by Terry Spear
“Why don’t you follow us,” Dan said, and carried Addie out to his own Jeep, glad it was still in mint condition in the garage.
“I’m headed home to check on Shannon and the kids,” Chase said.
“Okay, thanks, buddy.”
Bridget got in the Jeep with Dan and Addie, and Calvin followed behind them as they headed for the safe house.
“You’ll need to tell us who all was on your team, who you think is the most likely suspect, and we can narrow it down from there,” Dan told Addie. “I remember an Asian dude, the petite blond, and the prematurely gray-haired guy.”
“I will. Did all the men have thermal imaging equipment out here?”
“Just the one I took out. He had been concentrating on the house, then he must have thought to check the SUV and saw two prone bodies. I didn’t have time to pounce and kill him before he shot off any rounds, but he lost his target when I knocked off his aim.”
“Thank God for that.”
“The other man you shot?” Dan asked her.
“Yeah? He was firing at Kate and me.”
“You took him out with one shot. Have you had sniper training?”
“Yeah. I was pretty good at it.”
“Hell, you’re a crack shot. We could really use someone with your talent in the sheriff’s office.”
“With the Cougar Special Forces Agency too,” Bridget hurried to say.
Addie chuckled. “I never thought I’d have two law enforcement agencies fighting over me.”
“We help each other out,” Dan said. “If you want to work for one and the other agency needs someone with your talent, we’ll share.”
He noted she wasn’t biting at the opportunity to put a bid in for either job. She was about as stubborn as him. She wanted to work for the FBI and resolve this. He damn well hoped that she’d quit them after that and return to them. As friendly as everyone was here, they’d had their fair share of situations requiring rescue missions, and dealing with issues requiring deadly force. Mostly though, when the suspects were cougars.
The shooters’ vehicles would be examined for any more clues about the men and who they worked for, though they were career hitmen, so Dan was sure they wouldn’t discover anything that would help, either on their person, or left behind in their vehicles. He hoped they’d have better luck with Rick and Yvonne’s FBI sources.
As soon as they arrived at the safe house, Bridget and Calvin went inside to make sure it was all clear. Then Calvin came out to signal everything was okay.
“I’m so sorry about your house, Dan,” Addie said, as he helped her out of the car.
“The repairs won’t take long at all. All that matters is that everyone who should have, lived, and everyone who shouldn’t have, died. I doubt we could have gotten anything out of them anyway, as far as useful information. Though I wish we’d had the chance to try,” Dan said. “Did you want anything before you go to bed?”
“You,” she said, pulling him toward the stairs.
Bridget smiled at Dan.
He knew this was a side no one ever saw of him, yes, protecting damsels in distress, but not protecting one who was an FBI agent, and his pretend mate.
“See you in the morning,” Dan said to Bridget and Calvin.
“We’ve got you covered,” Calvin said.
They certainly weren’t used to him slipping off to bed with a woman he was protecting, instead of being in charge, giving orders, and planning the whole operation.
He flipped on the switch in one of the bedrooms and the overhead light came on.
“Thank you for soliciting everyone’s help,” Addie said, pulling off her clothes, and he hurried to help her.
“We wouldn’t have done anything differently. Are you going to be all right with sharing the bed with me?”
She smiled up at him. “I will be a very growly cat if you don’t.”
“That’s all I needed to hear. I just didn’t want to hurt you in the middle of the night.” He hurried to remove his clothes as she climbed into bed naked. He looked over the area where the man had cut her, but it looked like it was healing, no infection, still red, the stitches holding. It would still take several more days to heal to the point where he felt she was out of the woods as far as infection went, or that she could do any vigorous exercise.
“I’m fine,” she said, “and I know what you’re thinking. And no. It’s not going to take long before we can have sex.”
He chuckled. “I was thinking of running as cougars and other kinds of vigorous workouts.” He didn’t want her to think that all he saw in her was a woman he could make love to.
