Duty Bound Guardian (Capitol K-9 Unit)

by Reed, Terri

  Gavin’s lips twitched. “I told myself the same thing about Cassie.”

  Right. After Gavin had protected Cassie, house mother at All Our Kids, they had started seeing each other.

  “This situation is different,” Adam said. “We have very diverse goals. Hers is to raise her nephew and continue with her career at the museum. Her life is here.”

  “And you’re intent on returning to Colorado,” Gavin supplied.

  The neutral tone of his captain’s voice didn’t give away anything, but Adam couldn’t help a twinge of guilt. The envelope burned a hole in his pocket. Gavin had agreed with General Meyer that Adam would make a good addition to the unit even though Adam didn’t have any experience in the field with his canine partner. Adam would always be grateful to Gavin, General Meyer and the whole K-9 unit. “I believe returning is the right decision for me.”

  “And yet, you set Miss Gomez up at your brother’s,” Gavin pointed out. “Not to mention left your partner with her for the night.”

  “I couldn’t stay with her and she refused to leave the town house.”

  “You could have forced the issue or called Brooke.”

  “I could have.” Should have. But he hadn’t. Why?

  Because he wanted to be the one Lana needed, the one who was there for her when she needed him. By leaving Ace, he’d left a part of himself behind. Guaranteeing a reason to return, too.

  He’d stepped on the boundary line but he hadn’t crossed it. He had no intention of crossing the line regardless of how much he enjoyed their time spent together, despite men with guns or sonic wave blasters. He liked her, cared for her and...needed to let her go. To protect her heart because he would only hurt her in the end. But how did he let her go without ripping out his own heart?

  The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Gavin walked out and paused. “If you change your mind, your job here will be waiting. You will always be a part of our team.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Knowing his captain appreciated him and wanted him to stay touched Adam deeply.

  Gavin hesitated, then said, “Be careful with Miss Gomez.”

  “I will.” Though Adam wasn’t sure if Gavin was saying to guard his heart or to keep from breaking Lana’s.

  * * *

  A few hours later, Adam left his apartment, having showered and changed into a fresh uniform, feeling as though he was missing something. His partner. His apartment had been strangely empty without Ace. Since the day he’d chosen Ace, the two hadn’t spent any time apart. Adam hadn’t realized how much he relied on Ace for companionship outside of work.

  But it wasn’t just Ace he missed. As much as he didn’t want to admit to missing Lana, he did.

  He missed the cute way her nose crinkled when she was confused, and the way her quick mind worked. He missed her laugh and her smile. He missed the way she made him feel as if he were a man worthy of a woman like her.

  Oh, man. He was in deep, messing everything up by letting his emotions dictate his actions.

  He drove to the town house and parked outside where he had a good view of the front door and the side gate. The patrol officer had a good view from his vantage point. Between the two of them, they had the place covered.

  He settled back and spent the rest of the night waiting anxiously to see Ace. To see Lana. To share his news about his transfer, yet dreading telling her goodbye.

  As night turned to morning and the patrol officer’s shift ended, Adam called Lana to let her know he was outside. Funny, he forgot to mention his transfer but her sleepy voice had wreaked havoc with his senses and all thoughts of moving away had fled his brain. He could imagine her sleep-mussed with her long dark hair flowing over her shoulders and her eyes heavy-lidded as she awoke to answer the phone. She’d said the night had gone by without a hitch. Ace had slept at the foot of her bed.

  Between Adam, the patrol officer and Ace, Lana had been well guarded.

  But how long before the man targeting her tried again?

  The thought burned in his gut like he’d swallowed a dose of acid. He wished he knew who and why someone wanted to harm her. Then he could draw them out and take them down. The not knowing was a killer on the nerves.

  He opened his car door, intending to go knock on Lana’s front door, when his cell phone rang. Lana? Anticipation revved through his veins. He’d told her to call if she wanted coffee or pastries. There was a bakery around the corner. She’d declined, saying Rosa’s pantry was stocked with good coffee and the freezer had bread for toast.

