Her Undercover Defender

by Debra Webb

  “That’s my first concern. It would force Dr. Palmer and the patient out of the building.”

  “Setting a fire in that ward is almost impossible.”

  “Almost?”

  “Few things are impossible.” David shifted the maps, revealing the blueprints for the hospital. “After the blackout, security is tighter than ever. Keller would have to hit a floor above or below. Even dressed as firefighters, the men would need ironclad identification to get close enough to cause problems,” David said.

  Casey agreed. “We’ll keep monitoring. I believe Keller will strike soon. I’ve put the Weapons Station and other possible targets on alert.”

  David rolled up the blueprints and maps, tapping them back into the tube and hiding them again. “I’ll stick close to the Barnharts.”

  Casey stood and moved toward the door. “Keller might very well plan to use one to leverage the other. Keep your phone on.”

  “Always, sir,” David replied as Casey walked out.

  He scrubbed his hand through his hair, swearing when he bumped his stitches. It was an uncomfortable reminder that he’d been bested by Keller’s team once already. “Fool me once,” he muttered, heading upstairs to shower and change clothes for work.

  There was a way to anticipate and intercept Keller. There had to be. Terri as the target felt much different than Terri as someone in the wrong place at the wrong time. It might be casual Friday, but there was nothing casual about David’s urgent need to see that she was safe.

  An hour later, David walked up to the security guard stationed outside Franklin’s ward and handed over his hospital ID. “I’d like to see Terri Barnhart.”

  “I’ll check on that.” The security guard gave him a hard look as he radioed the request to the nurses station inside. David knew he was being watched through the closed-circuit camera in the corner. “She’ll be right out,” the guard said after a moment.

  David waited, hiding his impatience. His eyes drifted over the fresh paint and glossy floors in front of the nurses station that had been attacked. His stomach pitched. Terri could very well find herself in the middle of Keller’s next attempt to seize Dr. Palmer’s new device.

  When the doors parted, David grinned, despite the little pucker of a frown between her eyebrows. “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey yourself,” she replied, walking farther from the guard station. “What brings you by?”

  He shrugged. “Just checking in.” He could see her trying to suppress a smile and he hoped that was a good sign. “We didn’t exactly part on the best of terms this morning. I wanted to apologize.”

  “It’s okay. I know your heart’s in the right place.”

  Maybe he should’ve given her a stronger warning. Better yet, maybe he should just come clean. “Did your brother give you hell?”

  “He tried,” she said. “You might’ve noticed I’m an adult.”

  “I’ve noticed more than that.”

  “Hush.” A blush colored her cheeks. “I’m fine.”

  “I noticed that, too,” he said, putting himself between her and the guard. “Are we okay?”

  She nodded.

  “Good. Come by my place tonight. I’ll cook.”

  “You did all that for me last night,” she said with a siren’s smile. “It’s my turn to cook, but I can’t tonight.” Her gaze slid away from his.

  “You need to be with your brother.” He filled in the words she seemed reluctant to say. He rubbed her shoulders when she tensed up. “I get it. What kind of jerk would I be if I made you choose?”

  “Thanks for understanding. I know you don’t have any reason to believe me, but Trey wasn’t always such an idiot.”

  He chuckled, running his hands up and down her arms. “He cares about you.” David hoped it was true. He wanted to warn her about the threats to the hospital, about her brother’s likely actions last night, but that had backfired every time. The best he could do was make sure she had no reason to be irritated or concerned about his involvement with her.

  “What time are you off?”

  “We could run late up here today,” she said.

  Her evasion was so obvious. Even if Casey hadn’t mentioned Dr. Palmer’s plans, David would’ve known that was the answer Security had told her to give.

  “Come over.”

  Her eyes were warm as she gazed up at him.

  “You drive right by my place on your way home,” he cajoled. If she didn’t agree soon, he might resort to begging. “Just for a few minutes. So I can hold you without anyone glaring at me.” He raised his chin in the direction of the guard.

  “I’m not sure a few minutes will be enough.”

  “Talk like that will plague me all day,” he confessed.

  “At least I won’t suffer alone.”

  “I don’t want you to suffer at all,” he replied with absolute sincerity. “If there’s anything you need, call me.”

  “You keep saying that.”

  “Because it’s true.” The desire shining in her eyes drew him in, and it was all he could do to keep his lips from hers. Only the knowledge of everyone watching this drama play out kept him in line. He didn’t ever want to be a source of embarrassment for her. He hoped she’d remember these moments, remember his sincerity, if he ever had to tell her his real purpose here.

  “I, uh, have to get back to work,” she stammered. She didn’t move.

  “Right.” He smiled at her, smoothing a wayward wisp of her hair back behind her ear. “Have a good day.”

  * * *

  AFTER DAVID’S VISIT, Terri’s day perked up. She’d been concerned David would agree with Trey’s obnoxious conclusion that she didn’t have room for both men in her life. Change—good or bad—had always been challenging for her brother. At some point he had to grow up and deal with it. Seeing her as a woman couldn’t be easy, but it was a fact of life. Her life.

