Delta Force Daddy

by Carol Ericson

Asher grabbed the intruder by the back of the neck and swung his body around, lifted him off his feet before slamming him to the ground.

  The man groaned and rolled over.

  Asher stomped on his flailing wrist in case he had a weapon nearby, although Asher didn’t see any weapons.

  Paige materialized beside him, panting and brandishing the ski pole. “I saw the other car from the window in the back, and then I saw him lurking around my car. Who is he?”

  His galloping heart slowing to a trot, Asher leaned over the figure writhing on the ground and ripped the ski mask from his face.

  Paige gasped. “What the hell?”

  The woman on the ground choked out, “Please, Asher. I want to help. I—I love you.”

  Chapter Seven

  Paige jerked her head toward Asher, his foot still firmly planted on the woman’s wrist. “Do you know her? Who is this?”

  “A nurse from Hidden Hills—Tabitha Crane.” Asher bent over and hauled Tabitha to her feet. He spun her around and shoved her against the car. “Any weapons?”

  He patted her down in a way she must’ve relished if she really did love Asher. He hadn’t touched Paige that intimately yet.

  The woman sucked in a breath, obviously still hurting from the rough treatment. “I don’t have any weapons.”

  Asher yanked Tabitha against his chest, his arm around her neck. “Anyone with you?”

  “I’m alone. I swear, Asher. There’s nobody else.”

  Her voice hitched on a sob, and Paige caught the double meaning of her words, even if Asher didn’t.

  He released her and shoved her toward the open door to the mudroom. “Get inside. You have some questions to answer.”

  Tabitha moved slowly, her right arm dangling beside her. She tripped over the door’s threshold and Paige instinctively caught her arm to steady her.

  That earned Paige a scowl from Asher, and she shrugged. If they wanted to question Tabitha, they couldn’t allow her to collapse.

  When they got to the living room with the heat emanating from the potbellied stove and the wrappers from their makeshift dinner littering the coffee table, Tabitha’s eyes widened. “What is this place?”

  Asher shoved her into the chair he’d vacated earlier and growled, “We’re asking the questions.”

  “Do you want some water?” Paige tapped her own chin where Tabitha’s had an abrasion.

  “Yes, please. Who are you?”

  Asher stepped between them and pointed a finger at Tabitha. “Be quiet, and the water can wait until she’s answered a few questions.”

  Paige knew all about Asher’s no-nonsense approach. She’d been the recipient of it and she didn’t kid herself about what he did as a D-Boy, but his tone with Tabitha still made her flinch.

  Paige pulled up the other chair close to the stove and rubbed her hands together. “We want her to be able to answer questions.”

  “Oh, she’ll answer our questions.” He loomed over Tabitha and crossed his arms. “How did you track us here?”

  Tabitha’s head swiveled. “Where’s the hospital gown?”

  Asher took a deep breath, his chest expanding, which made him look even more imposing. “What does that matter?”

  “That’s how I tracked you.” Tabitha blinked her eyes, her light-colored lashes giving her a surprised look.

  But Asher seemed like the surprised one. “What do you mean? How did the hospital gown lead you to me?”

  “Go get it, and I’ll show you.”

  Afraid Asher would rebuff Tabitha again, Paige bounded from her chair. “I’ll get it. It’s upstairs in the bathroom.”

  She rushed up the staircase to the bathroom and scooped up the hospital gown Asher had dropped in the corner. For a few seconds, Paige pressed it against her face to inhale his scent.

  She dangled the gown in front of her as she scurried back down to the interrogation. “Here it is.”

  “Check the hem.” Tabitha tipped her head toward Paige and winced, grabbing the back of her neck.

  Paige felt along the hem of the gown and felt something hard sewn into the material. “What is it?”

  “It’s a GPS tracker.”

  Asher lunged for the gown and snatched it out of Paige’s hand. With his bare hands, he ripped the material apart and pinched a small, black device between his fingers. “Is this still active?”

  “It is.” Tabitha held up her hands. “But I’m the only one who can track it, nobody else.”

