by Dale Mayer
Dakota squeezed her hand, urging her to sit back down again. She slowly lowered herself and stared at him wordlessly.
“You’re not leaving. You’re staying here. If somebody wants to attack us, this is probably the best place you could possibly be. We’ve withstood attacks before.”
Ice and Levi nodded. “Not that were looking for a fight, but, if it comes our way, you can bet we’re ready for it.”
Bailey stared at them in shock. “But don’t you understand? They shot that man. They’re looking to kill me.”
Ice smiled and said, “We know that. We know exactly what you’re up against. We’ve been in this situation many times before.” She leaned over and gently covered Bailey’s hand with hers, adding, “Every one of us here is prepared to fight.”
Bailey opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. She slowly closed her mouth, then said, “Are you serious?”
Levi nodded. “Ice and all the males in my compound are ex-military.”
“And some of us have a lot of martial arts training,” Sienna said. “I’ve got three brothers in the military, so this is nothing new for me. Besides several of us have been kidnapped, shot at and God-only-knows-whatever-else,” she said with a chuckle. “It’s a chance for a bit of payback.”
Bailey let her gaze stray from one serious face to the next. Although humor was in the air, an underlining sense of determination that they were here for her was present as well. And, if that fight came to them, not a one of them would back down. In fact, she got the idea several of them were more than ready for that little bit of excitement in their world.
“I can’t even imagine how impossible my life would be right now if I hadn’t run into Dakota,” she admitted. “Thank you so very much for believing me, for not putting me out in the cold.”
“We don’t do that. Loyalty, integrity and honesty. We value those above all else.”
Levi grabbed Ice’s hand. “Don’t forget love. I might not discuss this much, but, if anything is worth fighting for—to the end of time, to have and to keep—it’s love.”
There was silence around the table for a long moment, and then someone at the far end said, “Amen to that.”
She turned to look at Alfred and smiled. “You sure you can handle looking after one more person?” At his nod she added, “As soon as I can, I’m more than happy to help you. I’ve certainly spent enough years in the kitchen to claim experience.”
He glanced at her in surprise. “I thought you were a buyer?”
She nodded. “I am now. I used to be a chef for one of the big golf course restaurants. I hurt my leg in a car accident, and I just couldn’t handle the pace anymore. I didn’t want to be standing in the kitchen twelve to sixteen hours a day. So I moved to restaurant supplies and now work at Waltons, Inc.”
Alfred nodded. “As soon as you want to help, you just let me know. I will make room for you.” He smiled and walked away. At the door, he paused and called back, “But you are not to set foot in my kitchen until the stitches are out. Do you hear me?”
She nodded with a smile on her face.
Then he added, “Dinner is served in twenty minutes.”
She settled back and realized, to her astonishment, tears ran down her cheeks. Embarrassed, she picked up a napkin and hurriedly wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
In a low voice, Dakota said, “Don’t be. We all know how you feel.”
She turned to look at him and realized that he meant it. He really understood. He and his team had been through so much that they understood what another person came up against or had seen in the world. They understand where she was coming from right now. It made her feel as if he did know—a very comforting sensation.
*
Dakota kept an eye on her, wishing he had his phone to continue his research. Only Merk had taken Dakota’s phone to trace where the call had come from. But with no number and no name showing, chances were the call had been placed on a throwaway phone. What Dakota needed was to come up with a plan, but that would take the entire unit, not just him.
“Has anyone told Detective Mannford about Dakota’s mystery call?” Bailey asked in a low tone.
Ice nodded. “I’ve contacted him already to let him know, but it doesn’t change anything.”
Bailey shook her head. “He shot at me. He destroyed my apartment. Now he makes a threatening phone call. That sounds like he’s escalating.”
Levi smiled at her. “It is what it is. So far, he’s increasing pressure. Whether they actually saw you at the apartment today, I don’t know, but I would presume not. Otherwise I would’ve expected them to attack both of you while you were there.”
“Plus we had Merk out front. We weren’t there for that long before the detective showed up. Maybe they didn’t want to go against him,” Dakota said. Inside he was pissed. “I wish they had shown up. I’d like a chance to fight back.”
Rhodes said, “It’s not like anybody does fifty paces at the edge of town anymore to settle a dispute. Now somebody goes out in the middle of the night and shoots somebody dead rather than argue. And the cops have to put the pieces together to figure out who did it.”
“But, in this case, everybody knows who did it,” Bailey said. “Why can’t the detective pick him up and charge him?”
“As much as you’re a witness, it’ll be your word against his.”
There was silence. She looked at them bewildered. “Is my word not good enough?”
Dakota reached over and squeezed her hand again. “It’s not that. It’s not good, but they will make it sound like you’re incredibly depressed after losing your husband. You’ve lost all meaning in your life, and you’re doing this to either gain attention or because you’re off your depression medication of some kind. Whereas, on the other side, they’ll have a prominent politician with a well-known public face and persona, and people will naturally believe him over you.”
