Buy flowers. Pick up Christie from ballet. E-mail the report to Ms. Franklin. What was she forgetting? Oh yeah, hit the mall, so she could get some of Lesley’s favorite bath bombs and the cashmere blanket, how could she have forgotten?

“Excited much?” she asked herself.

Marcia admitted she was both excited and scared. This was the third time Lesley had been in rehab, and she was praying the third time was the charm. It did seem different, for one it was longer, and two, Lesley had already worked out a plan for aftercare which she had never done before.

She’d even called Marcia and told her to get rid of all the sweets in the house. That was the reason she hadn’t baked a cake. Please God, please God, please God say this time it was going to be different. Thinking about Lesley’s aftercare reminded Marcia she needed to prod Mr. B. to call Debbie’s psychologist. She really thought they might need to up the appointments from one to two a week. Borneo still had its grips on the young girl.

Marcia pulled into the mall parking garage and couldn’t find one single spot until she reached the top level which is where she parked her little Honda. An hour. You need to be at ballet in an hour, so get your ass in gear. She practically ran to the entrance. She wanted to get things done in forty-five minutes, so she could call back Zed and find out exactly when his plane was going to land in three days.

Shopping was a blur. She was just happy she wasn’t snarky to the lady in front of her at the beauty and bath store who insisted on telling the clerk her life story when making a five-dollar purchase. She was still thinking about that when she scooted past the white van parked perpendicular to her car.

“Marcia?”

Her blood ran cold. She looked up and saw Raymond’s arm reaching out toward her as another man started to open up the side door of the van. How did he know her real name?

“Rape!” she screamed at the top of her lungs and started running.

She didn’t see anyone, not one single person. Her head swung wildly. Stairs? Elevator? Ramp? Definitely ramp.

“Rape!” she kept screaming and running.

Marcia saw stars when she hit the pavement. A big body was on top of her. Then she felt a hand covering her mouth, her nose. She couldn’t breathe. She shook her head back and forth, trying to work the hand loose. When it moved, she took a bite.

“Motherfucker!”

He slammed her head into the pavement.

“I’ve called the police,” a woman yelled.

Marcia felt herself hauled up off the ground. Raymond was going to take her. Over her dead body. She struggled like mad, clawing, kicking, she turned her head to bite.

“I’ve got a gun, if you don’t let her go, I’ll shoot,” the woman sounded resolute.

She heard a shot, then another.

A muffled scream, then the sound of tires squealing and getting closer.

“Don’t think you’re getting away, Girly.” Marcia saw the van beside her. Oh God, Raymond was trying to push her in. She grabbed the side. No, she wasn’t going. She wasn’t. Her face met cement.

Was that a siren?

* * *

He was getting pretty damn sick of seeing her face bruised and scraped. Marcia looked so damn tiny in the hospital bed.

“I don’t think we’ve met before,” the older man said as he got up out of the reclining chair in the corner of the hospital room.

“Zed Zaragoza,” he said as he held out his hand.

The man nodded. “Harold Brockman. I haven’t heard enough about you, Master Chief.”

“Something tells me, you’ve read a lot about me though.”

“You’d be right.” He set down the book he’d been reading.

“How is Marcia doing?” Zed asked. “I came as soon as I heard.”

“About that, how did you hear?”

“Kane McNamara, he’s a member of Night Storm, his specialty is―”

“I know what his specialty is,” Brockman interrupted. “My department tried to recruit him a couple of years ago. So, you had him watching Marcia, did you? Did you think Raymond would come after her? And if you did why in the hell didn’t you give me a heads up?” his tone turned to ice.

“I didn’t think Raymond would come after her, Sir. If I did, you can be damn sure I would have had ensured she was protected,” Zed said with calm authority. “I expect you and I are going to be kicking ourselves for years we didn’t see this coming.” Zed noted Brockman’s flinch.

“Yes, I will,” he agreed. “That still doesn’t tell me why you had her under surveillance.”

“Not under surveillance. Just had her flagged so if anything came up, I would be notified. As soon as the police report came in, I had a copy and was making my flight arrangements.”

“I heard something about her dance card being full?” Brockman gave a half smile.

“I’m taking her back to San Diego with me as soon as she’s discharged from the hospital.”

The man’s smile disappeared. “You are not.”

“Yes, I am. You don’t want to put your family at risk.”

“Marcia is part of my family,” Brockman said tightly.

“Look, I’m not trying to be an ass about this, but you live with two minors, and Marcia’s been damned worried about Lesley coming home. It doesn’t sound like she’s in any shape to take on the stress of having twenty-four/seven guards.”

“Even if Marcia goes with you, my family is still going to have round-the-clock protection.”