  She should’ve asked for Trey’s key after he implied her judgment was impaired by David’s body. When she got home, they would hash this out once and for all. Childhood home or not, if he couldn’t show respect, he couldn’t stay at the house. She could almost hear her mother’s voice encouraging patience, reminding her they were family despite disagreements.

  Terri kept one eye on the clock, the other on the chart as she waited for Franklin to emerge from the operating suite. Doctor and patient had been prepped and excited as they moved decisively toward the final step in the project.

  She thought of Matt and Franklin, knowing how desperately each man wanted this device to succeed. She admired them for funneling their grief into something functional and positive. She’d thought she’d done that, redirecting her grief into stabilizing Trey, helping him move forward with new goals, but now she wasn’t sure.

  What had been a bad mood last night before her date had been downright nasty this morning. She didn’t want David to be right, didn’t want to believe that something she couldn’t understand had changed Trey when he’d disappeared.

  Was she simply mirroring Trey’s resistance to change? The thought startled her.

  “Miss Barnhart?”

  She glanced up when the security guard called her name over the intercom. “Yes?”

  “You have another visitor. Says he’s your brother.”

  Her light mood was eclipsed by a looming thundercloud. “Good grief,” she muttered. She wanted to ignore the summons, but that wouldn’t solve anything. Look at how they’d been trying to ignore their common grief. “Call me the minute they’re out of the OR,” she said to Regina as she headed for the door.

  Trey stood at the far end of the hallway, near the windows that looked out over an inner courtyard. Right now the garden was dormant, in various shades of faded green and dull brown branches. Stark, but she still found it lovely. In the spring, the grass would be lush and thick and the crepe myrtle trees would bloom in bright spikes of white and purple flowers.

  “What do you want?” She stopped a few paces from the secure door. She’d
keep an open mind, but she wanted an apology for his rude behavior this morning.

  “I need a minute,” Trey said.

  She rolled her hand, urging him to get on with it. “A minute is about all I have.”

  “Did something happen?” he asked, looking past her to the locked doors.

  She narrowed her gaze. “It’s work.” She shot her hands wide. “I am at work. What couldn’t wait until I’m off shift?”

  “I wanted to talk with you privately.” He took a step closer, pausing when she glared at him. “Come on. I’m your brother.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You took time to chat with your new boyfriend.”

  Terri’s jaw dropped. “You’ve been watching me?”

  A tense muscle in Trey’s jaw jumped. “I’ve been watching over you.”

  Lord, save her. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m in the most secure part of the building. Go away. They shouldn’t have let you up here.”

  “You should listen to me.”

  She wished he’d listen to her. “Say something worth hearing.”

  Trey rushed forward and caught her by the arm. “Let go of me,” she said.

  “I am trying to be discreet,” Trey muttered. “Your new boyfriend is not an HR lackey.”

  “I know.” She wrenched her elbow free of his grip, catching herself before she plowed that elbow into his ribs. “We’ll talk about it at home.”

  Trey looked shocked. “He told you?”

  “Contrary to popular belief, I don’t report to you. I’m a big girl and while your concern is appreciated, it’s not necessary. David is good to me. He’s good for me.”

  “So he didn’t tell you,” Trey said with a sneer. “Your Mr. Good Guy is a spy. He’s playing you.”

  “Trey, I swear—”

  “He’s using you and you’re letting him.”

  Trey’s words landed like a sledgehammer and, though she tried, she couldn’t defend herself. “Of all the childish displays.” She swallowed back the surge of tears as anger and insecurity went to war inside her. She would not dismiss the best thing in her life because her brother was being an ass. “You don’t get to talk to me that way. Especially not at work. Go home. No. Go to Cade’s—”

  “Martin is a spy. I have evidence.”

  “Of what?” She pressed her hands to her eyes. David a spy. It was absurd. “He’s new in town, Trey. That’s all.”

  “Where was he during the blackout?”

  “In the dark with the rest of us.” She rolled her eyes and turned on her heel. “I’m going back to work.”

  But Trey caught her again and put his face close to hers. “He caused the blackout.”

  The security guard watched them, his stony face impassive. “Are you okay, Miss Barnhart?”

  “Yes, thank you.” She could handle her brother. “Trey,” she said, keeping her voice low as warning. “You need to leave.”

  He jerked back as though she’d slapped him. Obviously they both knew she wanted to. “You need to believe me. He’s dangerous.”

  This time she caught his arm, forcing him away from the entrance doors. They already thought he was a security risk, and this wasn’t helping her stay on the job. A job she wanted to finish now that she was involved. “We’ll talk about it later. You’re embarrassing me.”

  “Better that than to hear you’re a casualty. Come home with me, Terri.”

  “I can’t walk out on a shift,” she replied, shocked that he would suggest such a thing.

  “You’re playing with fire,” Trey said. “Think about it. How did your boyfriend get that cut on his head?”

  She refused to play along with his bizarre theory. “I can’t believe you’d do this.” She drilled a finger into his chest and drove him back until the wall prevented his escape. “I’m happy for the first time since, since...” She forced herself to say it. “Since our parents died.” There. The world didn’t end. “I’m feeling normal, having a normal life again, and you just can’t stand it, can you?”

