Chapter Two

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There. Marise had spoken aloud her huge concern. Not her safety. She could handle herself. But for the colonel.

And while it was still just speculation, it felt real. It felt like something she shouldn't ignore. That's why she'd called Slade. He was the first person she'd thought of after she realized she needed help.

Now, she realized she just needed him.

Slade could steady her the way no one else could. Their history together was responsible for that. Bonds forged the hard way. She trusted him with her life and vice versa. More importantly, she trusted him with Colonel Rosa's.

"Take a second," Slade urged, and he bracketed his hands on her shoulders.

Strong hands. In fact, strong described everything about him. Tall and with plenty of muscle. Plenty of good looks, too. Hot.

Yeah, that.

There were times she'd had to force herself not to get caught up in that hotness. That strength. Because that path would no doubt lead to some amazing pleasure. But it would also lead to a loss of those hard-earned bonds.

She took that moment as he'd instructed. Gathering her thoughts so she could spell out everything to Slade so he could help her do something to fix this.

"Who might try to kill Rosa and you?" Slade finally asked.

She had to shake her head. "I don't know who he is. He claimed to be Jack Smith when he signed the visitors' log, and he said he was a lawyer for Rosa's wife. He's not. I checked with her on that. The guy had an ID with that name, but I'm betting the ID was fake."

"You spoke to him or signed him in?" Slade wanted to know.

"No, I personally don't screen the visitors," she replied. "I was in my office when he arrived about six hours ago, but our receptionist on duty at the time had him fill out the usual paperwork to get a visitor's pass."

"What did he say or do that wasn't usual?" Slade pressed.

"Everything from the moment he was escorted to the colonel's room." She stopped, sighed. "Let me say upfront that visitors, even those with IDs, aren't simply allowed into a client's room. A duty nurse asked the colonel if he wanted to see Mr. Smith, Attorney at Law, and he agreed. Then, per our protocols, the nurse waited outside the room with the door closed. Within seconds, the visitor locked the door, and the nurse heard the visitor use what she described as a menacing tone."

Slade frowned. "What did the guy say?"

"The nurse thought Smith said You're a dead man. That's when she hit her silent alarm for me to come right away."

It hadn't been a long trek from her office to Rosa's room but it'd sure felt like it. Marise had worked at Patriot's Retreat for four years, and this was the first time something like this had happened.

"I could only hear murmurings when I reached the door," she went on, and I used a master key to let myself in." She stopped again. "The colonel was in a fighting stance, body braced, fists up. So was Smith. I stepped in, identified myself, and Smith immediately turned to leave. He said under his breath that I should mind my own business and tacked on a bitch to that."

Slade's forehead bunched up, probably an automatic gesture for his deep thought mode. But he winced when the movement tugged at the cut on his head. It was a reminder that she needed to try again to convince him to go to the hospital.

Slade glanced at the corners of the ceiling and out into the hall. "You've got security cams."

"We do, but the visitor must have jammed them or there was a malfunction because when I went to view the footage, it was blank." That's when she'd gotten really spooked because everything about this had felt menacing and calculated.

She could practically hear him processing all of this. "What did the colonel say about all of this?" Slade wanted to know.

"Exactly nothing. He wouldn't talk to me about it. He also didn't want to speak to you when I suggested it. And he vehemently refused to talk to his wife or let me phone the cops."

"Did you call the cops?" Slade went on.

"I did," she admitted. "I called them anyway, and a Detective Louis Gonzales came here. The colonel wouldn't even see him, but the detective took my statement. Without the cam feed and only the muttered threats, there wasn't much the detective could do, so he gave me a blanket Be careful warning and to call him if the man returned."

"And did he return?" Slade asked. "Because I'm guessing he did for you to believe he wants Rosa and you dead."

"Oh, he returned, all right." She hiked her thumb toward the front of the building. "A couple of minutes after the detective drove off, I went to the window to look out, and I saw Mr. Smith step out from behind one the trees in the side garden. I snapped his picture." She took out her phone to show him.

Though there really wasn't much to show.

It was a grainy, smeared shot because Smith had darted to the side when he'd seen what she was doing and had ducked back behind the tree.

Slade leaned in closer and studied the image. "Text that to me," he instructed, and when she did, he fired it off to someone else. "We have techs who can enhance that and maybe get a clearer image." His gaze met hers again. "What did Smith do after he hid behind the tree?"

Ah, he knew her well. Knew that she wouldn't have called him out because of hunches and bad vibes.

"I went outside to confront him," she admitted.

Slade interrupted her with a groan. "Since I know guns are a problem for you, I'm guessing you went out unarmed and with no backup."

She tried not to be too insulted by his tone. "I took a paperweight from my desk with me. It's smooth quartz, the size of a baseball, and I would have bashed him in the face with it if he'd come after me."

His mouth quivered a little, threatening to smile. It faded quickly when he no doubt remembered she might have been in danger. "And did you have to use the paperweight?" he asked.

"No. By the time I got out there, he was no longer behind the tree." She brought up another picture on her phone. "But this was."

Definitely no threat of a smile this time. Slade scowled when he looked at the picture. "Is that a dead rat?"

"It is," she verified, enlarging the photo so he could see what else was on the mangled body.

A silver eagle.

Or better known as a full bird. The rank emblem for a colonel in the United States Air Force.

"Shit," he repeated.

Again, she had to agree. And she also had to tell him the rest. "As I was looking at the rat, I heard a car engine. It was Smith. He was in a white truck at the edge of the parking lot. The license plate was obscured with mud or something so I couldn't jot that down. He shouted something before he drove off, and I made a memo of it for the detective."