Zed rubbed his neck and rolled his stiff right shoulder. “Sir―”

“Call me Harold.”

Zed nodded. “Harold, we need to get to the bottom of why Raymond still wants someone close to you. Is it money? Is it to blackmail you for information? What? But whatever it is, I think we can both agree on one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Marcia bested him in Borneo. You read his file. He hates women. Marcia is now his target to get to whatever he wants. Now, Harold, what does he want?”

“It’s not him, it’s Jefferies,” Brockman sighed. “He used to work with me at the NSA. He was on assignment in Beirut and supposedly died in a car bomb. When Marcia said Raymond mentioned him, we knew we were in trouble.”

“So, Raymond has focused on Marcia to get to you because he’s a sociopath, and he’s the conduit Jefferies has employed. That still doesn’t tell me what Jefferies wants.”

“The projects we worked together on are complete. He shouldn’t know about the things I’m doing now I’ve retired.”

Zed gave a grim laugh. Even though there were plenty of things that should be above his pay grade, it didn’t mean he wasn’t able to piece together what was going on, and he was a grunt compared to Jefferies.

Brockman flushed. “I know,” he said. “Unfortunately, nothing is sacrosanct. When it was just Raymond and some of the others, I thought it was revenge for the screw-up with the Saudi palace, but as soon as Jefferies was mentioned, I realized it has to be the Malaysian cult or the fissionable material.”

“What’s your best guess?”

“I have my men looking into it.”

Zed stared at him, then finally nodded. He didn’t tell him, but he was still going to have Dex and Kane work on it as well.

“So, it’s agreed, Marcia is coming with me.”

“Son, nothing was agreed,” Brockman protested.

Again, Zed stared at him. Brockman gave it one last shot. “You could be deployed.”

“You forget, I’m still recovering. I won’t be mission ready for another five weeks. I’m doing PT at this point. Her little butt is going to be glued to a chair next to me.”

“She’s not going to go for it.”

“How do you plan to keep her here, guilt?”

Brockman’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by that?”

“If Marcia thinks she’s needed, you can manipulate her to do anything even if it isn’t in her own best interests. Has living with you for the last two years been the right thing for her?”

In the last four weeks, Zed had talked to Marcia on the phone ten times. He’d gotten a pretty good idea of what made her tick, and her heart often overwhelmed her own self-interests.

“You have no idea the blow that little bastard Rick Parsons was on her self-esteem, she needed a safe spot to land,” Brockman said defensively.

“Really? Seems to me, she went from the frying pan into the fire. I understand her being there for your family after your wife died was the right thing, but two years?” Zed raised his eyebrow.

Brockman’s face turned red. Then he walked over to where Marcia rested and looked at her for long moments. He came back to face Zed.

“She makes it so easy. My God, there’s nobody like her. I was a mess after Margaret died, and then Lesley turning to opioids, then to heroin. You can’t imagine.” Zed flinched at the man’s words. “Christie and Debbie soaked in Marcia’s love when I just wasn’t emotionally available. I didn’t see how selfish I was.”

Zed put his hand on Brockman’s shoulder and squeezed.

“I’m going to make this right.” Zed’s eyes twinkled, and Brockman saw it.

“What are you looking so smug about?”

“I had a bet with myself, and I now get to buy a new snowboard.”

“You knew I was going to rectify things with Marcia? How?”

“I’ve read your books. The man who wrote The Road To Peace couldn’t help but try to do the right thing.” Zed looked over his shoulder at Marcia and smiled softly. “She’s not going to go willingly, and I would hate for your role as her surrogate father to suffer.”

“Zed, this is my mess, I’ll straighten it out. I’m more than capable of taking it on the chin.” Zed didn’t think the man was aware he was rubbing his chin as he said it.

“Yeah, but you trying to convince her won’t be expedient. It will take too much time.” Zed thought through various scenarios, discarding many until a plan began to coalesce. “I’m just going to take her.”

“How do you plan to get an unwilling woman on a plane?”

“Good old-fashioned emotional blackmail.”

* * *

She jerked awake. It was one of those helpless jarring movements your body makes that is so disconcerting. Marcia’s eyes slammed open to bright lights, and she felt defenseless and exposed. She turned her head back and forth trying to see where she was and who was with her.

“Easy,” a low familiar rumble came from her left. Her hand was gently squeezed. “You’re with friends, Querida.”

Just that easily her fright eased.

“Zed?” she croaked.

“I’m here.” The bright lights were dimmed, and she could see his face.

“Who else is here?”

“I’m here too, Marcia,” a familiar voice whispered. Lesley Brockman peered over Zed’s shoulder.

Marcia reared up in the bed, then let out a shrill cry of pain which Lesley echoed. Zed was there to help guide her back down onto the hospital bed.

