Expired Cache

by Lisa Phillips

  “I’m not unprotected.” She set a timer on her phone so it wouldn’t beep, just vibrate. The microwave timer was loud enough she’d be able to hear it upstairs. “Besides, someone tried to break in last night. Now whoever is behind this knows Dean is here to protect me.”

  He’d been amazing. Heroic. Considerate, and strong. What kind of man was like that? She couldn’t say she’d met anyone like him her whole life.

  She was half tempted to fall in love with him right now. Except that this wasn’t where she lived and long distance relationships weren’t how you built a future.

  All her feelings for him proved was that her judgment could still be compromised by her emotions.

  The last thing she needed was to fall for Dean. Even as tempting as it was, she had to trust her own mind. Logic said a guy who lived across the country from her wasn’t the guy for her.

  Jess said, “Sleeping is not protecting you.”

  “That’s why I called. As soon as he fell asleep, I had you ask the cops outside to walk around the house regularly.” Then Dean’s tablet had started beeping, sensing the motion of the officers on patrol. He’d stirred. Before he could wake up, she’d turned off the notification sound. The last thing he needed was to be woken up by nothing but cops looking out for both of them by giving him a much needed break.

  “You like him.”

  Ellie lifted her chin. “Why do you say that like you’re accusing me of some kind of heinous crime?”

  “He’s different than I thought at first.” Jess poured herself a cup of coffee. “But that doesn’t mean I think you should crush on a man who is only here to make sure you’re safe.”

  “Just a hero?” That was fine with her. “All business, nothing else.” Too bad her sister hadn’t seen the way he looked at her. But that was for the best. She didn’t need Jess making it harder to do what needed to be done when all this was over.

  She might be planning on staying longer than she’d thought, but that was about honoring her grandfather. Not about having more opportunities to be around Dean. Feeling this unrequited thing that was happening. Making her want to let him sleep all day, make him muffins so he had something good to eat when he woke up and…no.

  Stop it. She had to focus.

  Ellie slid the phone into her back pocket and went to the office where she sat reading while Dean got his rest. “I’ve been going through grandfather’s things.”

  “What did Pop leave you?”

  He’d hated when Jess called him that. Ellie smiled now, thinking of how even though it had irritated him, he’d never said anything to her sister. Which, to Ellie, meant he’d secretly loved that Jess called him that instead of “Chief.”

  Her sister pushed books around on the coffee table and then picked up the music box.

  “I still can’t figure out what this is about.”

  Jess turned it in her hands. “A trinket from Vietnam? Have you tried translating the writing on it?”

  “How am I supposed to do that?” Ellie said, “From what I’ve found, that’s old Vietnamese script. Like Chinese symbols, they represent words. But none of the ones that came up on Google matched any of those.”

  “And you tried just uploading an image of it to search?”

  Ellie nodded. “Nothing. Except that I know they’re Chu-Nom characters. With the little accent over the ‘o’ that looks like a hat. I sent the photo to the head of Asian studies at the university. When she gets back to me, I’ll tell you what she said.”

  “Okay.” Jess set the box down. “What else?”

  “Other than something big had gone down at some time in Grandpa’s past?” Ellie shook her head. “I know he went through crazy war experiences. But in his mind, one superseded everything, and he never let it go.”

  “It’s somewhere in here, or in the stuff at the cabin, otherwise how could you be expected to find it?”

  She had to concede that point to her sister.

  “Maybe Mom has seen this box. She might know where it’s from, or if it’ll help.”

  Ellie swallowed. “Do you…speak to her?”

  “You don’t?” Jess took a photo of the music box with her phone and tapped and swiped the screen.

  “Not often. No.” She’d been far closer to her grandfather than her mother who followed her own whims. Which often made zero logical sense to Ellie’s rational thought processes. Did she think her mom might help? It was possible. If Jess wanted to ask, she was entirely at liberty to do so.

  “Huh.”

