by Dale Mayer
Lissa stepped into the middle of the room and said, “Hello, Mother. You’re looking well.”
Her mother stood and smiled prettily. “Thank you. You’re looking better than I expected, but oh, dear, stitches. You know that will leave a scar,” she said reprovingly.
“I’m fine, thank you. No need to worry now that I’m home safe.”
There, the polite conversation was done. Maybe she could leave now. As she glanced around, she caught sight of Stone’s frown. She slightly rolled her eyes as if to say, I told you so.
“She was very brave and handled herself well under the circumstances,” Stone said in a low voice.
Her mother gave a delicate shudder. “She goes on these excursions, putting herself in danger, and it’s very trying for us all.”
This time Lissa did roll her eyes. Of course it was trying for everyone but more so for Lissa, not her mother. All it did was interrupt her mother’s schedule and force her to adjust.
Her father who had left, reappeared suddenly. He handed an envelope to Levi. “A bonus. And you have my deepest thanks for rescuing my daughter.”
The two men shook hands. In her father’s typical style, he completely passed over Ice who stood at Levi’s side as he proceeded to shake Harrison and Stone’s hands.
Her eyes twinkling, she prodded her father. “Don’t forget about Ice, Dad. She’s one of the main members of their unit.”
Her father looked startled at the comment or maybe at the unusual name but moved in front of her, appearing to be amiable about shaking her hand too.
Ice glanced at Lissa, a glint of humor in her eye as she said, “Lovely to have met you, Lissa. You’ve been very brave throughout this whole event.”
“That’s a good one. I survived. That’s about all I can say. Except that I wouldn’t have without you guys. I’ll miss you,” she admitted warmly.
She heard her mother’s disdainful sniffle behind her. Lissa stiffened at the rebuke, and her gaze caught Stone’s once again.
This group was more her kind of people. She was a misfit in her family and always had been. She turned to her father and said, “Now what, Father?” He’d always orchestrated her life. She had no doubt he’d planned her return down to the smallest detail.
“I’m sure you’re tired. Go to your room and rest,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. “We’ll talk in the morning.”
She knew how that worked. Instantly she ran up the stairs. The obedient returning daughter. Like hell.
Thankfully, she knew this house well. She heard her father at the front door saying good-bye to the team and realized she had no time.
She just hoped they could stall long enough so she could sneak out the rear and come around to the front without being seen. They knew she had a ticket booked to go home to Texas with them. She did not want to miss that flight. Nor did she want to stay here.
At the top of stairs was the fire escape out the back. She was on that, skittering down as fast as she could. Hitting the ground running, she came around to the side of the property. The limo was already driving around the circular drive that would take the big vehicle to the main road.
She cut a corner across the front yard and dashed into the center of the road.
She didn’t dare look at the front door to see if her father was still standing there. She was counting on the fact that he would not watch the vehicle leave.
The black limousine hit the brakes. Thankfully, he hadn’t been going very fast so the squeal wasn’t enough to raise alarms inside the house. The driver frowned as he looked through the windshield.
The rear passenger door opened, and Stone stepped out, a hard look on his face. “Are you nuts? That’s a great way to get yourself killed.”
She dashed to his side, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. “I missed you too.”
She dove inside the vehicle and sat on the front seat facing them, then pounded the glass lightly to tell the driver to move. With an impudent grin, she glanced at the others. “So, what did you think of my father?”
*
Stone kept his thoughts to himself. A lot of comments rolled around in his head, but his mother had taught him a few simple commands to follow in life. One of them was if he couldn’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.
And there was nothing nice about his thoughts right now.
In fact, if he had Lissa’s father in front of him, Stone would be hard pressed to hold his fists back. And as for that doll of a mother …
Well, he had no words.
Apparently nobody else in the vehicle could voice their feelings either because complete silence reigned.
Lissa laughed. “That’s all right. It’s exactly how I feel too.”
She settled down into the vehicle and tucked her knees up against her chest. She stared out the window, watching as the miles passed. Stone studied her features, but they were blank, as if she herself didn’t know what to think. He sensed a finality in her and wondered if she’d ever return to her parents’ house.
“What will your father do to you for sneaking out?” Ice asked.
Lissa turned to her. “Who said I had to sneak?” She turned her gaze back out the window for a long time. Then she said, “I have no idea. He should be used to me fighting his dictates, but he always seems surprised when he gives orders and I refuse.”
“Why not stay a little while with your parents?” Harrison asked. “I don’t mean any offense. I just have trouble with you not wanting to at least reassure them that you’re okay after what you’ve been through.”
“And I did that,” she said quietly. “As you can see, it’s not like they wanted to spend any time with me. I was ordered to my room to stay for the night. Father would speak with me in the morning, when he had time. But what I can tell you from past experience is, he would order me to his office the next day, and he would give me a complete dressing down for my actions. After that I’d be ordered back to my room. I did not need to listen to that again.”
