There had been many times when she’d had to deal with problems that threatened to overwhelm her. Personnel problems at work, product distribution issues, sagging sales figures, and a growing boy who needed a father, just to name a few. Sam had been her steady anchor during those times, and he’d always been able to bring order back into her crazy world.
“I am. Are you still going to be able to go?”
“I am unless somebody decides to break the law at the last minute. If that happens, I may have to ignore the crime.”
As expected, Sam’s teasing tone made her laugh and reminded her how thankful she was to have a good friend like him in her life. Since Richard’s death she’d felt so alone, and Sam had helped to fill the void. He never let everyday problems get him down, and he reminded her all the time of how good it was to be alive. “I don’t think it would be appropriate for the sheriff to ignore lawbreakers, but maybe today will be crime-free.”
“I hope so. I don’t want to miss seeing Max play. Do you want me to pick you up?”
The men who’d assaulted her the night before last had told her not to talk to the police. Did they know she’d been seeing Sam for some time now? In case they did, she needed to be careful what she said. She hesitated a moment and tried to decide how she was going to answer the questions she was sure he would have.
“Uh, that won’t be necessary. Ash is home. He’ll see that I get there.”
There was silence on the line for a moment. When Sam spoke again, his playful banter had changed into a voice laced with surprise. “I have to say that’s the biggest shock I’ve had in a long time. What made him decide to show up after all these years?”
Lainey bit down on her lip before she answered. “He wants to have a relationship with Max.”
She held her breath waiting for what he would say next. “I’m glad for Max. I know he’s had a lot of questions about Ash.”
“Yes, he has,” she murmured.
“But what about you, Lainey? Does he want a relationship with you, too?”
It had been an unspoken agreement since she first started seeing Sam that the subject of Ash was off limits. Now she thought that maybe they should have talked about him sooner, but it had been easier to believe he would never show up again. But he was here now and she couldn’t ignore his existence any longer. She took a deep breath.
“No, Sam. It’s nothing like that. We both know we can’t undo the past.”
He exhaled. “I don’t want to see you hurt. Ash was my best friend growing up, and I know him well. He’s not a settling down kind of guy. And you should know that better than anybody.”
“I do. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“But I do worry about you. You need a husband and Max needs a father. You know how I feel about you. I want to take care of both of you.”
Tears flooded her eyes, and she blinked. “Please, Sam. . .”
His sigh drifted to her ear. “I’m trying to be patient, Lainey, but it’s hard. I love you, and I want to marry you. Please don’t let Ash mess up what could be a good life for you and me and Max.”
“I won’t, Sam.”
“Then don’t trust him, Lainey. He may be my friend, but he’s poison to you.”
“I said I’d be careful.” She’d never used that sharp tone with Sam before, and she regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.
Before she could apologize, Sam spoke up. “All right, I’ll see you later then. How about if I meet you at the school fifteen minutes before the program starts?”
“That will be good. We’ll see you then.”
“Take care,” he said, and the call ended.
She stared at the phone for a few moments before she lowered her hand and slipped the phone back in her pocket. A discreet cough behind her startled her, and she whirled to see Ash standing in the doorway. A small frown puckered his forehead.
“Is anything wrong?” he said.
She shook her head. “No.”
He took a step into the room. “I heard you say you’d be careful. Who were you talking to?”
She walked over to the sofa and sat down. “That was Sam. He’s coming to Max’s concert.”
Ash came across the room and dropped down in one of the chairs beside the couch. “I didn’t know you were good friends with him.”
Her skin warmed from his probing stare and she shrugged. “How could you know anything about me? We haven’t seen each other in over ten years.”
“What I meant was, you haven’t mentioned him since I’ve been home, and now I find out he’s a close friend.” He scooted to the edge of his seat. “Just how close is he?”
She couldn’t continue to meet his gaze, and she looked about for something to distract her. She reached out and began to straighten a stack of magazines that lay on the coffee table. “We’ve been seeing each other for the past year or so. Going out to dinner. Doing things like that.”
He exhaled a long breath. “Oh, I see. And how serious is it between the two of you?”
Her face grew even warmer. “Please, Ash. I don’t want to discuss this with you.”
She reached for one of the magazines, but he grabbed her arm. She jerked free of his grip and flinched from the angry look in his eyes. “Well, I want to discuss it,” he rasped.
“Ash,” she began with what she hoped was a cajoling tone, “you’ve been friends with Sam since the two of you were kids. You know he’s a good man.”
“I know that. But my nephew’s involved. And I want a place in his life. If you’re planning on replacing me with a stepfather, I want to know about it.”
Sam was right. Ash was self-centered. He didn’t care that Sam wanted to take care of her and give Max a father. Ash was afraid he’d be replaced as the hero in Max’s life, and he didn’t want that. She stood and clenched her fists at her side. “It’s a bit late for you to be thinking about Max’s welfare. If you’d cared for him, you would have come home when Richard died, but you didn’t. So you have no say in our lives whatsoever.”
