Bulletproof Badge

by Angi Morgan

  * * *

  KENDERLY WASN’T ABOUT to show her face in the living room. Her adrenaline-filled veins wanted release like nothing she’d experienced before. The more she tried to downplay her desire for Garrison, the worse it became.

  Cold showers might work for men, but all it had done for her aching body was give it the idea to warm up next to the man in the next room. She couldn’t put her ratty clothes back on. What used to be her favorite satin shirt and skirt was trash can filler. She hoped Rose wouldn’t mind her borrowing some things. Starting with pajamas.

  With her head wrapped in a towel and another large comfy one around her body, she opened the hall door and barreled right into Garrison.

  “Sorry.” His hands caught her as she sort of bounced off his chest and tripped backward over her own feet. “Hey, you okay?”

  The towel around her hair fell to the floor, and the one around her middle was barely secured by a pinch of her fingers. “I’m fine. What are you doing? Checking the windows?”

  “No. I did that before I left you here alone.”

  “Okay. I should... If you’d excuse me.” They did a little dance moving the same direction to let each other pass.

  “Hold it.” Garrison grabbed her shoulders, turning her sideways. He mirrored her. “There.”

  The palms of his hands burned her icy skin. A quick look up told her Garrison felt the fire as much as she did. For once there was no smile on his face. He smoldered as his hands tightened, moving her slightly against the hall wall.

  “This is going to break at least fifty regulations.”

  She knew what this meant, and she didn’t care about regulations. She’d been dying to get her lips next to his since waking up that morning. How many thoughts of consequences could she have in the amount of time it took him to crash into her mouth?

  Garrison trapped her with a hand pressed against the wall to either side. He didn’t need to worry about her going anywhere. She couldn’t. Curiosity or hunger...neither would let her move a step away.

  Then he was there. His lips covered hers. She tilted her head back, giving him full access to her mouth. He took it. Devoured it. Moist, hot heat saturated her...everything as his lips took control.

  Thoughts were over. Pure unadulterated feeling took the lead.

  Sounds from the back of her throat bubbled up, awakening something that had been dormant long before her past couple of boyfriends. Was it the feeling of finally being alive after coming so close to losing her life?

  She had no idea and didn’t want to think too hard about it. The sensation was more than a little wonderful.

  Garrison lifted his head, gently sucking her bottom lip through his teeth and sending cold chills down her spine.

  His hand had moved to pinch the towel just under her arm where she apparently had forgotten about it. He guided her fingers back to the spot and let go, taking a step toward the living room as he did.

  “’Night, ’night, sweet Kenderly,” he whispered like the breeze.

  “Good night,” slipped from her breathy voice before she could fully open her eyes again. She dashed into the bedroom, shutting the door and leaning her back against it as if Garrison was hot on her trail.

  If he had been, she would have let him in. It was the simple truth. But he didn’t follow. She was disappointed and didn’t want to think about it. Of course that’s all she could think about as she took a sheet from the top closet shelf, intending to wrap herself on top of the covers.

  She turned to the bed and saw the clothes and a cute pair of white sneakers. She flipped them over, and they were only a half size too big. The underwear was remarkably accurate, as were the jeans.

  Somewhere between opening the bikini panties and the simple beige sweater, she began crying. She skipped the PJs and cried into her friend’s pillow.

  Fitful sleep finally came as she twisted, turned and then twisted again.

  * * *

  THERE WAS NO way he was sleeping after that total surrender in the hallway. Garrison fought with himself to stay put on the couch.

  “Stupid. Impulsive. Idiot. You’re an idiot, Garrison Travis.” He might have whispered the words into the dark, but he heard his best friend’s voice screaming them at him.

  They’d worked so hard to become rangers. Jesse, Avery and he had gone to college and the academy together. They’d all been accepted as TX DPS officers. All climbed the ranks, tested, learned more in every class they could manage on their schedule.