She stared at him in horror. “Are you serious? Why would anybody believe a politician?”
Levi chuckled. “Unfortunately that’s the facts of life.”
“I’m not depressed. Just want to point that out. Neither am I doing this to gain any attention. Honestly I’d much rather none of this had happened. I could be living in my nice quiet little place, thank you. It beats dealing with this crap,” she muttered.
The others nodded in sympathy. “Boring and bland looks good after bullets,” Sienna said. “The thing is, we’ve all been through something similar, so you’re in the right place.”
Bailey grinned at her. “I know it’s wrong to think this way, but I have to admit that I’m kind of glad you guys understand. I’m just terribly sorry for putting you in this position.”
“What we must do,” Dakota said beside her, “is make sure they can’t get to you here.”
Her gaze searched the faces around her. “Are you really thinking they’ll attack this place?”
“It’s hard to say. They could put a sniper on the hills out here and wait for you to come out.”
Instantly she felt sick to her stomach. She pulled her hand away from Dakota’s and slouched back and then straightened immediately as her back screamed at her. She rubbed her temple. “I don’t think the way you think. I can’t even imagine living in a world where snipers might shoot people from the hills around here.”
“However, we do think that way, and so do the killers,” Ice said carefully. “Which is also why we have security cameras all over the hills around us for that very reason.”
Dakota watched as Bailey’s mouth dropped open. He forgot what it was like to live a civilian life, not dealing with all this subterfuge and warfare, especially hidden warfare. For Bailey, this was a foreign world, and he could understand her shock and confusion. “The thing to remember is that we do understand how all this works,” he said firmly. “We’ll do the best we can to keep you safe.”
“And what about keeping yourself safe?” She motioned at Sienna. “She has the same color hair as
I do. What if she steps out of the compound and a sniper shoots her instead of me?” she cried out. “I can’t live with that.” She glanced over at Sienna to see Rhodes reaching across the table to grab Sienna’s hand.
Bailey nodded. “See? You matter to him. I don’t matter to anybody. If my life is snuffed out, it makes not one bit of difference to anybody in this world. My company will hire a new buyer within days. My apartment is already not inhabitable until they can fix it up. There is no reason for anybody else to sacrifice themselves to save me. I’m a mouse in a world full of wolves and foxes.” She stared at them all helplessly. “Please don’t let yourself get hurt to save me.”
There was silence all around the room. Dakota didn’t even know what to say. Her description of her own life was breathtakingly sad. That she could see herself in that light and think she had so little value because nobody loved her, because nobody was there for her … was a glimpse into her world that hurt.
“That may have been your life for this last year and a half,” he said in a flat voice, “but, before that, there were people who loved you.”
“And those people are gone. If I’m to die because of some asshole politician, and I can’t do anything about it myself, that’s one thing. But to have somebody else get hurt and possibly die because of me, that just is not acceptable.” She shook her head. “I mean it. I refuse to let you do anything that will put somebody here in harm’s way.”
Levi looked at her with interest. “How do you plan to stop us?”
She glared at him. “I’ll leave. I’ll walk out that door all alone, and whoever wants to take me out, let them.”
She said it so simply, so breathtakingly honestly he sat back and stared at her. “You can’t give up your life for something like this.”
She turned on him fiercely. “I will not stand by while somebody else I know suffers because of me. I loved my husband. I did anything and everything I could to keep him alive. If I could have sacrificed myself to give him just one more month, I would have done so without thinking.”
Dakota glared at her. “And did you ever think, from your husband’s point of view, how that would make him feel? How incredibly guilty he’d feel? He would hate himself that you would sacrifice your healthy body and your healthy future for one month for his crippled body to live.” He stared at her, surprised at the anger inside of him. “You may think you’re being selfless, but that’s actually being incredibly selfish. Because you would’ve sacrificed yourself, thinking you were doing the right thing, but all you would have done was save yourself the pain of losing him. And taking that pain and turning it on him would have been twice as bad.”
She stared at him, her hand covering her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes.
And instantly he felt like a heel. His anger drained away. He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I had no right to say that.”
Just then Alfred walked in with platters of food and filled the table.
Dakota could feel her trembling in shock from his words, maybe just the entire scenario making her whole body shake. He also knew the way she was cringing in the chair away from him that he was the last person she wanted in her world. And that was too damn bad. He’d inflicted this hurt; he had to heal it. If he could.
He filled her plate and in a neutral tone of voice said, “Eat. You can’t even walk out of here until you’re strong enough.”
She fought back a sob, immediately slapping her hand over her mouth. He was sorry for what he had said—or at least sorry for having said it in such an irate tone and so publicly. But he meant it. If he’d been her husband, he would’ve been horrified for her to do something like that.
The table resumed general conversation to pull the attention away from her. He knew everybody was keeping an eye on her, and that had to be hard. He poured her a glass of water, then nudged her gently and said, “Eat.”
