by Dale Mayer
“Come here,” he said and pulled her into his arms again.
“I was so scared,” she said, “and, when they told me that they were after you, I just couldn’t believe it.”
He kissed her gently on the temple. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s behind all this because I haven’t heard directly from any of them,” he said. “But I will get to the bottom of it.”
“I know you will,” she said, and, with a sigh, she stepped back a bit, rotated her shoulders, and added, “That cabbie just pissed me off.”
He snorted, remembering how tickled Diesel had gotten when they’d talked about it. “You think?” he said. “Not the smartest move.”
“No, that was on him,” she said, “trying to drive, while holding the gun on me. He’d have been better off if he’d gotten me to drive instead.”
“That’s very true,” he said. “Which makes me think he wasn’t used to doing something like this.”
“Maybe I should feel happy about that,” she said, “but I don’t.” He just smiled, and she glared at him. “Do you find this funny?”
“There is nothing funny about this at all,” he said, with emphasis. “So, no, I don’t find it funny.”
“I know,” she said. “Sorry. I’m just out of sorts.”
“You’re allowed to be,” he murmured. “Nobody expects you to be perfect or to handle everything gracefully all the time.”
She nodded, pulling her wet hair into a ponytail high on the top of her head and said, “But you know? We get used to being on all the time. Used to handling everything and being perfect because it’s required.”
“None of that is ever required when you’re with me.”
“That’s the thing about you,” she said, with a bright smile. “I can just be me.”
“I hope so,” he said. “Don’t ever think that’s not enough.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said, and then, with a cheeky grin, she added, “So did you order any food?”
“Diesel’s gone to pick it up.”
“Oh, gosh, but he’s tired too,” she said, feeling terrible for making a fuss about room service.
“A pizza joint’s right across the street,” he said. “It’s not like he’s running a marathon.”
She relaxed at that. “Oh, good, I felt guilty about turning my nose up at room service,” she said. “I really like him. He seems like a nice guy.”
“He is.” He looked at her. “And speaking of nice guys, what happened to that last boyfriend of yours?”
“Ugh. He got too possessive,” she said. “We broke up months ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “I’ll find the right guy one of these days.”
“Or maybe you could just stop trying so hard and see who shows up.”
“Well, I’ve tried that too,” she said, “and nobody turned up.” He burst out laughing, and she grinned at him. “Besides, you were out of town.”
“Were you waiting for me?” he asked, shaking his head with a bright smile.
“Maybe,” she said. “Did you ever think about what our life would be like if we were together?”
“No,” he said, his tone joking, “I never did.”
“See? Now I don’t know,” she said, “but I feel like that’s just an insult.”
He snorted at that and said, “We talked about it briefly once. I’ve known you for a very long time, and anything you’ve wanted in your life, you’ve gone after. Never, at any point in time, have you showed me that you were even remotely interested.”
“That’s not true,” she protested. The she added, with good humor, “You know how much I love you.”
“Loving me and being in love with me,” he said, “are two different things.
“Sometimes I wonder though,” she said. “I think we get so hung up on perfection—the perfect match for the perfect future—that we tend to forget a whole lot better things are out there than perfect.”
He stopped her, and, looking puzzled, he asked, “Like what?”
She gave him a slow smile. “Like things that naturally fall into place with a sense of rightness.”
“Doesn’t that make it perfect?”
She shrugged. “But it seems like it’s contrived otherwise. When we’re always out there, looking for something better, we forget to see what’s nearby because we’re so hung up on the seeking. The pursuit for something outside that might be a better match, or I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “Sorry. I’m not making any sense with my rambling. I didn’t realize how tired I am.”
“You’re exhausted,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean you’re not making sense.”
She rolled her eyes at him and looked at the beds. “Do you care which bed I crash on?” He shook his head. She set her overnight bag on the bed closest to the bathroom and threw herself up against the headboard, piling all the pillows up, so she could curl up under a blanket.
“Don’t you want to sleep?”
“Sure,” she said, “but my stomach’s growling, and I’m afraid that, every time I close my eyes, I’ll see Mary. I still don’t know what they were hoping she would get out of me.”
“Probably information on me,” he said.
“Maybe, but it’s not like you ever tell me what you’re doing,” she said, “so I didn’t know anything of value anyway.”
“Maybe,” he murmured. “Have we been that distant?”
“Nope, but I was never one to sit there and bug you as to where you were at any given moment in time, so why would it be any different when I haven’t seen you for months?”
“Maybe they thought we were closer.”
“That’s because we text all the time,” she said. “And that’s great for staying in touch, but it doesn’t really give you the nitty-gritty details of what’s going on in somebody’s life.” She yawned. “I didn’t have anything to tell her anyway. So it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference,” she added, exhaling a big breath, stretching out on the bed. “Did you say pizza was coming?”
