by Aimée Thurlo
“Handler doesn’t like complications, Lightning,” Silentman responded. “What’s your take on the situation?”
“I can’t just turn this lady over to people I’m not sure about—not until I know how those muscle boys found us. I can’t take her to the Farmington police either, because the minute they hear about the theft and her supposed attack on her uncle, they’d have to take action. And if they think she’s dangerous, she could end up in a psychiatric ward someplace and possibly in more danger from whoever’s after her. Besides, our clients specifically wanted to avoid the police. I figure that the best thing I can do is keep her out of sight until I can get to the bottom of this.”
Silentman said nothing for several moments, then finally spoke. “Okay. It’s your call. Just remember, she may be unstable, so her word isn’t worth much.”
“Understood,” Daniel said.
“The hours that she claims not to remember probably hold the key to what’s really going on,” Silentman said. “Her uncle can’t help us fill in any more details on that, other than with his own suppositions, so start with the last thing she remembers doing and try to trace her steps from there. In the meantime, let me do a full background check on Hannah Jones. And get me a description of the man who supposedly abducted her. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Daniel returned to the car and found Hannah playing tug-of-war with Wolf, using her seat belt. It took him a moment to register what he was seeing. He’d tried to play tug-of-war with the massive animal once, but Wolf had shaken the knotted rope and nearly yanked him off his feet, making it clear that he played to win. Yet, with Hannah it appeared Wolf was going out of his way to be gentle.
“Back seat,” Daniel ordered Wolf, and the dog jumped through the gap. If Hannah Jones could even get the dog to soften his style for her, the woman was trouble.
“I need to know what you’ve decided,” she said, her voice calm, but firm. “I don’t like dragging anyone into my business, or depending on strangers. Unfortunately, I’m in trouble and I could use your help—but only if you’re truthful. I’m not interested in lies, no matter what the reason.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, his tone guarded.
“I know who you are and Lightning isn’t your name.”
Daniel studied her, saying nothing. She had guts, he had to give her that. She confronted things squarely. “Who do you think I am?”
“Your name is Daniel Eagle, you’re thirty-two years old, and you’re an investigator for Gray Wolf Investigations.”
He checked for his wallet. It was still in his hip pocket. “Okay. And how do you know all that?”
She gestured to the glove compartment. “I looked in there while you were talking. This car is registered to the agency, but it’s leased to you. The agreement is there on a piece of paper inside the owner’s manual.” She didn’t give him a chance to comment. “I’ve heard of your firm, and I know it’s supposed to be one of the best. But I’ve also heard that Gray Wolf doesn’t always play by the rules.”
“I apologize for underestimating you, Hannah. I should have kept the papers in my wallet, I guess.”
“I may have a blank in my memory, but I’ve still got a brain. I know I’m in trouble, and my life is probably hanging by a thread, but I don’t know why. I could sure use an ally, but the next move is yours. Are you my friend or my enemy?”
He considered trying to placate her with soothing, comforting words, but decided the truth would be better all the way around. Telling her a lie now would only complicate things if the truth came out later. “I’m not sure yet, but I’ll tell you this—I won’t turn you over to anyone until I’m certain who the victim really is in all this.”
“Fair enough.”
Daniel pulled back onto the highway and continued east, still trying to make up his mind about Hannah. The bits and pieces he knew about her refused to fit into one neat package. On one side there was the innocent beauty who wore panties decorated with mice—the woman whose sense of loyalty had kept her from running away in the face of danger while others fought on her behalf.
Then, there was the other side of Hannah. If the reports he’d been given were accurate, he was dealing with a woman who had a history of psychiatric disorders and was capable of bashing her closest relative on the skull, stealing a church’s money, then going into hiding.
Daniel glanced over at Hannah again, noting the bump and discoloration just beneath her bangs. He needed to take things one step at a time. “Our next stop is a free clinic I know of in Farmington.”
“I can’t go there. What if the people after me have places like that staked out?”
“I doubt they have the resources to cover a large area. The two back there weren’t high-priced talent. I figure they’ll be watching your house, and maybe places where you work. Widening the search beyond that would take a lot of manpower. Besides, we need to check out that bump on your head and see if that’s the reason your memory’s been impaired. I promise you’ll be safe. There’s a doctor at the clinic who’s on the agency’s payroll and who has worked with us before on sensitive cases when we’ve needed him. He’ll keep our visit quiet and check out that bruise to make sure you don’t have a concussion or something serious, and then we’ll talk.”
“I hate doctors and I hate hospitals. This isn’t necessary.”
“It is to me,” he said flatly. “You took a blow to the head, based on that bruise, and you’re going to see a doctor. No argument.”
“That’s what you think. Stop the car.”
He glanced over at her.
“Stop the car,” she repeated. “I’m not going another mile until you listen to me.” When he didn’t respond, she started to open the car door, but he reached over to her and grasped her arm. She kept her free hand on the door handle. “Slow down and park, or we’re both going to be statistics to the highway department.”
