Alpha Warrior

by Aimée Thurlo

  “She liked you,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “You never judged her or made her feel as if she were less than whole,” he said, heading north down the highway.

  “She’s a loving, giving woman. What makes her so beautiful is the spirit that drives her, not the shape of her body.”

  Nick took her hand and covered it with his own.

  NO MORE WORDS WERE spoken between them until sunset, when they arrived at their destination.

  “Stay sharp,” he warned. “Danger’s close to us, no matter where we go.”

  Drew didn’t argue. He was right. Whatever they learned tonight would come at a cost. She could feel it in her bones.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The mayor’s cabin was nestled on a mountainside, among the trees. As they walked up they could see clearly through the wide picture windows. A roomful of people, drinks in hand, were engaged in conversation and taking in the view of the city lights far to the south.

  “The crowd’s larger than I expected,” Nick said.

  “He must have invited people from every department,” Drew replied, looking toward the deck again and seeing their local D.A. “I recognize her. That’s D.A. Marilyn Brown.”

  “I see her,” he said.

  As they went inside, Nick and Drew were greeted warmly.

  D.A. Brown, who’d returned from the balcony, seemed most intrigued by her appearance.

  “I’m surprised to see you here, Ms. Simmons,” Marilyn said, softly.

  “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Drew said, noting that Nick had slipped away.

  “Invited, but not expected. That was a very smart move,” Marilyn said, in a whisper.

  Drew greeted the mayor and his wife, then began to work the crowd. The mayor’s pet, a German shepherd that prior to his retirement had been one of the county’s bomb-sniffing dogs, lay in the corner, watching the gathered crowd.

  Drew went over and sneaked him one of the appetizers, a pig in a blanket. The dog gulped it down, then gave her a lick. “You’re welcome,” she said, then giving him one last pat, moved back to mingle among the guests.

  AN HOUR LATER, DREW was ready to give up. So far, she’d learned nothing that could help them. As she joined Nick once again, she shook her head, answering the unspoken question in his eyes. “And you?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “By and large, the people here know those in the police department only by reputation and word of mouth. Not exactly useful.”

  “Let’s wait until the cake is cut, then we’ll take off.”

  “You’re a cake freak?” he asked, with a smile.

  She laughed. “It’ll be easier to slip out without gathering too much attention, if we wait till then.”

  A half hour later, the cake arrived. It had been made especially for the mayor by the town’s best-known baker. It towered high and was filled with the intricate decorations of a culinary artist.

  As two men in white uniforms carried the enormous cake into the room, the dog came over immediately and stood in their path, blocking them. There was much laughter, but the pair continued to the buffet table that had been cleared for them.

  “My friends, this cake is a worthy tribute to all of you who’ve made my time in office so memorable,” the mayor said, proudly. “Now let’s share this wonderful work of art provided by Slice of Heaven Bakery,” he said, then, glancing at the deliverymen, added, “This masterpiece more than makes up for the delay.”

  Drew noticed the dog, as he walked through the gathered crowd, then circled the table slowly, his nose sniffing the air. Finally, he sat right next to the table, staring at the cake, not moving an inch. The mayor’s wife, laughing, led him away from the table. “Jules, you naughty boy! You’ll get a slice, but you’re just going to have to wait your turn.”

  Everyone laughed, but the dog wasn’t deterred. He pushed his way to the other side of the table, then sat in line with the cake and barked and barked.

  The mayor, laughing, came to drag him away, but this time, the dog wouldn’t budge. “Jules, come on, boy! I know you’ve got a sweet tooth, but—”

  “Wait!” Nick approached the dog, then following the animal’s line of sight, took a closer look at the cake. “Hear that?” To everyone’s horror, Nick pulled back his sleeve, then stuck his hand right into the middle of the bottom layer.

