by Dale Mayer
A voice interrupted their eye-gazing, letting them know to buckle up. The engine started. And finally the plane turned and headed down the runway.
She couldn’t wait. As soon as it took off into the air, she squeezed his fingers, lay her head back and closed her eyes. If there was one thing she could hope for, it was to sleep all the way home. Seconds later she could feel herself slipping under.
Parker woke after a very rough flight to hear the sounds of the engine changing. He glanced over to find Sandy curled up against his shoulder; even Samson was sound asleep in his crate.
He looked out the cockpit window and could see the lights below.
They were coming into Germany. He gave Sandy a gentle shake but still enough to make sure she woke up. “Pit stop.”
“Are we staying here for a bit, or are we heading out right away?”
“I think it’s a two-hour stop. Then on to stateside. We’ll be joining another group too.”
She nodded and yawned. “Good. I can’t wait to get home,” she murmured, nestling closer. “But even more I’m glad to have left there.”
Parker smiled, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tugged her closer. “Agreed.” And he kissed her forehead.
Within twenty minutes they were standing and ready to disembark. He wanted to take Samson out of the crate, but that wasn’t likely to be a good idea here. If Samson didn’t walk himself, Parker would have to carry him or get a trolley. And that was not the way things were usually done. But, as he stepped off carrying Samson in his crate, he could see a long trolley set to the side. He placed the dog crate on it and wheeled it toward where they could wait for the next couple hours. But he needed to find a place to let the dog out to do his business. A whistle called out toward them. He looked over to see Gorman standing there with a big grin on his face. Parker didn’t know the man himself but after Cam mentioning him, he’d looked him up as part of his research. The big German male was hard to miss.
Parker laughed, waved and turned to Sandy, standing right beside him and said, “That’s Gorman. He must have recognized Samson.”
“You want to go say hi?” she asked, yawning.
“We’ve got a wait anyway,” he said. “It wouldn’t hurt to wait with somebody.”
He pushed Sampson over until they stood beside Gorman. “Hey. Cam told me I could find you here. I’m Parker. How you doing?” Parker asked.
“I’m doing great. Cam told me you were looking for me,” he replied. “I’m about to head back to the base. I heard you were coming in with the dog. Quite a ruckus over on base, huh?”
“I know,” Parker said. “It just wouldn’t quit. They’re still doing a full-on investigation as to everybody connected. Good thing you’re not there. All kinds of crazy going on.”
“Unfortunately,” Gorman said, “I will be there soon.” He pointed out his big duffel bag beside him. “I’ll be out in an hour or so.”
“Right. Well, we get to go home finally.”
“Along with a coffin. Sorry about that. That’s got to be a hard trip.”
“It is for both of us.” Parker turned and introduced Sandy. “We both have had a rough trip.”
The two shook hands, and then Sandy stepped closer, leaning in, and said, “I know I need to stay awake so I can sleep on the next flight, but it’s hard.”
“You want to come around in the back here?” Gorman asked. “There’s a place where you can sit down. We can get a cup of coffee.”
Parker brightened up. “Sounds good.” He looked at Sandy and asked, “Are you up for it?”
“Both big yeses. Sitting and coffee.” They walked and talked at the same time, following Gorman, pushing Samson with them.
A few minutes later Parker looked around and said, “And where exactly are we going for this coffee?”
“By the time we get there, we’ll have to turn around and come back to catch the next flight,” Sandy joked.
The blow came out of nowhere. Parker sank to his knees, his mind and body still grasping what had just happened when he heard Sandy cry out. And then silence.
He lay on his side, crumpled to the ground, watching as two men stood there arguing. It was Gorman and his buddy, Tobey Manfred. Samson barked like crazy inside his cage. The cage was right in front of Parker, if only he could find a way to open that latch.
Gorman turned around and kicked the cage hard. And that just set Samson off more. “I think we should pop the dog,” he said.
“And deep-six these bodies. Somewhere. Make sure they are never found. Make it look like a psychopath found them,” his buddy said.
“I like the idea of never being found. It’ll look like they walked off the base and never showed up again.”
“You got any idea where that can be?”
“Yes,” Gorman said. “I think so. But we have to get him out of here, and we have to get him out of here fast.”
Samson was still going crazy, and Gorman kicked the cage again.
This time putting it almost within Parker’s reach.
“Shut the fuck up,” he roared. “God, I hate that dog.” Another kick followed.
This time the cage came within reach. Parker snuck his hand out and slowly worked the cage around where he flipped open the latch. With one hard effort, he spoke to Samson. “Attack.” And popped open the end hatch.
Samson bolted from the edge of the crate and raced toward Gorman, lunging before Gorman even had a chance to react.
At the same time, Parker was up on his feet and dove toward the other man’s legs. He took him down and removed his weapon. In the next move, he turned and fired at Gorman, taking out his kneecap. Gorman screamed and went down.
The man under Parker managed to flip Parker over onto his back. Parker still held the weapon, and he shoved it hard against the man’s shoulder and said, “Just make one move, I’ll be more than happy to blow your shoulder joint apart. See if you ever get to use that arm again.”
The guy slowly settled back, pushing his hands up.