He climbed into bed and moved close to her, cupping her face, kissing her cheeks, her eyes, and then her lips.
She kissed him softly back, and he knew then she really wasn’t ready for anything very vigorous. “Can you rest against me?”
“I can try. I want to.” Instead of placing her front against him, she moved around so they could spoon. When he pulled her in close to his body, she sighed. “This is so nice. I’ve wanted to do this since I saw you. Feel your arms wrapped around me. Just cuddling. Until I could work up to more. Soon, though. I’m not waiting long. I’ve been wanting to see you. Desperately.”
“Same here, honey. I tried to pretend you didn’t exist. That you’re just a figment of my imagination so I wouldn’t be thinking of you all the time. To get on with my life without you. It’s never worked for me.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want to think you weren’t holding up your end of the bargain. Just so you know, I was aware you were keeping Dottie company.”
He smiled. “Been checking up on me, eh?”
“I told you. You couldn’t be seeing anyone, dating, or marrying. It would have been too dangerous for her. Then I learned about the guy she hooked up with, Jack Barrington? And that he was the real love of her life, so you were off the hook and I didn’t have to order a hit on you.”
Dan laughed. “I thought I was just supposed to sign on the dotted line to divorce you.”
She chuckled. “There’s divorce. And then there’s…divorce. Besides, I’d learned they’d been together before she moved back to Yuma Town and had his kids. I helped him to learn about it.”
“Why, you minx.”
“Just doing my job as a good, honest, upright public servant. And keeping you out of trouble.”
He chuckled.
“I missed you. If it hadn’t been for the hit on me six months ago, and now this, I would have returned sooner to see you. I hadn’t planned to get you involved in all of this.”
“Since the moment you targeted me at the Hamburger Stop, I became involved. And I’m still your husband.”
She sighed. “You have no idea what we’re up against.”
“I agree.”
“It could get deadly.”
“Most probably.”
“I don’t want to lose you. Not as a faux husband, and an agent undercover, but you.”
“I don’t want to lose you either, which is why I’m in this for the long haul. We’ll figure this out, take down the bad guys, and you can work for me.”
She laughed. “All you want is another warm body at the sheriff’s office.”
“I want your warm body right here with me whenever we’re off the job.”
“Writing out traffic tickets on the job.”
“Hell, Stryker would be grateful if you chased down the really bad guys, and he continued to help rescue cats from trees.”
She laughed. “Oh, I bet he’d love to hear you say that. He seemed upset he couldn’t be in the thick of things. I think if he always got to rescue cats from trees, he’d really be ticked off.”
“It’s his fault. He’s really good at the job.”
She chuckled and ran her hand over Dan’s arm wrapped around her. “I missed this with you.”
“Ditto, honey.” He sighed. “What will your boss think of you not showing up for work or reporting in?”
“After I retur
ned to work following six months of hiding out and recuperating the last time, I’m sure he’ll figure I’ll do the same thing this time.”
“I can’t believe he’s unaware that something’s wrong with his organization. With the team. He knew you were injured both times, right? Then you disappear? Does he even have anyone looking for you?” Dan couldn’t believe what was going on with her team and no one seemed to care.
“I had to see the Bureau psychologist when I returned, to determine if I could go back to work. She okayed me. I have to tell you I’ve been having trouble with night terrors. It won’t be any picnic for you. I might wake up screaming or beating you. I might even go for my gun.”
“Huh.” Dan slipped out of bed.
“Sounds like I might be a little too rough on you?”
He smiled and retrieved his gun that he’d loaned to her from where she had set it on her bedside table. “I’m going to just keep them safe over here. Out of your reach. Just in case.”
“Smart man.”
“I don’t want them too far out of reach in case we have more trouble.” He settled back in bed with her and pulled her close. “Did your boss even question you about where you were or what had happened?”
