Chapter Three

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Slade caught the blur of motion before the blur—a man—rammed into him. For the second time tonight, Slade felt that sharp slam of pain shoot through too many parts of his body. Specifically his ribs that had already been aching like a bad tooth.

In a flash, his mood went from worry over Rosa to white-hot anger. Anger that canceled the pain and gave him a much needed jolt of adrenaline. He caught onto the charging man who'd basically rammed his head into Slade's chest, and he slung the idiot hard against the wall.

Through the clarity of the adrenaline and the anger, Slade expected to see the asshole who'd been calling himself Jack Smith. He sure as hell hadn't expected for his attacker to be Colonel Rosa.

Rosa staggered, falling back onto a chair. He took out a lamp and a table of paperbacks along the way, and the items clattered and crashed to the floor.

"Colonel," Slade managed to say, and he got a hit of another emotion. A sickening dread that he'd just hurt his former commander. He was about to start issuing a whole lot of apologies.

When Rosa bolted from the chair and charged at him again.

Rosa would have rammed into him again if Slade hadn't wrapped his arms around him to stop him. Still, the impact hurt like the devil since the colonel wasn't exactly staying still. He was fighting like a wildcat to get free.

"Sir, it's me, Captain Slade McKenna," he said.

The fighting continued, and Marise got in on the action. She hit a button on the wall and then grabbed Rosa's arms, pinning them behind his back. "Colonel Rosa," she tried. "It's Slade and me, Marise. You know us. We're not the enemy."

Slade saw it then, the glazed look in Rosa's eyes. He'd either been drugged or was in the throes of one hell of a complex PTSD episode.

"Sir," Slade repeated when Rosa continued to try to batter his head against Slade. "You're in San Antonio at the Patriot's Retreat."

That finally seemed to sink in, and Rosa stopped. He just stopped, and with his breath coming out in sharp rasps, he slid slow, volleying glances at Marise and Slade.

"Slade," he said, shaking his head as if trying to clear it.

There was the sound of the elevator opening, and seconds later, the male nurse who'd been downstairs hurried in.

"Arrange for Colonel Rosa to be transported to the hospital. He needs to be examined for any injuries he might have gotten in the, well, altercation that just happened," Marise muttered to the nurse, and he took off again. "Colonel Rosa, let me take you to your chair so you can sit down."

"Chair," the man repeated. Still dazed. Still not fully back from wherever he'd been. He didn't say another word until Marise had him seated. "I, uh, thought you were somebody else. In the dark, you looked like… not like yourselves. I didn't recognize you."

"Yeah, I got that. Are you okay?" Slade asked. "Did I hurt you?"

Again, Rosa wasn't quick to answer and seemed to be assessing his body for any injuries. "I'm all right." He looked up at Slade while Marise picked up the lamp and the books. "But you're not. I can't remember, but did I do that to your face?"

Slade shook his head. "This is from something else."

"From your job at Maverick Ops," Rosa muttered, sounding exhausted, maybe a little in shock as well but also aware. "I've kept tabs on you, on all my men and women who were good officers. You and your brothers, Jericho and Nash, have done well working for Ruby Maverick."

"Thank you, sir," Slade said, and he went closer, stooping so he'd be eye level with the man. "She's a good boss. Like you."

The years had not been kind to the colonel. Or maybe this was from the stress of his confrontation. Then again, there had to be stress from the encounter he'd just had with Slade slamming him against the wall.

The colonel's coarse gray hair was standing up in tuffs, and deep wrinkles etched the corners of his eyes and mouth. He looked a good decade older than he was.

"Marise told me you had a visitor earlier," Slade threw out there.

Rosa looked at her but he didn't voice whatever it was that it appeared he'd been about to say. Instead, he shifted back to Slade. "Marise called you to come because of that man. That thug," he spat out.

Good. At least Rosa recalled the meeting. "Who was he?"

"Said he was Smith. A lie, probably. He threatened me," Rosa added, and his gaze drifted toward the window. "He was out there earlier in the parking lot. Just looking up at my window and grinning like some kind of demon straight from hell."

That sent Marise hurrying to the window, and thank merciful heaven, she didn't just throw back the curtains and stand in front of them to make herself an easy target. Instead, she peered out the edge of them.

"No one's out there now," Marise said, and then she stopped. "But a car just pulled into the parking lot."

That got Slade heading to the window as well, but before he reached it, he saw Marise's shoulders relax. "It's the colonel's wife, Stephanie." She checked her watch. "Though I have no idea why she's here at this hour."

"Maybe the duty nurse called her," Slade suggested.

"Possibly. Probably," she amended. "But she wouldn't have had time to get here this fast. She lives across town."

"I called her," Rosa said, causing Slade and Marise to turn back toward him. "I told her about Smith's visit, about him being in the parking lot. I wanted her to make sure the security system was turned on at home in case he tried to go there."