  “You put a GPS tracker on me?” Asher spit out the words and then tossed the device into the fire, where it popped and sizzled.

  Tabitha ran her hands through her stringy hair. “Better that than injected in your body.”

  Asher narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “The doctors had orders to inject a tracker under your skin after the incident in the forest.” She pulled back her shoulders and folded her hands in her lap. “I convinced them you’d notice, as you’d already recovered from your physical injuries. I suggested the GPS be sewn into the hem of a hospital gown and that we keep you in it.”

  “Had orders?”

  Asher had latched on to the same words that had jumped out at Paige—well, that and the fact Tabitha seemed quite pleased to keep Asher in a hospital gown under her watchful eye.

  Spreading her hands, Tabitha said, “Don’t ask me whose orders. I don’t know.”

  Paige cleared her throat. “Tell us about the facility. Hidden Hills is supposed to be a rehab center for injured soldiers, right?”

  “Yes, but not physical injuries. There is some of that, but we handle soldiers suffering from PTSD and other psychological traumas.”

  “Are they all prisoners, like Asher?”

  A flush crawled from Tabitha’s neck into her face. “Prisoners? Asher wasn’t a prisoner. Who are you again?”

  “Not a prisoner?” Asher snorted. “GPS trackers, drugging, implanted memories. If those things don’t scream imprisonment, I don’t know what does.”

  “Implanted memories?” Tabitha’s eye twitched and Paige almost believed her.

  Asher uncrossed his arms and rolled his shoulders. “Okay, we’ll play it your way—for now. What did the doctors tell you about me?”

  Tabitha’s tongue darted from her mouth as her gaze shifted from Asher to Paige and back again. “They told me you might be involved in traitorous activity involving Major Rex Denver and an insurgent he was meeting. They thought you might be lying about your amnesia to avoid answering questions.”

  “Damn them.” Asher smacked a fist into his palm. “Instead of implanting memories to implicate myself, they manufactured a remembrance that would crush Denver. But why?”

  Paige smoothed her hand down Asher’s corded forearm where his veins popped out from his flesh. She turned toward Tabitha, who had her gaze pinned to Paige’s hand.

  Paige snatched her hand back. Maybe they should allow Tabitha to believe she had a chance with Asher to get more info out of her. The woman couldn’t really believe Asher felt anything but contempt for her, could she?

  She studied Tabitha’s light-colored eyes, gleaming with light as they rested on Asher, and felt a stab of pity. Tabitha adored her fiancé, and it didn’t resemble a normal attraction. They’d have to watch this woman. She might even be lying to them right now.

  There was one sure way of finding out. Paige tucked her hand through Asher’s arm and snuggled in closer to him, watching Tabitha’s face blanch.

  Paige cleared her throat. “What did you hear about Major Denver at Hidden Hills?”

  “What?” Tabitha dragged her gaze away from Paige’s contact with Asher, who hadn’t moved a muscle.

  “Major Denver. What did you hear about him while you were at Hidden Hills?”

  “J-just that he was a traitor. He killed an army ranger
, pushed Asher...Lieutenant Knight off a cliff and went AWOL—probably working with the insurgents he was secretly meeting.”

  “That’s all garbage, all lies.” Asher’s muscles tightened until he felt like a coiled spring beside her. “Those shrinks at Hidden Hills manufactured my memories—whether you know that or not—to fit their story about Denver. It didn’t happen that way. I don’t know who shot the ranger, but it wasn’t Denver, and he didn’t push me. I slipped.”

  “How do you know that?” Tabitha’s Adam’s apple bobbed in her slender neck.

  “Because Paige—” Asher slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close “—my fiancée, hypnotized me.”

  Apparently, the only word Tabitha heard was fiancée, because she repeated it. “Fiancée? Fiancée?”

  Enjoying the warmth of Asher’s body next to hers even if it was for show, Paige rested her head against his arm. “The doctors at Hidden Hills didn’t even tell Asher he had a fiancée. Don’t you find that odd? Shouldn’t they be doing everything in their power to help him regain his memories, including filling in the pieces of his life for him?”

