by Terri Reed
Adam slammed on the brakes and jammed the gear into Park and blocked the lane. Cars inched around them.
Panic made his hands shake. “Are you hurt?” He helped Lana to sit up, resisting the innate urge to gather her close. He needed to stay focused. Professional. Not let his emotions take over.
She blinked up at him, her eyes wide, her pupils dilated. “No. You?”
“No. Thank God above.” He looked over his shoulder to check on Ace. “None of us were.” Ace poked his head back through the partition and licked his face.
Lana slipped her arms around Ace’s neck and stared at Adam. “What was that?”
“Someone tried to kill you.”
Her olive skin blanched, turning her complexion ashen.
His insides tightened in reaction to her fear. He gave her shoulder a quick, reassuring squeeze before leashing Ace and climbing out of the vehicle, careful to avoid passing cars. Ace hopped down and raced toward the spot where the rider had gone over the edge of the railing, almost jerking Adam’s arm out of the socket. Adam ran to keep up while using the radio attached to his shoulder to call the shooting in. He stared down into the muddy Anacostia River.
There was no sign of the shooter.
Adam returned to the vehicle, noting that the motorcycle was pinned between the side of the SUV and the retaining wall. He helped Lana out of the SUV through the driver’s side. Carefully, he picked glass from her long hair.
Sirens filled the air and within minutes the bridge was swarming with law enforcement and emergency personnel. After giving a detailed account of the situation to the officer in charge, Adam waited with Lana while the SUV and the motorbike were disentangled.
Thankfully the damage to Adam’s vehicle was minimal and the SUV was drivable. The motorbike, however, hadn’t fared as well. The rider must have anticipated Adam’s move to react so quickly. Where had the perp come from? Adam was sure they hadn’t been followed from the courthouse. But obviously Lana was being watched. Tracked.
A shiver of foreboding sent a chill through him.
“Do you have a cell phone on you?” he asked Lana.
“I do.” She pulled it out from her purse.
Adam slipped the battery out. Noticing Lana’s questioning look, he said, “Better safe than sorry.”
The police cleared them to leave. Instead of driving straight to his brother’s house, Adam stopped at a convenience store and purchased a prepaid cell phone for Lana. He programmed the number into his phone and then programmed his number into the prepaid one before handing the device to her.
Soon they were in his brother’s neighborhood. Adam was grateful for the security at the gate. And the police cruiser that would sit outside around the clock. The community was well guarded. He breathed easier. They arrived at Joe’s house to find Ruth and the girls and Tink gone.
Once they entered the house, Adam paused at the threshold, uncomfortable with leaving her alone but unsure she wanted him to stay. Visibly shaken, Lana wrapped her arms across her middle as if to hold herself together.
“I’m sure Ruth and the twins will be home soon.” The need to protect, to comfort, rose sharply within him. The spot on his arm under her hand grew warm. He covered her hand. “I’ll stay until they come back.” That was his job, to protect her.
The grateful relief crossing her face sent his heart pounding. He shouldn’t like how being needed by her made him feel. He rubbed the back of his neck. Tension tightened the muscles in his shoulders. He was letting himself get too attached, too emotionally invested in her life. Her response was logical. Of course she didn’t want to be alone. She’d had a horrible experience. She’d have been as grateful and relieved to have Ruth here. Wouldn’t she?
Determined not to dwell on the answer to that question, Adam filled a bowl with water for Ace and then sat on the bar stool at the kitchen counter. His gaze tracked Lana as she filled two glasses of water and set one down in front of him before settling herself on the bar stool next to him. Though still pale and shaky, she was putting on a brave front. No hysterics, no drama. He appreciated that.
Not that she wasn’t due a good cry, though. The release would be good for her, but he was sure she wouldn’t break down in front of him. She wasn’t the type to wear her emotions on her sleeve.
“I don’t understand why someone would want to kill me,” she said, in a soft voice that trembled slightly, giving testament to how badly she was affected by the attempted shooting.
She’d become a target. But why? Was the motorcycle rider the same person who’d burglarized the museum? Did that person think she could identify him? “This has to connect to the museum theft. Are you sure you didn’t see the man’s face? Anything that might cause him to think you could identify him?”
She shook her head. “No. If the man walked up to me on the street I wouldn’t know him. You think it could be the same guy? But why?”
“I don’t know what to think.” If it wasn’t the same guy from the museum…
“Is there anything else you haven’t told me about that would put a bull’s-eye on your head. Maybe something to do with your sister’s death?”
“I’ve told you before. There’s nothing to connect us. We had very different lives. We hadn’t spoken in three years.”
If what she said was true, and there was no connection between Rosa’s murder and Congressman Jeffries’s son’s murder, then that made Adam’s job harder because the unknown couldn’t be predicted. The danger could come at any time from any direction.
He may have had reservations when he agreed to the assignment of sticking close to the beautiful curator to watch and protect. Even after her apartment breakin, he hadn’t been convinced she was in imminent danger.
But now, there was no doubt of a threat trying to take her down.