That was obviously some logical thinking, something Rosa hadn't been doing when Slade and Marise had stepped into the room minutes earlier.

Slade went back to the man and stooped down again. A movement that made his bruises and ribs protest, but he stayed in place. He needed to see Rosa's eyes when he asked his next questions.

"What did Smith want?" Slade pressed. "Why did he threaten you?"

The colonel ran his hand over his head, his fingers pressing hard into his scalp. "I don't know."

That was not the answer Slade wanted, and he was pretty sure it was a lie. "Is he connected to our time in the military together?" he asked, going with one of Marise's possibilities.

The colonel seemed to do a mental doubletake. "No, that thug was never in uniform."

Slade sighed when Rosa didn't add more. Sighed too when he heard the elevator. It was probably either the nurse or the wife, but just in case it was Smith, he stood upright, went to the door and positioned himself so he could draw his weapon if necessary.

"So, what did the thug say when he threatened you?" Slade went on while he watched the elevator. He thought Rosa might hesitate.

He didn't.

"Smith said he'd kill me if I told anybody," the colonel muttered.

"Told who? Tell what?" Marisa asked before Slade could.

Rosa shook his head again and groaned. "I don't know. I've, uh, been forgetting things."

Slade had no idea if that was the truth, but it was obvious the man was distressed over something. He didn't get a chance to fire out any more questions because the elevator door opened, and a tall, auburn-haired woman strolled into the room. The male nurse was right behind her.

"Vince," the woman said on a rise of breath.

She stopped a few feet away, and unlike Slade, she stayed upright, not stooping, while she peered down at Rosa. She definitely didn't pull him into her arms for a comforting hug and express any kind of concern.

"What happened here?" Mrs. Rosa asked. "And who are you?" She directed that at Slade.

"Slade and I served together," the colonel answered right away. "He came to visit me."

"This late?" There was plenty of disbelief in her voice, and she looked at Slade as if he were cow shit that she'd tracked in on those pricy shoes that she was wearing.

He'd never met the colonel's wife, but she didn't look as if she'd aged the way her husband had. And it was possible she was a lot younger than Rosa was. Slade would know that soon since Ruby would no doubt include the info in the background check that he had requested on Rosa.

"Nurse Barker here said there'd been some kind of incident," Stephanie went on, directing her comments to Marise now. "He said Vince needs to be taken to the hospital to be checked for some possible injuries. What happened?"

Again, it was Rosa who answered. "I had one of my, uh, episodes." He touched his temple and rubbed the throbbing pulse here. "Things got muddled up for a couple of seconds."

Stephanie huffed. "Is this about that man you thought you saw in the parking, the one you called me about?" She snapped back toward Marise. "He imagined seeing someone. He imagined it was a threat, and I wanted to come over here and set him straight."

Marise didn't huff, but Slade thought that's what she wanted to do. "He didn't imagine it. There was a man, and I believe he could indeed be a threat."

Stephanie dismissed that with a rather dramatic roll of her eyes. "No wonder Vince is confused if you're feeding his delusions. I put him here to get help, not to give him fuel for more episodes."

"I didn't feed or fuel anything," Marise insisted.

But Marise was talking to the woman's back because Stephanie had already turned away and was heading out into the hall. She motioned for Marise and Slade to follow her.

They did, and the moment they joined her, Stephanie shut the door to her husband's room and folded her arms over her chest in a defensive posture. She glared at them.

Yeah, Slade was so going to want that background check on her.

Of course, it wasn't a crime not to care squat about a spouse, and Slade didn't know their history together. Maybe Rosa was a shitty husband. But everything about the colonel's wife set his teeth on edge.

"Look, you were probably trying to help Vince," Stephanie started. "And I appreciate that." Her tone indicated there was no appreciation whatsoever. Only annoyance. "But he's delusional. That's why he's here. Did he tell you that he tried to choke me?" she added, volleying glances at both of them.

"He doesn't recall doing that," Marise replied.

Another roll of her eyes accompanied with a huff. "Well, I remember it, and I had the bruises to prove it. Vince is lucky that I didn't have him arrested instead of putting him here."

Slade didn't think it was his imagination that Marise was having to battle her own dislike for this woman. "Your husband suffers from Complex PTSD—"

"I know that," Stephanie snapped. "Don't lecture me about Vince. I know what he's capable of doing." She touched her throat as if to remind them of what she'd just said seconds earlier. "He's delusional. He imagines things. He can't distinguish reality from fantasy."

Slade latched right onto that. "Like the man he saw in the parking lot that you said wasn't there? The man that Marise also saw?"

Oh, if looks could kill, Stephanie would have hurled Slade straight into the afterlife. "He might have seen a man," she reluctantly admitted. "However, Vince had woven that into a fantasy about something he believes he witnessed. He didn't. It's all in his head."

"What does he believe he saw?" Marise asked.