  “Maybe they didn’t know about you.” Tabitha scooted to the edge of the chair.

  “If they had access to his army files, they knew about me.”

  “Of course they did.” Asher curled his fingers into her upper arm. “Wives, fiancées, children, it’s all there. Paige should’ve been contacted immediately after the incident—she wasn’t.”

  “Paige.” Tabitha gave her the once-over, her gaze sweeping from the top of her head to the toes of her boots. “You helped Asher escape.”

  “Of course.”

  “I was going to help you, Asher.” Tabitha pinned her hands between her knees, raising her broad shoulders to her ears. “That’s why I wouldn’t allow them to shoot you up with a tracker. I was going to get you out of Hidden Hills.”

  “You had a strange way of helping me, Tabitha, keeping me drugged up and confused. Taking away my clothes.” He shook his head. “I don’t know if I can trust you.”

  Tabitha flung her arms out to the sides. “I came alone. I tried to protect you.”

  The nurse opened her mouth again and snapped it shut.

  Paige held her breath. Had she been about to repeat her proclamations of love and thought better of it?

  Asher’s nostrils flared. “How did you plan to protect me? And protect me from what? Why are they after me now, on whose orders and what are they going to do with me when they get me?”

  “I was going to protect you by making sure they didn’t take you back.” Tabitha stood up but stayed close to the chair, her fingers brushing the padded arm. “I have a place, or my family does, not far from here. I was going to take you there. I didn’t realize you had help...didn’t realize you had a fiancée, but I can still take both of you there. You’ll be safe. I already stocked it with food. You can stay hidden until...”

  “Until what?” Asher turned his back on Tabitha. “I have to get to the bottom of this morass. I can’t hide out forever. I have a life.”

  Tabitha plunged her hands into the pockets of her knee-length, black down coat. “It will at least give you some time out of the public eye to start making inquiries. Unless you start driving now, miles and miles away, you won’t be able to get food. You can’t show your face. You’ll never know who to trust.” She shuffled away from the chair. “Am I right, Paige? You know I’m right.”

  Paige hated to admit this woman with the slightly manic edge and a huge crush on Asher had a point, but she had a point. But the mania and the crush made it hard to trust her.

  Without turning around, Asher dragged one hand through his hair and said, “If you really want to help, Tabitha, go back to Hidden Hills and try to find out some information for me. I need to know what’s behind the frame-up of Major Denver.”

  “I’m not sure I’d be safe if I returned to Hidden Hills.” Tabitha inched closer to Asher’s back, her body stiff.

  A shaft of guilt lanced the back of Paige’s neck, and she made a half turn toward the kitchen. “You must be hurting, and I never got you that water. I have some ibuprofen, too.”

  Now level with Asher, Paige ignored his eye roll and took another step toward the kitchen.

  “I’d like that, Paige.”

  The breathless quality of Tabitha’s voice made Paige take a quick glance over her shoulder.

  In a blur, Tabitha lunged at Asher, her clenched fist raised.

  Asher heard Tabitha’s approach at the same time Paige screamed, “Look out.”

  Swinging around, his leg extended, Asher swept Tabitha’s feet out from under her. She took a hard fall on her side, her head landing inches from the potbellied stove, her hand still fisted.

  This time it was Paige’s boot that came down on Tabitha’s wrist...and she felt no sympathy. “What do you have in your hand?”

  “Be careful, Paige.” Asher crouched next to the nurse and pried open her fingers. He pinched the needle between his thumb and forefinger and held it up. “More sedation? This is how you’re going to protect me? Who sent you?”

  Tabitha’s head whipped back and forth. “Nobody. I’m here on my own. You’re not well. You have more drugs swimming in your body than you know. I can take care of you.”

  “Yeah, like some demented fan. What next? You’re going to bash in his kneecaps?” Paige ground the toe of her boot against Tabitha’s hand.

  Asher’s eyebrows shot up. “Paige, go check the mudroom for some rope.”