  Ellie shrugged. “We don’t get along.”

  That was the story she’d always told. The truth was more painful and part of the cache of things in her mind purposely labeled “the past,” and Ellie was determined to not allow it to seep into the here and now.

  But was that better?

  A driver and a shooter had both targeted her. Someone was trying to warn her off this. Meanwhile, Dean was doing his best to protect her and had wound up with a breathtakingly awful bruise across the back of his shoulder. Another injury to add to the road map of scars on his back. She wondered briefly if the rest of him was the same, but brushed the thought aside, realizing that wasn’t a helpful line of thinking. Still, it was clear he’d been through war.

  He was still a good guy, prepared to wade in when the damsel in distress was in jeopardy. Only she’d added to his scars, and now he was wrung out. Like her. Instead of a physical challenge, this was like a mental challenge she was failing at. A problem she couldn’t solve, the unanswerable question. Ellie felt like her brain was coming up short. Along came her emotions, determined to take over.

  Which left her freaking out, unable to concentrate like she normally could. Imagining that every creak of the house was that man or another from her past. Coming back to hurt her for good this time.

  “I don’t like being scared.”

  “Who does?”

  Her sister worked undercover a lot. “How do you do it?”

  “I use the fear as part of the role I’m playing. Whatever the person I’m pretending to be would be freaked about, I embrace it.” Jess said, “Which doesn’t help you at all.”

  “Since this is very real.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t here. When the call came in, I was two counties over with Frees, picking up this biker dude from the sheriff’s department. By the time we got back to Last Chance, the drama was over.”

  “It was five minutes.”

  “Yeah, but you were scared, and I wasn’t here.”

  Ellie didn’t know what to say. Her eyes filled with burning hot tears, but she didn’t let them fall. She checked the timer on her phone—five minutes left—and blinked at the view out the window for a while.

  Dean had taken care of her in his capable way, like it was all no big deal. Maybe it was no big deal to a former Navy SEAL. She was a professor. She’d grown up around guns, but all this was decidedly not her normal life.

  “Morning.”

  She glanced up to find Jess’s attention on the doorway. Dean stood there, hair mussed from sleeping. T-shirt wrinkled.

  He lifted two fingers and disappeared in the direction of the bathroom.

  Ellie stood. “I’m going to check on the muffins.”

  That way they would be ready when he was out. She would have something tangible to give him when she said thank you for the thousandth time, and also sorry that she’d put his life in danger. That he’d been hurt. All because that guy on the phone, and his friend, and the man someone named West had sent here last night, were trying to get to her.

  Frightening her was working. Enough her hands shook, and she nearly dropped the muffins along with the pot holders. The oven door shut too fast, slamming in a way that made her wince.

  “Smells good.”

  She turned, trying not to look too pleased that he appreciated her efforts. “Coffee?”

  His attention was on his tablet. “Who…” He looked up. “Did you turn off the sound?”

  Ellie stammered.
“The cops were walking around the house. I didn’t want it to wake you.” She smiled. “I made muffins. Have a seat.”

  “Someone entered the cabin.” He looked at the watch on his wrist. “Three hours ago.”

  He tapped and swiped the screen, muttering to himself. Ellie winced. She hadn’t known it would be a problem. After all, a man had approached this house last night. Who would go up to the cabin as well?

  Jess strode in, headed for the coffee pot. She glanced at Dean, then stilled. “What is it?”

  “The cabin was broken into.” He looked up. “I think they’re still there.”

  Ellie started to speak but Jess cut her off saying, “Coat and shoes.”

  “I’ll make a call.” Dean disappeared.

  “What’s happening?”

  Jess pulled out three hot cups. “The muffins just became to-go breakfast. Let’s move.”

  Two minutes later she was shuffled into the backseat of the car and handed a muffin, along with a full hot cup of coffee. Even the logo for her favorite coffee chain didn’t reassure her.

  “Don’t you need to sleep?”