He laughed. “He should be here any minute.” At that came a knock on the door. He opened it up and let Diesel in, carrying three large boxes.
She stared, dumbfounded. “Wow,” she said. “I know how much I eat, and I know how much Shane can eat, so you must be expecting to fill up on the rest of it.”
Diesel laughed, then turn to Shelly. “Actually you might want to consider that we could be here for a while.”
She winced at that. “Now that won’t make me happy. I’d much rather go home.”
“Maybe so,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean you’ll be allowed to.”
She stared at him, her gaze going from Diesel to Shane and back. “Why wouldn’t I be allowed to go home?”
“For the same reason that you already thought of,” Shane said quietly, walking to sit down beside her. She stared at him, not understanding. He winced. “Remember our conversation about them still being after you?”
“Speaking of which, how would they know who I am or where I live? How did the fake cabbie know to go there?”
“The gunmen in the tower knew who you were before the cabbie got there. Were you separated from your purse at any time while they held you?”
She sucked in her breath and frowned. “Yes.”
“So that’s one way they could have gotten your address, if they didn’t have it already. They also could have accessed your employment records while they were there,” he said. “Or they could have been watching for a few days. Trust me. They knew long before. And you already know that they are concerned about witnesses. Otherwise there was no reason for the cabbie switch.”
“But you were there. Do you really think I’m in danger with you around?”
“Until we have a better idea of who these people are and why they used you to get to me,” he said, “I think we have to continue to be as careful as we can.”
She got up and walked to the three boxes that Diesel had opened up. Taking
one look, she smiled broadly, and, since there were no plates, she ripped the top off one of the boxes, then folded it, so she had a good thick piece of cardboard. Arranging a few pieces on it, she sat down in the nearest chair. The men followed suit, minus the cardboard. By the time she had eaten two pieces, she had mentally worked through the problem. “That’s why you didn’t want me to stay at my place or even take time to shower, isn’t it?”
“I’m pretty sure they already knew exactly where you lived,” he said, “and that’s how they were able to get that cab in place so quickly.”
Understanding crossed her features, as she remembered the scene with the taxi driver. “Great, so how do we solve this?”
“That’s the question,” Shane said, “and we’re waiting on intel.”
“Intel from whom?” she asked. He looked up to see her eyeing him sharply. “Exactly who do you work for?”
“A black ops program,” he said. “Yes, it’s with the government. It’s secret and includes all that good spy stuff, but, just like everybody else in the world, we have to come up with information that’s usable.”
“Well, let’s hope we get some fast,” she said. “I may not have been terribly impressed with my life here, but that doesn’t mean I was ready to have it completely stopped.”
“Oh, it stopped, make no mistake about that,” he said, his voice hard. “Your boss is gone, along with your whole department. The company will have to do a massive reassessment, and you need to be prepared to have people hold you responsible in some way.”
“What?” She stared at him in shock. “But I didn’t do anything.”
“You did though. You survived,” he said quietly. “You know people are like that.”
She shook her head. “But that’s like victimizing me all over again.”
“I know, but I don’t think the company will give a damn,” he said. “They’ll show you sympathy, but, at the same time, you’ll be a bit of a pariah nobody’ll want anything to do with.”
She groaned. “I don’t think I like human nature much.”
“That’s the thing. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not,” Diesel said, with a note of amusement. “We still have to live in this world.”
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“First, you’ll sit here and relax,” Shane said. “Second, as soon as I’ve eaten, I’ll see if any information has come in. And then we need a game plan.”
“Like, for me to go away for a holiday?” she said. “I like that idea.”
He gave a grunt of amusement. “Aren’t you funny,” he said. “The reality is, you may just have to go into hiding, until we can solve this thing.”
Her eyes widened. “And how long would that be?” she asked, an ominous edge to her voice.
He looked at her, then winced and said, “It could be a matter of weeks.”
“Oh, hell, no,” she said. “Because, when you say weeks, what you actually mean is that it could be months, and no way I can put my life on hold like that.”
“And I get that,” he said, trying to forestall her arguments.
“No,” she said, “you don’t get it at all. It’s just not something I can do.”
“It is something you can do,” he corrected gently. “It’s not something you would choose to do, and that’s the big difference.”
She groaned and stared at him. “How about you’ve got one week?” she asked. “You’re the one always telling me about your can-do attitude, so you’ve got one week to solve this.”
“And then what?” he asked.
Diesel watched the exchange in fascination.
She just glared at Shane. “You solve this, and then you help me figure out what I’m doing for a job now. How will I ever fill out an application or go on a job interview? Reason for termination? Entire department annihilated by terrorists,” she said sarcastically.
“You’ll find another job,” Shane said. “You’ve never had any problem finding work before.”
“No, but I’ve never been targeted by terrorists before either.”
