Rolling his head back onto his shoulders, he mentally counted to ten. Two attempts on her life in two days. So far he’d done a bang-up job of keeping her safe. He ran a hand through his beard. How had that bastard gotten past his security system in the first place?
The soldier stationed at the entrance to the base reviewed their credentials.
“Welcome to JBER, Sergeant Major Harris, Sergeant Chase.” The soldier handed back their ID. “Weapons, please. You can retrieve them when you leave.”
Glennon and Anthony both handed over their handguns, saluted and then drove straight for the barracks. Pulling into the lot, she shoved the SUV into Park, but didn’t move to get out. “All right. You haven’t said a word since we left the cabin, and I’m starting to think it has something to do with what happened this morning.”
Her sarcasm wouldn’t lighten his mood.
“You could’ve been killed.” The words ripped from his throat. How could he have been so careless as to follow those tracks? The second her attacker had taken off for the trees, he should’ve known the bastard would double back to get to his target: Glennon. Anthony locked his jaw, the ache at the base of his skull intensifying as they stepped from the vehicle.
“But I wasn’t.” She closed the self-imposed distance between them as she rounded the front of the SUV, slipping her hand across his arm. A rush of electricity shot through him. After all these years apart, how could she still affect him like this? “If you hadn’t been there to head that guy off in the hallway, who knows what would’ve happened. You saved my life whether you want to see it that way or not.”
He wasn’t sure about that. Her attacker had had her within his reach, could’ve ended it right then, yet he’d run for the pickup. Glennon’s relayed warning had echoed through his mind since leaving the cabin. What if they were coming at Sergeant Bennett’s disappearance all wrong?
She dropped her hold, heading inside, and he inhaled sharply to steady himself. Tan paint, white tile, an endless hallway and heavy steel doors. Just as he remembered, although he’d only been stationed here a few weeks before shipping out. Anthony missed the weight of his Beretta as they moved toward her room. Chances of needing it on base were slim, but the thought of someone gunning for her grated on his nerve endings.
“Home sweet home.” She dangled the key between her index finger and thumb then handed it off. No physical contact this time. “Try not to make a mess. I have inspections when my leave ends in three days.”
He slid the key into the door and twisted, shouldering his way inside. After flipping the light switch, he stepped back into the hallway. “Whoever searched your room before we got here obviously didn’t get the memo.”
“What?” Glennon pushed past him.
Her room had been trashed. Feathers from slashed pillows nearly covered the floor, while holes in walls crumbled drywall onto the ripped sheets. Whoever had broken into Glennon’s room had been searching for something. Anthony focused the lingering rage climbing up his throat into searching for the files. It’d been a damn good thing she hadn’t been anywhere near here.
He hugged the wall, moving through the room one step at a time. No movement. No intruders hiding under the twin-size bed or in the wood cabinets where her uniforms and civilian clothing spilled out onto the tile. His instincts said whoever had caused this mess had taken off a while ago. Could’ve been the same person who’d taken care of the shooter back at the abandoned house. The same person who’d broken into the cabin? That gave them at least a two-hour head start.
Every cabinet had been opened, every couch cushion destroyed. No stone left unturned. But Anthony read no real organization in the search. It had been disorganized, frenzied. The shooter who’d put a bullet in her shoulder had been a professional. The man at the cabin? Also a professional. This was...something else. Desperation.
“Well, I think I’m definitely going to fail inspection.” Glennon ran a hand through her hair, collapsing onto the edge of her mattress. The small muscles along her jaw tightened. She tried to hide her reaction, but hints of disbelief bled through her stony features—the slight widening of her eyes, the way she rolled her fingers into the center of her palm. She kicked personal items out of her way. Some clothing, a toothbrush, a broken compact mirror. “The only reason someone would’ve done this was to look for the hard copies of those files deleted off my backup.”
And it had to be someone enlisted. There was no other way they could’ve gotten on base.