  The caller ID on the display panel built into the vehicle’s dash read the Capitol K-9 Unit. He pressed the answer button on the steering wheel connected to the Bluetooth. “Donovan.”

  “Hey, I need you to come in right away,” Gavin said without preamble. “Fiona’s found something.”

  “I’m at Lana’s.”

  “Send Brooke the address,” Gavin said. “She can take over Miss Gomez’s protection.”

  Adam’s nerves jumped. He countered, “I need to pick up Ace. It’s no hassle to bring Lana with me.”

  “And it works better to pull you off her detail.”

  His captain’s firm tone didn’t bode well. Adam wanted to protest, to say Lana needed him. But even as the thought formed he realized that was exactly why Gavin was removing him from the situation.

  Adam should let it go. “Sir, I would prefer to see this assignment through,” he argued anyway.

  There was a moment of silence before Gavin said, “I appreciate your commitment to Miss Gomez’s safety. However, I need you to do something else right now. I’ll explain when you get here. Go get Ace, let Miss Gomez know Brooke’s on her way.”

  Gavin clicked off, not giving him a chance to respond. Adam texted Brooke the address for the town house. His chest constricted like a band pulled taut. Brooke was a capable officer. The former army captain wouldn’t let anything happen to Lana. He walked up to the door and knocked.

  Lana opened the door and stepped out of the town house. Despite how much self-talk he used to rationalize the change in assignment being for the best, his heart still jumped with pleasure at the sight of her. Ace edged past her to greet him. He bent down to scratch the dog behind the ears.

  Lana followed at a more sedate pace, a welcoming smile on her pretty face. She wore a blue sweater with jeans tucked into tall black boots. Her hair hung loose down her back and gleamed in the morning sunshine. She’d applied a touch of mascara and lip gloss. Suddenly he had hard time breathing. He wanted to kiss her again but held back as she stopped in front of him. It took every ounce of willpower to not reach for her, to not pull her in for a quick embrace and tender kiss.

  Her gaze searched his. He kept his thoughts from showing and tucked his hands behind his back. In as neutral a tone as possible, he said, “Good morning.”

  “Morning. I’ve made a pot of coffee,” she said, almost shyly as if she weren’t sure what to make of his behavior. Couldn’t be helped. He was determined to regain some professional distance.

  “Can’t. Boss wants Ace and me back at headquarters pronto.” The words left a bitter taste on his lips. “Officer Brooke Clark will be replacing me today.”

  Lana’s eyes widened. “O-kay. Just for today?”

  Adam locked his jaw shut. He couldn’t say for sure one way or the other. As much as he desired to be the one protecting her, he also acknowledged that letting go now before either of them became too enmeshed was for the best. “Brooke should be here soon. I’m being reassigned.”

  Lana bit her lip. “She can take me to your brother’s to get my things.”

  “Yes. You’ll like Brooke. She’ll protect you just fine.”

  A shadow crossed her face before she drew herself up, her features settling into an icy, polite mask. “Good. Thank you, Adam. You’ve taken good care of me these past few days.”

  His heart hurt seeing the frosty indifference returning. But she wasn’t cold and unfeeling, as he’d first thought when he’d interview
ed her about her sister’s death. Lana was a woman who felt deeply, loved deeply and hurt deeply. She hid her pain behind a glacial wall that she put up to protect herself. He understood and wished he were free to melt the snow to reveal the caring and compassionate woman inside. But he couldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair to her.

  “My transfer came through,” he told her, though he couldn’t muster up as much enthusiasm as he thought he should have.

  Dawning brightened her gaze. “Ah. I see.” The corners of her mouth tipped upward and her features softened. “Good for you. I know that’s what you wanted. I’m sure your parents are thrilled.”

  “I haven’t told them yet. It was too late last night to call with the news.” And this morning...his thoughts had centered on Lana.

  “Have you told Ruth and Joe?”

  His chest tightened. “No. I will tonight.”

  “I’ll be sure to keep mum then when I go to their house to collect my things and thank them,” she said. “They should hear the news from you.”

