to the ground behind a van. The next thing she knew Brad had protectively covered her body with his.
A few seconds later, Brad stood up. He raked his gaze efficiently across the scene, taking everything in.
Tara struggled to her feet and started toward the charred mangle of metal that just seconds earlier had been her brand-new car. Waves of fear washed through her, something nearly akin to stark terror. Her body shook uncontrollably. Her legs turned wobbly. She tried to run but was brought up short when someone grabbed her arm and held it in a strong grip.
“Stay put!” Brad’s no-nonsense voice barked out an order as he took control of the situation. “Don’t you dare move from this spot.”
“Let go of me!” She tried to jerk her arm free. Her heart pounded in her chest. She heard the blood rushing in her ears along with the echoing sound of the explosion playing over and over in her head. She had to do something even though she wasn’t sure what. She started toward her car, but was again brought to an abrupt halt when Brad took hold of her arm.
“I told you to stay here!” He left her no room for argument.
“But…” She heard the quaver in her voice, the uncertainty that matched the panic building inside her.
“No buts! There’s nothing you can do over there.”
“My car—”
“Your car is history. There’s nothing over there except twisted metal.” The hard edge to his voice softened a bit. “There’s nothing there that you need to see.”
She went numb inside as she fought off the need to run in the opposite direction as fast and as far as she could. Everything Brad told her about the danger had come back to hit her in the face. She felt light-headed. Her knees started to buckle.
“Tara…Tara, answer me. Are you all right?”
“I…yes, I’m okay.”
He held on to her, providing support while keeping her from walking off. A crowd gathered, any one of whom might have been the person who had planted the bomb. Brad scanned the faces, but no one jumped out at him as being suspicious or familiar. One thing was crystal clear. Someone had followed Tara, watched her park and go into the restaurant. There was no way anyone could have known she would be going there since it was a decision that had only been made moments before she left the parking lot at work.
And whoever saw her had most likely seen the two of them talking before that. Perhaps it was the presence of a deputy marshal that pushed the killer to abandon the use of accidental means and go the more direct route. But that only prompted another question. How would the perpetrator know he was a deputy marshal, since he wasn’t connected with the original case? If that was what had happened.
Then another thought occurred to him, one he didn’t like. What did he really know about Tara Ford? Out of the six witnesses at the John Vincent trial she was the only one who still lived in the Seattle area and, therefore, the easiest to locate. Yet she was the only one still alive. All the other murders had been very clever, but the attempt on her life had been clumsy and had failed. The perpetrator had made no attempt to have it appear to be an accident.
Could his having shown up and saying she was in danger have alerted her that someone was suspicious of the accidental deaths? Could she have rigged this herself to throw him off track? Maybe she had stopped to call someone while en route. It would explain her arriving at the restaurant several minutes later than he had when they’d both started out at the same time. If that was the case, then she must have a motive for the murders, and on the surface he didn’t see what that motive would be. But one thing experience had taught him was not to ignore small details and not to dismiss seemingly insignificant events too quickly.
A quick jolt of irritation told him how distasteful he found his line of speculation. His assessment of her character said she was far too straightforward to be involved in that type of subterfuge. Was he merely grasping at straws in an attempt to put some much-needed logic to a confusing problem? Was he allowing a beautiful, enticing woman with a sultry voice to cloud his reasoning?
His thoughts drifted in another direction, this one a painful memory more than anything else. He had been with the Marshals Service for a year. Then one day while he was involved in a high-profile fugitive hunt someone planted a bomb in his car. The bomb had missed its target. Rather than him being killed, the victim had been his wife of six months.
He had carried the guilt of his wife’s death with him ever since then, a guilt that came rushing back at him the moment Tara’s car exploded. Here was another woman who had been put in danger with a car bomb. Was it because of him? If his original theory was correct, Tara was next on the list of victims, and if they hadn’t tried a car bomb it would have been something else. He hadn’t been able to keep his wife safe from danger and it had left a gaping wound that refused to heal even though he had closed off his heart to the possibility of any future relationship.
He saw the confusion and fear on Tara’s face. It worked itself inside him until it touched a place of vulnerability buried so deep he had forgotten it even existed. She was so tempting, so enticing. She stirred a very primal desire in him. It had been a long time since he had been this instantly attracted to any woman. He had failed to protect his wife, but he would do his best to protect Tara Ford.
It took the sound of the approaching sirens to banish the ghosts of the past. He turned to Tara, his words emphatic as he exercised total authority. “I’ll handle this. Respond directly to the questions you’re asked with the shortest answers possible. Don’t volunteer any information. Follow my lead.”
He put his arm around her shoulder and guided her toward the arriving police car. He felt the tension running through her body. “Everything is going to be okay, just stay with me.”
Brad’s mind raced ahead to what he should say to the police. Identify himself as a deputy U.S. marshal and say she was under the marshals’ protection and cut the local police out of the loop? That would officially throw the whole mess back into the lap of the Marshals Service and put his activities out in the open before he was ready to disclose that he was still working on his theory. Or maybe he should play ignorant of any and all reasons why the explosion had happened. Perhaps he should pretend that a freak malfunction, rather than a car bomb had caused the gas tank to explode. Whichever way he decided to go, he needed to make a decision and do it fast.
He watched two policemen climb out of the car, the older one going toward the fire engine at Tara’s car and the younger one heading toward the restaurant. The young policeman looked as if he couldn’t have been on the force very long, possibly still on probation from the police academy. He most likely didn’t have any experience dealing with federal cases and interfacing with federal agencies. Brad decided that discretion would be the best avenue for the time being.
He approached the young officer. “My name is Don McMillan and this is my fiancée, Tara Ford. It was Miss Ford’s car that just burst into flames.” He used a phony name for which he had identification. Hopefully the inexperienced officer wouldn’t think to take down the number on his car license tag. He purposely avoided using the word exploded, not wanting to put any ideas into the officer’s head.
The policeman took out his notebook and began writing. He paused to glance at Tara’s left hand, then directed his attention to Brad. “Your fiancée? I don’t see any kind of ring.”
He bristled at the officer’s implication, in spite of the fact that the man was correct in his observation and more astute than Brad had given him credit for. “That’s because I just asked Miss Ford to marry me while we were having dinner in the