“Where are they?” Anthony nodded at the hole in the back of the cabinet, the perfect size and shape for a wall safe. Although, the safe had clearly been taken by the intruder in a quick getaway. Interrupted during their search? Before they left he’d get in touch with base security to check the security footage. Not a whole lot of places a soldier could disappear with a wall safe in tow.
She stood, making a beeline for the bathroom. Within ten seconds Glennon reemerged, an empty manila file folder in one hand and a black laptop in the other. She tossed the folder onto the floor. “They got the hard copies I taped under the bathroom sink.” Hiking her thumb over her shoulder, she leaned against the doorjamb. “And they destroyed my laptop. Unless your computer expert can recover a damaged hard drive, everything I had on Bennett’s disappearance is gone.”
“I’ll have Sullivan call in Captain Reise to start processing the scene with the base’s investigative unit. She’s a prosecutor stationed here at JBER, but she should have a few favors to call in.” Anthony gripped his cell phone. “She might be able to tell us what our next move is.”
“Do you honestly think it’ll do any good? Seems like every time we get a lead, it’s a dead end.” Glennon tossed the battered laptop onto the bed and studied the room once more. “Whoever did this is military. And they obviously don’t want me to recover Bennett. So either they have something to do with his disappearance or they’re covering someone’s ass. Maybe both.”
Covering someone’s ass. The furrow between his brows deepened. “You think this is linked to the stolen weapons shipments.”
“That’s my reigning theory. Bennett is smart and he’s trained. He wouldn’t go down easily. He sent me a message saying he had proof. Most likely proof someone had taken Staff Sergeant Mascaro’s place at the head of the theft operation. Intel like that could be enough to kill for.” She nodded at the shared door on the other side of the room. “Bennett’s barracks are—were—right next to mine. Probably looks as good as mine does right now, too, unless the marshal has gotten to it.”
“The marshal.” The attacker at the cabin had known he was a Ranger, had known where to find them, had had the ability to bypass highly secure alarm systems. There were only so many people in the world who had access to that kind of intel and training. “I’d say he’s a good place to start.”
“You think the Provost Marshal General, a man who reports directly to the Chief of Staff of the US Army, has something to do with Bennett’s disappearance?” She turned away fast, a burst of laughter escaping up her throat before she faced him again. “That’s ridiculous. The marshal sent us here to investigate the stolen weapons. Why bring us here at all if he didn’t want us to find the soldiers responsible?”
“To keep an eye on your work, to see what you and Bennett uncovered. And if you found something he didn’t like...he could get rid of the evidence.” And the investigators themselves. The pieces were falling into place. Anthony didn’t have the proof, but there was too much opportunity to not at least talk to the man.
“And when Bennett found proof Mascaro’s operation was still going strong under new leadership, the marshal contracted a hit on both of us to tie up the loose ends.” Glennon sank against the bathroom doorjamb again, her gaze locked on the laptop. She rubbed at the hole in her shoulder. Shaking her head, she shoved away from the doorway, a new shade of determination coloring her features. “Still doesn’t tell us where Bennett is.
If we’re going to accuse the Marshal General of being involved, we need hard evidence to prove it. Irrefutable.”
“Agreed.” Anthony’s phone buzzed in his hand. Sullivan Bishop, CEO and founder of Blackhawk Security, had gotten his significant other to agree to process the scene off the books. But he and Glennon weren’t going to wait around. He’d promised to protect her during this investigation, and that was exactly what he’d do. Even if it cost him everything. “Tell me how we find him.”
Glennon extracted her phone from her jacket pocket and swiped her finger across the screen. “Lieutenant General Samuel Sykes is usually stationed at CID command in Quantico, but he’s decided on a more hands-on approach with this investigation. Just so happens, he’s right here on base. I even have a picture.” She shuffled around the bed through the debris, her boot catching on the corner of the frame. She fell forward.