Chapter 9
Bailey slowly straightened, grabbed her napkin, wiped her eyes, blew her nose and then picked up her fork. She couldn’t escape easily with her injured back. The effort to move quickly would cause her more damage. The only thing she could do was get through this. And she had to do it without examining his words. Because they hurt. Every word was like a sword to her heart. He didn’t understand—he didn’t really know what it was like to watch somebody you love die in front of you. She did, and she’d have done anything she could to stop it. But there was no stopping it. That incorrigible, encroaching, unforgiving death marched ever forward.
She looked up to find him holding a glass of water in front of her. She grabbed it and drank half of it down. She looked at the plate of food, and, although she was sick inside and out, she knew she needed this for energy. She stabbed a piece of broccoli and took a bite. That her mood made it taste like sawdust wasn’t the issue. Alfred had gone to a tremendous amount of work to make this meal for so many people. All she could do was realize that her problem with Dakota was not the same problem with everybody. They had done so much to keep her safe, and even now they were doing the best they could. She needed to grow up and get over herself.
She sat quietly for several moments and then raised her head and smiled at Alfred. “Alfred, you’re a genius.”
He gave her a fatherly smile. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Do you want seconds?”
She looked down at her plate and wondered if there was any room and then shook her head. “I don’t think I could get another bite down.”
“You might want to rethink that because I made cheesecake today.”
She let the corners of her mouth kick up. “Wow, cheesecake. Normally I’d be all over it, but I’m full.”
He leaned forward, a big grin on his face. “Even if it’s lemon curd?”
She stared at him in delight. “Really? Fresh lemons?”
“That’s the only way, my dear.”
She gave him a big fat smile. “Yes, please.”
With that, the rest of the table relaxed and settled into a more natural atmosphere.
Deliberately avoiding Dakota, she muttered out loud, “I’m sorry for my outburst. I do apparently have strong feelings about that subject.”
Several chuckles came around the table. “We all have strong feelings about something. You did what you could for your husband. That’s all that needs to be said.”
She nodded, picked up the water and finished the rest of it. Her plate was empty, but the others still ate. She desperately wanted a cup of coffee, like she’d had last time with sugar, but it was behind her, and she didn’t dare maneuver her sore body in that direction. She settled back to wait until everybody had finished eating.
She’d no sooner decided to relax and wait, when a hot cup of coffee arrived beside her. Dakota again—once more looking after her, seeing to her needs before she even noticed she had any. She gave a heavy sigh and muttered, “Sorry.”
In an equally low voice he said, “Never say you’re sorry. Your enemies won’t believe you, and your friends don’t need you to.”
She smiled. “That might be true, but it’s still nice to hear when you’ve done wrong. Or when you’ve been wronged.” She looked up at him and smiled. “Forgive me?”
He flashed a wicked grin at her. “Nothing to forgive. When you love, you love deeply, and that’s something we would all want.”
She nodded and stayed quiet for the rest of the meal. She thought back to all the years when she’d worked as a chef. She’d loved food, had loved cooking for crowds, but somewhere along the line she got soured on the super wealthy patrons and the snotty chef she had worked with and the owners who had become way too difficult and demanding. The stress of it had been excruciating. Then she’d been injured.
Rick had asked her to quit. While they were still dating, he’d seen how damaging it all had been to her. And because of that, she’d taken the monumental step of walking away from her career, from her education and her love of cooking. She spent a lot of time feeding Rick his favorite dishes, and she slowly learned to rejo
ice again in food as a passion.
But, after his death, she completely walked away from it again. All food tasted like sawdust, and all her efforts to cook or eat had been way too much.
As she stared at the table in front of her, she realized she hadn’t walked away as much as she stuffed it down deep inside. She could work at some place like this. She could do something like what Alfred did. Or work with somebody like Alfred. A place where the stress wasn’t hers alone, where the threat of being fired wasn’t constantly on her mind, where she wouldn’t have to work sixteen hours a day every day without a break.
She didn’t mind being a buyer. She dealt with restaurant food supplies, so it was certainly her field, but she’d chosen an isolated job because she didn’t have to reintegrate into society.
Going through what she’d gone through with her husband had meant stepping back from the world. Feeling isolated and alone as death marched to the end. Without a support group around her, she hadn’t known how to re-enter society again. She’d been living in the cold and didn’t know how to come back indoors.
Until Dakota. He hadn’t given her a choice. He dragged her kicking and screaming into this world she found herself. It was foreign. But just like the other world had been foreign and she’d slowly gotten used to it, she could get used to this one too. Only she had no reason to stay here and being here meant putting them all in danger. And that was the sad truth. Yet she needed to find a purpose in her life again. In a way getting out of debt had been a big one. She’d skimped and saved, and she put every penny against Rick’s medical debts. Thankfully selling off their assets had gone a long way to knocking it down before he died. Now that she was clear, she was homeless. Where did she go from here?
“Thoughts?” Dakota asked.
“Just wondering what I’m supposed to do with my life now.”
“You take care of the present,” he said. “The future will take care of itself.”