Delta Force Daddy

by Carol Ericson

  In one dark corner of his mind he couldn’t banish the thought that just because he’d been in love with Paige once didn’t mean he was going to remember that love, and they’d be back in the same place.

  Was that what she feared, too? Something was spooking her about him recovering his memories. Why wouldn’t she just jump right in and tell him everything about their life together?

  After brushing his teeth, he wiped his mouth on the clean towel Tabitha had provided. As he hung it back up, a gasp from the other room caused him to miss the rack and drop the towel on the floor.

  Asher bolted from the bathroom. “What’s wrong?”

  “I got an email from one of your Delta Force teammates.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?” His eager stride ate up the space between them, and he crowded next to her on the sofa.

  “Not—” she shoved the computer onto his lap “—necessarily.”

  As he scanned the words on the screen, he read them aloud. “‘If you know where that traitorous SOB is hiding, you can tell him to rot in hell.’”

  Chapter Nine

  Asher’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s kinda harsh, isn’t it?”

  Paige clicked her tongue. “That’s Cameron Sutton—opens his mouth before he thinks anything through.”

  “Cam.” Asher rubbed the stubble on his chin. “That sounds thought-out to me—and decisive. It’s what they must all be thinking, isn’t it? Cam just put voice to it.”

  “He must know you left Hidden Hills.”

  “If he knew I was there at all.” Asher drew his brows together. “I don’t like him calling you out though.”

  “No offense taken.” She reached past him and wiggled her fingers over the keyboard. “Should I give him the good news?”

  “Wait.” He cinched her wrist with his fingers. “I’m assuming your laptop isn’t encrypted or secure in any way, besides your password. Someone, somewhere may be waiting for some communication from your email. They might be able to track you down, or at least know you’re still alive. It’s too soon.”

  She snatched her hands back and pressed one to the side of her head. “You’re not kidding, are you? Someone might be monitoring my email.”

  “I’m erring on the side of safety. No reason to tip off anyone that we’re still alive when the minions from Hidden Hills think we were in that cabin.” He held up a finger. “Cam is feeling chatty.”

  Draping an arm over his shoulder, she leaned toward the laptop, her soft breast pressing against his arm. “He said he’s found evidence that Denver was set up.”

  “Him and me both.” Asher trailed his finger across Cam Sutton’s words. “Says he has proof the emails that first implicated Denver were planted.”

  Paige drummed her fingers on the laptop as they waited for more from Cam, but the next email to make it through was an ad for online coupons.

  “I think Cam’s exhausted all his words for now.” Paige sighed. “I wish I could call him. Would that be safe?”

  “Nope.”

  She slid a gaze to her phone charging on the table. “You mean they could be tracking my phone, too?”

  “They could get your number and ping it. They can look at your calls. Any call coming from your phone right now wouldn’t look good for us.”

  “We’re going to be holed up in here with no communication with anyone.”

  “It doesn’t mean I can’t do a little research on your laptop.” He flicked a finger at the screen. “And if we can pick up a temp phone, we could make that call to Cam.”

  She snapped her fingers. “Every mom-and-pop grocer carries phones these days. I’m sure I could venture out tomorrow in some kind of disguise and find a phone.”

  “We’ll figure it out.” He handed the computer back to her and pushed up from the sofa, away from Paige’s warmth. “It’s late. This day started a long time ago.”

  “I know.” She logged off her laptop and scrambled from the sofa. “I can see a bathroom upstairs. I’ll head up to the loft, brush my teeth and hit the sack. I haven’t even been up there yet.”

  Backing up, Asher tilted back his head. “There’s at least one bed up there and what looks like a sleeper sofa next to the bathroom. I’ll keep watch down here.”

  “You need your sleep, too. We could take turns keeping watch.”

  “Okay, I’ll take the first shift.”

  She put a foot on the bottom step and wedged her hand on her hip. “You don’t fool me for one minute, Asher. Your shift would never end and mine would never begin.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You’ve done enough worrying about me. I’m fine, and I’ll be better once I figure out what the hell is going on.”

  Paige tossed her head and jogged up the stairs. Her voice floated down. “Wow, you’re not gonna believe what’s up here.”

  Asher’s hand clenched reflexively. “Something bad?”

  “Depends on your perspective.” Paige leaned over the loft’s railing and dropped something over.

  Pink rose petals floated to the floor, a few landing on his shoulder. He brushed them off. “Dead flowers?”

  “Tabitha was getting ready for your visit. Rose petals on the bed, candles all over the room—” a drawer opened and slammed “—condoms in the nightstand drawer.”

  Asher whistled. “That woman was seriously delusional. I feel sorry for her now.”

  “I know. I almost feel like a voyeur pawing through all this stuff—evidence of her obsession. Apparently, she also has an obsession for cats, unless this cat theme is her parents’ idea of great cabin decor.”

  “On the plus side, you can now sleep on rose petals.” Asher grabbed the shotgun, saw it was loaded and stationed it on the floor next to the sofa. “I thought you wanted your laptop with you.”

  “I’m tired. I’m going to sleep—without the rose petals. I shook them off the bedspread.”

