she managed a wan smile, there was a telltale glistening of unshed tears pooling in her hazel eyes. “Until my brother escaped and came here, I’d planned to make Texas my permanent home, even after I retired. Now who knows?”
Something inside him urged Linc to open his arms to her and she stepped into his embrace as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It never occurred to him to try to hide their closeness, nor was he embarrassed by it. She needed comforting that he needed to provide. It was that simple. And that complicated.
Closing his eyes, Linc rested his chin on the top of her head and felt her flyaway hair tickling his nose. Thoughts raced through his mind. How could he fix this for her? How could he make it right and continue to protect her? Suppose he was reassigned? Then what?
With great effort, Linc managed to set her away. Grasping her shoulders, he spoke quietly, privately. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. It’s inappropriate.”
Zoe sniffled. “Maybe. But it sure felt good.”
That was the crux of the problem. “What I mean is, if word gets back to headquarters that you and I are getting too friendly, there’s a good chance I may be relieved of this duty.”
Remembering what his master sergeant had suggested gave him some solace, but Linc doubted Sergeant James had meant for him to go this far. Nor had he intended to. Genuine fondness for Zoe had grown so easily it had blindsided him.
She took a step away. Then another. “I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered. “Just tell me how to act and I’ll be glad to comply.” A tiny smile quirked at one corner of her mouth. “Under most circumstances.”
Linc stood tall, almost at attention. “As soon as Star is released for duty, I think things will smooth out for us. If you need comforting, then you can get it from her.”
“I thought Captain Roark said she’d bite my nose off.”
“That may be a slight exaggeration. As long as I tell her it’s okay, she’ll be fine, same as she was with Freddy.”
Sobering and staring off into the distance as if visualizing her darling little boy, Zoe said, “It’s him I’m most worried about.”
“I thought you believed God was taking care of everything.”
“I did, and I do. But I also believe He expects us to use the wits and weapons He’s provided for us. Just because I know how to fly doesn’t mean I’d carelessly go up without a parachute. That would be reckless.”
“What about when you’re on the ground?” Linc asked, eager for her answer.
He never expected her to look him straight in the eye and say, “When I’m down here, you’re my parachute, Sergeant Colson. You and Star. I don’t want to go anywhere without you until we figure out who is trying to destroy me.”
The food at Carmen’s was pleasing as usual, and so was the ambience. Linc reported their location and plans, then settled back to enjoy his meal.
She called me her parachute. He couldn’t get that image out of his mind. A parachute slowed a jumper’s descent, settled him gently on the ground and could be used again and again. But there was more to it than that, wasn’t there? Zoe was counting on him to be her safety net, her ever-present, reliable guarantee that when all this was over, she’d survive the same way a parachute kept a jumper alive. Did she realize that the person in the harness had to know when to deploy an emergency chute? How to tuck and roll when making a hard landing? What to do if coming down in enemy territory?
Linc doubted she had made that detailed a comparison when she’d complimented him. That was just as well. As much as he wanted to be everything she needed, he knew that was impossible. So when had the pretty sergeant gone from being an assignment to something more? The change was in his outlook. In the way he perceived both her and their companionship. What had once been a job was now more than a pleasure, more than his duty. It was as if their lives had been joined by circumstances with the glue of compassion, perhaps even budding love.
Love? Linc looked across the table at her and found her studying him, as well. Hoping to seem nonchalant, he smiled and gestured with his fork. “Pretty good, huh? I love their lasagna.”
Zoe mirrored his smile, but there was a poignancy in her eyes that made them glisten. Seconds later, she dropped her gaze to her plate and simply said, “Yes.”
“Captain Roark says I may be able to take Star home with me tonight. Tomorrow at the latest.”
“Good.”
“Sergeant James is going to assign one of our female Security Forces members to your watch tonight. If I were you, I’d invite her in and let her crash on the couch. Her dog will alert if anybody approaches.”
“Okay.”
One-word answers were unlike Zoe, and her mental state had him worried. “Look. I know you say you’re fine, but I’m not sure that’s completely true. Talk to me. Tell me what’s bothering you. I really do want to help.”
She laid aside her fork and blotted her lips with a napkin before answering. “I know that. I just feel overwhelmed. So much has happened lately, and we have so few clues. It’s as though I’m stuck in a flat spin at ten thousand feet and can’t pull my aircraft out of it before I crash.”
“You won’t crash.”
“How do you know? How can anybody be sure?”
Linc sighed. “Well, for one thing, we’ve got reports that your brother has been seen—”
“Stop.” Teary-eyed, she held up a hand, palm toward him. “Stop calling him my brother, okay?”
“What should I call him?”
“I don’t care. Call him Boyd or the Red Rose Killer or abbreviate it to RRK the way I’ve heard other law enforcement officers do. Just stop reminding me we’re related. Please.”
“All right. I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”
“Normally, it isn’t.” She sniffed and touched her napkin to her cheek where tears had begun to dampen it. “It’s everything together. The attacks on me, the shooting I saw that left no trace, the—” Her eyes widened. “That’s it! That’s our answer.”
“What is?”
“Fake blood. Like in my apartment. Your CSIs were using a blue light to look for the real thing in that warehouse bay. Nobody thought to check it for what that stuff in my apartment was made of.”
“Whoa.” Linc sat back in his chair. “You’re right. I don’t suppose there are traces of it left by now, even if there were drops in the first place, but I’ll mention it to Captain Blackwood. Matter of fact, I’ll do it right now. Wait here.”
Zoe started to rise when he pulled out his cell and started for the door, so Linc repeated, “Wait here for me. I’ll be right outside where I can see you.”
He