His face turned red and the muscle in his jaw flexed. “Don’t go there with me, Lainey. I’m sorry I haven’t been here for him, but I intend to make it up to him.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Make it up to him? How can you make up ten years of refusing to acknowledge his existence?”
He jumped to his feet and raked his hand through his hair. “I don’t know, but I will.” He took a step closer to her. “So, tell me. Are you going to marry Sam?”
They faced each other, almost nose to nose, and glared. “He’s asked me, but I haven’t accepted,” Lainey finally muttered. A relieved look replaced his angry frown, and her mouth narrowed into an angry line. “Who I marry is no concern of yours. When I do decide what I want, I’ll do it without asking your permission. Do you understand?”
His eyes darkened, and he took a step back from her. “Completely.” He turned and walked to the door. He stopped at the threshold and looked at her. “I’m going to the training center. I’ll see you and Sam later at the school.”
When he’d left, she let out the breath she’d been holding and dropped down on the couch. She’d dreaded telling Ash about Sam, and she’d been right to be anxious about it. Ash and Max were already beginning to bond, and she wasn’t sure either one of them would like her marrying Sam.
She wasn’t so sure that’s what she wanted either, but she couldn’t allow Ash to come into her home and begin meddling in her personal life.
She closed her eyes and pressed her hands to either side of her head. Ever since Ash had been home, it seemed they couldn’t have a conversation without it ending in an argument. Just when she thought they were finding some common ground, old memories would flare up and their tempers would erupt. Where was all this passion coming from?
And how much more stress could she take? Someone named Eduardo Diaz wanted to kill her and Max, and all of a sudden Ash wanted to play head of the family. That wouldn’t last long, though. Ask wasn’t good about keeping personal com
mitments. She would be wise to concentrate on that problem in her life right now and leave her puzzling thoughts about Ash DeHan for later.
Chapter 7
Thirty minutes later Ash pulled Lainey’s car to a stop in the parking area next to the main building at the new training facility and climbed out. Although he’d looked at the plans with Reese many times, this was his first time to visit the site in person. Every time Reese had asked him to come see how things were shaping up, he’d found an excuse to stay away. Just like he’d made excuses about not coming to visit Max. But now that he’d met him, he wished he’d been there for him in the years since Richard’s death.
Reese and Colt hadn’t been fooled by him not helping with the construction of the training center. They both knew he’d been opposed to the facility being built so close to his old home, but they had overruled him. The fact that they could get the land cheaper here than other places they’d looked had been the deciding factor. Now the complex was almost complete, and he had two decisions to make. Was he going to join his friends here or not? And could he have a relationship with Max if it meant seeing Lainey all the time?
He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t have to decide today, though. There were other things more important to worry about right now.
The building that would house the main offices loomed before him, and as he climbed from the car, he let his gaze drift over the three story structure. From the outside it resembled any other office building one might see in a city, but Ash knew on the inside it would be very different.
Every office in the entire complex would be outfitted with the latest technology and security systems, and the various training areas scattered across the 5,000 acres would provide law enforcement, security officers, and military personnel with instruction in proven methods of survival in dangerous situations. For the first time, seeing it up close and thinking about what would transpire here made Ash want to be a part of it all. How could he walk away from his brothers now when they were about to pass on to others what they’d learned the hard way? Ash hurried into the building and took the stairs to the second floor where he knew Reese’s office was located. He found him sitting behind a desk with an architect’s drawing spread out across the top. He glanced up and smiled when Ash entered.
“I didn’t expect to see you out here today. Casey said all of you were going to Max’s school program.”
Ash dropped down in the chair facing Reese’s desk. “We are, but I wanted to see if the EOD squad found out anything from the device taken from Lainey’s house yesterday and ask if you’d talked to John Steadman.”
Reese sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I had an email from John this morning that he was going to be tied up for a few hours, but he would call as soon as he could. Tex came by a little while ago and said they found nothing that would help. It was an ordinary alarm clock that could be bought at any retail store. And the lab guys didn’t find any fingerprints. Whoever assembled that thing knew what he was doing. He left nothing to identify him.” Reese paused for a moment. “But I’m concerned about how that guy could have gotten past our team stationed out there.”
“It was my fault,” Ash said. “Casey and her guys were changing with Phillip’s detail, and I kept them in the backyard talking too long. I’m the one who dropped the ball on that one.”
Reese shook his head. “Well, it turned out okay, so don’t blame yourself for it.”
Ash pushed to his feet, walked to the window, and looked down at some workers spreading pea gravel on a walkway that meandered alongside a twisting pool of water. This was to be the meditation garden, a place of healing, that Reese had insisted on including it in the center’s plans. He closed his eyes and wished there could be peace for him, but that wasn’t possible. Not after what had happened in Mexico.
“But I do blame myself,” he said, “just like I do for what happened at Lugar de la Vergüenza.”
He heard Reese’s chair scrape the floor as he scooted away from his desk and then footsteps as he crossed the room. He stopped beside Ash and gripped his shoulder. “You didn’t do anything wrong that night, Ash. When are you going to accept that?”
