”

  “This is a helluva conversation for us to be having,” Josh said. His voice sounded puzzled, even to his own ears.

  “Isn’t it, though?” Brad agreed, his tone dry as Death Valley in July. “You still haven’t answered my question, however. Let me rephrase it. Exactly, what are your intentions towards Gee?”

  “Her bodyguards are supposed to be here in a little while. Would you like to stay and meet them?” Josh said, not at all wanting to answer that question.

  “I would.”

  Josh nodded. “Then, by all means, stay. You’re important to her. I don’t want her to feel isolated from her people while she is staying here.”

  “But, even if she did feel isolated, you would do everything in your power to keep her here where she can be kept relatively safe, wouldn’t you?” Brad demanded.

  “I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Even if that extends to keeping her under virtual house arrest.”

  “Well, at least, we have the same goal,” Brad agreed. “I’ll warn you, keeping Gee safe has never been an easy job. She collects trouble the way some people collect dirty laundry, just as a consequence of living.”

  “Could it be someone from Delgado’s family who is behind all of this?”

  “Revenge. I’d thought about that. But, I don’t believe it fits. Delgado was raised in the foster care system. As far as I’ve been able to determine, he was abandoned by his parents as a toddler and has no identifiable siblings. He had a son, but there was a lot of bitterness between the child’s mother and Delgado. So, I can’t see the boy, now a man, being involved here.”

  “How did Geri come into contact with him?”

  “Bernard Delgado was under my command,” Brad said, his voice tight. “He was trouble. I knew it. But, he was good at his job, so I ignored most of his off-hours activities. If I hadn’t, she might have been spared that devastation.”

  “You’re with JAG. Was Delgado a lawyer?”

  “No, I commanded a SEAL team at that time and had reprimanded him. Delgado took out his rage at me on her when he was a more than a little drunk. Oddly enough, that might have been the only reason Gee survived the encounter. If he had been in top form, she wouldn’t have stood a chance of a snowball in hell against him. She can handle herself, don’t get me wrong. Nate made certain she could take full care of herself in whatever situation would arise. Still, under normal conditions, she wouldn’t have stood a chance against Delgado.”

  “Well, if it isn’t Delgado—which it isn’t since ghosts aren’t a reasonable possibility—and it’s not his family, then it has to be someone. Someone hates her enough to come after her like this.”

  “She’s not an easy woman. She’s created enemies.”

  “Who hasn’t?” Josh dismissed.

  Brad shook his head. “I don’t know anyone who is without enemies. Still, few are so dedicated as to rain down hell like this man has been doing.”

  “Who are her enemies? Give me some names.”

  “I’ve already given those names to the police,” Geri said from the patio door. “Let’s just let them handle this, okay? I don’t want you stirring that particular pot, Joshua.”

  “What are you afraid I’ll find?” Josh asked.

  “The dark corners of my soul are inhabited by monsters that bite,” she answered, her voice tight. “Just don’t go there. It’s not an area of my soul or my past I’m comfortable letting people see.”

  “Could the man behind this be a lover, current or past?” Josh asked her, making his tone gentle.

  “No,” Geri replied with a blush staining her cheeks.

  Josh let it drop when his housekeeper came out to announce the people from the agency were here and she had put them in his den.

  “Come on, Gerianne, time to meet your bodyguards,” Josh said as he rose from the table.

  * * *

  My bodyguards. Geri tried that phrase in her mind and it simply didn’t set well with her.

  She followed Josh into his study, anyway. He was trying to keep her safe. She loved him for it, even if she feared it was a futile gesture.

  There were seven people in the room when the three of them entered. Josh took a seat behind his desk. Brad went to the French doors and looked out onto the patio. Geri sat on the edge of Josh’s desk facing the security people.

  “Before anything more is said,” Geri stated, “I want it under-stood I am accepting bodyguards only under duress. This is apt to cause more bloodshed than it prevents.”

  Kathy Valdez, the head of the private security agency, spoke up, “Miss Erikson, we understand how you feel. Let me explain how we intend to try to keep you safe.”

  “By all means,” Geri allowed. “Convince me.”

  She had to admit the woman was convincing enough. Kathy proposed there would always be two of the bodyguards with Jeri on six hour shifts, seven days a week. The bodyguards would all be
ex-military. All would be experts both in martial arts and with firearms. Geri just doubted any protection would be enough.

  Geri turned around to look at Josh. “Can we use your gym?”

  Josh looked surprised, then nodded in agreement.

  Geri kicked off her shoes when she entered the mat covered area of his private gym. “Okay, let’s see what you’ve got. You,” she said addressing a fairly tall man, “get offensive.”

  The man smiled, then lunged at her.

  * * *

  Josh watched as she smoothly took the man down.

  “Sloppy. Real sloppy,” Geri said, her voice laced with both frustration and disgust. “You’d be dead by now if this hadn’t been a simulation. Nobody needs a dead hero. Especially not me. Underestimating an opponent is a rookie move, not one for a professional. You saw the blonde hair and assumed I was either helpless or stupid, or both. Trust me, I’m far from being either.”

  “Yes, m’am, obviously,” the bodyguard said with respect in his voice as he rose to his feet. “But, do you think that you would stay calm enough in an encounter to actually take down your assailant?”

  “I don’t like losing, especially when the stakes are my life.”

  “Of course not,” another of the bodyguards agreed as he put her into a chokehold.

  She broadened her stance, thus lowering herself slightly, before she grabbed his thumb and peeled his arm away from her, keeping a twist on his arm and quickly reversing their positions. With a foot sweep, he was face first on the mat, with Geri astride his hips and with his arm twisted up behind him. “It wouldn’t take much more pressure to break the arm, which I would if I had to…”

  Josh had to admit that she was good. Better than good. Although he’d had no clue how truly skilled she was in self-defense until this moment.

  * * *

  She looked at Josh. “I can handle myself.”

  “I know that you can,” Josh said, his voice so gentle and full of respect that it made her want to cry. “But you get the bodyguards, anyway. You’re too valuable to risk.”

  If only he meant that the way that she wanted him to mean it! She felt herself begin to lose her temper. “I don’t want the bodyguards. I won’t pay them. You want me to have the bodyguards, then you pay for their wages!”