Harrison nodded. “As long as you know for sure that’s what would happen.”
“What about your mother? Has she ever intervened?” Ice asked. “I don’t have a mother or haven’t for a long time, but my father and I are close. I can’t imagine not having the kind of relationship that we have.”
“I can’t imagine having what you must have,” Lissa said. “Honestly, I don’t know anything other than our cold existence. I was never hugged or held, except by my nannies. I wasn’t allowed to eat at the same dinner table until I was old enough. I went to boarding school because it was more convenient for them, so they didn’t have to drive me anywhere or deal with me on weekends.”
She glanced from one face to the other and finally landed on Stone. “It wasn’t so bad,” she said quietly. “I made friends in school. Every once in a while I would go to their place for holidays.” She turned to stare out the window again. “In fact, it was nicer at boarding school than it was at home.”
Stone stared down at his open hands resting on his lap. They were open to prevent him from clenching them into fists and pounding something. The only thing available to pound was the vehicle, and he didn’t want to end up dealing with her father over that.
Chapter 9
By the time they got on to the next flight, she was too tired to talk. Stone once again sat beside her, and she made absolutely no apologies for curling up and resting her head against his broad shoulder and closing her eyes.
The only thing that bothered her was her heart taking on the fear of the approaching good-bye.
She was not looking forward to that.
Somehow she had become accustomed to being with Stone, but she didn’t get close to people easily. And yet somehow she felt attached to him. He’d also been there with her for the last couple days, and she would find it very hard to let him go. Yet he had a life. Remember, she told herself, she was just a job. Although they might both live in Texas, that didn’t mean he was interested.
“
Wake up, Lissa.”
She straightened and stared at him blurry eyed. “Are we landing now?”
He nodded. “Will be. We started our descent. We’ll be down in ten minutes.”
She nodded and reached up to cover her mouth with her hand as she yawned. “Oh, man, am I tired.”
“It’s been a long trip home,” he said. “You’ll need a couple days to relax.”
“I still have to get home,” she said. “That means trying to find a taxi at this hour. And I don’t think I have keys to my house anymore.”
“Didn’t you hide a set?” he asked with one eyebrow raised.
“No. I left the spares with Marge so she could get in and check my mail.” She made a face. “Now to find a way to break in. Part of me wants to say I hope I left a window open, but another knows damn well I better not have.” She slumped into a chair, depressed as all hell now. “Goddammit.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure it out.”
“You mean, I’ll have to. You’ll head off to your home, back to your job. Me? I need to go home and find a way to start my life all over again.” She hated the note of bitterness in her tone, but right now, a little bit too much had happened over an incredibly long series of days. All she wanted was to go home and crash on her bed. The fact that she probably couldn’t even get into her own house … Talk about a grand finale. And yet, because of him, she had a life. She needed to stop whining and appreciate what she had.
“I’m not leaving you after all that we’ve done so far. I need to be sure you’ll be okay,” he said in exasperation. “You are just over an hour’s drive from my home. I’ll take you to your place first. We’ll see if we can get you inside. If not, we’ll look at other options.”
Feeling shaky but relieved, she threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug. “Thank you so much. I have to admit I was feeling really nervous about this last bit. And I shouldn’t be,” she exclaimed. “I finally get to go home.”
He reached out and grabbed her hand. “Hold that thought. We’ll get you there probably in about an hour and a half, depending on how much trouble we have getting off the airplane. But considering the minimal baggage you have, there should be absolutely no problem.”
She stood outside the airport exit not knowing what to do. For the first damn time in a long while she was home. The team was in sight, and she didn’t want to be separated. Nerves? Or just plain fear? She didn’t know.
She turned to glance behind her. Stone was talking with the others. Finally some kind of an agreement was made. Some shoulder slapping, smiles, and then the other three turned in another direction.
Stone came toward her. “Okay, we have two vehicles here. They will take one and go home, and I will take you to your place and then go home myself.”
She watched the other three retreat, feeling a sadness she hadn’t expected. “You sure it’s okay with them? Shouldn’t you be going home with them?”
“Actually they were all coming with me,” he said. “But as this should be a simple trip to get you into your house, they decided to go home themselves.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked to the parking lot. “I’ll keep them updated. If there’s any difficulty, they’ll be here.”
It took a moment, which she put down to tiredness, before the statement actually penetrated her foggy brain. “What do you mean by ‘difficulty’?”
“I don’t mean anything.”
Before too long, he had her safely ensconced inside the passenger seat of a jeep. She laughed when she got in. “I always wanted to ride in one of these but never have.”
“You have a car?”
“Yes.” She winced. “I have a Toyota Prius.”
“Interesting choice.”
“Well, I do care about the environment, and my daddy was extremely against it.” She laughed. “As I look back at my life, it seems like everything I’ve done has been to spite him.” She gave her head a shake. “Definitely time to grow up.”
