Chapter Six

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The nightmares were chasing her. Coming at her nonstop. Images she so wanted to shut out. Of broken bodies. Of blood.

Of death.

Marise fought to make the images all go away. She fought and ran with her heart thundering and her breath gusting. And tried to shut out the sound. The gunfire, the moans of pain. The shouts for help.

Fighting the images and the sound didn't do any good. They just kept coming at her.

Until she felt the warm mouth on hers.

Uh.

That wasn't part of the nightmare. That was an interesting sensation that felt real. And it was. She realized that as soon as she forced her eyes open.

She made a startled sound of surprise when she saw the eyes staring right back at her. Slade. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning over her. His mouth was so close to hers that she could smell the coffee on his breath.

"You kissed me," she said. Not a protest. Not even close. It was practically an invitation for him to kiss her again.

He didn't. Without taking his gaze off her, he pulled back. "Bad dream," he said, and it wasn't a question.

She nodded, and shoving her hair out of face, Marise sat up and glanced around. She was in the guestroom at Slade's house. A house with an amazing view since the wall of windows overlooked the lake.

"It's morning," she muttered, and Marise winced when she glanced at the time. Nearly eight AM. "You should have woken me sooner. No, I should have set an alarm to check on you since you might have a concussion."

"No concussion," he assured her. "And you needed the sleep."

She couldn't deny that. After they'd dealt with giving their statements to the cops and Slade had filled Ruby in about the shooting, it'd been nearly two in the morning. Slade and she had come to the house, and she'd practically fallen face-first into bed where she hadn't expected to get much sleep.

Obviously, she had been wrong about that.

Sleep had happened. For her anyway. She wasn't so sure it had for Slade. He looked tired.

And amazing.

Then again, the amazing part was his default. He always looked good. But that was the first time he'd woken her up like that.

"You kissed me," she repeated.

"I did. It was my own makeup version of a grounding technique."

Well, it sort of fit the definition since a grounding technique was something to help focus on the current environment and feelings instead of the flashbacks. The kiss had done that.

But it was also playing with fire.

Marise cursed herself when she wanted more of that fire. More of his kisses. Definitely not the time for that, especially since they had so much going on.

"Updates on Sonny, Rosa… and any and everything else," she said, getting out of the bed.

He nodded and stood. "I've got some new info. Meet me in the kitchen," he added before he strolled out, giving her an amazing view of the way his jeans fit his equally amazing backside.

She was still wearing her scrubs so she grabbed her bag and went into the bathroom for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Jeans and a top. Then, Marise headed to the kitchen where she knew there'd be a pot of coffee. Not the shortcut, single-serve type either. A brewed pot of something that would be delicious and calm her throbbing head.

A trek through Slade's house was always an experience. A very techie place with modern décor to go along with it. Definitely no bachelor pad vibe here, but there were vibes of his late mother.

Slade had positioned photos of her in silver frames on a table in the hall, and often her favorite songs were playing on the speakers. Speakers that Marise had never been able to spot anywhere on the ceilings or walls. Along with tech and modern, Slade kept things sleek and uncluttered.

Marise made her way into the open floorplan living, dining, and kitchen where the techie stuff was evident pretty much everywhere. Slim monitors on the walls that she knew could be used to display reports, photos and such, along with the having the capability to do video calls.

Spock, the AI program, ruled the roost here and could be summoned with the mention of his name. A name that was another homage to his mother since Slade had told her it was his mom's favorite TV character.

Slade must have understood her need for caffeine because he had a big mug of the brew waiting for her. It was strong, black, and perfect. She had a few much needed gulps, and Slade slid a plate with a cinnamon bagel her way. It was another of her favorites. The man certainly knew how to please.

"Before we get started, how are your injuries?" she asked. "Let me check those stitches."

"The stitches are fine. Sit, eat, and then we'll go to the hospital to talk to the colonel."

She certainly hadn't forgotten about him, and speaking to him suddenly seemed urgent. Rosa might be the key to them understanding why Sonny had tried to kill them.

"Why don't I eat and drink while you drive?" she suggested. "That would speed up things."

Slade shrugged, transferred their coffees into travel mugs and motioned for her to follow him. But then she stopped when she remembered something.

"Wait, your van was shot up," she blurted.

"I have other vehicles. Not the Harley," Slade assured her. "I don't want you out in the open like that. We'll take my SUV." She was about to say she hadn't seen it in his garage, but he added, "Ruby had it delivered here about an hour ago."

"Thank heaven for Ruby," she muttered. "And for your fleet of vehicles. Too bad though we can't do the Harley." She'd ridden with him on it several times, and it was exhilarating.

"Did the cops find your father?" she asked as they made their way to the garage and got into a sleek silver SUV.