Anthony moved fast, catching her before she hit the floor. He wrapped his hand around her wrist, her strong pulse beating under his touch. A flood of light pink burned into her cheeks. A rough exhale escaped from between her lips as he righted her, but he didn’t let go. Her sweet rosy scent surrounded him, drawing him closer. Another bolt of electricity—stronger than before—surged through him. Damn, what her touch could do to him. Her attention drifted farther down. To the chain around his neck that had dislodged from under his T-shirt when she fell.
The one with her yellow-gold engagement ring strung through it.
* * *
HE’D KEPT IT all this time. Her ring. Not just kept it, but wore it around his neck. Glennon swallowed hard. Close to his chest.
She straightened, taking a step back. He couldn’t still have feelings for her after all these years. He’d moved on. They both had. He’d gone into private security; she’d put everything she had into her career to forget him. There’d been other women for him and other men for her. Although, as she ran through the short list of dates over the past few years, she couldn’t deny she’d held Sergeant Major Anthony Harris on a pedestal. He’d been her first love. Always would be. Her throat dried. “Why do you have my engagement ring?”
“I never intended for you to see that.” He fisted the ring and shoved it back down his shirt. Turning away from her, Anthony moved with predatory power. He closed down his expression the same way she closed down hers when she didn’t want to surrender the upper hand. Pure stone.
“That’s not an answer.” Her heart drummed too hard and too fast in her chest. She didn’t let her expression change, but couldn’t control the tingling sensation spreading down her body. A single step forward was all it took for him to face her again. “Do you...?” She licked her lips. “Have you been wearing that all this time?”
“The most important people in my life are my team.” Sadness swirled in those dark blue eyes, rocketing her heart into her throat. She knew that. While on tour in Afghanistan, his entire team had been killed right in front of him. He hadn’t ever given her the details, but a few calls up the chain of command had filled in the blanks. Forty-eight hours without support in enemy territory. And he’d made it out alive. Done things that would most certainly haunt him for the rest of his life. For his team.
But that had been when things had changed. That had been when his commanding officers had given him his nickname. The thin, white scar that disappeared into his beard became more pronounced.
“You’re still on that team, Glennon. You have been since the day I met you,” he said.
“Anthony...” She didn’t know what to say to that. What could she say? Glennon backed toward the bed, the soft part of her knees hitting the mattress. This was a mistake. Had she known asking for Anthony’s help would put him in this position, she never would’ve dialed his number.
She studied the mess around her. They were standing in the middle of a crime scene. She had a job to do. She hadn’t come back to Anchorage to tear open past wounds, but she wasn’t about to give him false hope, either. Notching her chin parallel to the floor, she stood. One step. Two. Debris parted as she closed the space between them. His masculine scent washed over her as she reached up, framing his strong jaw between her hands. “I...can’t.”
She’d promised herself not to get involved with any partner she’d been assigned. For the Military Police. With the army. First rule in rescue: keep emotional distance. She couldn’t get involved, couldn’t risk her emotions taking over a case. And she couldn’t do personal relationships anymore. Not since...him. And not since her son had come along. Because a relationship didn’t just involve her anymore. It would affect Hunter’s life, too.
But Anthony tested that boundary as he stared down at her. She traced the small white scar that cut across the left side of his face with the pad of her thumb, one she’d never noticed before, hidden beneath his soft facial hair. Sliding his palms over the back of her hands, he leaned into her touch. He gave a single, quick nod. “I know.”
Her hands slipped from his but she couldn’t move—couldn’t think—as he backed away. The outline of her engagement ring was still visible through his shirt. How had she not recognized it for what it was before now?
“We should go.” He started walking toward the door, taking every ounce of heat from her body with him. “The marshal isn’t going to wait around all day for us to ambush him.”
