Threat of Exposure

by Lynette Eason

  And came to a panicked halt. “Gisella!” She lay on her side. The helicopter still pounded above him. Someone shouted an order from behind him. But nothing registered except the fact that the woman he loved lay before him.

  Brock bolted to her side and knelt. Terrified, he reached for a pulse and relaxed only slightly when he felt it beat softly against his fingers.

  He rolled her onto her back and saw the blood on her forehead. “Hey!” he yelled. “Over here!”

  Rushing feet vibrated the earth beneath him. “What is it?”

  Brock looked up into the eyes of the man that could only be Levi McDonnell. “Get a paramedic. She’s hurt.”

  It was only then that he noticed the blood seeping from the hole in her pants.

  She’d been shot.

  In the head and the leg? His heart ached at the sight and he wanted to grab his weapon and empty it into the men who’d done this to her.

  But he couldn’t. All he could do was hold her hand and pray for help. God, she needs you. And I need her. You put her in my life for a reason. I believe that now. Don’t let her die on me. Then words failed him as he clung to the woman who had shown him the way back to his faith and the God who’d never given up on him.

  Gisella thought her head might rupture if it pounded any harder. And then there was the pain in her right leg. A shooting pain that traveled up into her hip and along her back.

  What had she done to herself?

  Biting back a groan, she opened her eyes, squinting in the dark room.

  Where was she? What had happened? She closed her eyes once again and forced her brain to think.

  Oh, yeah. She’d been shot. And she’d taken a nosedive into a headstone in her effort to get out of the way of the bullet the sheriff had meant for her.

  The bullet that had been surgically removed from her leg yesterday. Or was that two days ago?

  A warm hand wrapped around hers and she jumped. “Who…”

  The smell of vanilla registered and she knew exactly who sat at her side.

  “Mom?”

  “Hi, baby.”

  “Oh, boy.” She sucked in a ragged breath and felt tears sting her eyes. “I bet you’re furious with me, aren’t you?”

  Her mother didn’t speak. Probably gathering her thoughts.

  Gisella wanted to sink back into oblivion. Even that was better than the lecture she knew was coming. “Mom, I’m not in the mood for…” She stopped. “Well, you know.”

  Still her mother remained quiet.

  Where was her dad?

  “Your father decided we needed some time alone so as soon as he knew you were going to be all right, he went to get some coffee.”

  Oh, boy. She heard her mother pull in a breath. Here it comes.

  “Te amo, mija.”

  Gisella froze. “What?”

  “I love you, my daughter.” Her mother’s Mexican accent grew thick. “I love you more than you will ever understand. That is, until you have a child of your own.”

  “I…um…love you, too, Mom.” Gisella still didn’t relax. Where was the woman going with this?

  “I’ve missed you,” her mother whispered.

  Gisella felt the tears close in. “I know, Mom, I’ve missed you, too.”

  “And I owe you an apology.”

  Who was this woman and what had happened to her mother? Gisella was too stunned to speak.

  As though reading Gisella’s thoughts, her mother gave a sad smile. “I’ve been a foolish old woman and only realized that my fear of losing you was causing that very thing to happen.”

  Gisella thought about the phone calls she’d ignored, the excuses she’d made for missing holiday meals, the work she’d buried herself in.

  Her mother wasn’t the only one who needed to apologize. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, darling, you go back to sleep. We’ll talk more when you’re better.”

  Gisella wanted to go back to sleep, to close her eyes and sink back into the comfort of dark nothingness. “Brock,” she whispered. “I want to see Brock.”

  Where was he?

  In the lobby of the hospital, Brock paced, trying to decide what to do. He didn’t want to lose Gisella and yet he didn’t want to wind up like his partner, either. Gisella could have been killed. Had almost been killed more than once in the last week.

  He’d struggled with whether he could live with that on a daily basis. Then again, he struggled with whether he could live without her.