  Her thoughtfulness humbled him and made his heart cave in on itself. She was such a special woman. He couldn’t stop himself. He reached out to cup her cheek. She nuzzled into the palm of his hand. “Lana—”

  The beep of a horn cut off his words. He let his hand drop to his side and turned to see Brooke, with her short-cropped dark hair and big blue eyes, climb out of her vehicle along with her partner, Mercy, a beautiful Golden Retriever.

  Mercy and Ace greeted each other and then each dog sat at attention next to their respective partners.

  Brooke stuck out her hand to Lana. “Miss Gomez, I’m Officer Clark, but you can call me Brooke.”

  Lana smiled wide, though Adam detected a hint of pain in her dark eyes. “Hello, Brooke. You can call me Lana.” She turned to Adam. “You best be going then. Your boss is waiting.”

  Aware of Brooke’s keen interest, Adam held Lana’s gaze. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Not like this. “I’ll check in with you later.”

  “You don’t have to,” Lana said. “I’ll be fine.” She smiled at Brooke. “It will be nice to have some female company.”

  With that Lana led Brooke and Mercy inside the town house and shut the door with a snap that echoed on the morning breeze.

  Gripped by the urge to go after Lana and tell her—what? What could he say? That he cared? That he wanted her to uproot her life and move away with him? That he loved her?

  Unsettled by the wayward questions and unwilling to find the answers, Adam forced himself to drive away. He had to stay focused on the job.

  In the light of day the Capitol K-9 Unit’s headquarters was hopping. Officers and dogs, support staff. Everyone was busy. The low-level hum of conversations grated on Adam’s nerves as he made his way to the conference room. There he found Gavin, Nicholas, Fiona and John Forrester, another member of the team.

  Fiona had the Appletons’ computer on the table along with several stacks of file folders.

  Gavin held a file in his hand. A frown marred his brow and thunder rumbled in his gaze. “This doesn’t mean anything.”

  Adam shot a glance to John and Nicholas. John winced and shrugged. Nicholas shook his head as if to say don’t ask. Apparently whatever Gavin was reading wasn’t to his liking.

  Fiona noticed Adam and waved him over. “Adam, we found what Erin was looking at on the farmer’s laptop.”

  He moved closer, careful to skirt around Gavin. Fiona spun the laptop toward Adam. The images on the screen were for Thorn Industries, a pharmaceutical company.

  Adam eyed Fiona. “Are you sure this is what she was looking at?”

  Giving him a tart look, Fiona tossed her red braid. “When I saw this I remembered some scuttle on the hill having to do with this company. I did a little keyboard finagling.” She waved her fingers at him. “And lo and behold I discovered several internet service providers addresses used to surf the web for information on Thorn Industries as well as congressional bills associated with Thorn Industries.”

  She smirked. “All the research queries into Thorn Industry and the congressional bills were from different public computers along a route leading from the Appletons’ farm. The last search was in a rural library in a small hamlet about ten miles outside of the district.”

  “What does Erin want with Thorn Industries? And what do the bills have to do with the pharmaceutical giant? Or Erin?” he asked.

  “That’s what I need you to find out.” Gavin slammed the file on the desk.

  Adam eyed his boss warily. “Where do I start?”

  “With Avery Sumptner.”

  “Thorn Industries’ CEO,” Fiona supplied. “I pulled copies of the bills Erin, or whoever, was interested in.” She gestured toward the stack of files in front of Gavin.

  “Could Erin have been researching the lobbyist?” Adam asked, his mind whirling with possibilities.

  Before anyone could answer Gavin snapped, “Let me know what you find out.” He stalked out of the conference room.

  Adam sent a questioning glance to his fellow officers.

  “Gavin’s upset because the bills are ones that Congressmen Jeffries introduced, going as far back as his first term in office.” John rubbed a hand over his clean-shaven jaw. “Two specific bills generated a good amount of Erin’s interest.”

  “The bills were pushed through by Jeffries,” Nicholas added. “Both allowed Thorn to continue manufacturing drugs with known dangerous side effects.”