“Anthony.” She fisted her grip around the hem of her jacket to keep from reaching out for him. Seconds passed. Ten. Maybe more. What was she supposed to say? The ring, his confession... She hadn’t been prepared for any of it. “I’m sorry. I wish I could—”
“Don’t do that.” Hand on the doorknob, he cocked his head over his shoulder. “You got exactly what you wanted, Glennon. And it didn’t matter who you left behind in the process.”
She schooled her expression as his words shot straight through her.
He wrenched open the door.
“I wasn’t finished.” Her voice turned to ice while every cell in her body caught fire. “You might think you have me figured out, that I left because of some pathetic fear of commitment. But you’re wrong.” Her feet sank into the floor as though they’d been buried in cement. “What I was going to say was that I wish I could tell you the truth.”
“What do you mean?” Anthony turned to her. The lines between his eyebrows deepened as the heavy door automatically closed behind him. His voice dropped, deep, dark and sexy, and a shiver slid through her. “What truth?”
How could he possibly still affect her like this? Like they hadn’t been apart the last five years. Like her entire world hadn’t flipped the second she’d set eyes on him. Like she was still the rookie in basic training who’d fallen head over heels for the Ranger she’d met during weapons training.
She bit the side of her tongue. She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t tell him. Because no matter how much Anthony deserved to know, she couldn’t stand the possibility of him hating her more than he already did. She needed his help to find Bennett—plain and simple—and she couldn’t risk him walking away.
Pressure built in her lungs the longer he stared at her, expecting answers. Only there was nothing simple about their situation, was there? “That I’m sorry for leaving the way I did. I shouldn’t have disappeared while you were on tour. Doesn’t change my reasons for leaving. But after I heard what happened to you in Afghanistan, I realized too late I should’ve done a lot of things differently.”
Anthony didn’t flinch. Not so much as a muscle-twitch. His pulse beat steadily at the base of his throat as he studied her, always in control. Always assessing. But he couldn’t possibly know what she was hiding. He nodded. “You know you clench your fingers into a fist when you lie, right?”
“I do not.” She glanced down at her hands. Uncurling her fingers, Glennon rubbed her palms down the sides of her thighs. She’d had that specific tell under control for years. What had changed? She raised her gaze to his. Hell. Didn’t she already know the
answer to that?
She cleared her throat. “I called in a few favors after I left. I know you spent two days in enemy territory alone, out of ammunition, out of provisions, and that the only way you made it back alive was by shooting your way out.”
He closed in on her, fire, rage—everything he kept caged from her—bleeding to the surface of his tightly held control. Not to intimidate her but to get her attention, to let her know he wasn’t about to back down.
She was forced to look up at him. Didn’t he realize she hadn’t been able to focus on anything but him the last two days? That it took every ounce of her remaining strength to keep her distance?
“I’m trained to read people, Glennon. That means I can read you.” He traced the length of her neck with his fingertips, catching her off guard. An explosion of need filled her. She held her breath.
Leveling those dark blue eyes with hers, he leaned in close. So close all she had to do was shift forward to meet his lips if she wanted to. “Just answer me about one thing. Honestly.”
Her heart beat loud behind her ears.
“Is whatever you’re hiding going to get us killed?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Then that’s all I need to know.” He slid his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her into him. Crushing her against him, Anthony kissed her with a punishing desire she’d never felt before. He surrounded her, controlled her, slid his mouth over hers as though he’d been waiting for this moment since the day she left.
And she let him.
She’d wanted—no, needed—this release, needed him, more than anything else at the moment. Forget Bennett. Forget the investigation. Forget she’d landed in the crosshairs of a sniper and could take another bullet at any moment. Right now, there was only Anthony. Her strong, reliable, loyal Ranger. If only for a few seconds, she’d give up control. She’d let the feelings she’d buried for the last five years take over. Her insides caught fire as she melted against him. Had it always been like this between them? So freeing? Roaring electricity shot up her spine. Hell, she was an idiot for kissing him back, but how long had it been since she’d trusted someone this completely?
Rules in Rescue Page 6