He wasn’t sure if she was bluffing or not, but he couldn’t keep her steady and in the car while he was still at the wheel. Muttering a curse, he pulled over to the shoulder of the road and stopped. “What the hell are you trying to do?”
“You’ve seen what I’m up against, Daniel. Sure I took a blow to my head, and there are things I don’t remember, but fear and my instinct to survive tell me that there are certain things I have to do. I need an ally, but one who’s really on my side. From what I can see, you’re not certain which side you’re on and that scares the daylights out of me. And nobody I’m unsure of is going to order me around.”
She started to get out of the car, but he reached for her arm, stopping her.
She jerked free. “I don’t care if you can fight like a martial artist, Daniel. No one has the right to manhandle me either.”
“I can’t let you go, Hannah. It’s my job to make sure you remain safe and that’s exactly what I intend to do. I’m going to protect you, even from yourself.”
“I’m not crazy,” she said, her voice trembling. “I won’t be treated as if I can’t make my own decisions.”
“In this case, you can’t. I have a lot more experience in these matters than you have. You’ll have to play by my rules.”
“And your rules are to force whatever you want on me?” Tears filled her eyes.
Seeing it, Daniel groaned. Now he felt like a heel for not having taken the time to treat her with more care. He smoothed his palm across her cheek. “I’ve been too hard on you. I should have taken more time to explain things. Don’t be upset. I really am trying to protect you.”
He saw her trying to manage a smile, and pieces of the armor he’d always kept around his heart broke off, dissolving as if they’d never been. “I’m really sorry.”
“Your apology is accepted,” she said quietly.
As he looked at her, he felt himself drowning in her gaze. His heart hammered in his chest and he ached with the need to kiss her.
He glanced away. This woman made him feel all soft and crazy inside. What the hell did he think he w
as doing?
“I really think you need to get that bump checked out, if you expect to make it through the next few days. Concussions are serious, Hannah. What kind of protection would I be giving you if I saved you from those guys back there, then let you get hurt even more seriously because I didn’t follow up on an injury.”
“All right. At least I know why you’re so intent on doing this. But they won’t find anything wrong.”
“Then that’ll be good news we can both live with.”
Being with Hannah was like working with nitroglycerine—there was an undeniable excitement about it, but if you got overconfident, or made the wrong move, it could spell disaster. Daniel couldn’t be sure of her, and to trust the woman could prove to be a lethal mistake. Yet, despite all that, he liked having her with him.
The plain truth was that he couldn’t remember ever being around a woman who fascinated him as much as Hannah did. She was an enigma hidden in beautiful packaging. But he would have been a fool not to realize how dangerous that made her to him. His attraction to her was already undermining the control he always exerted over himself and his emotions. That fact alone made him uneasy and guarded. An investigator needed to know himself and depend on his reactions. Without that, he was headed for trouble.
IT TOOK LESS THAN AN HOUR to reach the free clinic in Farmington. He parked in the small graveled lot, and walked inside with Hannah, guarding her back with his body. He’d left the windows down in the SUV for Wolf, knowing that with him inside the vehicle, there was no danger of a break-in, even in this poor neighborhood.
As they walked inside, Daniel saw the waiting room was nearly empty. As soon as he identified himself to the nurse at the desk, they were shown to an empty examining room.
“Do you plan to stay in here with me?” Hannah asked irately.
Daniel considered it. “I’ll give you some privacy once the doctor gets here, but I’ll be right outside in the hall.”
A short time later, the doctor came into the room. Hannah didn’t recognize him, and he apparently had no idea who she was either.
After enduring a thorough examination, and having generous blood samples drawn for tests, Hannah was left alone in the room to dress. Hearing Daniel call out to the doctor in the hall, she went to the door and listened. The doctor was telling Daniel that he’d check for drugs and for any serious injury that might have affected her memory, but that the blood test results wouldn’t be available for a few days.
She already knew that they’d find nothing, but understood that Daniel had to make sure. The sad truth was that he couldn’t be sure about her, and that uncertainty would undermine their partnership.
Hannah tried to face the situation squarely. Without his trust, she was better off without him and he without her. It made no sense for Daniel to risk his life for someone he didn’t truly believe in.
What she needed to do now was catch a ride or walk back to the church. She’d wait until no one was around, then go inside and try to reconstruct the missing pieces of her life. She was convinced that everything she needed to clear herself was there. All she had to do was find some way to trigger her elusive memory.
As Daniel and the doctor’s voices moved away from her down the hall, Hannah slipped noiselessly out of the room. A door marked Emergency Exit was only a few steps away.
This was her chance.
She hurried toward it and was nearly there when Daniel stepped around the corner. Hannah ran right into his chest, and before she could take a breath, he clasped her wrist, holding her fast.
She stared at him in mute shock. She wasn’t going anywhere and they both knew it.
“I… I was just going to—”
“Save your excuses,” he said with barely disguised anger. “I’m here to take you to talk to the doctor.”
