* * *
After the presentation by the Zimmermans, T.J. paced the room above the church auditorium like a bear he’d seen at the zoo. He should be used to waiting. It was a big part of his job, but this assignment was different—and all because Chloe Howard prowled the other side of the room. From the surprised look that had flashed across her face this morning before she masked it, he was sure she hadn’t known he was the other bodyguard on this case.
In fact, he was positive she hadn’t or she wouldn’t have taken the case. Not after how they had parted nine years ago. He’d been falling in love with her when he’d been given a choice assignment to be part of the detail covering the vice president. He had been a Secret Service agent at the time, assigned to Dallas working counterfeiting cases and financial crimes, sometimes in coordination with the Dallas Police Department. He couldn’t turn down a chance to move into the protection part of the United States Secret Service, a move that would make his career in the agency. He’d wanted Chloe to move to Washington and see if their relationship would grow into a lasting one. He’d known from his fellow agents how hard being a law enforcement officer could be on a marriage, and that a marriage would only survive if it was based on a deep friendship. He’d decided he would only marry once.
She wouldn’t leave Dallas. Her widowed mother had been fighting cancer, going through chemo, and she’d needed Chloe. He’d understood that, but she also hadn’t wanted to have a long-distance relationship. He’d realized it would be difficult, but he’d been willing to try it, even though he had trouble trusting others—collateral damage of his law enforcement days. He’d never found someone like Chloe. Was that the reason he’d decided to settle in Dallas when he’d left the Secret Service?
Now, having seen Chloe, he wondered at the wisdom of asking to team up with her, even though she was an excellent bodyguard. From working with her nine years ago on a counterfeiting case in conjunction with the Dallas police, he’d seen her dedication, and that had impressed him enough to persuade her to go out with him after their assignment was over.
He turned from watching her out of the corner of his eye and peered out the only window in the room that overlooked the church entrance hall. Finally the crowd was thinning and soon they could leave. He’d feel better when they were back at the couple’s temporary residence, the house of one of their good friends who was on vacation, although T.J. could never totally let down his guard. The chances of something happening increased during transport from one place to another.
He was still amazed the Zimmermans had had to be convinced to have two bodyguards. Today, at their talk, he’d sensed a person in the audience calculating how to get to the pair, but he hadn’t noticed anyone who stood out. He’d learned, though, not to ignore that gut feeling. It had saved his life several times.
The couple might think the past threats had been pranks. They hadn’t been. He glanced at them, talking with the organizers of the event. When he’d insisted on bringing Mary and Paul into the church the back way, they had told him they were in the Lord’s hands and were safe.
He’d believed in God fervently at one time. Now he was at a crossroads in his life, especially concerning the important aspects of life. He was good at guarding people, but he’d become jaded in his job. He needed something more. That was the reason he’d resigned from the Secret Service after fourteen years and approached Kyra Hunt about going into partnership with her and expanding Guardians, Inc. While he took this assignment with Chloe, Kyra would consider his proposition of taking the business to the next level.
He sensed Chloe advancing toward him, although her footsteps were quiet. He glanced over his shoulder, locking gazes with her. In the past those sea-green eyes had been warm with emotions developing between them. Now they were cold. Her demeanor was totally professional and reserved—at least where he was concerned. He had known going in that might be the situation, but he’d wanted the best female bodyguard as his partner. In that moment, though, he acknowledged he had wanted more. Were there lingering feelings?
A memory of their first kiss years ago taunted him, stirring emotions he’d tried to forget and thought he had. They hadn’t been right for each other nine years ago. Why should now be any different?
“We should be able to leave in ten or fifteen minutes. I’d prefer to wait until most of the people have left before we do.” T.J. assessed her long auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail and remembered a time when her hair had been chin length and straight. What else was different?
Chloe stiffened, but her expression remained blank.
“Is there a problem?”
She released a long breath. “No, I agree with your plan, but before you whisk my client anywhere, please inform me of your intentions. If this is going to work, we’ll need to be equal partners. A team.” Emphasizing the last word, she looked him directly in the eye and held his gaze as though waiting for him to challenge that claim.
“I totally agree, and I’m sorry I acted without consulting you after their presentation. However, there may be times when it’ll be necessary for one of us to act and then explain. The lobby is still full of people from the crowd outside.” He refused to break visual contact.
Her chin tilted up a fraction, and she squared her shoulders even more. But the look in her eyes, a stormy green like the sky right before a tornado struck, mellowed. “I know the only time we worked together you were the team leader and used to giving orders. My first priority will be Mary Zimmerman. I was hired to protect her. You were hired to guard her husband. I’ve been working for Guardians, Inc., for four years. I’m not a novice anymore.” The tense set to her body relaxed. “I’ve changed since we knew each other.”