“Yeah, you better hold up your hands,” Parker said, right before he clubbed him with the handle end of his gun.
Tobey had been silenced, while Gorman continued to cry out.
Parker crawled to his knees and then upright, hating the wooziness from the blow to his head. He’d been clocked hard. He backed up several steps and crouched beside Sandy. She moaned. “Take it easy, Sandy,” he whispered. “But if you can wake up now, that would be a huge help.”
“I’m awake,” she said. “What happened?”
“We got blindsided by Gorman and his buddy. I’m assuming they are part of this whole export-of-stolen-military-goods thing. Perhaps that’s why they are in Germany.”
“But nobody knew,” she said, struggling to her feet, “until now.”
Parker helped her upright. “Take it easy. We need to handle these two guys.” He looked over to see Samson, his jaw locked on the other man’s shoulder. Parker hadn’t called off Samson. Parker hesitated to do so. Because, once again, that would give Gorman a chance to fight back. But Samson could also guard the other man too. “Samson, release.”
Samson growled.
“Samson, release.” He made his voice calm and authoritative. Almost immediately Samson let go, backed up and looked at Parker.
He walked over and said, “Samson, guard.” And he pointed to both men.
Samson shifted ever-so-slightly and sat down, looking at them.
Parker turned to look at Gorman and said, “You’re not going anywhere for a very long time. That knee is permanently buggered as far as I’m concerned. Your buddy here might try to take me out when he comes to, but, since I’ve got his weapon, I won’t hesitate to blow him apart too.”
He tossed his phone to Sandy and said, “Badger is at the top of that list. You might want to call him.”
She stared at him and then dialed Badger’s number, putting the phone on Speaker. “Badger, you’re on Speaker.”
She walked closer to where Par
ker was, so he could speak. “Badger, I’m holding two guys, Gorman, and his buddy Tobey Manfred. They attacked us at the base in Germany on our two-hour layover. They were part of the military supplies thefts. But I don’t have a clue who here to talk to. So I’m back to contacting you.”
“Stand tight,” Badger said. “I’ll have help in minutes.”
Parker motioned at Tobey, who had come to, and said, “Roll over onto your stomach.”
The guy curled his lip.
“I’ll sic Samson on you, or I’ll blow your kneecap apart, or I’ll do both,” Parker said, his voice harsh. “I am so done with this that I’d put one in your head if I didn’t think it would get me in trouble. But I have no problem riddling your body with bullet holes and taking out major joints.”
The man rolled over slowly.
Parker looked to see if they could secure them with anything.
Sandy shrugged. “Let’s take off their shoelaces from their big work boots.”
With Parker holding the gun first on Gorman, still moaning and crying out about his knee, then on Tobey, as they untied the laces on their boots and secured them both.
Finally feeling a little better, Parker stepped back out of sight at the sound of a vehicle racing toward them. He looked over at Sandy and said, “Be ready.”
“Are they friends or foe?”
“It seems like we’re pretty damned even on this trip. I don’t trust anybody anymore.”
“Gotcha,” she said.
“Step back behind me while I have the weapon,” Parker urged her.
She didn’t waste any time and stepped behind him. She could still see but was no longer front and center.
Not just one vehicle came. There were three. Gravel sprayed as the trucks came to a hard stop. Parker kept his weapon on the prisoners.
“Stand down, young man.”
“Identify yourself,” Parker said.
“I will. But you’ve got to drop that weapon.”
Parker slowly lowered it. “We’ve been attacked more than enough today,” he said. “We’re done being vulnerable. I am not giving up this weapon. Not for one fricking moment. Not until you properly ID yourself.”
One of the men stepped forward. “Commander Cross sent us. Now lower your weapon, soldier.” At that magical name, Parker relaxed and handed over the weapon.
Chapter 12
Sandy was never leaving home again. She sighed. Not only that, she couldn’t let go of Parker’s hand either. The two of them clung together through the questioning, refreshments, coffee until they were finally allowed to get on board the plane to the States.
Even on board, they hardly spoke; they just continued to cling to each other. Or maybe it was she who clung to him. To think that they’d been attacked yet again … She didn’t understand why Gorman would take the chance of accosting them. Nobody even considered that he was involved. At least she hadn’t. Of course it was quite possible that throughout the investigation his and his friend’s names would come up.
Gorman and Tobey had been at the airport when the dog first went missing. With Ronnie opening the dog’s cage, was that the diversionary tactic that he’d needed? Every time she closed her eyes, she kept seeing friends turned to strangers turned to enemies and killers. It was like blows coming out of nowhere—full of deceit and betrayal.
As soon as she’d open her eyes, she’d find herself covered in a film of sweat. She wondered how long it would take to get over something like this. The last thing she wanted from this trip was PTSD. And yet, since her arrival, it had been nothing but hell.
The German base colonel had looked at the two prisoners as if they were dirt that had sullied his home. The men would be dealt with unceremoniously. She had no idea what would happen to them long-term and didn’t care, as long as they weren’t set free again. They were assholes of the first order.
“Can’t sleep?”
Sandy shook her head and whispered, “Maybe never again.” She snuggled in as he shifted to the side, so she could curl up against him.