“I’m not sure we’ll call them terrorists,” he said. “But, with this many deaths, you know there’ll be an awful lot of police on the case.”
“Perfect, so let them solve it.” Then she glared at him and said, “But you won’t let them solve it, will you?”
“Of course not,” he said, with a bright smile. “And, if you’re being honest, you don’t want me to let them do it either. You want me to get out there and to solve it right now, so you can get your life back.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she nodded. “And it won’t happen, will it?”
“It will happen,” he said, “but I don’t know when or what life will look like in the meantime. We have to be adaptable, but, most important, we have to make sure that the three of us are safe.”
She nodded slowly. “Because they were really after you. Why though? What did they want you for?”
“Well, it would have been nice to find that out,” he said. “With any luck the taxi guy might tell us something.”
“Maybe,” she said, staring out the window. “But it feels like it must have been a huge game plan, and they went to a lot of effort to get to you.” She turned to look at him and asked, “What have you done, or who have you done something to that could bring all this on?”
He shook his head. “I’ve been involved in dozens of missions all over the world,” he said quietly. “If somebody wanted to hold me personally responsible, they certainly could, but I would be no more personally responsible than all the other men involved in the same operation.”
“So that’s the question then, isn’t it?” she said, staring at him. “Have any of your other black-ops friends gone missing?”
Shane wasn’t even sure where that thought had come from, but he stared at Shelly in surprise, then turned to look at Diesel.
Diesel shrugged. “She’s got a point. But, if somebody had taken out a whole team, we might not even know—because we’ve been out of service for a while.” He turned to look back at her, still frowning.
She shrugged. “It sounds like something you need to consider,” she said. “Like, maybe you’re the last resort. Particularly if you’re not part of an active naval unit anymore. For all you know, there has been a major accident, and a unit was taken out, and you were the last one on the list. Or, hell, maybe they’re even starting with you. But, if you overthrew a government, put somebody behind bars, got somebody kicked out of the navy—who the hell knows what it may have been—but revenge can take a long time to develop, as people make plans to get even.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start to look for something like that,” Shane said quietly.
“With your old superiors,” she said, “I would think. I don’t know how many people you’ve actually dealt with or how it all works, which puts me at a disadvantage on crafting a solution.”
“Not to mention the fact that I’m no longer in the navy anymore,” he said, with half a smile.
“I get that,” she said. “You’ve left the navy but not the government. But that doesn’t mean these killers know that, or perhaps the very act of leaving the navy is what opened it up so they could get to you.”
He shook his head. “Now you’re reaching a bit.”
“And you’re ignoring an obvious question that needs to be asked.”
“She’s right,” Diesel said, and there was such a surprise in his voice that she turned on him, an eyebrow raised.
Shane laughed. “She’s often right,” he said. “She has a very different mind-set.”
“I do not,” she said crossly.
“Do so,” he said, with affection. She just glared at him, and he laughed.
“Like I said,” Diesel said, “you two make a great couple.”
“It would never work,” she said, shaking her head.
“Why is that?” Diesel asked, studying her carefully.
“I’m all about monogamy, and he wants to play the fiel
d.”
“That’s not true,” Shane protested.
She looked at him in surprise. “Since when?”
“I haven’t ‘played the field,’ as you call it, for at least four or five years,” he said.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” he said, “it was a stage. I was happy to not settle down and to just enjoy life, and so were you, as I recall.”
“Sure, but I am much more interested in relationships that don’t have a start and an end date,” she said.
He burst out laughing at that. “You apparently haven’t updated your information on me lately.”
“Obviously I didn’t realize you’d finally gotten to the point of wanting to settle down. I figured you were still up for traveling the world, being wild and crazy.”
“Traveling the world is never a bad thing,” he said. “Besides, you don’t know what you’ll do now. Maybe you’ll end up doing more traveling.”
“Maybe,” she said, “I was actually thinking about it, but I don’t really know. Right now, it’s hard to know anything. Except one thing. … I don’t really want to go back into tall New York City office buildings.”
“Like the ones with seven floors?”
“Especially not the ones with seven floors,” she said. “Although I’m not too thrilled with the idea of being in buildings that have more than two. Actually I’d like to stay on the ground floor for now.”
“It’s amazing how an incident like that can really affect you. It makes sense though,” he said. “When you think about it, your life has not always been the easiest, and, when you go through something traumatic like that, it’s hard to get past it.”
“I don’t want it to be the thing that I remember about my entire life though,” she said. “That would be terrible. There’s got to be so much more in my world than to survive being held by terrorists—or whatever you want to call that attack.”
“Well, it was definitely a targeted assault,” he said, “but I’m not sure it was for men and country.”
“Well, I don’t know what else it was, but they said that I was a means to an end to get you here,” she said. She glared at him. “Do you know what that felt like? To know that all they were doing was waiting for you to show up, and that I was responsible for getting you there?”