Erick

by Dale Mayer

  Maybe it was the shock of what she’d been through already today, but the tears were quick to fill her eyes. She brushed them away impatiently. “I don’t like to see anybody hurt. And the fact that they took advantage of me and used me to bring Erick here just makes it that much worse.”

  “If they didn’t have you, they still had Laszlo.”

  “I can’t imagine Laszlo playing anybody’s game,” she admitted. “He killed that man so fast.”

  “We can all kill a man in three seconds,” Merk said quietly. “We’re trained to do that. And sometimes it’s the best skill any of us could possibly want.”

  She thought about that and then realized how many times in the last couple days she’d have been happy to have any of their skills that would have gotten her free from these men. “I don’t want to kill anyone, but I want them to leave me alone.”

  “Sometimes the bad guys just won’t quit coming. Doesn’t matter how many times you warn them off. And the minute somebody raises a rifle in your direction, you really only have one option.”

  “Could you just knock them out?”

  “And they get back up, and they’re after you again.”

  She thought about the man who had been in her hotel room and agreed. “There still has to be another way.”

  “When you have people who will always betray another, it’s pretty hard to bring about world peace.”

  “Erick doesn’t want world peace as much as he wants peace in his own heart,” she said softly. “He believes somebody betrayed him, caused a member of his unit to die and then blew the rest of them up, going through years in physical therapy and surgeries. I know Badger believes that too.”

  Merk studied her face for a long moment and nodded. “Unfortunately, given the evidence, it’s hard to come to any other conclusion.”

  “How could somebody do that? How could anyone possibly hurt all their friends? And, in this scenario, wouldn’t it be almost like committing suicide if one of the unit caused it, and he got blown up too? How could it be one of the other men?”

  “We don’t know yet. What we do know is Erick trusted his unit. Every one of the men who survived he’s been in contact with. They’ve discussed it, and they know it’s not one of them.”

  “But it has to be.” She shook her head. “There is nobody else.”

  “We don’t know that. Two other trucks were involved that day. Maybe it was an accident that their truck got blown up. Maybe it was supposed to be one of the other trucks. There were another eight men, four in each of the remaining two vehicles. And we are tracking down their histories to see if anything suspicious in their nature can be found there.”

  “What about the man in their unit who died?”

  “Yeah,” Merk said. “What about Mouse? Was he suicidal? Was he a sociopath? Who’s to say? Unfortunately he’s no longer here to question. Nothing is harder than looking at your own friends, wondering if one of them completely betrayed you and the others of your team. Every one of them would stand in front of you and say, no, it wasn’t him, and they would believe it.”

  “Is there any chance there was a stowaway?”

  He froze and looked at her. “What?”

  “Is there any chance that it was a stowaway? Somebody who didn’t belong? Somebody who hitched a ride with them? Somebody who was hidden in the back of the truck, underneath, on the roof? I don’t know. Is it possible? I understand there’s a recording, but could that have been taken earlier? And then that person dropped it off?”

  Merk slowly tapped the steering wheel. “I’m not sure, but it’s definitely an angle to look at. I never thought to question them about that.”

  “Does everybody in the military know about this?”

  “I’m no longer active military,” Merk said. “Anybody in the know with Badger is aware.”

  “I guess it’ll take everybody to solve it, right?”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be your problem.”

  “I suspect as long as it’s Erick’s problem,” she said quietly, “it’ll be my problem.”

  He smiled at her, a big warm understanding grin. “Welcome to the family.”

  She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. “No. We’re not that far along yet.”

  “It’s the yet part that says so much. You are on the road. I’ve seen an incredible number of great things happen relationshipwise in the last year. It’s nice to know that the influence is more than just among Mason’s and Levi’s crews.”

  “That means nothing to me. I’ve heard the men mention Levi’s name, but I don’t know him.”

  “And that’s fine. He runs the company I work for. He and I and two of our friends were in the same naval unit, and we were betrayed. We tracked down the men responsible, then turned around and built up our own company. I was one of the original four. Levi and Ice, his partner, put up all the money, and we’ve never looked back.”

  Hearing a shout, she turned to look out the window again. Erick stood outside the building, waving at their vehicle.

  Merk said, “Now there’s the signal.” He hopped out, walked to the passenger side of the back seat and opened the door for her. Then with a quick glance around, he hustled her across the road to Erick.

  “Laszlo took a bullet high in the shoulder,” Erick said quietly. “We’re trying to bandage him up so we can get him back to the hotel.”

  She raced forward into the dark of the warehouse. “Where is he?” she cried out.

  “He’s over here,” Cade called.

  She was at Laszlo’s side in an instant. Outside of looking pale and bloody across his shirt, he didn’t appear to be suffering.

  He gave her a big grin. “I’m fine, Doc.”

  She brushed away Cade’s hands and took a good look at the wound. The bullet had gone straight through, leaving a nice clean hole. “I don’t know what bullet this was, but it didn’t tear you up too bad.” She studied his wound for a long moment. “I guess I’ll have to stitch you up for a second time.”