“Sure. I told him I had amnesia at first. He suspected I was lying. I told him the story repeatedly, and almost had myself believing it. Then I figured if he was the bad guy, he’d have already gotten rid of me.”
“Unless he figured by keeping you close, he could keep an eye on you, and the next assignment you had, get rid of you then. It would have just been a case of the subject murdering you. No involvement from anyone on the team. Or so it would look.”
“Which means I must know something that they don’t want to get out. I can’t figure out what though. I told my boss we had a mole on our team. I was hoping for all the backup I could get on this. He didn’t agree and said it was just one of those things that happens. Someone let it slip about where the meetup was going to be. Someone overheard. Or even I made the mistake. I went over it a million times in my mind, but I don’t see where I would have. I don’t go out drinking with people, don’t talk about my business with anyone. I didn’t tell anyone about the meeting.”
“Except you talk to me.”
“Yeah. You didn’t know about that meeting. It couldn’t have been you.”
“Good to know.”
“Yeah, Dan. I know you’re one of the good guys. All growly and ready to protect my back, no matter what. I trust you with my life.”
“You just didn’t trust my life in your hands.”
“You don’t know how ruthless these people are.”
“I think I have an inkling.”
“Well, yes, now you do.” She sighed. “There are five other members on the team. We’ve only worked together for the past six months. I don’t really know any of them well. We don’t socialize. I don’t know if they’re married, have families, whether they go to church, or play softball. I don’t know anything about them at all.”
“Okay, well, we need to give their names to Yvonne and Rick and they’ll try to track down as much as they can about them. Do you suspect any one of them more than any of the others?”
“No. Not really.”
“I would say that the likelihood it was just a mistake, something that just happened could have been a possibility, until you returned to work and someone tried to kill you on another courier mission. Was it related to the one six months earlier?”
“I didn’t think so, but now I’m wondering if it did.”
He wondered about Addie’s mother too. “What if your mom’s disappearance had something to do with her trying to protect you and your father from the work she was doing?”
“I would say no. That was so many years earlier.”
He wasn’t going to dismiss it. “Get some sleep, honey, and we’ll talk about it some more tomorrow.”
What he wasn’t expecting her to do in the middle of the night was to begin rubbing her soft body against his, kissing him, wanting to make love.
7
Dan was up bright and early, eager to get somewhere with this case while Addie slept. He couldn’t believe she’d wanted to make love to him last night and he’d resisted, momentarily, but when she got all growly with him, reminding him of her divorce option, he had obliged. Happily.
He loved her. And he was glad she had been feeling well enough to make love, but he worried that’s why she was sleeping so late this morning—she’d overdone it.
Bridget gave him a warm smile and handed him a cup of coffee. “Is Addie still asleep?”
“Yeah. Where’s Travis?”
“Talking to Stryker out front. They didn’t want to disturb the two of you.” She set a plate of pancakes on the table. “She must have been feeling better last night.”
“Yeah, but you have creaky, damn box springs.” Dan sat down to eat. “Is anyone else joining me?”
“Uh, we noticed on the box springs, but we’re glad she’s feeling better. We already ate. I’m just serving as the kitchen staff this morning until everyone’s happily fed.”
“Thanks, Bridget. What are they discussing? I guess everyone’s been keeping me out of the loop or I would have gotten some traffic on my phone by now.” He took a bite of the pancakes smothered in blueberries, butter, and maple syrup.
“Unless it was an emergency, or you had a need to know right that moment, no one wanted to disturb you. Not when you were…mostly sleeping with Addie.”
“She couldn’t keep her hands off me. I had to do something to help her get back to sleep.”
“It’s true,” Addie said, coming down the stairs. “Boy, did those box springs make a racket, particularly with our sensitive hearing. I hope we didn’t disturb your sleep too much.”
Bridget smiled. “We were on guard duty, so it made life interesting. I picked up some clothes for you at one of the stores. You’re about my size, so they should fit. As soon as you’re feeling better, Dan can take you shopping for some things.”