  “That’s not it, I swear. Of course I want you happy.”

  “That’s why you disappeared without as much as a text message? You were thinking of me when you dropped out, tossing away the opportunity you worked so hard for?”

  “You worked for that. You wanted me to go to college.”

  “Don’t even try that. No one forced you out. You found the programs. You filled out the applications. You were excited on move-in day.”

  “I’m back now and I want what’s best for you.”

  “Oh, please. What’s best for me is letting me do my job.”

  “It will always come first, won’t it?”

  “I didn’t make the world, Trey, I just live in it. By the rules,” she added with another poke to his chest. “I’m not going to lose my job because you’re going through—” she flicked her hands at him “—whatever this is.”

  “It’s too much to take time off to be with me, but that guy snaps his fingers and you’re dressed to kill?”

  She gasped and a chill skated over her skin. She hadn’t dressed until after Trey left last night. Why was he watching her like some kind of stalker? “I’m happy to arrange for time off to be with you. I just have to give a little notice.”

  “Right.” Trey folded his arms across his chest. “You had a day off and came rushing back here.”

  “Franklin needed me,” she said defensively. “You told me you had work to do anyway.”

  “That’s different.”

  Exasperated, she glanced at the security guard and for a moment imagined having him escort her brother off the property. It might be the only way to get through a shift in peace. “I really need to get back to work.”

  “Come downstairs with me and ask Mr. Perfect yourself.”

  “Enough, Trey. Just drop it. David’s a normal guy and I like him. I won’t let you come between us.”

  Trey laughed, the sound humorless. “You’re blind.” He reached into his pocket. “And stubborn. You’re not always right.”

  She bit back the sharp retort. She was certainly feeling wrong about her brother.

  “He’s a spy,” Trey continued. “I’m not sure who he works with, but he’s targeted you.”

  Wishing she could curl up and cover her ears, she tucked her hands into her pockets, hiding her clenched fists. “Get it out. Just say what’s on your mind so I can get back to work. You may not care, but I love my job.”

  “Terri, you’re going to get hurt if you don’t come with me right now. Why can’t you give me the benefit of the doubt?”

  Because I’ve given you too much already. Years of love, support and energy. Endless encouragement. Boundless hope. In return, he’d given her worry and stress. She kept all that bottled up tight inside. This wasn’t the time or place to spew her frustration. “He makes me happy, Trey. It’s going to take more than these wild claims to change my mind.”

  David had never been anything but a good friend. Supportive, kind, fun. Romantic when things took that turn. Based on last night, they were more than compatible on every possible level. She wouldn’t let her brother ruin it.

  “I didn’t want to do this,” Trey declared. He handed her a small plastic bag with three tiny objects inside.

  “What’s this?”

  “Bugs. Covert listening devices,” he added. “I broke them.”

  He couldn’t mean... She looked up into her brother’s hooded gaze. “Why are you carrying these around?”

  “Because I didn’t want them in our house anymore. That’s the second set I found since I got back.”

  “My house,” she mumbled. It wasn’t a correction as much as an expression of confusion. Someone had been inside her house? Someone had been listening to her daily routine? “That’s not possible.”

  “It is. Ask your boyfriend about them.”

  “David didn’t have anything to do with this.”

  “Someone did.”

  She stared at the devices, confused and con
cerned that her brother would resort to such drastic measures to get between her and David.

  “Dr. Palmer is asking for you,” the security guard said, cutting through her haze.

  “Thank you,” Terri replied. “I’ll be right there.” To Trey, she said, “We’ll talk when I get home.”

  “Come with me now or I won’t be there.” He shoved a hand into his pocket. “If you won’t trust me, it’s not home for me anymore.”

  “Your choice.” The words, the only possible response, took their toll. “I can’t walk out on this shift.”

  Trey swore. “I’d get more of your attention if I was a patient.”

  She watched him stalk away, heard his feet pounding on the treads before the stairwell door closed behind him. Would the emotional blackmail ever stop with him?

  Tucking the plastic bag deep into her pocket, she promised herself she’d research the devices after her shift and try to figure out what in the world her brother was up to.

  Bugging the house made no sense. She was a nurse, with few connections and limited access to anything important. Until Franklin had asked her to fill in, she’d had no idea anything with a military application was being studied here.

  If Trey had pulled these from her house, whoever was listening must be vastly disappointed. Living alone, she didn’t have anyone to discuss work with. She didn’t even have a pet right now, though she’d been considering adopting a cat as a Christmas present for herself.

  The security guard stopped her at the door as he swiped her ID badge through the reader. “You okay?”

  She nodded. “My brother is struggling. It’s seasonal,” she fibbed. “If he comes back, send him away.” Franklin was counting on her to do her job without distractions. “Barring famine or flood, I’ll see him at home tonight.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Terri walked in and saw Franklin in the kitchenette, beaming as he waited for a cup of coffee to brew. “Everything went well?” she asked.

  “Flawlessly,” Franklin said. “Matt will be out of recovery within the hour and we can start testing.”

  “Wonderful.”

  He added a spoonful of sugar to his mug and stirred it. “Can I have a word?” he asked as they left the kitchen.