  Jess twisted in the front seat. “We have a chance to catch whoever is trying to stop you from finding out what Pop wanted you to know. There’s no way I’m being out of the loop on this one.”

  In the driver’s seat, Dean glanced at her sister.

  Ellie took a bite of her muffin. Too big, it got stuck and she had to sip scalding hot coffee—with no sugar—just to swallow it down.

  Dean headed for the parking lot where his friend waited, leaning against an off-road vehicle with no doors and four seats. She was shuffled from one vehicle to another and had to grip the safety bar to keep from swaying out while Stuart drove them up the path. Dean sat beside him in the front, clearly super mad at her. Jess was quiet in the seat beside her, checking her gun first and then her email.

  “I’m sorry I turned off the volume.”

  Dean shifted to glance back at her. “Huh?”

  She saw when his shoulder injury registered. He couldn’t talk to her from the front seat. What was she thinking? He would only hurt himself more just to hear her. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

  Stuart glanced at her but said nothing. Then they were at the cabin and what else was there to say? What was there to do except sit in the vehicle and wait while they went in. Jess kicked the door open.

  Dean said, “Hold on.”

  Jess nodded. “I smell it too.”

  Even Stuart was over there, gun out, ready to do battle on her behalf while Ellie sat in the vehicle where it was safe, and she couldn’t do any more harm.

  Stuart said, “Gas leak.”

  They all raced from the porch. A second later the cabin exploded in a fireball, flinging her sister and two good men through the air.

  Ellie screamed.

  Eighteen

  Dean blinked up at the sun. Clouds. Wind rushed through his ears, the sound like a tornado approaching. No. It was a long time since he’d been anywhere near an impending weather system like that. They normally didn’t happen in Last Chance, or even close by it.

  He rolled over, cataloging aches and pains even as he ignored them. Or tried to. He held his arm against his waist, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. After he’d secured the area, he could worry about himself.

  Ten feet away, Jess lay as though she’d been flung like a ragdoll and left where she landed. He moved to her, rolled her to her back one handed, and saw that she’d received a nasty blow to the head. Breathing. Heartbeat strong. Unconscious.

  He moved to Stuart next. His friend mumbled, eyes glassy.

  Dean patted his cheek. “Hey, buddy. How’re you doing?” Dean checked him for injuries and found nothing pressing. But that didn’t mean all of them wouldn’t feel it tomorrow. He’d been nearly blown up before. Couple days and he’d be laid up like he’d been hit by a truck.

  Where is Ellie?

  He needed to get to her, wherever she was lying. The all-terrain vehicle had fallen on its side. Was she crushed under it? He moved around, but there was only grass. Nothing else. No sign of her.

  Dean checked inside, looking everywhere—even places she wouldn’t be able to hide in. “Ellie! Where are you?”

  He saw a discarded cell phone on the grass. Probably tossed there like the rest of them had been. He scrambled to it and saw it was Ellie’s phone. The screen illuminated her call history.

  She’d dialed 911…he checked his watch. A couple of minutes ago.

  That meant help was on its way.

  He glanced around. Where was she? “Ellie!”

  The cabin trailed smoke into the sky. What was left of it, at least. The whole structure was a pile of wood and debris that flickered with flames dying down now. Serious destruction. A gas leak, somehow ignited, had torn it to pieces.

  There was nothing left.

  Dean turned, scanning. Had someone taken her? Dread settled in his gut like the knowledge of that incoming tornado. It was possible whoever did this had stuck around and dragged her off.

  But which way had they…

  A gunshot rang out.

  Dean was sprinting toward the source before he’d even registered what the sound was. He wanted to thank God for SEAL training, and the reflexes that had given him, but he needed to find Ellie first. That had to be a priority.

  He winced. That wasn’t right. God… He couldn’t think past that. He just ran toward where he hoped Ellie would be. After he saved her, he’d have all the time in the world to get his life aligned with how God wanted it.