“Yeah, sure thing. I hadn’t even thought of that. I need to pick up some things from my place too,” Dan said.
“Would you like some coffee?” Bridget asked Addie.
“Yeah, sure, thanks.”
“Sugar, cream or milk?”
“Half and half?”
“Hmm, yes.”
Dan rose to take Addie in his arms and kiss her while Bridget made her a cup of coffee.
“Are pancakes all right?” Bridget asked.
“Yes, ma’am, if they look like Dan’s.”
“Coming right up.” Bridget set her coffee on the table.
“Thanks, Bridget.” Addie kissed Dan back, her arms wrapped around his neck, her breasts pressed against his chest.
He swore she wanted more loving. If they didn’t have this business to deal with, he would have hauled her back up to the bedroom. He led her to the seat next to him instead.
“What’s been discussed while I was sleeping my life away?” Addie sipped some of her coffee.
“Nothing. I just got down here and other than talking about noisy box springs, that’s about all we’ve discussed.”
Addie smiled.
Bridget served her a plate of pancakes.
“They’ve been holding all of my calls so I wouldn’t disturb your sleep last night.”
“I’ll let the guys know you’re up and can come in and talk about any news they have. This place was really quiet last night.” Bridget joined Stryker and Travis outside.
Then the three of them came inside and sat down at the coffee table while Dan and Addie finished up breakfast and then moved into the living room.
“I think we should call your boss and tell him the trouble you’ve had,” Dan said to Addie as they sat next to each other on the couch.
“He’ll say it’s all in my head, or that it’s my fault somehow.”
“There are too many of us involved who know what went down. Don’t mention us. Just let him know your gua
rd detail standing outside your door vanished and you weren’t staying.”
“You talked to my boss. Briggs? Right?”
“Yeah, to get him to tell Leipheimer to let me into your room to see you. He said I had five minutes. I was grateful when I had a lot more time with you. I began to think that either he was a lot more sentimental than I thought or that it was odd. The nurse came to give you a shot, and I asked about the agent serving as your guard, but she said there wasn’t one. And the men coming into the room after that weren’t security guards. What if Leipheimer wasn’t an agent? What if, when he handed me the phone to talk to your boss, I didn’t even speak to Briggs? Just some random guy?”
Stryker handed her a burner phone. “I suspect they know you’re here still. Not exactly where. I agree with Dan. Talk to Briggs and see what he says about this. He might not even realize you’re alive, and were taken to the hospital, or any of it.”
“If they hadn’t wanted me to live, why would someone have taken me to the hospital?”
“Maybe it was someone else? A bystander who called it in? Then what could the ones who want you dead do about it?” Dan asked. “Nothing, until you were alone in a hospital room all drugged up.”
“And the agent outside my door?”
Dan shrugged. “He might have been legitimate, and someone killed him, or he was paid to leave. Or he might have been a fake. I didn’t ask to see his badge. I just assumed if he was standing outside your door acting like a federal agent, that’s what he was. He didn’t ask to see my ID either.”
“You were dressed as a sheriff, cowboy hat and all.”
“Yeah, but see? By wearing the right clothes, we all assumed we knew what the other was claiming to be.”
“All right.” Addie took the phone and called her boss. When he answered, she put it on speaker. “Sir, it’s me, Addie Steinacker.”
“Where the hell have you been? What the hell happened with you as far as picking up the information from the courier? You just pulled another disappearing act? This is the last straw, agent.”
She looked at Dan with an expression that said she told him so. “You know an assailant killed the courier using a dagger on him before the courier reached me, don’t you? I heard his cry and I ran to check it out, afraid the courier was being attacked. He was already dead by the time I reached him. I chased down the assailant and he managed to stab me, but I got a round off and killed him—point blank shot to the temple. Paris and Dirk were there seeing to the courier. The armed assailant had the manila envelope, which I assume contained the information we were after.”