  A gasp went around the room, but by then, it was too late. Nick twisted his hand around, then pulled it back out, dripping icing, chocolate cake, pudding of some kind, and something wrapped in what looked like duct tape. The cake sagged, and a big chunk fell off the table as Nick stepped back, holding the object in his hand. There was a faint electronic tone, getting louder.

  Drew saw the look in his eyes and knew instantly what it was. “Bomb! Everyone get back! Down on the floor!”

  Nick pushed his way through the startled guests, heading for the sliding glass door leading out onto the deck. Shoving the door open, he threw the object out as far as he could and dove to the wooden deck.

  There was a brilliant flash and the massive glass windows seemed to bow in, then crack and shatter into thousands of cubes. The pieces tumbled into the room just as the roar of the blast reached the crowd.

  People ducked away, screaming and throwing up their arms to protect their faces as they dropped to the hard, brick floor. Flying debris rattled around the room, then suddenly it was very quiet. Drew turned, breaking fear’s mesmeric hold, and saw Jules, the dog, lying protectively over the backs of the mayor and his wife.

  “Jules knew,” the mayor said, petting his dog as he and his wife stood once again. “I didn’t realize he was alerting us about an explosive.

  “But why would someone come after me now? My time in office is almost up!”

  Drew searched the room for Nick and saw him step up onto an ottoman, wiping cake goo from his hand with a cloth napkin. “I’m a police officer. The danger’s past, but everyone needs to stay here until county deputies arrive.”

  All cop now, Nick moved around the big room, asking questions and making a list of names, all the time reassuring the people there. As Drew watched him work, she saw the quiet intensity that marked his every move. Nick’s commanding presence helped calm everyone.

  After, he took the DA aside briefly, then rejoined Drew. “DA Brown will preserve the scene—the part of it that’s not blown all across the rocky slope below. But you and I have to get out of here.”

  “I don’t think it’s possible that I was the target,” Drew said, her voice shaking. “There just wasn’t enough time for anyone to organize a hit.”

  “What happened lends itself to dozens of other explanations, too, I’ll give you that. It’s going to keep the sheriff’s people busy for a while. They’ll also need to question those deliverymen. But you and I have got to go now.”

  They nodded to the mayor, who was talking to DA Brown, then hurried back to the Jeep.

  “Hold it,” Nick said as Drew started to reach for the door handle. “Let me take a quick look before you get in.” Bringing out a powerful flashlight, he gave the vehicle exterior and undercarriage a check. After he was satisfied that there were no surprises, they got in and drove off.

  Drew noted the tension in his body. His eyes were focused on the road ahead and he sat ramrod straight. Nick and she had stared down danger these past few days, but this time there was something different about him. He seemed to be fighting a new enemy—himself. His brow was covered with perspiration and his breathing was uneven. The explosion…Intuition told her that the answer was tied to that. Remembering his nightmares, she wondered if his memories of combat had come crowding back into his mind.

  He seemed to be waging a private battle; but as they left the mountain and got back on the main southbound road, the hard lines on his face and the grim set of his mouth softened slightly and he eased back into his seat.

  Hearing his phone ring, Nick picked it up and identified himself, automatically slowing down because of the darkness outside a
nd limited range of the headlights. “Yeah, I was there,” he said, then placed the phone down and pressed Speaker so Drew could hear as well.

  “Blacksheep, have you gone completely out of your mind?” Koval roared a second later. “Whatever possessed you to go to such a public gathering? Didn’t you realize you’d be placing everyone else in danger?”

  “It was a private party, and we gave no advance warning that we were coming.”

  “Things still went wrong,” Koval grumbled. “What can you tell me about the bomb?”

  “It was comprised of C-4, or the equivalent, wrapped in duct tape. The device was battery powered, with a blasting cap. I never saw the detonator, but I did see a timer—a cheap watch—and it had the number ten on the display. I could hear it starting to cycle down. Not knowing if we had seconds or minutes, I acted immediately and threw it out and away from everyone. It turned out to be seconds.”

