squeezed his wrist. “Really though. I probably wouldn’t be sitting here if you hadn’t been there.”
He nodded, staring out the front window, his face quickly shuttered.
“Will you be in the office tomorrow?”
“Meeting in the conference room at 0600 to nail down our strategy. Gonna do a little research tonight.”
“Research?” Her heart thudded. “Marco, you’re not going to go track down any gang members, are you?”
“Just some initial recon.”
She realized suddenly that her decision to testify had put them all in danger. Under her fingertips his pulse was sure and steady. He was not letting fear take hold and neither would she. “Please be careful.”
“I am always careful. You, however, are not. Don’t go anywhere by yourself. Brent will take you and JeanBeth to the office tomorrow. Bring Tracy.”
She gave him a sassy salute. “Yes, sir.”
“Sorry. I meant to put a ‘please’ in there somewhere.”
“I know, but that doesn’t come easy because you’re naturally bossy.”
He nodded. “Yeah, so you’ve told me.”
“Still...don’t put yourself in danger, okay?”
He answered with a silent nod, waiting until she went inside before he drove away. Watching from the window, she whispered a prayer for Marco and went to find her daughter.
* * *
The next morning at 6:00 a.m., Marco carried a sleeping Tracy from Brent’s truck and laid her gently on the couch in the reception area, where Candace tucked her in. It got to him, looking at Tracy’s delicate freckled profile, watching Candace stroke her fine blond hair. So small and innocent. The idea that someone, anyone, could possibly attempt to rob Tracy of her mother nearly sent him over the edge.
“Morning.” Baxter, the sixtysomething custodian with the graying fringe circling his bald pate, tiptoed out with a bag of trash. The bag was so full that Marco stepped up to help him with the load.
“I got it,” Baxter whispered, to avoid disturbing Tracy. “Have to earn my keep.”
“You do, Baxter, every day,” Candace said.
Marco agreed. Though he’d been there only a few months, Baxter was the best custodian the building had ever had. Score one for the mature guy, Marco thought. Plus he had been known to bring in detective books for Tracy that he’d read to his nephew a decade before, and that got him extra points in Marco’s estimation.
“Early meeting usually means trouble,” Baxter said, raising a grizzled eyebrow.
“Nothing we can’t handle,” Marco said.
Baxter gave him a cocky salute as he headed for the door. “I believe that.”
Marco and Candace crept out of the reception area and joined the others.
Marco looked at the group seated around the Pacific Coast Investigations conference table—dark-haired Brent, with his arm around Donna, Angela without the company of her fiancé, Dr. Dan, and the sisters’ mother, JeanBeth. The only sister missing was Sarah, who was currently honeymooning in Hawaii with her new husband, Jett. All of them had resisted filling the newly married couple in on the situation. They were entitled to some uninterrupted joy, having recently survived being abducted and held on an island for nearly a week. Sarah would throw a monster fit at being left out of the loop when she returned, but that wasn’t a problem for today.
Marco cleared his throat. “Met with a couple of guys. They told me where I might be able to find Jay Rico. He’s the big boss of the Pack. We have to get to him to stop the threats against Candace.”
Candace gasped. “Oh, no. That’s a bad idea, a very, very bad idea.”
“Gonna take me a while to confirm,” Marco went on. “In the meantime...”
“We do a complete investigation into anything and everything having to do with Jay Rico and his Pack,” Donna finished.
“Right,” Marco said. “Their members, their arrest records, their funding sources, everything.”
Brent nodded. “I have a buddy in Homeland Security. He owes me a favor.”
“Call it in,” Marco said.
“Yes, sir.” Brent pressed a kiss on Donna’s temple before he rose.
“Isn’t anyone hearing this?” Candace said. “Marco, you are not going to search out Jay Rico. Let us investigate and do our jobs. It won’t accomplish anything to go after him.”
“He’s the lead hostile. Need to go serve him notice.”
“No, you don’t,” she said, eyes flashing. “I’m not going to have you getting killed.”
The fire in her tone made his heart thud harder. She didn’t get it. He would risk anything, take on anyone, to keep her and Tracy from harm. These people—these women around his table and the child sleeping in the next room—gave him a purpose. They were his life and nothing mattered more to him than they did.
“Not going to get killed. Not by a two-bit gangster like Rico.”
All of a sudden, her expression changed, and he thought he saw her lips tremble. He wanted to pull her close. The urge was not in keeping with his resolve. It’s a mission, like any other. But Candace was not a woman like any other. Even though he loved all the Gallagher family, Candace occupied a different part of his soul, though he didn’t like to think about it. He drank a gulp of water to cover his confusion and stowed the feelings away in that deep-down place where he put all the other uncomfortable things in his life.
There was a soft knock at the door.
Marco opened it to a skinny man with long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, an affable smile on his face. He bobbed his chin by way of a greeting.
“This is Lon,” Marco said. “He’s going to keep watch on JeanBeth’s place.” Marco quickly introduced the group, ignoring the surprised looks.
JeanBeth, the consummate military wife, rose without batting an eye and offered Lon a seat, which he politely declined, and a glass of water, which he also refused.
Candace was not as serene. She wasn’t a fan of surprises, Marco had come to learn, and this one would be hard for her to swallow. “It’s nice to meet you, Lon, but Marco, would you mind explaining?”
“Lon and I served together.”
Marco felt it was an adequate explanation. Candace did not, from the crimp in her full lips. Her mahogany eyes flashed in that way that made his stomach muscles tighten.
“So now you’ve gone ahead and arranged for soldiers to guard my mom’s house?”
“Lon’s on medical leave