  Would he love her any less if they were apart?

  Would he think about her any less if he didn’t see her every day?

  No. To both questions.

  His heart wavered.

  Lord, You placed her in my life. She led me back to You. Then You gave me the unique opportunity to get to know her and fall in love with her. Would I be wrong to give that up? Would I be throwing it all back in Your face by refusing to get over my fear of losing her?

  “She’s awake.”

  Brock turned. Levi stood there with a woman who looked so much like Gisella, he knew immediately this was Gisella’s mother. He strode to her and took her hand in his. “I’m Brock.”

  She gave him a gentle smile. “I know. She’s asking for you.”

  He nodded. “Thanks.”

  Pulling in a deep breath, he strode toward the elevator.

  Gisella appreciated everyone coming to see her, but she couldn’t seem to lift herself out of the depression that had settled over her. She was thrilled that she and her parents had made their peace, but the one person she needed to talk to hadn’t shown his face.

  She clicked the television off and grimaced. At least the awful headache had faded and the pain in her leg dulled to manageable.

  A knock on the door made her jump. “Come in.”

  And there he was. The man she wanted to see. “Brock,” she breathed. Then cleared her throat. Don’t act like a love-sick idiot.

  She’d just given her report to Ben and Levi had left with her mother. The flowers gracing the room attested to the fact that she was loved by those who knew her.

  And while she didn’t take that lightly, right now she was only interested in the love of one person.

  He walked toward her and her breath caught in her throat. It shocked her how much she’d come to care for this man in such a short time. They’d experienced things that had brought them close extremely fast. She admired him, respected him…loved him.

  But how did he feel?

  “How are you doing?”

  “I’m scared.”

  That caught him by surprise. “What do you mean?”

  She blinked. “I’m not sure. It just kind of popped out.” She licked her lips and shifted as she processed what she’d said. “I guess I’m scared you’re going to tell me goodbye and we’ll never have a chance to figure out what’s between us.” She flushed and looked away. “I don’t even know if that makes sense.”

  He cupped her chin. “It makes sense.” Leaning down, he placed a kiss on her lips—a lingering, exploring, questioning kiss.

  Gisella thought her heart might just explode. When he pulled back, she studied his eyes. “Does this mean you’re not saying goodbye?”

  “There are no goodbyes in our future, Gisella. At least not until God is ready for us to part ways.”

  Gladness, joy and hope filled her, rushing together, mingling inside of her until she wasn’t sure what she was feeling.

  She just knew she felt good for the first time in two days.

  Another knock on the door sounded. “Come in.”

  Chris Locke entered and Gisella lifted her brows in surprise. She’d wondered what had happened to the man after the showdown in the cemetery. She’d been grateful to the man who’d probably been instrumental in saving their lives, but hadn’t heard what had happened to him since.

  When he flashed his badge, she gasped. “You were undercover?”

  “Yeah. I’m DEA from Oklahoma. My boss and yours have been watching th
e town of Boot Hill for a while. They decided to join forces and send me undercover.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Sorry I was such a jerk to you guys, but that was the character I was playing so I had to keep up appearances.”

  Brock shook his head. “I didn’t even suspect. I even had you checked out.”

  Chris offered a wry grin. “I figured you would. I called my boss shortly after meeting you that first night in the restaurant and warned him to make sure my cover was so solid not even a fellow agent would be able to uncover it.”

  “He did a good job,” Brock grunted.

  Chris gazed back at Gisella. “And you two did a great job of finding the tunnel. We figured there was one somewhere, but the sheriff and Niles never let me in on the location. Anyway, we’re all grateful that one more piece of that drug-running operation has been stopped.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Well, I won’t stay.” He placed his hand on the door. “I just wanted to stop by and say that I hope we can work together again in the future sometime.”

  Brock nodded. “You bet.”

  The door shut behind the man and Gisella leaned her head back against the pillow. “God sure works in mysterious ways, doesn’t He?”