  When his sister didn’t make the final roster, things changed. They hadn’t really been the same since. The last thing she’d said to him before trading her DPS badge for one as a small-town deputy was not to screw up.

  Kissing a witness was a royal screwup.

  None of his fellow rangers in Company F would look on it as anything else.

  Captain Oaks would let him have it. One look from his captain and Garrison would be falling all over himself apologizing. He couldn’t let it happen again. He glanced at the clock. It had only been twenty minutes, but he might as well get a shower. No way was he going to sleep for a while.

  The frightening part of kissing Kenderly wasn’t a reprimand. It wasn’t breaking the rules. It was falling for her. He was on the edge, and it was a long way down.

  When he tasted her kiss again, he’d be at her mercy. That was a place he couldn’t afford to be. He needed to be at the top of his game.

  He lifted the shade at the windows. It was late on a Saturday night, and nothing was moving. A door opened across the complex, and the same dog walker was slowing his dog, trying to keep the massive mutt from pulling him down the stairs.

  A quiet neighborhood. He dropped his head against the wall thinking about what his family must be going through. Not to mention his aunt’s house that might need to be demolished. Jesse would assure everyone that Garrison wasn’t guilty. Would that be enough? They’d all thought he pushed things too hard and fast to meet his goals. Would they still have faith in him?

  Shower. Then sleep. No thinking about Kenderly. A plan in the morning. And finding another place for them to stay or disappear for another couple of days. He turned the water as hot as he could stand.

  Cold showers to relax were a myth in his mind, since they made his body tense. A hot hard spray normally had the desired effect of easing his tense muscles and nerves. Almost. He almost had a peaceful minute when he closed his eyes. But Kenderly’s face was plastered on the back of his eyelids.

  Once there, the tiny upturn to her nose, the perfect shape of her cheekbones and the cute arch of her eyebrows refused to leave. He relived every soft curve of her mouth. Each imperfection of her lips that he’d pulled under his own had him clamoring for more. Ultimate softness and a response that had him shaking to the tips of his Western boots, or bare feet at the moment.

  Why couldn’t it have been a kiss that he didn’t want a second or third or fourth. He toweled dry and wrapped it around his hips. His new clothes were on the table. Stepping into the hall, he heard a whimper... Kenderly’s. Mumbling. No one could have gotten into the apartment, but he had to be certain. He turned the bedroom doorknob slowly and pushed it open.

  Kenderly was tangled in a sheet, lying on top of the bed. Dressed only in her undergarments, her smooth flesh called to him. He resisted. When he did touch her, it wouldn’t be while she was sleeping. She’d be awake for every soft caress, every firm deliberate stroke.

  He tugged the sheet free and covered her legs, adding the comforter to prevent a chill. With a finger, he hooked her long hair behind her ear and got a smile for a reward.

  Yep. The next time their bodies were together...she’d definitely know and remember.

  Chapter Eleven

  Waco, Texas

  Jesse Ryder tried to act as if he was comfortable instead of hanging
off a cliff by his fingernails while he stood at the back of the room. No one asked if he’d had contact with his best friend. The major had given him a couple of looks, so it was just a matter of time before it happened. But Jesse keeping his mouth shut wasn’t unusual. Garrison usually had enough words for the both of them.

  The first question on everybody’s mind was why Garrison was in Austin. The second was how the hell whatever operation he was involved with had gone so belly-up. The third was why he was running. No one had accused Garrison Travis of crossing the line. They wouldn’t. He was one of them. A Texas Ranger.

  Texas Rangers didn’t cross that line.

  Yet he’d run and taken a witness or accomplice or perpetrator. No one knew for certain. No matter how much they believed in him, they were in the dark.

  As the rest of the company left their commanding officer’s office with late night assignments, Josh Parker nodded in Jesse’s direction. Here it comes. His loyalty would be questioned along with the rest of his life’s direction.