“I need you to stay down, okay?”

“What’s wrong?” Lesley whimpered.

“It’s going to be all right, okay ladies?” Marcia calmed at Zed’s soothing voice, it gave her something to cling too. “Lesley, right now your friend has just managed to get into a spot of trouble again which has resulted in a ton of bruising, scrapes, and a concussion. If she could have, I’m sure somehow she would have managed to have found a python at the mall too.”

“Stop it, Zed, it hurts to laugh,” Marcia laughed.

“What do you mean a python?” Lesley asked.

“It’s a long story,” Marcia sighed. “What are you two doing here? What time is it?”

“Don’t you mean what day is it?” Zed asked wryly.

Marcia’s eyes widened. She looked over at Lesley and swallowed. “You came home on Friday. What day is it, Lesley?”

She stepped around Zed to the top of the bed. She pushed back some of Marcia’s unruly curls and kissed her forehead. “It’s Monday.”

She felt it then and hated it. Stupid weak tears. Raymond had stolen three days from her. They were gone. “How was your welcome home party?”

Lesley glanced over at Zed. “You know she’s serious, don’t you?” She turned back to Marcia and raised her voice. “How could you even ask something so stupid? You were almost kidnapped? We didn’t have my damned party. You were the important one. You!” Lesley burst into tears.

Marcia held out her arms, and Lesley fell into her embrace. It was a familiar pattern. “Lesley, I’ve been so worried about you. I’m so glad you’re home. How are you, honey?” Lesley hiccupped as Marcia stroked her brown curls.

“I was so scared when Daddy told me what had happened to all of you. Then to find out the nightmare wasn’t over,” her body trembled against Marcia.

“Are you seeing your counselor?” Marcia asked quietly.

“Yes,” she said as she grabbed a tissue from the nightstand and blew her nose. It took long minutes for Lesley to calm down. In the meantime, Marcia missed the feel of Zed holding her hand. Looking up at his hooded gaze, she realized she couldn’t get a read on what he was thinking. It was weird, in the jungle she’d felt really in tune with the man.

“Lesley,” Zed said quietly. “Why don’t you go tell your father Marcia is awake?”

Lesley pulled out of her arms, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her shirt. “Dad’s down in the cafeteria. He had some calls to make. He’ll be so happy to see you. He’s been here every day.”

“It would be great to see him. I love you, Lesley, it’s great seeing you,” Marcia said pointedly.

“Yeah well…” Lesley shrugged. She ducked her head instead of looking at Zed and left the room.

“Now, tell me what happened,” Marcia demanded. “Everything is kind of a blur. I heard gunshots. Did Raymond kill more people?”

“Actually, there was a woman on the scene who had a license to carry a concealed weapon. She was a former Marine. She shot and killed the man who was working with Raymond. He had a record a mile long.” Marcia breathed a sigh of relief.

“Nothing bad is going to happen to her, is it?”

“No, there are video cameras in the mall parking garage, she’s in the clear.”

“When can I leave here?”

“Just as soon as you’re good to fly.”

She shifted in the bed so she could see him a little better because something must be wrong with her hearing.

“You heard me just fine,” he said.

“Quit reading my mind, it’s irksome.”

“I’ve never heard anyone use the word irksome before,” Zed chuckled.

“Get used to it, SEAL-boy. What the hell do you mean do you mean I have to be ready to fly?” But she knew exactly what he meant. He thought she was going to go back to San Diego with him. The darn man had another think coming. There was no way she was just going to turn tail and run because of one little incident.

“You know what I mean,” he said calmly.

“And just what makes you think that I’m going to just dance to your tune?”

“Are you really going to put Christie and Debbie at risk? I watched the surveillance tapes. It was clear as day Raymond said ‘Marcia’ not ‘Lesley.’ This isn’t about getting the Brockman daughters anymore. He has a vendetta against you. Are you really going to put those two little girls in the line of fire?”

“Why is he doing this Zed?” All stiffness left her shoulders, the fire was gone. “I don’t get it.”

“The man is a whack-job.”

“There has to be something in it for him. He still has to want to get to Mr. B. through me, and if he does, why not his real daughters?”

Zed skooched up the chair so he could put his arm around her. “Querida, you know Brockman cares about you the same way he does his own flesh and blood.”

She shook her head. Ow. She shouldn’t have done that. Zed pressed a kiss to her temple and she melted. Looking up into his warm eyes, she could see they were the darkest chocolate.

“Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what? Don’t claim what is mine?”

Marcia shivered. Then scowled. “I’m not a ‘what,’ I’m a woman.”

Zed threw back his head and laughed.

“We are going to have so much fun together.”