  Brock smiled. “He sure does. Now, where were we?”

  She flushed. “I think you were telling me that there weren’t going to be any goodbyes in our future and that—”

  Another knock on the door interrupted her.

  Brock grimaced and Gisella gave an exasperated sigh then called, “Come in.”

  The door swung open once again and this time her captain, Ben Fritz, stepped through. Gisella swallowed and straightened her shoulders. She’d been told he’d stopped by just to visit earlier, but she’d been out of it.

  “Hi, Ben.”

  A relieved smile crossed his handsome face. “Hey, Gisella. You’re looking a lot better than the last time I saw you.”

  “I feel better.” She gestured toward Brock. “Have the two of you met?”

  Brock nodded. “In the waiting room.” The two men shook hands.

  Ben stepped to the edge of her bed and looked down at her. “I thought I’d stop by and fill you in. When does the doctor think you’ll be out of here?”

  “Tomorrow at the latest, why?”

  “With your wounded leg, you can’t be back in the field until you’re healed, but we can get you back to San Antonio and assign you to Quin Morton’s room. We need someone to watch him, protect him if there’s trouble. And let us know the minute he recovers enough to talk.”

  Gisella grimaced. Boring. But necessary. “Sure, that sounds like a good plan.”

  “Good.” He removed his hat and ran his hands through his hair. “We’ve had some good interrogation sessions with Johnston and Vernon. They couldn’t wait to turn on each other and squeal about everything they know. And the combination of numbers and letters in the little black book were the longitude and latitude for the mausoleum.”

  Gisella groaned and shook her head gently. “I should have seen it.”

  “You didn’t need it. You figured it out without that bit of information. We also got the location of a warehouse about a mile from the cemetery where they were stashing the drugs. Apparently, Niles would meet the men at the tunnel, get the backpacks full of drugs and drop them at the warehouse.”

  A knock on the door made her laugh. Brock joined in. Ben looked a little confused at their laughter. She’d explain later.

  “Come in,” Gisella called.

  Levi McDonnell entered carrying a huge bouquet of flowers. He flashed his charming grin at her. “Where do you want these?”

  Brock stood and took them from the Ranger. “I think the only space available is on top of the television.”

  Levi crossed his arms over his chest. “Glad to see you’re feeling better, Gisella. You’ve had a lot of people worried about you.”

  “No kidding,” Brock muttered. Gisella heard him and flashed him a sweet smile.

  Turning her attention to Levi, she said, “Fill me in, will you? I don’t think Ben’s gotten around to telling me everything.”

  Running a rough hand down a cheek, Levi gathered his thoughts then said, “The threatening letters about the Alamo anniversary celebration have stopped and we’re still trying to figure out why. The sheriff and Niles are still talking like they’re in a competition to see who can get the best deal and the lightest sentence. They both say something big is about to happen in March, but they don’t know what.” He gave a growl of frustration. “And they still insist that Jorge Cantana and Axle Hudson were their only contacts and they don’t know anyone in the organization further up than that.”

  Gisella grimaced. “That doesn’t help us one bit. Jorge still won’t say a word because he’s afraid for his family and Axle can’t talk because he’s dead.”

  Ben nodded. “One interesting thing is that Mr. Morton’s just started gesturing to the Alamo picture on the wall in his hospital room. We’ve concluded that with his gesturing and his knowledge of the Lions’ plans that there’s a connection between the threats and the Alamo celebration planned in March.”

  “And,” Levi offered, “in an attempt to find out what that is, I’m going to become the inside man. I’ve been assigned to work on-site at the Alamo over the next several weeks. While there, I’ll be doing a lot of digging to see what I can come up with and what the best route is to keep the officials at the ceremony safe.”

  Gisella nodded. “That sounds like an excellent plan.”

  Ben grasped her hand. “As soon as they let you out of here and you’ve recovered as much as you need to, I need you back in San Antonio on Quin.”