“There’s time for that,” he said comfortably. “If you had stayed at your parents’ house last night, what would you be facing now? And how much trouble would you have getting home to your own place now?”
“I don’t have any money on me so I couldn’t have gotten here without your help. God knows Father wouldn’t have helped me. But, once I’m here, there’s a telephone. Father can call me, but he does have friends in town who often come by to make sure I’m okay.” She shrugged. “It’s like he can’t quite let go of that bit of control.”
“He’s a father,” Stone said.
“That he is, but I doubt that has anything to do with it,” she said quietly. She didn’t mean to be mysterious, but there was just no understanding her father.
“Have they always been well-off?”
She nodded. “Old money, blue blood, and married wealthy. They did all the expected things. They even had a child. Unfortunately I seem to be the one part of their life that didn’t turn out the way they expected.”
Up ahead was the exit from the airport. “I need a few directions,” he said.
“Oh, sorry. I am really tired. Take a left here. We’re taking the Aberdeen exit about five minutes down the road.”
“I know the area.”
“Do you?”
He nodded. “I’ve spent a lot of years in Texas for one reason or another.”
She studied his craggy features and said, “You know so much about me, and I don’t know anything about you.”
“Not a whole lot to know.”
“The military is an interesting choice.”
“Mom died of cancer six months before I enlisted. At that point I was lost. I was looking for a family. I signed up for BUD/S training and surprised myself by actually succeeding.” He laughed. “At the time I felt I had found my perfect place.
“What is Buds?”
“Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training.”
“But?”
“But what?”
“You said you thought you had found your perfect place until …”
He turned to look at her. “Until we were on a mission and somebody betrayed us. We all took some pretty heavy physical damage. My unit, all four of us, had to leave the military because of it. I am the only one who lost a limb. Levi and I were hurt the worst. Rhodes and Merk had an easier time of it but not by much. Still we all survived and that’s what counts”
He patted the dashboard. “But Levi was never anybody to stay down long. He’d always had it in the back of his head that, when his time was up in the military, he’d set up a private company and continue doing what we always did so well. So here we are.”
“You don’t have any family?”
“Only the family I work with.”
Somehow that seemed really sad to her. Then again, how many times in her life had she wished to be an orphan? Maybe he had the better deal after all.
They turned off the highway, and she directed him through the small town toward her place. She was getting her second wind.
When they pulled into the driveway of her building, she smiled. The pretty Victorian look had always appealed to her. This place had seemed perfect for her at the time. And, in a way, maybe it still was. Except that, for some reason, she never spent any time here. She could change that now. Her traveling bug had certainly disappeared.
“Is this the place?” Stone turned to look at her.
“It certainly is.” She hopped out and ran up to the front door. Sure enough it was locked. Although why she thought it wouldn’t be, she had no idea. She ran down the stairs to Stone and said, “Let’s check the back door.”
He followed at a much slower pace. As she went around the building, she kept up a running stream of commentary about the place. “I bought it a couple years ago. At the time I really liked the pretty look to the place. It’s just I haven’t stayed here longer than a few months.” She shrugged. “I’ve been traveling so much that it has not really ever seemed like home.” She turned to loo
k at him and froze.
His features had gone hard, a glint of steel to his gaze.
She reached out for his arm and stepped really close. “What the hell’s the matter?”
He lifted an arm and pointed to the back door and the kitchen windows. “You tell me.”
She turned to look at her kitchen and realized the windows were smashed in on both sides. The door, although closed, looked like it could flap in the wind. “Oh, my God! My place has been broken into.”
“Did you have some kind of arrangement with the management to rent it out while you were gone?”
She shook her head. “No, I never wanted strangers in my house.” She didn’t make a move to get closer to the building. Instead she just stood, clutching his arm. “This makes no sense.”
“Why is that?” he said in a drily. “Tough times, small town, and an empty house for months on end … I’m surprised it wasn’t broken into before.”
She turned to face him. “My friend Marge should have stopped by last night and checked it. She’s been coming by once a week to collect my mail and to make sure the place was okay. She comes every Sunday night like clockwork.”
“Can you check to see when she was here last?”
“I could, but she’s sleeping right now, and I don’t have a phone anymore,” she said. “Why?”
“Just to make sure we have the correct time frame. It seems suspicious that you left this place empty for what, six months? Considering your friend was here recently, we have to assume she’d have noticed this damage, so it must have happened after her last trip here. We’ll need to contact her next to confirm she came last night but if so …”
“Eight months,” she corrected.
“Right, for eight months. So we have to consider the possibility that now, on the day that you actually arrive here, your place is broken into.”
Slowly her gaze went from the house to him, then back again. “Oh, my God! You think it’s related, don’t you?”
*
“Let’s just say it’s not a coincidence I’m comfortable with,” he said. “We had trouble with the London airport. Now you come home, and your place has been broken into. Not last week, but just now within roughly twenty-four hours of your return. Until we can confirm, we can consider this a working theory.”