Ash swallowed hard and turned to face Reese. “I’ve told myself that, but I keep thinking there must have been something I could have done to prevent what happened. Innocent people died, and I couldn’t stop it.” He hesitated a moment. “I’ve seen too many people die in the last ten years, and I don’t want Lainey and Max to pay for it.”
Reese didn’t break eye contact with him. “I’ve told you over and over Lugar de la Vergüenza wasn’t your fault. Eduardo Diaz and the cartel he runs were responsible for what went down in that village. The mission was a success and people’s lives were saved.”
“Yeah, but some weren’t, and now Diaz wants me to pay for it.”
Reese grabbed both his shoulders and shook him. “Now listen to me, Ash. We have never, let me repeat that never, had an assignment that was illegal. You know John Steadman as well as I do, and he would never contract us for anything unlawful. He sent us on CIA approved missions that were highly classified, but they always dealt with criminals and those who threatened our country. And Diaz was one of the worst. Yes, you saw people die that night, but just think of the ones who were spared.”
“I know that, Reese, but I still see the faces of the innocents who died.”
Reese sighed and shook his head. “Those are the battles that soldiers never forget, Ash. We’re haunted by the deaths of the innocents, but we have to keep fighting to provide a better way of life for the living. For now you need to concentrate on Lainey and Max. If they are being targeted because of what happened in that village, then they’re the innocents you have to protect. Let’s talk about what we can to do help them.”
Before Ash could answer him, Reese’s cell phone rang. He looked at caller ID and nodded. “It’s John Steadman. I’ll put him on speaker phone.”
Reese dropped down in the chair behind his desk and connected the call. “John,” he said. “Thanks for calling. Ash DeHan is here, and I have you on speaker phone so we can both hear what you have to say.”
“That’s good,” John answered. “I was going to call Ash anyway, so I can tell you both what I know now.”
Ash sat down and leaned forward. “What is it, John?”
“As you know our government has been after Diaz for years now, but he always manages to slip through our fingers. The Mexican authorities are as exasperated as we are at how he manages to escape time after time. He’s one of the most violent drug lords of all time, and he’s gained the reputation of being unstoppable. That raid you guys helped us with put a dent in his drug operation, but it didn’t stop him.”
Reese glanced at Ash. “Yeah, we know that.”
“Anyway,” John continued, “about a year and a half ago, Homeland Security was doing a routine smuggling probe on the border, and a wire tap that they had put in place led to one of Diaz’s men. They’ve worked that tap as it led from phone to phone and one cartel member to the next until they’ve finally figured out how Diaz works his drug business. So Homeland Security, the DEA, and the FBI partnered with the Mexican government to catch Diaz. As we speak, there’s a meeting going on down in Mexico with the combined task force. They expect to be able to pinpoint Diaz’s movements soon and use the Mexican marines to raid his safe house and take him into custody.”
Ash jumped to his feet, planted his hands on Reese’s desk, and leaned forward on his stiffened arms. “Can you get me in on that raid, John? I want to be there when Diaz goes down.”
“I’ll do what I can, Ash. I don’t know when it will be. They discovered from a conversation on the tap yesterday that Diaz is in the states right now but is expected back tonight. It’s almost as if he has a revolving door into this country. I can’t wait to stop him.”
“Neither can I,” Ash muttered. “Call me when you know anything.”
“I will. Talk to you guys later.”
Ash took a deep breath and rubbed his hands over his face. “Okay. Here’s what I’d like to do for now. Since I may be heading out to Mexico any minute, I think it would be better if I brought Lainey and Max out here. With the high-tech surveillance system you’ve put in place and our guys constantly monitoring the grounds, I think they’d be safer here.”
“That can be arranged,” Reese said. “We’d better do it today and get them settled before you have to leave. We can put them up in one of the officers’ quarters we have in this building, and you could stay in one down the hall. Casey could move in by them, too.”
“I think Lainey would like having another woman close by, and vice versa. I was kidding Casey last night about having to stay in such girly quarters, and she reminded me that she’s a girl and she likes girly things.”
Reese smiled. “Yeah, she’s tough as nails in combat, but she has a soft feminine side, too.”
Ash cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, you’ve noticed, have you?”
Reese frowned. “Of course I’ve noticed. After all, I am her commanding officer, and she’s one of the best soldiers I’ve ever worked with.”
Ash bit down on his tongue to keep from asking Reese if he was ever going to wake up and realize how Casey felt about him. But then, he wasn’t the best person in the world to give advice about romance. He’d proven that years ago.
Maybe he and Reese were too much alike. With them it had always been about the next mission. But something had changed with him the moment he saw Lainey again and then met Max. There had been times since he’d come home that he wished he could turn the clock back and do things differently, but he couldn’t. He’d made his choices years ago, and now he was stuck with the consequences.
He suddenly realized Reese was looking at him in a strange way. He sat up straighter in his chair. “What did you say?”
“I said, are you all right? You looked like your mind was somewhere else.”
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