She went to her phone notes and showed him. As she'd expected, Slade cursed again.

Sleep with one eye open tonight, bitch. I'm coming for you and the colonel rat.

Marise didn't want to feel the punch of dread and fear over rereading that. But she did. And she had to fight hard for those feelings not to sling her back to another time, another place.

Another situation where someone wanted her dead.

Slade had helped her through that, which was probably why her first instinct had been to call him. Well, it was one of the reasons she'd pressed his number. The other was she needed him to stop Colonel Rosa from being murdered.

And she had no doubts that Mr. Smith was capable of doing just that.

The muscles in Slade's jaw seemed to be at war with each other, but he quickly reined in the internal fight and focused on her. "All right. Why do you think this dick is killing a rat and making threats?"

She'd anticipated the question and was ready. "While I was waiting for you, I made a list," she admitted, and she tapped on that note so she could start reeling them off. "This guy could be connected to when Rosa and I were active duty. Maybe a mission that went wrong."

Slade continued to stare at her. "Rosa and you never served together, did you?"

"No. And you and I didn't work together when you were assigned to him." Marise paused. "Since Smith was posing as Rosa's wife's lawyer, maybe it's connected to her. Or to both him and his wife, and Smith included me in the threat because he thought it might get me to back off."

"He clearly doesn't know you," Slade muttered. "You've never backed off from anything in your life. Not even that," he added when she cut her gaze away from him.

Well, technically she had backed off from that incident. Years ago. Life-changing stuff. But she couldn't deal with that now. She had to focus on Smith and Colonel Rosa, so she went on to the third and final thing she'd put in her notes.

"Smith's threats could be because of something that happened here at the facility." And to fill him in on that, she had to back up a few steps. "Shortly after the colonel came here, he befriended Wally Neville, a retired military special ops guy who was here recovering from injuries he got in a car accident. Wally and Rosa spent a lot of time together. A lot. And then yesterday, Wally abruptly left."

"Why?"

"Wally wouldn't say, but he seemed shaken up about something. He didn't give me a chance to press him on it because he basically just came into my office, said he was leaving, and he went out the door. I couldn't keep him," she explained. "He was here voluntarily."

Slade considered that for a moment and fired off another text. This was the beauty of him working for Maverick Ops. Slade had resources and the manpower behind him that local law enforcement didn't.

"All right," Slade said, standing from the exam table. "Let's go talk to Rosa and see what he can tell us."

He winced again when he reached for his shirt, causing Marise to step in front of him and get in his face. "I can drive you to the ER once we're done here."

"No need. I'm sure you fixed me up just fine."

She wasn't so sure of that at all. Yes, she'd mended the outside parts of him that she could, but it was the inside she was worried about. Particularly that gash on his head.

"You could have a concussion," she pointed out, watching him struggle with the shirt.

She finally gave up and helped him. And touched him. Something she usually avoided. No way to avoid that now since she had her hands on his bare skin.

Yeah, there was a reason she usually avoided this.

Their friendship was strong, but Slade had a way of eliciting all kinds of urges that she didn't want to feel. Not for him. Not for anyone. She was basically a walking, talking trainwreck, loaded with baggage.

So was Slade.

Trainwrecks, old baggage, and a much needed friendship weren't a good mix.

That's why she hurried with the shirt and then stepped back to check his expression. Hell's Bells. For just a second, he looked at her as if she were a woman.

Which, of course, she was.

But as if she were a desirable woman. Which she wasn't. Well, she didn't want to be anyway.

"Rosa," he muttered as if reminding himself of what they had to do. "Then, I find Smith and kick his ass."

"Are you capable of that?" Marise blurted. "I mean, because you're all banged up."

He flashed her a smirky smile. "I'm always capable of some ass-kicking," he said and tapped his finger on her nose. "Lead the way to the colonel."

She did, but it was only on the walk to the residents' quarters that she realized that Rosa might be asleep. She wouldn't like waking him, but then they had to know what was going on.

"How good is the security system here?" he asked as they threaded through the corridor and passed the duty nurse's station where the night nurse, Stu Barker, was working on the computer.

Stu and she exchanged a nod, and Slade and she proceeded to the elevator. Normally, she took the stairs, but Marise thought Slade's aching body might appreciate the reprieve.

"The security system is good but not great," she admitted, pressing the button to the third floor. "While I was waiting for you, I made some calls about having it upgraded. Not a fast process since it'll need to be approved and funded."

"I can arrange for something temporary," he offered. "More full-proof cams and some sensors that'll go off if an intruder makes it past the primary system. When is your shift over?" he added.

"I don't actually have a shift. I work as needed."

"Which is often and all the time," he remarked.

Marise made a sound of agreement. "Pretty much. But I'm off for the next two days. Twice a month, the founder of the facility, Sarah Eccleston, likes to come in and work a weekend. She's a nurse." And that was a reminder to let Sarah know about the incidents with Smith.

They stepped off the elevator, immediately facing the door for 301, Rosa's room. Which wasn't closed.

That put Marise on full alert.

Most residents, including Rosa, shut their doors at night. Sometimes, they even locked them if they didn't require nightly doses of medication from a nurse. Which Rosa didn't.

Slade must have been alarmed, too, because he stepped in front of her, and using his uninjured forearm, he eased open the door.

The room was pitch black, thanks to the curtains being closed, but there was enough light from the corridor that Marise could see the bed was empty. She didn't call out to the colonel. She just stood there a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.

Slade's eyes must have adjusted before hers because he took one step inside the room. Just one.

Before the man came charging at him.

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