  Ah, that explained why Gavin was upset. Gavin and Harland Jeffries’s relationship went back to when Gavin was a foster kid and Harland was a mentor of sorts. Adam could only imagine how hard it was for Gavin to consider that the man he’d looked up to could be corrupt.

  “Or a lobbyist for Thorn could somehow have been blackmailing Jeffries into pushing the bills through,” Adam threw out. “Maybe Michael found out and someone killed him to keep him quiet.” Adam might be grasping at straws but he believed in his captain. If there was a chance to clear the Jeffries name, Adam had to try.

  Nicholas scoffed. “Yeah, could be. Or Michael, who was known to be a do-gooder, caught wind of his father’s dealings and threatened to rat him and his dirty buddies out.”

  “I know you’re not a fan of the congressman, but you can’t believe he killed his son.”

  “No, I don’t.” Nicholas blew out a frustrated breath. “Because someone shot the congressman. His wound wasn’t self-inflicted.”

  But Adam could tell Nicholas wanted to pin the blame on Harland Jeffries.

  Adam put a hand on Nicholas’s shoulder. “I’ll head to Thorn Industries and see what I can find out.”

  * * *

  Though little sleep made her brain a bit fuzzy, the morning zipped by but Lana was glad to be busy; it kept her from thinking about Adam. She and Brooke oversaw the installation of an alarm system in her sister’s town house. Sensors on the doors, the windows, motion detectors on all sides of the house as well as a panic button in the master bedroom. The team worked quickly and efficiently under Brooke’s and Mercy’s watchful eyes. The plan was Brooke would stay with Lana until Lana’s life was no longer in danger.

  By midmorning Lana, with Brooke in tow, packed up her belongings from Joe and Ruth’s house. Saying goodbye to the twins had been torture. They wanted her to stay. She wanted to stay but knew she had to start standing on her own. Even Ruth grew teary-eyed, but Lana promised them she’d keep in touch and once she gained custody of her nephew, she’d have the Donovans over.

  Not mentioning Adam’s transfer had been difficult. She’d wanted to commiserate with Ruth but Lana had promised Adam she wouldn’t say anything.

  On the drive back into town, Lana’s melancholy took hold of her. Her life was in a holding pattern. She had to wait an undetermined amount of time to hear from the judge on her bid for custody of Juan. She couldn’t return to work yet. And the man who’d shot at her was out there, meaning she couldn’t relax and enjoy her forced time off.

  Not that she
hadn’t been able to get some work done. She’d sent out feelers to several museums across the country asking to bring various different American relics to the museum. She hoped by the time she returned to work, she could prove to Mr. Floyd she was a valuable asset that he’d be remiss in permanently removing.

  The cell phone Adam had bought her buzzed inside her purse. Only Adam and Mr. Floyd had the number. Anticipation zinged through her veins. She hoped Adam was calling to—to what? She forced out a compressed breath. Adam had made his choice clear. He was transferring to Colorado and leaving her behind. Not that they had anything remarkable to begin with, she told herself, but the words didn’t ring true in her heart.

  She answered the phone with a mix of trepidation and hope. “Hello.”

  “Miss Gomez, this is Mr. Floyd.”

  Sitting up straighter in the passenger seat, Lana said, “Mr. Floyd, what can I do for you?”

  “Come back to work.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “We’ve upgraded the security system. It’s supposed to be unbreachable.” He snorted. “It better be, considering the amount of money I’ve shelled out. I’ve hired more security guards, as well. I don’t see any reason for you not to return to work.”

  “I don’t understand,” Lana said.

  “As Officer Donovan pointed out, quite passionately, I might add, you are not responsible for the theft. I understand you’ll have an armed escort at all times and with the measures we’ve taken here, you should be safe to return.”

  Adam had called her boss and advocated for her? Her heart melted and affection blossomed. “That’d be great.”

  “The curator from the Taos Heritage Museum left a message to say he’d be more than happy to negotiate a price for the copper engraved map of General Washington’s battle plans against the British army at Yorktown, circa 1781. That, my dear, is a find that will put our museum on the map.” He chuckled, apparently pleased with his pun.

  Happy little bubbles rose up within her. “I’m so thrilled to hear that.”