  The light went off in the loft, and Asher turned off the lamp next to the sofa. “Good night, Paige. Thanks for rescuing me.”

  “Good night, Asher. Glad to return the favor.”

  He pulled the blanket up to his chin and closed his eyes as he inhaled the sweet scent Paige had left behind.

  He didn’t need rose petals, but he was beginning to realize he needed Paige—if she’d only help him remember.

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING, Paige rolled from the bed and padded to the window. Her gaze followed the puffs of snow as they fell from the gray sky and kissed the branches of the pines.

  Snow meant people flooding the area, not that she and Asher could stay in this cabin forever hanging on to some sort of suspended thread of time. Asher had to get his life...and his memories back.

  The smell of coffee wafted up to the loft, and Paige turned away from the window. She crossed the room and hung over the railing. “The coffee smells good. I’ll make some breakfast to go along with it.”

  Asher shuffled backward out of the kitchen, his head tilted back. “I took care of breakfast. Pancakes.”

  “Ooh, I’ll be right down.” Paige tugged at the hem of her nightshirt—hardly sexy, but should she change into clothes? She smoothed the material over her thighs and headed for the stairs. That man downstairs was her fiancé—whether or not he remembered.

  She pulled a stool up to the counter as Asher put a plate in front of her stacked with pancakes.

  He held up a bottle in each hand. “We even have a choice of maple syrup or blueberry syrup.”

  “What’s a visit to Vermont without maple syrup?”

  He shoved the bottle toward her. “You should check out the local news on your laptop. I’m curious as to what the authorities are calling that fire at the cabin and if they’ve discovered Tabitha’s body yet.”

  “If they report just one body in the cabin, we’re going to have to get moving. The p
eople after us are going to realize we weren’t in the cabin.”

  Asher stabbed his fork into four layers of pancakes. “But it felt good to slow down and now it feels good to eat some real food.”

  “Did you sleep okay on the sofa?” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Asher’s bed for the night.

  “I probably had my best night of sleep since the incident.”

  “You didn’t keep watch? I noticed the rifle was your sleeping companion.” She knew she wasn’t.

  “I’m a light sleeper, especially now. I figured I could catch some shut-eye, and if anyone tried to break in, I’d wake up.”

  “So, on the agenda today—pack up and get out of here, get a burner phone and call Cam—” she tilted her head to the side “—and maybe get you a few more clothes.”

  “If you say so. I’d rather pack up some of this food Tabitha put aside for our rendezvous.” He licked some syrup from his lips. “And I’m ready for another hypnosis session when you are. This time, I want to know everything that happened in my life before that hillside in Afghanistan.”

  “Maybe tonight when we get settled somewhere.” She made little crosses in the syrup on her plate with the tines of her fork. “Where are we headed? I suppose it’s not a good idea to go back to Vegas. They’d look for us there.”

  “I’d like to stay close to the action, close to DC. I can’t exactly waltz into army headquarters somewhere and tell them my memory of the incident with Major Denver was a lie and try to correct the story. I need to know who’s behind the machinations at Hidden Hills, who wanted that version of the story to come out.”

  “You have to be careful, Asher. Whoever is behind that story is one hundred percent invested in it. We both know this whole thing was not engineered by a couple of shrinks at Hidden Hills. They had orders.”

  “I wonder how high up the chain of command this goes.” He dropped his fork on his plate and swept it from the counter. “I think Cam Sutton can help.”

  “As soon as we tell him you’re not a traitorous SOB.”

  “The kid has a hard head, but his heart’s always in the right place.”

  Paige pressed two fingers to her lips. Asher’s memories and feelings were seeping in naturally.

  Asher dropped their plates in the sink with a crash. “How about that? I remembered that about Cam’s personality.”

  “I noticed. It’ll all come back to you in time without the interference from the Dr. Frankensteins at Hidden Hills and their cocktail of drugs.”

  Asher dried his hands on a paper towel and then leaned across the counter and traced the edge of her jaw with one fingertip. “I knew you, too, Paige. When I first saw you in the woods, I knew I could trust you.”

  “That’ll all come back to you, too—all of it.” She blinked her eyes and pasted a smile on her face. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to take a shower first and get dressed. I have more to pack than you.”

  “Would you mind checking the news on your computer first? Then I’ll clean up in here, put everything back the way we found it—except the food. I’m taking what we can.”

  “Tabitha bought it for you, anyway.” Her stomach dropped and she flattened one hand against it. She still couldn’t quite believe they’d left a dead body behind in that cabin.

  Crossing his arms over his chest, Asher wedged his hip against the counter. “Tabitha was playing with fire, Paige. She was a nurse. As a mental health professional, would you have gone along with some crazy scheme to imprison a soldier who’d just been through a trauma? Trick him?”

  “No way.”

  “Like I said, playing with fire.”

  Paige unplugged her laptop and brought it to the counter. “What do you think? Vermont news? News for this ski resort?”

  “I’d enter the name of the resort.”

  Paige typed in the resort name. The screen populated with weather reports and ski conditions, and then she saw it. “Cabin fire. They have it.”