  He and Garrison were closer than a lot of brothers. How could he keep the man’s secrets and not break his oath?

  “You know the powers-that-be argued against allowing you and Travis to stay in the same company. They didn’t think it was a wise decision. I wanted you both.” Parker took his seat behind his desk. “I thought you were a good team. So, what’s going on?”

  A familiar sight was to see the major tip his chair back, prop his worn boots on the solid oak desk corner—heels off the edge so as not to scuff the wood—and doze. Thing was, no one cared. He was an outstanding ranger, wise beyond his years, and those cat naps normally resulted in an inspiring realization about cases.

  There hadn’t been any napping this afternoon, but that same look of awareness was apparent in his eyes.

  “We appreciated it, sir, but I don’t know what’s going on.”

  “It says in both your files that you’ve been friends since grade school. Is that going to be a problem?”

  “No, sir.”

  “So your loyalty to your best friend isn’t going to put him in more danger or trouble?”

  “I swore an oath to uphold the—”

  “I know what the oath is, Ryder.” The major gestured for him to take a chair. Then pointed to the frame hanging above the door. “I look at it every day.”

  Jesse sat. Attempting to appear as comfortable as possible, still feeling like each of his fingers was popping off that cliff’s edge into an abyss. He didn’t need to look behind him to know the major’s deceased wife had embroidered the motto. “Of course you do, sir.”

  “I also know that you’ve had contact with Travis.”

  “No, sir, I have not. A woman called around two this afternoon, claiming they were his dog sitter. I wasn’t certain the caller was credible.”

  “You don’t think it was the dog sitter. You didn’t think that was necessary information to pass along to us?”

  “I knew it would be relevant at some point, sir. Before Austin headquarters brought us in on the investigation, I didn’t know if it was important or not.”

  “Skip it. What did she say? You think it was the hairdresser, Kenderly Tyler?” Parker took a plain yellow pencil and threaded it through his fingers.

  “I can’t be certain, sir. She didn’t identify herself. She asked about the dogs. I said they were okay and we hung up. I drove to Austin and brought them back last night. They’re with Travis’s mom and aunt. Waco PD is watching the house for now.”

  “He cares about his dogs enough to risk burning a phone, and that’s all that was said?” Parker sat forward, leaning on the formidable ancient desk. “This is where you make it or break it, Ryder. You know what I’m implying?”

  Jesse knew exactly what his commanding officer asked. Where would his ultimate loyalty lie? If roles were reversed, he knew exactly what his best friend’s decision would be.

  “I indicated to the woman that it might be better to check on the dogs in three days.”

  “And that satisfied her? She didn’t say anything else?”

  “That was it, sir. I figured we’d have a direction by that time.” He’d also hoped that Garrison could stay alive and avoid apprehension for that many days.

  Parker slapped the desk’s surface and grinned ear to ear. “They don’t know squat in Austin. Oaks is still unconscious and might need a second surgery. So they’re keeping him that way. Whatever the captain had going on wasn’t being shared with headquarters. It happens sometimes when we’re forced to move fast.”

  “What do you want me to do, sir?”

  “You’re to follow my exact orders. Got that? Travis is a smart man. It’s clear to me that he wanted to know if it was safe to bring his witness here. Oaks must have a reason not to trust the men he’s working with in Austin.”

  “I came to that same conclusion.”

  Jesse caught glimpses of men watching the office. The blinds weren’t drawn, and anyone could see a calm conversation happening. They’d all be as curious as hell why, and none of them would hear a word. They may be watching through glass, but their major spoke in a low voice that just didn’t travel well.

  “Then make it safe. The Tenoreno family is a dangerous one. You heard me say the police believe they located Travis using his rental car, which he abandoned near I-35.” He scratched his chin, rocking back in the desk chair. “When did they call?”

  “My call was after that time frame. She didn’t seem panicked. She was hesitating enough that someone may have been feeding her what to say.”