And staying by her side was the only place he wanted to be. Which scared him all the way to his toes. Getting emotionally involved wasn’t in his game plan. He’d seen what letting one’s heart rule had done to his FBI partner. Adam had also suffered in the aftermath. Next to keeping Lana safe, protecting his own heart was a top priority.
He only hoped he could do both.
*
Lana tried to calm her racing heart. There was no reason for her to still be frightened. Sitting on the bar stool in the Donovans’ kitchen with Adam and Ace only a few feet away should be enough to quell her fear, but she couldn’t block the image of Adam’s face as he’d shouted, Get down.
Shock, fear, panic. Then his big strong hand pushing her to the floor. The sound of the bullet exploding. Glass pelting her back, tangling in her hair. If he hadn’t seen the shooter and reacted so quickly… She shuddered.
Thankfully, none of them had been hurt.
Adam covered her hand. “You’re safe now.”
Appreciating his multiple attempts to reassure her, she turned her hand so their palms met and their fingers linked. The heat of their skin pressed together shot up her arm and wrapped around her heart, warming her from the inside out.
Her terror eased, making her aware of his closeness, of the stubble shadowing his jaw, the brightness of his blue eyes. So handsome. “I know I’m safe. Thanks to you.”
His fingers curled over hers. “He shouldn’t have been able to get that close to you.”
The self-incriminating tone in his voice puzzled her. “He wasn’t exactly playing by the rules of the road. This was not your fault.”
He nodded but his expression said he thought otherwise.
“Do you think he survived that drop into the river?” She’d heard Adam talking to the police officers who had arrived at the scene. The police would search along the riverbed and in the river itself.
His lips twisted. “Yes. This guy has skills. Military trained, even.”
Mark flashed in her mind but she quickly discounted him. He’d washed out of the army without even finishing basic training. “It’s crazy. I don’t know what I’ve done to incur someone’s wrath like this.”
“Tell me about Rosa.”
She jerked as if he’d struck her. Again with the questions about her sister. He was like a dog with a bone.
Her gaze slid to Ace where he lay on the tiled floor providing a barrier between where they sat and the front door. Ace met her gaze, rose and came to her and laid his head in her lap. The dog had the uncanny ability to read her mood and offered his comfort when she needed it. She placed her free hand on his head.
She wanted to continue to avoid answering Adam’s questions but if she wanted him to answer her questions…
Quid pro quo, she guessed. Though opening up wasn’t something she did easily. But she trusted him with her life; she supposed she could trust him with her past.
But she wouldn’t be reckless enough to trust him with her future. Their lives were on different courses, leading away from each other.
“Rosa was four years older than me. She was more into boys than studying. She had no desire to go to college. She was content to work with our parents while I went away to school and started a career.”
“Your parents must have been happy to have her stay. How did they feel about you leaving?”
Fondness and grief warred within her. “Mom wanted me to go. She would tell me I needed to use the gifts and talents God gave me. She wanted me to do more with my life than she had, not that she regretted her decision to marry Dad. But she’d had dreams that had never been fulfilled. I think it’s normal for parents to want their kids to do what they never did.”
Her heart ached with loss. She missed her mom so much. “Dad missed me but I think he understood. He was proud of me and my accomplishments but would always tell me there was a place for me in the family business.”
“And Rosa? Did she understand?”
She gave a short laugh. “No. But I think she was glad for me to leave so she could have our parents to herself.”
“Lots of sibling rivalry?”
“Yes. She would get so mad when anyone paid me any attention, especially our parents. I think she felt like she couldn’t measure up to me, which was ridiculous. She was much prettier and more gregarious than me. Everyone loved her.”
“But she was jealous of you.”
Lana sighed as memories assaulted her and pierced her heart. She marveled she still could hurt so badly. “Yes.”
He squeezed her hand. “Tell me.”
“When she came to live with Mark and me the first time, after our parents died, she was hurting, grieving for Mom and Dad but…”
Lana frowned, thinking of those days. Tears had never been far from the surface but Lana had had to be strong for Rosa, who’d been devastated. “There was something else, too. I didn’t realize what until she returned a few months later. She was so angry with me, so full of hate and bitterness because my parents had paid for my college tuition.”
Guilt squirmed inside her chest. “I never asked them to. I was prepared to take out student loans, but they refused. They didn’t want me to start out with massive debt. Even though I had scholarship money a good portion needed to be covered. After I graduated and started working I sent them money to repay them.”
“So is that what caused your estrangement?”
A knife twisted in her gut. “Partly. Rosa returned at a time when my marriage was falling apart. I—” Humiliation burned a hole through her and heated her cheeks. Her tongue felt two sizes too big for her mouth. The words didn’t want to come. She forced them out. “I had decided to divorce Mark. I couldn’t take his abuse anymore.”
A tick appeared in Adam’s jaw. “No man has the right to abuse a woman, let alone his wife. You were protecting yourself by leaving an abusive situation. No one can fault your self-preservation.”
Her breath stalled. Tears pricked her eyes. She blinked them back. “You believe that?”
His brows dipped. “Yes, I do. Abuse is not acceptable in any form.”
No doubt he’d seen more than he wanted to in law enforcement. She couldn’t imagine the horrors he’d witnessed and had to deal with every day.
