Chapter 11
Emily woke in the night, her body turning to find Jace there, waiting for her. She didn’t know how many times they’d made love, but it seemed endless. Never had she made love like that. Never had she felt more welcomed. Never had she been more in tune with a man as she did with him. By the time the sun rose on the horizon, her body was exhausted, her mind fatigued. But her heart was so full that there were almost tears in her eyes from the overflow.
“It’s only five.”
“I don’t know if it’s worth sleeping for an hour or if I should get up and take a shower,” she said, her voice a little raspy.
He pulled her closer and whispered, “Sleep.” His hands were already stroking her breasts, sliding across her belly to her hips as if afraid that he didn’t touch her, he would lose contact with her. Almost memorizing every curve …
“I’m scared too. It’s like the daylight will change everything. You’ll be gone. This horrible case will still be on my desk.” She shook her head. “No, I’m scared to go to sleep.”
“Then we won’t,” he whispered and rose above her once again.
She marveled at his endurance. She wondered that she could still want him after so many times in the night. She loved how he was always there, ready, wanting her in return. But, for all her wishes to stay awake, when her body finally collapsed yet again, she was asleep before her head hit the pillow. Instead of warm lovely dreams from her night of passion, nightmares followed her. Men drowning. Men dying all around her. The men in her past, the men in her future.
She woke with a heavy heart. A restless urge was inside, an abrasive sandpaper against her awareness. She sat upright and looked around. Jace slept quietly beside her. Or at least he lay beside her. She wasn’t at all sure he slept. As she stared at him, she studied the long length of his lashes against his cheek, so ridiculously long that every woman would be jealous. She reached down, her fingers gently stroking his whiskered chin and hollowed cheeks, even as he slept. He was a lean, mean fighting machine. She could imagine he’d done a fair bit of damage in his military days. He was no slouch now. Everywhere she looked, he had angles and muscles, just an amazing male in his prime. He was spectacular.
“Are you watching me sleep?” he asked without opening his eyes.
She leaned over and kissed his lips. “I’m enjoying how absolutely stunning you are.”
His lips quirked, the little dimple appeared, making her heart twitch in response. She’d never forget this evening.
“I don’t want this night to end,” she whispered.
“Do you want a repeat tonight? Same time? Same place?” he asked, slowly opening his eyes, giving him that sexy I-can-do-this-all-day-and-all-night look. Her body softened, knowing what it wanted the most was right here for the asking. So damn ready to welcome him back into her body again.
She shuddered. “You’re lethal. With just a glance, my body already wants to crawl down there with you.”
“Do you have to go? Can you call and tell them you’ll be late this morning?”
She gave him a stern look. “It’s already late. And aren’t you’re supposed to be doing something too?”
“What time is it?”
“It’s after eight.”
His eyes widened in surprise. He contemplated her for a moment and then said, “We might have time for a shower together.”
She chuckled. “I know you think you’re good, but …” And his smile made her heart hitch.
He whispered, “I used be a SEAL. We’re known for our water skills.” He stood, grabbed her, tossed her over his shoulder, and walked into the bathroom—while she screamed in delight. The side of his thick muscled shoulder scrunched beneath her as her hands slid down, reaching as far she could, gently stroking his back with her nails. He set her smoothly on her feet, immediately followed by warm water sliding down her body. She gasped, then sighed happily as he reached for the shampoo and gently worked the lather through her hair, softly massaging her scalp, cleaning her long locks, stroking her head.
“Oh, my God, that feels so good.”
In a throaty voice he said, “For some reason, I feel like I’ve heard that a few times through the night.”
A laugh bubbled out of her. “You sure did. So show me all over again.”
And he did.
By the time they made it out of the shower, wrapped in towels, and she put coffee on, she knew it didn’t matter what kind of shit happened for the rest of her day. She was already having the best day she possibly could. She was exhausted, but it didn’t matter one bit.
He drove off, leaving her standing there waving goodbye with a silly look on her face. She got into her own vehicle and drove to the office. As she approached the front door, she found Wilson there, holding the door open. A fatherly look was on his face as he studied her features. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
She shook her head. “Absolutely not. You might have five kids, but no way will I discuss last night.”
Wilson looked at his watch.
She grinned and darted ahead of him. Hopefully coffee was on. If not, she would have to make some for herself. She’d need it to get through the day.
She turned on her computer, walked to the coffeepot, grabbed a cup, filled it, headed back to her desk to find her in-box full and getting fuller as everything downloaded. Frowning, she collapsed into her chair and started her day.
At the top of her in-box was an email from Ice. She opened that first. She recognized two names. She pulled up her database, checked out both names and realized they both had a life insurance policy with her company. She picked up the phone, called Ice, and said, “Why do those two names matter?”
“I’m hoping they don’t. Jace will talk to them this morning. We need to make sure both men are safe,” Ice said.
Terrified by what she meant, Emily checked the details on the policies. One million dollars, like the others. Her hand shaking, she wrote down the names and details and returned to the database. She had sorted all the policies in the Austin and surrounding areas that involved a TxSAR volunteer and that had a one-million-dollar policy. Three had come back. Two of them were the names Ice had given her. The third one wasn’t on the list.