  Grunts reached his ears before he saw them.

  Ellie and another man wrestled for control of a gun. Dean came in from the flank, though he was still a quarter mile from them. Getting shot would do none of them any good, but he had to save her.

  He reached for his holster.

  His hands came up empty. No gun.

  The man stumbled back, but neither of them let go of the weapon. The man kicked her thigh, and she cried out.

  She balled her fist. Ellie hit her attacker with a vicious right hook he would be seriously proud of if he’d had the time to be.

  Dean looked for an opening and kept running toward them, this time not desperate. He needed to keep a cool head if he was going to get them both out of this without either one of them getting hurt.

  The man twisted and his free hand came up. His elbow nailed her in the head and she went down.

  Dean yelled, “Ellie!”

  The gunman swung his arm around and fired.

  Dean dove to the ground, behind a fallen tree, and landed hard. Air expelled from his lungs in a rush. He tried to inhale but nothing happened. Winded. Breathe. He had to breathe.

  Black spots blinked in front of his eyes. It took another agonizingly long second listening for the shot that would end Ellie’s life. End his life. Finally Dean managed to take a breath.

  As soon as his body had enough oxygen, he lifted up and looked. The man was nowhere to be seen.

  “Ellie!” He scrambled to her, nearly falling a couple of times. He landed on his knees beside her and touched her shoulder.

  When she rolled, he saw her wide eyes, full of fear. “Dean.”

  Ellie hugged him around the waist, pressing her face to the skin of his neck. He was gritty, sweaty. He probably smelled. But it was the sweetest hug of his life.

  Too bad he couldn’t enjoy it. “Where is he? Where did he go?”

  “He ran off.” She moved, groaning as she did.

  “Okay?”

  “Are you okay?” She shifted to sit, and he lifted to a crouch. Her eyes filled with tears. “You flew through the air. And Stuart. Jess!” She scrambled to her feet so fast he nearly toppled over doing the same. Then she grabbed his good hand and took off, tugging him behind her. “We have to help them.”

  “They’re okay.” He slowed her to a jog and stuck his hand in his pocket. His shoulder didn’t feel good, and she didn’t need to risk tripping and hurti
ng herself more. As they moved, he told her how he’d found Jess and Stuart. They made it back in little more time than it had taken him to run to her after the blast. Dean touched his forehead.

  “You’re not okay.”

  He didn’t want to talk about it. “You called 911.”

  “And then I saw him.”

  “So you chased him?” He didn’t think that had been smart.

  She shook her head, her words now breathy from their easy run back toward the cabin. “That’s not the point. Come on, I want to see her.”

  “Just be careful, okay?” He wanted to know what had happened. “So you took my gun and chased after him. I saw you guys fighting over it. You got in some good licks.”

  She winced. “Not good enough.”

  “You’re alive, aren’t you? So am I. Jess and Stuart are banged up, but they’ll be good.” He squeezed her hand that he was still holding. “You did good.”

  Never mind that she should never have put herself in danger like that, taking off after a guy who’d just blown up a cabin—or so he assumed—even if she did have a gun.

  “Why does that not sound like a compliment?”

  He sighed. “I thought he’d taken you.”

  He’d never been so scared. Not even in SEAL training or during some of their most intense missions. Even when his teammates’ lives had been in danger. When innocents had been caught in the crossfire.

  “Ellie!”

  As they jogged over, Dean called back to Jess, “Don’t get up. Stay there.”

  But she sat up. Ellie hugged her sister, a tangle of limbs until she realized the blood on her sister’s head. She looked at him. “Is she…”

  “She needs to be as still as possible until—”

  “Dean!”

  He turned to see two firefighters, two EMTs, and a uniformed police officer sprint toward them. He waved. “Over here!” And then looked around. “Where is Stuart? He was lying over there.” Dean pointed to the spot.

  Jess nearly shook her head, and winced. “He was standing when I woke up. Said he was going to walk it off.”