  Laszlo glared at her. “It’ll close just fine on its own.”

  “It will. But it needs to be cleaned.”

  One of the men handed her a small canteen.

  She looked at it and said, “Why is it I think there’s alcohol in this?”

  Talon gave her a bland look and smiled.

  She rolled her eyes, opened the canteen and poured some into the open wound. Laszlo roared, bounced to his feet and stared, glaring down at her. She glared right back and said, “Sit.”

  With the two of them nose to nose, he finally backed down and said, “You’re a mean one, Doc.” But it didn’t sound like he was upset by that.

  If she wasn’t mistaken, respect was in his voice. She studied the torn edges to his wound and said, “I don’t have my purse. I need my purse.”

  Laszlo looked at her. “You always carry your stitching stuff in your purse?”

  “I’m traveling, remember? I didn’t want to leave all that stuff in my travel bag back at the hotel. I just threw it into my big purse.”

  Merk returned in a few minutes, her purse in his hand.

  She didn’t know where he had found it. She’d had it at the restaurant, but she’d lost track of it after that. She was overjoyed to see it. She tossed Merk a big grin. “Thanks.”

  She dug into the purse, pulled out her floss and a needle. She quickly threaded what she needed, and, while everybody watched, she stitched Laszlo up on both sides. “Anybody got a clean bandage?”

  She was offered a couple with antiseptic powder. Within seconds she had him nicely bandaged and taped up. She helped him put his shirt back on and said, “There you go. Now if you’d stay out of trouble long enough, you could heal.”

  He gave her a mock salute.

  She snorted. “Like I believe that.” She packed up her stuff and turned to Erick. She studied him from head to foot. “I see you escaped without any injuries.”

  He smiled and said, “I did, but the bad guys didn’t.�
��

  “Did you get the man who wanted to talk to you?”

  He shook his head. “No. Unfortunately he disappeared.”

  She frowned. “Explain.”

  Erick shrugged and quickly filled her in. “It was more important that we get you out and help our friends than go back into that room after a weapons dealer. We could have taken him out, but we might have a use for him later.”

  “You think he has answers for you?”

  “I think he’s looking at his own chain of command right now. I’m wondering if he has somebody about to stab him in his back,” Erick said quietly. He glanced around at everybody. “Are we ready to head out?”

  The group nodded. She counted heads. Four men, two extras, and herself. Total seven. Erick nodded toward her. “You’re coming with me.”

  She shrugged. “That works. I just want to make sure we catch our flight home. I’d love to be home in my own bed as soon as possible.”

  Talon walked toward the front, opened the door and stepped off to the side. He swept his arm out, still holding his weapon, and did a quick search. When he called back, “Clear,” the others filed out and headed to the vehicles.

  Merk unlocked the vehicle she’d been in and said, “You two might as well come with me. We’ll go straight to the airport.”

  “I need to grab my luggage from the hotel,” she said.

  Merk nodded. “We can swing by there first.”

  She and Erick settled into the back. They were at the hotel within fifteen minutes. She raced up to the room and realized her possessions had already been switched over to management. She went down to reception to find they had taken her luggage and put it behind the counter. She claimed it, checked out, paid her bill, and, as she turned to walk around to the front where the vehicle was parked, she found Erick talking on the phone as he leaned on the wall next to the elevator. She walked over and waited until he was done. “Are you ready to go?”

  He nodded. “I am.” He smiled at her. “I’ve done everything I can here for the moment.”

  She smiled. “Good, then let’s head home.”

  He grabbed her hand, and the two of them walked out.

  Merk was parked near the entrance. He waved at them and turned on the engine.

  As they crossed the road to Merk, a vehicle sped up, coming toward them. A single shot was fired. Honey was thrown to the ground, her head hitting the concrete. She cried out from the pain and heard shouting as Merk bolted from the vehicle toward her. But she couldn’t move. Suddenly a weight was removed from her, and she sat up slowly, holding her head. Then she caught sight of Erick. Merk held Erick up, and she realized he’d been hit.

  “Are you okay?” she asked as she straightened, using the vehicle to stand upright.

  He gave her a hard look and said, “I should be asking you that.”

  She smiled. “I’m fine. What about you?”

  He had a streak of blood slowly dripping down the side of his head.

  She stared at him in fascination and horror. “If that had been just one fraction of an inch to the side …”

  He reached out a hand, palm up, and said, “But it wasn’t.”

  She turned to stare down the road in the direction the vehicle had gone. “He’s getting away.”

  Just then the jeep with Talon and Cade in it, took off after it.

  She stared in dismay. “Do we have to stay and deal with the police over this?”

  Merk hustled them both into his vehicle. Inside they talked. Several people from the hotel looked around, but, with nobody clarifying what had happened, they all dispersed again.

  Erick sighed. “My head feels like shit.”

  She turned and stared at him, worried. “Maybe we should go to the hospital.”

  He looked at her. “Like hell.” He leaned forward. “Take us to the airport if you can, Merk. I’ll get Honey back home.”

  She stared at him. “I can’t go without you.”