  “Good to know. If Tenoreno has Travis’s name and information, they may go after his family for leverage. Might not care that he’s a ranger.” Parker stood.

  Jesse stood half a second later, uncertain if he were a part of that family threat or if he were to handle it. He chose the latter. “I can arrange a protective detail. He...um...has a sister in the Panhandle. She’s a deputy and won’t want to be pulled from duty.”

  “Get it done. We can’t give either crime family a way to threaten him further. You drove to Austin and back. You were up all night. I’d send you home for sleep, but need you close. You stay put. Understood? In the building until I say otherwise.”

  “Yes, sir.” Relief went through him that he wasn’t suspended. Grounded maybe, but not suspended.

  Back at his desk, it took longer than he wanted, but Jesse made arrangements for the Travis family to be moved from Waco and protected. Avery wasn’t as easy. He was waiting for verification her fellow officers had located her. It would be harder for the sheriff Avery worked for to keep her under wraps. Jesse suggested that she might be thrown in the Dalhart lockup for her own safety. Boy, he’d love a picture if it happened.

  The files were thick on the Tenoreno and Rosco families and piled on the desk opposite his own. Bryce Johnson was the resident expert. Crimes over the past decade could be linked to them, but nothing ever stuck.

  The family’s representative had told police that Kenderly Tyler was there as Mrs. Tenoreno’s hairdresser. In the photos of her escaping on the motorcycle with Garrison, she was wearing silk and sequins. A hairdresser wouldn’t have been going to the dinner. He studied the crime scene photos of the two murdered women he’d left visible on his computer screen.

  Their deaths were statements. Assassinations. The shooter had made them get to their knees, taken his time to pull the trigger. Maybe told them why. The hairdresser might have heard.

  “But who ordered it?” he mumbled out loud.

  “That’s the million dollar question. Or billions. The families are worth billions.” Johnson was neck deep in files. “A legitimate theory is that a new player wants them to take each other out by ordering their wives’ deaths. They haven’t yet, but a declaration of war might not be far off.”

  “But why was Garrison there?”r />
  “The Austin PD is just as confused about Travis and Oaks’s involvement. We’re assuming they were working together. The police are assuming Travis went rogue. They are stretching that whopper as far as they can. I’m wondering if someone needs to drive down there and remind them we’re on the same side.”

  “The media has it that Travis ambushed Oaks. After the first reporter posed it as a hypothetical, the rest began replaying it as an exaggerated fact.” Jesse had explained to Garrison’s mom and aunt that they couldn’t believe anything about the case on television.

  “I guess we’re holding the information that Travis had a fake ID. Oaks put it in the system himself. That’s why it didn’t hold up long under scrutiny when Tenoreno’s people looked into him.” Bryce continued to type on his computer. “Do you think it’s suspicious that Travis took a witness back to where he was staying?

  “It was his aunt’s house. Tells me that Oaks didn’t trust someone along the way. Why he bypassed standard operating procedures... He must have needed a new face neither crime family would recognize as the law.”

  “Logical. It would be easier if we knew if Travis was at the meeting to eavesdrop or to extract.” Johnson tapped away on his keyboard. “Things have been rocky with the Tenorenos since their daughter-in-law disappeared. Can’t help but wonder if she’s in hiding or buried in the desert across the border.”

  Jesse rolled his pen across his knuckles, imitating the major. He scrolled through the available photos again. The rental car threw him. It was perched across a cement retaining wall separating two parking lots that were different levels.

  What the hell chased Garrison over the edge, and where did he go from there? The image of Garrison joining a body in the desert kicked in Jesse’s chest, making it hard to breathe or sit. He scrambled from behind his desk like a rat had scurried under it.

  “Man, I need to do something instead of just sitting here staring at pictures. My best friend is out there with a price on his head.”

  “Working the evidence is doing something, Ryder. We figure this out, we’ll nail them.” He shut the file and handed it to Jesse. “For good.”