He had changed, too. He realized if they were together very long on this assignment they would have to discuss their parting nine years ago, but with one glance around the room, he knew this wasn’t the time or the place. “I know you aren’t. I’ve read over the assignments you’ve done this past year. I’m impressed. That’s why I asked for you. I felt a woman would be better suited for guarding Mary, so I contacted Kyra.” He wouldn’t go into the details about the possibility of buying into a partnership with Kyra for Guardians, Inc. He wouldn’t be part of Guardians, Inc., if he and Chloe couldn’t at least call a truce between them.
“You know my boss?” Her body visibly relaxed.
“Yes, I’ve known her since the first time I lived here. We’ve kept in touch through the years.” And he’d asked from time to time about Chloe. Another tidbit he wouldn’t tell her.
Chloe peered out the window, confusion clouding her eyes for a few seconds. “She didn’t tell me. I didn’t even know you would be guarding Paul.”
“I told her not to say so because there was little time to get someone and I didn’t want you to refuse before meeting the Zimmermans. There’s so much that’s changed in nine years. I didn’t want our past together to affect you taking the assignment.”
She blinked several times.
“Their publisher didn’t contact me about the job until late last night. So I went to Kyra early this morning and was glad to learn you were available.”
“But—” she looked away again “—after what happened between us, I’m surprised.”
A silence fell between them peppered with murmurs from Paul and Mary’s conversation with the organizers. T.J. inched closer and lowered his voice. He touched her arm, not sure if she would yank away or not. She didn’t. “We need to talk later. I don’t want anything standing in the way of this partnership. I’m not the same man I was. Life has a way of redirecting your dreams.”
Chloe opened her mouth, but instead pressed her lips closed before saying anything and fastened her attention out the window. An uncomfortable moment later, she said, “It looks like the crowd is gone. I’ll feel better when we get them back to the house. Everything went well, but I couldn’t shake...�
�� Her eyebrows slashed downward.
“I got the feeling someone was out there watching the Zimmermans, waiting for the right moment.”
She faced him. “I did, too, but then nothing happened, even with the last-minute change Mary insisted on with the crowd coming inside. I was beginning to wonder if my instinct was off. Generally, it isn’t.”
In that brief moment a connection sprang up between them as if their breakup had never occurred. “I don’t think it is. Someone in the audience could have been casing the Zimmermans. Just because he did something at the first and second stops in the tour doesn’t mean he will at this one. The security was tightened, and he might not have expected that.”
Finally, as though she’d realized his hand was touching her, she stepped back. “You keep saying he. Is there a reason you think it’s one man?”
He shook his head. “I need a way to refer to the person or persons since we don’t have any names.”
“I just want to make sure I know everything connected to this assignment. No clues to who is after them?”
“From what happened in Paris with the multiple stink bombs, I figure it’s more than one person. But frankly, I know so little at this time.” T.J. glanced at the pair they were guarding. “I’m concerned mostly about their lack of concern.”
“It could lead to problems. Mary puts everyone else first.”
“You know her?” T.J. kneaded his shoulder, aching from holding himself taut and ready to move at a second’s notice. There was still tension with Chloe. He’d thought the past was just that—the past—that they could forge a working relationship because Chloe was good at her job.
“Not personally, but I know of her. I’ve read her books, and they have a great message. We need to put God’s principles into action.”
“In theory, the concepts they promote might work, but in practice we need more law enforcement officers and tougher laws.” When he saw her forehead crease, he continued, “We should leave, but we’ll talk later, and I’ll make sure you know everything I do. There won’t be any confusion with this assignment.”
One of her perfectly arched eyebrows lifted, a smile flirting with her mouth. “Promise?”
He chuckled. “Yes, we made a good team once before. There’s no reason why we can’t now.” Her smile gave him hope that they could at least work together.
“I suppose anything is possible.”
“Let’s get the Zimmermans to a more secure location. Okay?”
She nodded.
Turning toward the couple, T.J. said, “It’s time for us to leave.”
While the Zimmermans said goodbye to the organizers, T.J. withdrew his phone from his pocket and called the limo driver to pull the car around to the back exit. Now that the crowd was gone, the couple shouldn’t mind going out that way. He let it ring five times, then it went to voice mail.
“The Zimmermans are ready to leave. We’ll stay put until you call back.” His grip on the cell tightened. That gut feeling he’d had earlier clamored against his skull, demanding to be heard.
Chloe watched him as he slipped his phone back into his pocket and evened out his expression. Although she wasn’t as easy to read as in the past, it was clear when concern invaded her eyes.
He moved closer to her and whispered, “The driver didn’t answer. I’m going out to the parking lot to see what has happened. You stay here and guard the Zimmermans. I’ll call you and let you know what’s going on. Lock the door after I leave.”
He started to turn away, but she grasped his arm. “I won’t open that door unless you tell me it looks like it’s going to rain. Okay?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t release her grip. “Be careful. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
Just like I don’t. Which only reinforced the suspicion something was wrong.