  “Yeah, I heard.”

  “Someone at Slice of Heaven Bakery, or its delivery crew, must have had a hand in placing that bomb.”

  “We’re on it. Now do your job and stay below the radar tonight.”

  “Count on it,” Nick said, hanging up.

  Drew glanced down at her blouse and skirt. The evening had started with an act of kindness, but death and destruction shadowed her every move these days. She shuddered.

  Seeing it, Nick took her hand. “If you allow this to undermine you, and you give in to fear, you’ll be giving evil even more power than it already has.”

  She took an unsteady breath and nodded. “You’re right.”

  Despite his attempt to reassure her, Drew could see in the hooded eyes that gazed back at her that the incident had affected Nick as well. “When you realized we were dealing with a bomb back at the mayor’s place, you did what you had to do, but for one tiny moment, as you held it in your hands, I saw something else in your eyes….”

  “Don’t go there,” he said flatly. “What had to be done got done.”

  She’d wanted to bridge the gulf between them, but Nick had learned to survive by keeping his emotions at bay. Yet, what she needed now, what she’d hoped for, was the exact opposite of that.

  Pulling back into herself, Drew looked out the window, watching the side of the road as the glow from the headlights probed a few feet into the darkness. Whatever separation existed between them would eventually protect her. The time would soon come for them to go separate ways. Nick needed independence as much as she needed security. It was like trying to make the north and south poles meet. Some things couldn’t be done.

  “I need to break the pattern,” Nick said, his voice low, as if talking to himself.

  “What pattern?” she asked.

  “We have to go someplace off the grid—a place no one will ever find us.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  He considered it for several moments, then nodded. “It’s inside the reservation, and not much more than a roof and four walls. It has no running water, but there’s a well,” he said. His fist curled so tightly around the wheel his knuckles turned a pearly white.

  Drew knew from his body language that this wasn’t a decision he made easily. “So where are we going?”

  “To where Travis and I grew up—a place of hardship that turned us from boys into men,” he said. “Our home.”

  His expression was as flat as his tone of voice, yet that absence of emotion told her more than he’d ever intended. What he was about to share with her would take a toll on his soul.

  Turning down the highway, they headed into the heart of Navajo country.

  THE RIDE WASN’T AS LONG as it was rough. Once they left the pavement, their path became nothing more than two ruts.

  “There are no signs of civilization as far as the eye can see,” she said, in awe. “And the only lights around are in the sky.”

  “When my father built the house for my mother, they wanted a place where they could greet Sun together each morning and live in peace, away from traffic and the heartbeat of the city.” There was a grim set to his mouth.

  “You hate this entire area, don’t you?”

  “Hate is maybe too strong a word, but even though it’s the safest place I know, I wouldn’t have come back here for anyone else. You’ll understand, once you see it.”

  Slowly, the vegetation changed, and a half hour later they arrived at a hogan-style house, almost hidden within a large stand of juniper trees. The entire site was surrounded by, and nearly beneath, a tall sandstone amphitheater that sheltered the building from the west, north and south.

  “How long has it been since you were here?”

  “I haven’t returned since the day I joined the military, though my brother visits from time to time. Squatters have avoided the place because a rumor went around that my father died here. It isn’t true, but outside of family, no Navajos ever come near this place.”

  There was a big, dusty lock, but Nick knew where Travis had a spare key. As they stepped inside, using the light from his kerosene lantern, Drew immediately saw the toll time had taken on the interior. The canvas upholstery, on what was clearly a handmade couch, had almost disintegrated. The sheepskin rugs on the floor all showed signs of age and decay. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling beams and lined the wooden shutters. An old water heater, modified to serve as a wood and coal stove, stood in the center of the room, and vented through the ceiling by a long pipe.

  Nick hesitated briefly at the doorway, then walked across the room to open the wooden-shuttered windows. The glass was dirty, but still intact.

  “Stay here while I take a look around.”