  His hands in the sink washing dishes, Asher glanced over. “What does it say?”

  “They think it’s arson.” She traced a finger across the words of the brief article. “Nothing about a body.”

  “I can’t believe the firefighters didn’t find her. They’re just not reporting anything yet, or maybe just not in that article. Is there anything else?”

  Paige clicked for the next screen of search results. “I don’t see anything else.”

  “Then the people who set the fire don’t know, either.” He draped the dish towel over the oven door handle. “And that gives us a little time.”

  Paige blew out a breath. “I’m going to take that shower now.”

  “Don’t use all the hot water.” He threw open a cupboard door. “I’m going to get some supplies for the road. The less we have to stop in at stores around here, the better.”

  Paige showered and got dressed in record time. She didn’t like being here in Tabitha’s cabin—and it wasn’t just because she feared being tracked. The whole place gave her the creeps.

  She stomped on one of the dried rose petals. They needed to get out of here.

  By the time she got downstairs, dragging her suitcase behind her, Asher had packed up a few bags of food. He glanced up at her approach.

  He pointed at her computer. “I took the liberty of looking up a few places nearby where we can get our hands on a phone, but it might be best to head to the capital. Finding a place to stay is going to be harder. We don’t have enough cash to book a hotel room, and we don’t want to use your credit or debit cards.”

  “I might be able to get my hands on some cash.”

  “No banks.”

  “Where’s your father when you need him?” She put a hand over her mouth as her eyes flew to his face. “I’m kidding. Y-you got to the point where we could joke about your father.”

  “I would hope so. I don’t think a little amnesia has made me overly sensitive.”

  Paige watched Asher as he walked upstairs to take a shower. She hoped a little amnesia hadn’t made him overly judgmental, either.

  * * *

  THE SNOW HAD stopped falling by the time they’d packed up everything they needed from Tabitha’s cabin.

  Asher crouched next to the back door and slid the key beneath the mat. “Tabitha’s parents are going to wonder what she was doing in that other cabin when theirs was two miles away.”

  “They should be wondering why someone would want to kill their daughter.”

  “That investigation will go nowhere. The authorities will connect her to Hidden Hills, but the doctors there aren’t going to reveal Tabitha’s fascination with a missing, damaged soldier.”

  As Asher hoisted her suitcase into the trunk, she put a hand on his arm. “Is that how you see yourself? Damaged?”

  “I’m not whole, am I? I won’t be whole until I remember everything, and I won’t be whole until I figure out why Denver was set up.” He handed her the keys. “You drive, and I’ll navigate.”

  “Where to? Did you make a decision?”

  “Head south, and we’ll buy a phone as soon as it feels safe, more populated.”

  “Hopefully the whole bunch at Hidden Hills thinks we’re dead and gone.”

  “For now. I’d still like to get out of this general area.”

  Paige accelerated in agreement. She wanted to put as many miles as possible between them and the burned-out cabin—and Tabitha’s body.

  About an hour later, Asher directed her to take one of the turnoffs for Montpelier. “Not a huge city, but we’re not going to stand out, either.”

  Paige pulled into the parking lot of a big multipurpose store. “We can get a phone here, clothes and even more food.”

  “Are you going to use your cash for this or use that card again?”

  “I’m going to retire the credit card now. Back in
Mooseville, once I decided I was going to break you out of that hellhole, I made two visits to the ATM over two days and took as much money as I could out of my...our savings.” She patted her purse. “I have enough for this shopping spree, anyway.”

  “And the rest? You mentioned before you could get your hands on some cash—without robbing a bank.”

  “My mother’s...friend. He was Dad’s army buddy, and he and Mom have been spending a lot of time together. I think they’re a couple. They just haven’t admitted it to me yet. Anyway, Terrence is the one who found out where the army was keeping you. I think he could get us some cash.”

  “He’s not going to be loyal to the army?”

  “Are you loyal to the army after what they did to you and Major Denver? Terrence is loyal to me and my mom. He’s going to do whatever it takes to protect me...and you.”

  They wandered around the store, picking up a temporary phone and a few more items of clothing for Asher.

  As she stood beside Asher in the checkout line, with some cheap jeans and a few flannel shirts draped over his arm, Paige covered her smile with one hand.

  He lifted his eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”

  “In the real world, you wouldn’t be caught dead in those duds. You’re a very sharp dresser—one of the good things you learned from your father.”

  He held the clothes away from his body and inspected them. “Even more reason for me to stay alive—so I can wear my own clothes again.”

  When they got to the car, Asher ripped into the phone. “We need to find a coffeehouse to charge this thing up and start making a few calls.”

  “We seem to be in a commercial area, should be able to find something around here.”

  A half mile out of the parking lot, Asher pointed at the windshield. “Up there on your right.”

  She parked in front of the coffeehouse, and they found a seat inside. While they sipped their coffee, they let the phone charge up.

  Digging her own dead phone from her purse, she said, “I’m going to have to turn this on to get Cam’s phone number.”

  “That should be okay. If our enemies do decide to ping your phone later, we’ll be long gone from this location.”