  “I’ll be there,” she promised.

  The frown on Brock’s face didn’t encourage her, but she knew they were on the way to figuring out their relationship so she didn’t let it worry her too much.

  “What about Jasper West and the hotel clerk, Steve Billings?”

  Ben said, “Jasper was found dead. Dumped in the lake. He just surfaced this morning. It was an execution style with a single bullet to the head.”

  “Ugh.” Gisella grimaced.

  “And Steve?” Brock pressed.

  “Still alive and kicking.” Ben rubbed a hand over his mouth. “We don’t think he’s connected to the Lions other than he was willing to kill for money. He served time for a homicide from six years ago. Hit and run. Got out of prison two years ago. Honestly, he seemed like he was on the straight and narrow until the sheriff talked him into helping get rid of you two. He figured it would be easy money and he had the sheriff on his side if anything happened.”

  Brock grunted. “Guess he didn’t count on the sheriff being arrested.”

  “No, he definitely didn’t count on that.” Ben slapped his thigh and said, “I guess that about covers it. You need to rest.”

  Ben and Levi left with promises to check up on her.

  Gisella looked at Brock. Arms crossed over his chest and face set in a scowl, she sighed and said, “Okay, spill it.”

  The scowl faded and he stepped closer to sit on the bed beside her. His hand reached out to touch the white bandage wrapped around her head.

  Then his fingers trailed over the wound on her blanket-covered leg. “I could have lost you.” His rough, low words hurt her heart. She heard the pain in his voice and knew he was thinking of his partner. The one who’d lost the woman he’d loved.

  “But you didn’t.”

  Brock loved her. She knew he did. But did he love her enough? Enough to defeat the fear she could see coursing through him? Enough to banish the past and press on toward the future? Their future?

  His eyes met hers and she bit her lip. He finally sighed and leaned forward to rest his forehead gently against hers. “You have to finish this, don’t you?”

  “We still don’t know who killed Gregory Pike. I don’t think any of us that were in his Company can rest until we find the killer.”

  “I understand. If I were i
n your shoes, I’d feel the same way. I don’t like it, but I do understand.”

  “I know you do,” she whispered. “It’s one of the things I love about you.”

  He froze at the word “love.”

  Gisella decided to throw caution to the wind. “I know it’s been fast. It seems impossible to fall in love with someone in only a week and have it last, but it’s happened to me.” She looked away from him and stared out of the window across the room. “I’m spilling my heart here, Brock. I really need to know how you feel because if you’re going to walk away from me, I need to shut up now.”

  For a long moment he didn’t move and Gisella felt her breath clog in her throat. Had she said too much? Been too blunt?

  His weight shifted beside her and then his soft voice reached her ears. “Aw, Gisella. I’ve already told you there aren’t any goodbyes in our future. You’re amazing, you know that?”

  Feeling the heat in her cheeks and sliver of fear in her heart, she muttered, “Thanks. But?”

  “No but. I had a long talk with God.”

  Her brow lifted. “You did? What did you talk about?”

  “Mostly you. And my old partner. And fear. And choices in life.”

  “Heavy topics.” She kept her voice light. Where was he going with this? Her head began to throb.

  “Yes, very heavy. But…” He smiled. “It seems I’ve managed to get past my fear of developing a relationship with someone I work with.”

  Gisella couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped her. She winced at the pain that shot through her head. “Yeah. Looks like.”

  “It won’t be easy,” he said, his words soft, intense.

  “Most things worth fighting for don’t come easy.” Like her job and being on the path to repairing the relationship with her parents.

  And loving Brock.

  “True.” He paused. “I can’t promise I won’t worry about you.”

  Her heart lifted. “Same here. Your job isn’t exactly the safest on the planet, you know. And you take unnecessary chances sometimes.” She frowned. “If anyone should be thinking twice about a relationship, it’s me.”