  The two other rooms were hidden behind thick, dusty blankets, hung by wooden rods. As Nick went into each, his passage raised a small cloud into the air.

  Nick soon returned to the main living area and gave her a grim smile. “No snakes. In winter, they tend to crawl in, looking for shelter. But we’re definitely not going to want to use the mattresses in the bedrooms. They were homemade, but rodents have been plucking out stuffing for nesting material.”

  “Have you actually seen snakes in here?”

  “We’ve always had a few living around the house. Bull-snakes, mostly.”

  As he went outside to gather a few things, Drew decided to take a look around. The bedroom on the left was a triangular enclosure, much like a slice of pie. Narrow at the entrance, the room was widest along the curved, outside wall. There was barely enough space for the bed, a metal-framed twin. On the wall itself, was a world map and what was left of a Washington Redskins football poster, both held in place with thumbtacks. Hung on nails on the opposite wall were two small fishing rods with reels.

  The second room was similar, but a little larger, and she knew instantly that this had been Nick’s. On the outside curved wall there was a map of the Middle East, and, beside it, a Marine recruiting poster. The bed was identical to the one in the other room. On the interior walls, there was a gun rack made of deer antlers, but no rifle.

  Nick came in carrying a dusty plastic gasoline can labeled “kerosene.” “My brother had an old stash hidden beneath some rocks. At least we’ll be able to save some battery power.”

  “I’m guessing this was your room?”

  Nick nodded. “After my dad left, Travis kept our old room, and this one became mine. Travis did the fishing and I did the hunting. But it’s a three-mile walk to the river, and the fishing’s not so good around here anyway, so he’d always try to get a ride over to Big Gap reservoir. I’d hunt rabbits closer to home, so we usually had meat on the table. In the summer, we had a garden patch with melons, tomatoes and a little corn.”

  “It must have been really hard on both of you.”

  “It all worked out.” He paused for several long moments. “Life for us was rough, but we were never alone. In that one way, you had it tougher than we did.”

  “Maybe so. Like most kids, I looked to my parents for my security. When they were gone…”

  He nodded. It hadn�
��t been the grinding poverty that had been the source of the real hardships he and his brother had faced here. Being abandoned without explanation by the one person they’d trusted instinctively was something neither of them would ever forget.

  “We can’t sleep in either of these rooms. It’ll be too cold,” he said. “We’ll need the stove, which should still work. We should also get out of these clothes.”

  After lighting one of the rooms with the kerosene lantern, Drew changed into her regular clothes. She folded the two-piece set Nick’s grandmother had loaned her, placing the jewelry between the folds to protect it, and met Nick back at the Jeep. He was once again wearing his jeans and wool sweater.

  An hour later, after gathering firewood from dried branches around the hogan, they spread a canvas ground cloth on the concrete floor in front of the stove and placed a small sleeping bag in the center. Once the fire caught, Nick went to each of the small windows and gazed out.

  The light from the kerosene lamp was so low, all Drew could see of him were shadows, and the flicker of his gaze when he looked back at her.

  She removed the silver-coated survival blanket she’d wrapped around her body and stood. “I have a proposition.”

  His eyebrows shot up.

  “No, not that kind,” she said, then shook her head and sighed. “Flirting comes easy to you, Nick, but you can’t handle someone like me who looks beyond the moment.”

  There was a dangerous edge to him as he came toward her, his eyes never wavering from hers. “You think that’s why I’ve held back, because you’re too much for me?”

  His steady gaze was seductive, drawing her into a world of passion and danger. Everything feminine in her yearned for a taste of the forbidden pleasures she’d find in his arms.

  Nick pulled her against him, letting her feel the hardness of his body pressed intimately against her. “You want life to offer you guarantees, but it never does, sweetheart.” As his embrace tightened, Nick’s fingertips brushed the swell of her breast. “And desire has no rules,” he whispered, his breath hot over her lips.