Her own personal honor code said she had to do something, but what the hell was she supposed to do? She grabbed her notepad, stood, and walked into Wilson’s office. She closed the door and sat down in front of his desk. “Wilson, we have to talk.”
*
Jace had parked outside the TxSAR Center when his phone went off. “Good morning, Ice. What’s up?”
“I gave Emily two names to run a few minutes ago. Both of them have policies. You need to talk to them.”
“I’m at the center right now. If you find anybody else, give me a shout.” He got out of the truck and slammed the door shut.
“Call me as soon as you’re done,” Ice said tersely.
“Will do.” Jace pocketed his phone and stepped through the front entrance of the center. A group of men were off to one side, learning ropes and knots. Somebody else stood off to the left, stacking lifejackets, checking them over. Yet another group looked at the harnesses. Jace was glad to see it. They could do only as much as was humanly possible to save somebody, but old broken equipment made it almost impossible. Jace walked toward the front counter and smiled at Amber. She took one look at him, and her smile fell away.
He hated that, but there was no help for it. “I wanted to speak with Bill and Frank, if they’re in this morning,” he said gently.
Relieved, she nodded. “Yeah, they are. Hang on. I’ll get them.”
She disappeared into the back. When she returned a few minutes later, two big strapping young men come out behind her. They shook hands with Jace. He looked around and asked, “Is there a private place where we can talk?”
Bill nodded. “Come on in the back.”
They took him to the room he’d been in last time. With the door shut, they sat down, and he asked them many of the questions he’d asked the rest of the team. Bill hadn’t been at the scene. He’d arrived later when they’d already lost track of Ronnie and Howard. Frank had been there. He’d been helping the woman and the little kids out of the van. He hadn’t seen Ronnie. The first he realized there was a problem was when screams came from the shoreline, and he realized they’d seen Ronnie pop up farther down the raging river.
“We have no idea what happened. As far as we knew, everything was as it always had been.”
“By the way, do you guys have life insurance policies? I mean, it’s dangerous work.”
Bill nodded. “I have a policy in case anything happens to me,” he said. “My wife would have a tough time being left alone with three kids.”
“The same for me too.”
“Did you buy them all around the same time?”
Bill shook his head. “I don’t think so. I know I had a talk with Troy about it when I first signed on. At the time I was pretty cocky. But we’ve lost three men in the last year and a half,” he said. “So my policy is relatively new. I want to save my wife any financial hardship.”
“I don’t have a wife and kids,” Frank said. “But my sister’s a single mom with four kids. One of my bimonthly paychecks goes to help keep a roof over her head. I’m in IT and can afford to help her. And she needs my support right now. Anything happens to me, well …” He glanced toward the door and said, “I guess a lot of people have life insurance here, don’t they?”
“Some do. Some don’t. Not a lot of people believe in it. Both Ronnie and Howard did though.”
“Good, considering what happened.”
Jace stood and shook the men’s hands. “Sorry to disturb you guys. I need to speak with one more volunteer, and then I should be done.” He glanced at his notes and said, “I’m looking for John.”
“Yeah, we haven’t seen that much of him since Ronnie died. They were tight.”
Jace frowned. “Maybe I’ll call him. He might meet me for coffee somewhere instead. Coming here might make it harder on him.”
Back at the truck, he phoned Ice and gave her an update. “I’ll call this John guy, maybe run by his place.”
She sent the phone number. He clicked on it and waited until it rang. A man answered. Jace explained who he was and that he was interviewing everybody at the center about Ronnie’s and Howard’s deaths.
“Sorry. I haven’t been around much lately. But I can’t stand Troy. And Ronnie, well, he was the best damn leader we had.”
“What about the leader you lost last year?”
“Ken was pretty good. But there was something wonderful about Ronnie. And, even if he wasn’t there, we should have had Howard, and that would have been fine too. Ronnie and Howard were both cut from the same cloth. Both were good to have your back.”
“And Troy?”
“He’s filling in for me. I’m supposed to be in charge now. But, … well, I’m not sure I can do the job. Still, he’s not the same leader as the others. It’s kind of hard to see three damn good men go down and leave someone like Troy in charge.”
“Why can’t you take over?”
“I don’t have the heart for it anymore,” John said quietly. “I’m not sure I’ll do this kind of volunteer work again. It’s almost like I’ve done my time. Losing three of my good friends, well, a little voice in the back of my head keeps saying, You could be next.”
Jace understood that. It was the first sign of a man losing his heart. “Then maybe it is time,” he said softly. “You’ve got a wife and children. Stick close to them. Because they could be the reason you stay alive.”
“Do you still need to meet with me?”
“If you’re willing to answer a few questions on the phone right now, that will be okay.”
“Sure. Otherwise, if you want, you can come here. My wife has gone to work. I should be at the TxSAR Center, but, well, like I said, things have been difficult for me.”