He put his free hand on her shoulder. “God would never want you to suffer abuse. He loves you and wants only the best for you. Your ex-husband acted with cruelty. That is not how a man of integrity behaves, especially to a woman or a child. Mark broke his marriage commitment to honor and protect you. God deals harshly with those who are cruel.”
Integrity. A word she would use when describing Adam but not Mark. “My mother saw Mark for who he was and had tried to warn me, but I was too smitten to listen. After my parents’ death, I felt so alone, so trapped.”
She swallowed back the bile that rose to burn her throat, making the telling difficult. She pressed on. “I confided in Rosa. She used the knowledge like a weapon. She said horrible things to me.”
Lana licked her dry lips. The searing wound in her heart bled. “She said I deserved the abuse. She said I was doomed if I divorced Mark. We were raised to believe in the sanctity of marriage and to honor our commitments.”
Lana was afraid her sister was right. Afraid God wouldn’t forgive her.
Compassion filled Adam’s eyes. “She was wrong to say that. God knows your heart. He would never abandon you or turn away from you because you protected yourself.”
Adam’s words seeped deep into her heart, soothing the ache there. Please, Lord, forgive me, her heart whispered for the millionth time.
“Did you and Mark seek counseling?”
Her stomach knotted. “No. I was willing to go.” She needed Adam to understand how hard she’d tried to keep her marriage alive. “As hard as it would have been to talk about what was going on, I would have done so to save our marriage, to help Mark. But when I brought up the idea of counseling, he laughed, then he hit me. I never brought the subject up again.”
Rage flashed in Adam’s eyes. “He will never hurt you again.”
As much as she longed to imagine a life without the fear of her ex-husband haunting her every day, she knew Adam couldn’t guarantee that Mark wouldn’t find an opportunity to gain control over her again if he could.
But the guy who’d attacked her in the museum wasn’t Mark. Mark was slight, thin even. The man who’d attacked her had been big, bodybuilder big. Besides, Adam had said during the time of the breakin Mark was at his janitorial job. His boss vouched for him.
The shooter… She hadn’t caught a glimpse of him so she couldn’t say if he was the same person who’d attacked her in the museum.
A shudder of fear rippled through her.
This new threat scared her even more than Mark did, because she didn’t know who was threatening her or why.
EIGHT
Needing a distraction, Lana shifted on the bar stool to face Adam. Her heart beat too fast from the scare on the bridge. She didn’t want to think about the danger or her past with Mark. She wanted to know more about Adam. “You were telling me about your FBI days. Your partner got involved with a suspect.”
His lip curled at one corner. “I was hoping you’d forgotten that.”
She tapped her forehead. “A memory like an elephant.”
Ace went to the back patio door. Adam let the dog out into the backyard then remained at the glass window, his big body silhouetted by the sun.
Lana waited for him to speak, sensing his tale was as hard to tell as hers had been. His words of God’s love soothed her soul and made her spirit quicken with hope. Hope that her sister was wrong and God forgave her for divorcing Mark. Hope that someday her heart would be healed and she could find a man of integrity and honor.
A man like Adam.
The rash thought squeezed her heart in a tight grip. She shouldn’t allow her emotions to get caught up in a fantasy that could never come true. Adam was protecting her because it was his job. Nothing more. There couldn’t be more.
“Branson, my partner, was a veteran. Twenty years on the job. I trusted his judgment. Even though I had strong doubts about the woman’s innocence, I stayed loyal to my partner.�
� Adam turned to face her. The misery in his eyes made her chest ache. “I covered for him. Nothing illegal. But I didn’t use good judgment. I took his word at face value and didn’t question his sporadic behavior.”
He ran a hand over his jaw. “I was too green to realize he was playing me. He and the suspect took off when incriminating evidence surfaced that implicated Branson in the murder. Apparently they’d been having an affair for some time. They were caught crossing the border into Mexico. Both are serving time.”
“Wow, that’s really…”
“Sordid.”
“Yes. But no more sordid than my past.”
He frowned. “Your past was not of your doing.”
“Neither was yours. Your partner betrayed your trust. He betrayed his badge.”
Adam ran a hand through his hair. “I betrayed myself by not seeing what was going on.”
“Is that why you left the FBI?”
He reclaimed his seat next to her. “Yeah, pretty much. I was questioned. Treated like a suspect, an accomplice.”
Outraged on his behalf, she laid a hand on his arm. The muscles beneath the rough texture of his shirt bunched. “How could they think you were involved? Anyone who knew you would know you’d never do anything illegal or questionable.”
He held her gaze. “Thank you for saying that.”
She found herself diving into the ocean of his gaze. If she weren’t careful, she would be pulled under. “It’s true.”
The slight scratching of Ace’s paws at the window alerted them the dog wanted back in. Adam moved to open the door. Lana took a breath, realizing how easily it would be to fall for this man.
Honor and integrity were such an integral part of Adam. His upstanding demeanor was as natural to him as breathing. He was generous and considerate, loyal and protective. Qualities that appealed to her, that made the struggle to keep her growing affection and respect under wraps more difficult.
But hopefully not impossible.