The young physician looked at them both curiously as they came into his office. The new tension between them was impossible to miss. Hannah sat down in a chair across from the doctor, and Daniel stood behind her.
“The results of your blood test won’t be back for three days or so,” the doctor began, “but from your pupil reaction and reflexes, Miss Jones, I don’t think there are any drugs in your system now. You also don’t have a concussion. Your memory lapse, as far as I can tell, isn’t being caused by any physical trauma.”
“Then that leaves psychological, right?” Daniel pressed.
“That’s a fair guess, but you’re going outside my area of expertise. All I can say is that I found no sign of an injury that would explain her inability to remember recent events.”
Daniel reached down and took Hannah’s hand, holding it firmly but without hurting her. “Then we’ll be going on our way. You know how to bill the agency for this,” Daniel said.
“Good luck,” the doctor answered with a nod. “I’ll send the test results along when they come in.”
As they walked to the door, Hannah felt her stomach sinking. Daniel would never understand why she’d wanted to get away, and why it would have been the best thing for them both. The only thing he’d see in what she’d tried to do was another reason to distrust her. Trying to make things better, she’d succeeded in making them far worse.
She let out a small sigh. For years she’d prided herself on not needing anyone for either her comfort or safety. Depending on a stranger now, and putting him in mortal danger because of it, went against everything she believed in.
“It would have been better for you if I’d managed to get away,” she said simply.
Daniel laughed bitterly. “You were doing it all for my sake, right?”
“No, but what I said still stands. It would have been better for you.” He walked her to the SUV, and opened the passenger door, waiting until she was in and buckled up before he walked around to his side. Wolf looked at her from the back seat, but sensing something was wrong between her and Daniel, remained still.
They drove away silently, Daniel concentrating on the traffic as they headed west.
She could clearly sense that what disturbed Daniel the most was that she’d tried to trick him. He’d never lower his guard around her again but, unless she could somehow gain his trust, he would be as much her keeper as her ally.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To a safe house about halfway to Shiprock. It’s the best place I can think of for us right now.”
They’d gone a few miles out of town before he spoke again, keeping his attention fixed on the road and not even glancing at her. “Is there someone who has known you for a long time who I can talk to—preferably a person who sees you a lot.”
“What do you want, a character reference?” There had been no sympathy or caring in his tone. Daniel was all business now that she’d shaken his trust.
He glanced at her coldly. “Answer my question, please.”
She thought of responding that he hadn’t answered her, but changed her mind. She’d pick her battles carefully from now on. “I wouldn’t drag either my friends or clients into this. I’m not sure why those men were after me, but this is a deadly business. I don’t want anyone I know getting hurt on account of me.”
“We need to find someone trustworthy who might have seen you during that time you can’t account for. They might be able to shed some light on what happened during those hours.”
“My guess is that only someone who works at the church could do that, but I doubt they’d speak freely to you if you came in asking questions. They don’t know you. And I obviously can’t vouch for you right now.”
“Tell me about your clients and your business.”
“I run a small bookkeeping firm out of my home. I don’t have employees—so basically, I’m it. My firm is my livelihood and I’ve worked hard to get it off the ground. Being accused of stealing is about the worst thing that can happen to someone in my profession. Make the victim a church, and you can pretty much write off your career. But ask yourself one thing—what kind of creep would be willing to hunt down a woman and
kill her for two thousand dollars—money that, from what you’ve said, hasn’t even been reported missing? There are more blank spaces in that story than there are in my memory.”
“I know,” Daniel answered quietly. “But no one will hurt you while you stick with me. You can count on that.”
Hannah believed him. From everything she’d seen, Daniel Eagle was a man of his word. When he offered his protection, he meant it. To get to her, they’d have to kill him. And from what she’d seen of his fighting skills, it would take a lot to do that.
Like the stereotypical Navajo warrior, Daniel was cool under pressure, quiet and highly dangerous to an enemy. He also possessed a vibrant maleness that only a woman without a pulse could resist. Though at the moment he was a reluctant ally, there was something infinitely seductive about having a man like Daniel protecting her.
Yet that could all change, and she had to remember that. Once he found out the details of her past, would he still believe she was telling him the truth? That was a question she just couldn’t answer, and one she had every right to worry about.
“So how much farther is this safe house?” Hannah asked.
“We have less than a half hour of drive time before we get there. The house actually belongs to a buddy of mine. It’s near Hogback, just inside the Reservation. No one’s living there right now. Mitchell’s away for the next two months. He’s participating in law enforcement training back east. Nobody will bother us there.”
“Is Mitchell part of Gray Wolf?”
“All I can say is that he and I got to be friends when I worked as a cop a lifetime ago.”
“But what if the neighbors see us?”
“They know me. We won’t have any problems. You’ll be safe. It’s a tight community with a lot of cops or former cops, and ex-military.”
Hannah took a deep breath, then let it out again. “You realize that I don’t have a wallet, money, ID, or anything on me except the clothes on my back, and the shirt isn’t even mine. Is there any way I can get a few things from my home?”