  “What are you going to do?” Tabitha’s voice squeaked.

  “You can’t be trusted. That’s the last time you try to inject some poison into my body.”

  “It’s not poison, just a sedative, a mild sedative.”

  “In that case.” Asher flicked his fingers against the glass tube of the syringe and plunged it into Tabitha’s thigh, right through her jeans.

  She gasped and her eyes widened.

  The effect of the drug was instantaneous. Her mouth went slack, and her hand slid from her leg.

  Paige covered her mouth. “Oh my God. If she’d stuck you with that thing, you would’ve been a goner and I would’ve been left alone with her.”

  “Eh.” Asher nudged one of Tabitha’s arms with the toe of his boot. “I think you could’ve taken her down.”

  “What now?” Paige hugged herself and rubbed her arms. “I don’t want to be here when Tabitha comes to. I’ve heard enough from her.”

  “How do you think I felt being trapped in that place with her yammering in my ear night and day?”

  “She thinks she’s in love with you, Asher.”

  “She’s just obsessed. This has nothing to do with love.”

  “We can’t stay here now, and Tabitha was right about one thing.” Paige scooped up a handful of wrappers. “We need to get out of this area so we can buy some food and other supplies.”

  “We also need a base where I can start investigating this conspiracy—against me and Major Denver.” He jerked his head up. “And start getting my life back with you.”

  Paige swallowed. That always seemed like an afterthought for him that he had to throw in there for her benefit. “What are we going to do with Tabitha?”

  “She said it wasn’t poison. We’ll keep her in front of the heater. Her car’s out back and she can leave when she wakes up.”

  “Without you.”

  “Thank God, without me.” Asher bent down on one knee next to Tabitha and dipped his hand into her jacket pocket.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “Anything—phone, keys, more drugs.”

  “Just watch out for any more syringes. You could poke your finger.”

  “I will.” He dragged his hand from the pocket, dangling a key chain from his finger. “Looks like car keys, house key, cabin key, so she wasn’t ly
ing about that.”

  “How do you know that’s a key to her parents’ cabin?”

  “Could be the piece of tape across the top that says ‘cabin.’” He plucked one of the keys from the key chain and held it up.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  He raised one eyebrow. “Probably not.”

  Tilting her head at him, she said, “Tabitha said there was food there. Maybe we should raid her cabin before she comes to.”

  Asher slid the key from the ring and tossed it to her. “You can be in charge of cabin raiding. Did she say where it was located?”

  “Have you found her phone yet? Maybe she has it on her phone’s GPS.”

  “She had me on a GPS, why not the cabin?” He unzipped the other pocket and reached inside. “Nothing in here except a couple of bucks.”

  “Let’s keep it. She owes you, big-time.” Paige thrust out her hand, palm up.

  Asher slapped the bills into her hand and then squeezed it. “I guess I must feel comfortable with criminals.”

  “What she stole from you is worth a lot more than a few bucks.” Paige winked. “Besides, if she’s so crazy in love with you, she won’t mind.”

  Asher wagged a finger at her. “Justification. My dad had all kinds of excuses for his behavior.”

  Paige froze midway to stuffing Tabitha’s money and key into the front pocket of her jeans. “He did? Do you remember that? Do you remember his excuses?”

  Asher glanced up from rummaging through Tabitha’s pockets, and a new light gleamed from his eyes. “I remember something. My mind flashed on a conversation with my father. I even saw him in my head.”

  “That’s great news, Asher. Without all those drugs running through your system, you have a good chance of recovering your memories. What did he look like—your father?”

  “A lot like me.” He brushed his hand over the top of his short, brown hair. “Except no hair, shaved head.”

  Her heart did a little flip in her chest. “That’s him. I’ve seen pictures of your father—handsome devil, handsome, crooked devil.”

  “That memory just came naturally to me in the course of our conversation. When I launched myself at the guy at the resort, I also recalled that Cam Sutton played football, too. Do you think that’s how it’s going to happen for me?”