Nodding, he strode toward the exit, ushering the two organizers out of the room in front of him. The sound of the lock clicking into place didn’t quiet the alarms going off in his mind. He could think of a hundred reasons the driver hadn’t answered the call—most of them bad.
He left the church through the back door, his gaze sweeping the area around him before he stepped out into the cold February day. A brisk wind blew from the west, slamming against his torso as he headed around the side of the church where the driver was supposed to have parked the limousine. Fifteen yards away, he spied the car where it should be.
The windows were darkened, so when T.J. stared into the vehicle, he couldn’t see the driver. Anywhere, inside or out.
Then T.J. noticed the tire nearest him had been slashed. From where he stood he could see the back one, too. Flat. His stomach clenched. Adrenaline pumped through his body as he pulled his gun from his holster. While he scanned the parking lot, he made his way to the limo. His heartbeat picked up speed as adrenaline flooded his system.
He circled the limo quickly. Two more flat tires. No one hiding behind the car. When he returned to the driver’s side, he yanked open the passenger door. No one hiding there, either. Then he turned his attention to the front. When T.J. opened the door, there was no sign of the driver or where he might be.
T.J. pushed a button on the side panel, then hurried to the back of the limo. When he lifted the trunk, his breath bottled in his lungs. He’d found the driver.
TWO
Chloe paced in the room above the auditorium. She should have heard from T.J. by now. This didn’t bode well. Tension held her tighter with each minute that ticked away until she felt like a walking statue. When her cell rang, she came to a halt. It was T.J.’s phone calling.
“Yes?” she said with wariness. Please let him be okay.
“The driver was knocked out and locked in the trunk of the limousine. All the tires have been slashed. I’m coming into the church now with the driver. I wanted you to know what happened before I call the police.” A slight breathlessness to his words indicated he was hurrying to get back to the room.
“I’ll call. I know some people on the police force.” She disconnected and immediately placed a call to a detective who was a friend and filled him in on where they were and what had happened, then she called for an ambulance.
A knock cut through the sudden silence in the room as Mary and Paul listened to Chloe’s conversation with Detective Rob Matthews. Paul started for the door.
“Don’t! Let me.” Sliding her phone into her pocket, then drawing her gun, Chloe hurried to cut him off. He stopped, his eyes huge as he looked from her to Mary.
“There was a problem at the limo. Someone knocked out the driver and slashed the tires.” Chloe clasped the handle and motioned for Paul and Mary to stand in the corner, out of the line of fire. When they had moved, she asked, “Who is it?”
“T.J. here. It looks like it’s going to rain.” His deep, husky voice penetrated the barrier of wood between them.
The smooth sound of his words sent relief through her—and something else, a flutter deep in her stomach. She dismissed the reaction, chalking it up to being glad he was all right. She couldn’t afford to fall for T.J. again. She unlocked the door and swung it open while keeping her gun ready at her side.
T.J. helped the stunned driver into the room as Chloe shut the door and threw the lock—not that it would stop someone really determined to get inside. In fact, she could probably pick the lock in under a minute.
Mary rushed from the corner with Paul right behind her. When she reached the driver, she waved her hand toward the nearest chair. “I’ve had some first-aid training. Let me check him.”
The Zimmermans tended to the man, who responded to Mary’s questions about how he felt as she looked into his eyes, then examined the back of his head. When she probed with her fingertips, the young man winced.
“How long until the police and paramedics arrive?”
T.J. asked Chloe, drawing her attention to him.
“I called a friend, Rob Matthews, who is on duty and will send some patrol officers. He’s on his way, too, but they’ll get here first. Maybe ten minutes out. Does the driver know what happened?”
“He was groggy. I wanted to get in here before questioning him. I kept thinking it might have been a diversion.”
“It’s been quiet.”
Mary crossed the room to the counter where there was a sink and wetted some paper towels. As she made her way back to the driver, Paul walked over to them, his color pale.
“What’s going on?” His voice wavered.
“Not sure. At best, another harassment.” T.J. started for the driver and Mary.
“And the worst?” Paul followed.
“The attacker is out there waiting to do something else, most likely to you and your wife.”
T.J.’s declaration caused Paul to falter.
Chloe grasped his arm and steadied him. “That’s why we’re here. To protect you and Mary.” She looked toward T.J. and was comforted he was her partner. He exuded a self-assurance that would keep the Zimmermans as composed as possible under the circumstances. She’d discovered that was important when events turned bad.
“What should we do?” Paul asked Chloe.
“Pray. The police are on the way. They’ll check the surrounding area and the church. Right now it’s best if we stay in here until we’re given the all-clear sign from them.” She schooled her voice into a calm, even tone.
Bodyguard Reunion Page 2