"A murder," Stephanie flatly provided. "He didn't," she was quick to repeat.

"A murder?" Slade repeated. "Details, please."

Stephanie's expression went through the gambit of frustration and annoyance, but she did finally respond. "It was two weeks ago. He claims he saw a man being murdered in our house. He didn't," she repeated for the third time. "That's all the details I have because his story kept changing."

"Two weeks," Marise said. "That's the same time the colonel became a resident here."

"Yes," Stephanie verified in a snapping tone. "Because that's also the day he attacked me. He became enraged when I tried to tell him he hadn't seen anything, and he tried to kill me."

"Enraged over you questioning him, or did he have a PTSD episode?" Slade questioned.

"I don't know which, but Vince tried to kill me." Stephanie stopped, huffed again. "Look, I didn't want to put him here, but the alternative was having him locked up in a psychiatrist hospital. I know the founder, Sarah Eccleston. We're on several foundation committees together, and she agreed that Vince being admitted here was a good temporary solution." She looked at Marise. "Can he continue to stay, what with all these wild accusations he's making?"

"He can stay if he wants," Marise answered. "And the accusations aren't all wild. Are you sure you don't know the man calling himself Jack Smith who visited the colonel?"

"I'm sure," she insisted. "I told you that when you called earlier and asked about him. That's not my attorney's name. And as for why the man was here? I have no idea. I'm sure Vince has a lot of unsavory people from his past."

And, yeah, she went there by sliding another quick glance at Slade to let him know he fit into the unsavory category. As far as he was concerned, Stephanie was in the category right along with him. The difference was he cared about what happened to the colonel. He didn't think his wife did.

Why?

Slade really wanted to find the answer to that, and he stepped to the side to send a text to Ruby to emphasize he badly needed a background check on the woman. He also added the part about the colonel maybe having witnessed a murder.

Stephanie shot him another of those "shit on the shoes" looks before she muttered a terse goodbye and headed for the elevator.

"Wow, all that empathy for her husband," Marise muttered, the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"I'm right there with you on that. Is it possible she drugged the colonel?" Slade asked. "Drugged him to obscure his actual memories or to trigger a Complex PTSD episode like the one he had tonight?"

She stayed quiet a moment, obviously considering that. "She couldn't done it tonight because she hadn't been here in days."

"Could Smith have done it?" he pressed.

"Maybe," she admitted. "There was a glass of water sitting on the table when the nurse called me up, and Rosa downed it after Smith left. I suppose Smith could have slipped something into it. I can have the glass tested," Marise added.

Part of him wanted to bag it and use Maverick Ops' lab to do the test. But if Rosa had been drugged, then the glass needed to be taken into evidence by the police.

"Text the detective who came here and have him collect it," Slade advised. Though they were likely looking at weeks before they'd know for certain. "What about the initial episode that landed him here? Could Stephanie have drugged him to trigger that?"

"Again, I'll have to go with a maybe. He had a physical on admission, and if there'd been anything in his blood, it would have popped." Marise paused. "Well, many drugs would have shown up anyway. It's possible the dutiful wife could have used something like LSD. That only shows on bloodwork for six to twelve hours, and it could have been administered orally in a drink or some food. She couldn't have given him a drug intravenously since the clients are checked for needle marks during the admissions physical."

"Six to twelve hours," he repeated. "How long was the colonel admitted here after the episode where the wife says he tried to kill her?"

"Nearly eighteen hours," Marise replied, and her expression said it all. She was as suspicious of Stephanie Rosa as he was.

Slade glanced at the door to the colonel's room. "I'm guessing tonight won't be a good time to question him about what he witnessed?"

"No, not a good time. The ambulance will be here soon to transport him to the hospital. I can request more thorough blood tox tests be done in case something is still lingering around."

"Do that." Though the odds were high that nothing would show after all this time.

Marise was right about the ambulance. He could already hear the approaching sirens.

"I find it odd that Stephanie would come across town and then spend less than two minutes with her husband," Marise added a moment later. She motioned for him to follow her to the elevator, no doubt so she could be downstairs to meet the EMTs.

Yeah, that was odd. Then again, nearly everything about the woman fit into that category. "It was as if she came here to say or do something and then changed her mind when she saw me."

Before he could add more, his phone dinged with a text just as they reached the bottom floor.

"It's from Ruby," he relayed. He thought maybe it would be a preliminary report on Stephanie. But it wasn't. "It's from the lab. They've already managed to enhance the photo of our rat-killing asshole."

Marise moved closer, peering at the picture as Slade zoomed in on the guy's face. She didn't have much of a reaction.

But Slade sure as hell did.

"Shit," Slade spat out. "I know him."

Marise snapped toward him so fast that her neck popped. "You do? Who he is?"

Slade did a whole of cursing before he answered. "That's Sonny McKenna. And he's my father."

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