  He smiled. “Cade and Talon are chasing this guy down.”

  “Don’t you want to stay and get to the bottom of this?” she asked in surprise.

  He squeezed her hand. “What I want is to keep you alive. They’re after these guys. I want to get you home. They’ll fill me in when we get there.”

  She shook her head. “I know how important this is to you. You came all the way over here to get these answers.”

  With Merk listening quietly, Erick pulled Honey’s chin forward and kissed her gently. “Sometimes what we’re looking for is not what we find. Then we realize we were looking for the wrong thing in the first place. I’m happy to take you home. At that point, the others will have more information for us. We’ll regroup and start our hunt all over again.”

  She gave him a misty smile and nodded. “Then, Merk, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d really like to catch my plane.”

  Merk put the car in gear and took them to the airport. Honey cleaned up Erick’s head wound, and, after all the trouble they’d had actually getting here to the airport, they had no trouble passing through security or boarding their flight. Then again Erick checked his luggage with the weapons. She had no idea what he did with the gun. And she didn’t ask him. He was used to traveling and she trusted him.

  When they deplaned in New Mexico, she stood for a long moment outside the airport doors, feeling more shaky than she had experienced in a long time. Erick put an arm around her shoulders and tucked her close. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay,” she whispered. “I guess I was afraid I would never make it back here.”

  He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Do you have wheels?”

  She shook her head. “I took a cab.”

  He pulled keys out of his pocket. “I have wheels. Let’s go.”

  She followed him to the parking lot. Then froze and broke out laughing. He tossed her a grin and opened the passenger door to his ’69 Mustang.

  “Are you sure it’s safe to let me inside,” she teased.

  “Safer inside than out apparently,” he quipped as he turned on the engine and pulled out of the lot. Within minutes, they pulled up outside her apartment. He stopped and looked at it and said, “I never thought of you as an apartment person.”

  “I’ve spent all my adult life building my business,” she confessed. “Never really had much time or energy to buy a house.” She led him upstairs. She was so tired she could hardly walk. Definitely had no energy to worry about saying goodbye. She opened the door, stepped inside and dropped her luggage, so damn grateful to be home. She turned to him. “Thank you for the lift.”

  He lowered his head and kissed her, pulling her into his arms, just holding her close.

  When he raised his head, she snuggled in deep. “Does that mean you’re not leaving right away?”

  “Does that mean I’m invited to stay?” he countered.

  She tilted her head back. “I’m no good for anything right now. I need sleep—and a lot of it.”

  He brushed his finger across her lips and whispered, “So do I.”

  She led him to the bedroom, pulled back the comforter and stripped down to her underwear. Then she crawled under the covers. He joined her. She reached over and turned out the lights.

  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her gently against him.

  They had the rest of their lives for anything else. And she was delighted to know that.

  He kissed her temple and whispered, “Wake me up when you wake up.”

  She nodded gently. “Will do.”

  Tucked up like spoons, they both fell asleep.

  Erick woke slowly—his body sore, his head pounding. The other half of the bed was empty. He swore and sat up, putting his hand against his head to stop the throbbing.

  Honey came out of the bathroom, took one look at the pain on his face, pulled something out of the medicine cabinet and brought it to him with a glass of water. “Take these. It will help your head.”

  He popped down the painkillers and swallowed the water. He glance
d outside and said, “Apparently it’s morning.”

  “It’s morning, but I’m still exhausted,” Honey admitted.

  He handed her the empty glass.

  She put it on her night table and got back into bed. Pulling the covers up to her chest, she rubbed her face.

  He could see the tiredness still pulling at her in the creases at the corners of her eyes.

  She looked up at him and said, “Did you hear from the others?”

  He reached for his pants, pulled his cell out of a pocket and read the messages. Several were waiting for him to answer. “They didn’t get the gunman. They’re staying an extra day to see if they can track anything else down.”

  “They’re welcome to it,” she said on a yawn. “I’m just so glad not to be over there anymore.”

  “I should have mentioned this but didn’t get time, Cade removed your hard drive from the busted laptop. We should be able to take everything off it for you.”

  She cried out in joy. “That’s wonderful.”

  “You’re wonderful.” He dropped his cell phone onto the night table and slunk back under the covers, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “I’m just so damn grateful to be here with you,” he admitted.

  She froze and turned to look at him. “Are you?”

  He propped himself up on his good arm and looked down at her as he brushed her hair back. It had been put in a braid, but some of her hair came free and was curled on the pillow beside her. He nodded and smiled, leaned down and kissed her on her cheek, on her nose and then on her lips. “Yes,” he whispered. “I am.”

  She hooked her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her. “Good. Because I am too. The last thing I wanted was to have you go running off all over the world and getting yourself killed over vengeance.”

  “I know that, and I wasn’t planning on getting killed. I do need to find the answers though. And I don’t want any other men looking at you as their next sex slave.” He dropped a kiss on her nose.

  She shuddered. “I don’t think I’ll ever do another conference like that again. I got a little more than I bargained for.”

  “Not to worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”