“Can you give me your address?” Jace wrote it down and listened to his directions. The drive was five minutes from where he was.
A few minutes later he pulled up to an apartment building. John lived on the ground floor. Jace knocked at the door and smiled as an older man answered it.
After they shook hands, John invited him in. They sat at the kitchen table and had coffee. “Do you know how long Ronnie was in the water?”
“No. We were all busy, getting as many people out as we could, and, although we keep an eye on our team, we rarely time the rescues. The water was rising steadily …” He shook his head. “Sometimes I don’t sleep at night, remembering it.” He glanced at Jace. “You’ve got military experience, don’t you?”
Jace nodded. “I know exactly what you mean about the nightmares. Some things you never forget.”
“I think I should go to a therapist for help,” he said with a broken laugh. “It’s not just that. It’s the whole damn thing. It’s so wrong that Ronnie and Howard both died like that.”
“It can happen to anyone.” Jace watched the older man’s face carefully. Sad acceptance confirmed what he thought.
“Oh, yes. Ropes can get caught. Hooks can snap free. Sometimes we make decisions to hook up people we’re rescuing, and our own ropes are not attached. We’re not supposed to do it, but I’ve done it. I know Ronnie’s done it.”
“You know anybody with photos from the accident site, or any when Ronnie’s body was brought in?”
“I imagine the police do. Have you talked to them?”
Jace nodded. “His gear was already partially off when he was brought in. The safety harnesses had been removed when they brought him to the morgue.”
“Yeah, those suckers are expensive. Besides, Ronnie didn’t need his anymore.”
“Did you see if his rope got caught?”
John shook his head. “I didn’t, no.”
For a second Jace turned his gaze away from John’s face. “Did you go to his funeral?”
“Yes. But I didn’t say anything to his wife.” He glanced at Jace. “It makes me look like a coward, but I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.” John’s eyes filled with tears. He shook his head. “Look at me. I’m just a weepy old man here.”
“There’s a whole lot worse things than to mourn for your friend. Imagine if nobody mourned for Ronnie. What kind of a world would that be? He and Howard were always there, helping out. They loved volunteering. They died helping others. That deserves our respect.”
“True. Ronnie and Howard both were well-loved.”
Jace stood and walked to the door. “Thanks for speaking with me.” He hesitated a moment. “By the way, do you have a life insurance policy? It’s a question I’m asking everybody. It’s a dangerous business you are in. I wondered how many of you look to protect the families you leave behind.”
“I didn’t. But after Ronnie’s death, I signed up for one.” He shrugged. “I feel stupid doing so now because I’m not sure about going back. I feel like I’ve lost my edge.”
“Maybe you haven’t lost it. Maybe you can’t find it for the moment. Grieve first, say goodbye to your friends, and then remember all the people they rescued, all the people you saved over these years. You might decide you need to be a part of that again. It’s your decision. The thing is, you can’t do what is right for everybody else. You must do what’s right for you.”
John smiled. “I’m glad you came by this morning. I feel much better.”
“Good.”
The two men shook hands, and Jace headed to his truck. As soon as he was in the driver’s seat, his phone rang. It was Ice. “John was at home. He’s still having trouble dealing with the loss of his friends,” Jace said, then relayed the little bit of information he got from John. “He did just take out a life insurance policy. But it’s with Prescott Health.”
“You didn’t ask him how much it was for, did you?”
“No, I never thought to.” He glanced back at the house. “Do you want me to go back and ask him?”
“No, it’s probably not an issue.” Her voice sounded distracted. “Look. I’ll call you back. Things are kind of busy here at the moment.”
He hung up the phone and sat in the truck for a long moment, thinking about everything. So far nothing had made him change his mind about his earlier theory. But how could he prove it? How did he prove somebody was killing off these men for an insurance payday?
He shook his head, started up the truck, and drove to his hotel room. He wasn’t sure if it was still booked for today or not. Ice had told him to come home today, and check out was at eleven o’clock. It was almost that time now. As he walked inside, he got a text from Ice.
Stay in town for the day. Keep the hotel for another night, and we’ll see where we’re at in the morning.
He stood at the front desk and thought about that for a long moment. He walked off to the side, pulled out his phone again, and called Emily. When he heard her voice, he smiled. “So is that offer good for tonight, or do I book my hotel room again?”
She chuckled. “Well, if you’re booking a hotel for another night, then I’m coming there. But it seems silly to spend all that money when my place has a warm bed.”
“Done,” he said with a grin. “You available for lunch today?”
“Absolutely. I wanted to invite you out. I was afraid you would leave, and we wouldn’t get a chance to say goodbye.”
“I’m staying in town for the day, unless my orders change,” he said. “But I’d like to spend lunch with you anyway. Tomorrow will come soon enough.”
“So you pick where we go this time,” she said. “Meet you in front in an hour.”
He grinned and spoke to the receptionist. “I’m here to check out.”
The woman nodded and started the paperwork. Inside he was delighted. As far as he was concerned, today was a great day. Who’d have thought he’d get a second night with Emily before he had to return to the compound?