He shook his head. "And let's not call him that. Instead, we'll call him Sonny, or the dipshit or any other unflattering term that comes to mind."

"That works for me," Marise said. She put her coffee in the cup holder and ate some of the bagel while Slade continued.

"I pulled up some background info on the dipshit. Since he left the Stronghold compound, he's worked for various loan sharks and other seedy characters. He's sixty-two, but he still gets jobs where muscle or no conscience is required." Slade paused, and his jaw tensed. "I want to make him pay for a lot of things. Terrorizing you and the colonel. And for murdering my mother."

"And I want to make him pay for what he did to you, so we're of a like mind on this," she added. Then, Marise threw out something she'd considered while giving her statement to the cops. "You think someone hired the dipshit to come after Rosa and us?"

"Either that, or the dipshit's connected to Stephanie and/or her missing lover," Slade readily answered, which meant he'd given this some thought, too.

Yes, the attack could indeed be linked with that. Sonny might have originally planned on Slade and her being targets. Maybe he'd only had Rosa in his sights. But once Sonny had seen Slade or realized she was friends with Slade, he might have decided to try to dole out some punishment.

Except…

"How would Sonny have known we'd be coming here to the lake?" she threw out there. "You have two places nearby, or we could have gone to my house. Or even to a hotel. And he couldn't have followed us here because he was already in place behind the sign."

Slade glanced at her while they drove through the gates of the neighborhood, and Marise tried not to think of what had gone on here the night before. She succeeded in shoving it to the back of her mind because Slade spoke, and the sound of his voice anchored her to the present.

"I mentioned coming here to the lake house while we were in your office," he explained while he continued to keep watch around them. He was no doubt recalling the attack, too.

And that another one could happen.

Not exactly a comforting thought.

Instead of dwelling on that possibility, she forced her attention on Slade's comment. Yes, he had indeed said that he wanted to go to his lake house. "But no one was around to hear it…"

Marise stopped when she saw the look in Slade's eyes. A look that told her she was not going to like what she was about to hear.

"About three hours ago, Ruby had one of her tech specialists do a scan of your office from outside the building. That way, I didn't have to wake you up to get the keys or access codes. Also, if the tech had asked the on-duty nurse to get him inside the facility, you would have been called."

All of that was true, but for something this important, she wished he'd awoken her. "What did the tech find?"

"A listening device attached to the side of your nameplate on your door."

Marise sat in stunned silence for a couple of seconds. "Who and how—" she started, but then she just stopped. "Sonny. After I confronted him, he stormed out the colonel's room, and I stayed there for a couple minutes, just to make sure Rosa was all right. You think…"

But again she stopped because at that moment she could only think of one person who'd plant a listening device.

"The dipshit did this," she muttered.

"Probably, but it's also possible that Stephanie put it there," Slade suggested.

Her mind shifted to that possibility. Yes. That could have happened. Well, it could have if Stephanie did indeed have something to hide, such as covering up the murder of her lover.

"Ruby's alerted SAPD and they'll retrieve the listening device," Slade went on. "That way, there's no issue of the chain of custody in case it's needed as evidence in a trial."

Trial. That one word drilled home the complexity of this. A dipshit thug trying to kill them. A missing man. A bug in her office. And a whole lot of unanswered questions.

Along with a huge concern that she had to run past Slade. It wasn't something she wanted to be true, but they had to at least consider it.

"Do you think it's possible the colonel killed his wife's lover, and he's faking the PTSD episodes?" she asked. "Maybe a way to cover his guilt?"

"Maybe." He answered so quickly that she figured he'd been giving that some thought as well. "But I can't see Stephanie covering for him. Unless she's putting on an act, too." Slade glanced at her. "I'm guessing you met Stephanie before last night? Was she doing the ice queen thing then?"

"Pretty much," Marise said after she recalled the previous meetings. "During the first meeting though, she seemed shaken about Rosa having attacked her. Or at least she was pretending to be shaken anyway. Stephanie's second visit was three days later, and she brought the colonel some personal things he'd requested. A laptop and phone charger. I don't think she actually went up to see Rosa."

At the time, Marise had believed that was simply because the woman was still shaken from the attack. Now, she had to wonder if it was because Stephanie despised her husband enough to put him in the facility and hope that no one would believe what he said he'd witnessed.

"Stephanie could have bugged your office the day she brought those things," Slade remarked.

She could have indeed done that, and Marise was about to mutter her agreement when an incoming call flashed on the dash monitor.

It was from Ruby.

Slade took the call right away and said, "Ruby, you're on speaker, and Marise is listening in. We're on the way to the hospital."

"Good. Because there's a problem."

Slade and Marise groaned in unison. "What's wrong?" Slade asked.

"It's Colonel Rosa," Ruby let them know. "He's missing."

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