“Nothing else will happen,” he said, his voice calm. “I promise.”
“What if somebody else in that bloody nightmare is waiting for us stateside?”
“I doubt it. There really wasn’t anybody stateside to get involved. They were selling overseas.”
“Maybe, but it’s hard to be sure. We thought we were safe in Germany, and look what happened.”
“I know. For that, I’m so damn sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said, yawning. “Not your fault in any way. It’s just so shitty that it had to happen this way.”
“I know, but just relax. Let it all go. We can get through this. We have a tough week ahead of us, but we don’t have to be alone. We can do this together.”
“That sounds lovely,” she said. “You know I won’t want you to leave when we get home. It seems like we’ve been together since forever.”
“Me too,” he murmured against her hair. He massaged the back of her neck. “Close your eyes,” he ordered. “Just sleep.”
She was so tired, yet she wanted to laugh at his command because sleep was hardly something you turned off and on like that. But she was seriously too tired to even bother. She was also terrified of closing her eyes and seeing all those scenes happen over and over again. As Parker gently stroked the back of her neck, she could feel herself letting some of the tension fall away, and her stress eased. “How much longer do we have?” she murmured.
“About four hours,” he said. “Four hours and we will be home. Soon we’ll be in Coronado, and it will seem like we never left.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “It’s been a pretty shitty trip. Hard to forget.”
“Ditto,” he said. But he continued to work the muscles at the back of her neck and the top of her shoulders.
“Don’t let me sleep too long,” she murmured, feeling herself slipping under again. But once again the dreams caught hold of her and wouldn’t let go. She was running and running but couldn’t get away from those faceless men chasing her. Somewhere in there was Samson, jumping for throats and shoulders, taking down intruders and bad guys. Her arms wrapped around Parker, she held on tight. She could hear, even in her dream state, Parker’s soothing voice saying, “Take it easy. Just rest. You’re safe. Relax.”
Her arms tightened convulsively. And then she slowly relaxed and slipped deeper. And finally she slept.
When she woke not long after, she felt marginally better. But that little bit of sleep had just reminded her how much sleep she’d actually been missing. She yawned, shifted her position, and asked, “Now how long?”
“We’re almost there,” Parker said. “Not to worry.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I just want to go home and be in my own bed.”
Finally they landed. She was too tired to do much. More military trucks came to take the coffins. She was too tired, too dry-eyed, and too worn out to do much but stand here solemnly as they were loaded up. She was wrapped up in the circle of Parker’s arms as he hugged her close.
When they finally pulled apart, she looked around and said, “Home—finally. Or almost home …”
Once another trolley appeared to transport Samson in his crate, they were good to go.
“My truck is here. Come on.” They went to the parking lot and found his truck. He helped her in the front, threw their bags into the back, then he lifted Samson into the truck bed and said, “I need your address so I can get you home.”
She yawned, nodded, gave him her address and said, “I can’t believe how tired I am. I’m just finished emotionally, physically …” She let her voice trail off.
“Understood,” he said. “You and me both.” He drove off the base and over to her place.
Once they arrived, Sandy stepped out, looked up at her home and said, “Wow. It doesn’t even feel like home.”
“I know. Come on.” He grabbed their bags.
She looked at him for a moment with their bags,
then nodded. “Good,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking straight. Of course I should have invited you in.”
“I don’t really want to leave you alone right now,” he said.
“I don’t know what your reasoning is,” she said, stifling yet another yawn, “but I don’t want to leave you ever. It seems like we’ve been together since forever, and it feels so damn right.”
They unloaded Samson from his crate, let him stretch his legs. He took care of his business and then excitedly followed them as they headed for the front door.
Sandy unlocked the door, pushed it open and stepped inside. She looked around and said, “I can offer you the couch or my bed.”
He stood for a long moment and stared at her.
She nodded again. “We’ll put that down to me being too tired,” she announced. She shut the front door, locked it and headed for her bedroom.
As she walked in, she kicked off her outer layer of clothing until she was in her panties and bra. “I am just going to collapse,” she said. She pulled back one side of her bed linens, tucked under the covers and crashed.
Parker stared in amusement as Sandy completely wiped out on him. Of course it was much better that she managed to get into bed on her own versus him having to help her. He followed suit, taking his clothes off a little more carefully, went into the bathroom and gave himself a scrub down as much as he could, then brushed his teeth and crawled into bed beside Sandy.
She rolled over and tucked up close.
“Perfect,” he whispered. “You turn to me instinctively, just the way it should be.” He placed a soft kiss on her head and pulled her tight against his body.
She mumbled incoherently and then her breathing evened out.
He fell asleep right behind her. His dreams were almost as troubled as hers seemed to have been. But, in each and every one, she was the one getting hurt, and he wasn’t there in time to save her. When he finally woke the next morning, it was early. Somewhere around four o’clock, and dawn was just lighting up the sky. But it hadn’t risen yet. He lay here for a long moment, wondering if sleep was something he could try for again. It was hours before the world would wake up, and he didn’t have any place to go or to be today. Neither did Sandy. And what a joy that was.
