Chapter 6
Two cruisers pulled up behind them in half the expected time. Several men exited and swarmed the vehicle they’d tracked. Penny watched in the rearview mirror. Several of the men then disappeared to search the neighborhood, and one man walked toward them. Warrick opened the door and stepped out.
Penny huddled in her corner, content to listen to the men go over the recent chase. The cops were less than pleased, and Warrick wasn’t giving an inch.
“Did you see George leave the vehicle?”
“Yes, he crossed the street, but I haven’t seen him since.”
“We’ve got the vehicle but are searching for him in the area. It’s best if you leave now.”
“And if we don’t want to?” Warrick challenged. “He’s the asshole who killed Tabitha and the two officers. And he’s after Penny here.”
Warrick motioned to the interior of the car. She sighed as the officer bent and stared at her. She gave him a half-hearted smile.
Warrick leaned down beside the cop. “He’ll need to ask you a few questions. Come out for a moment.”
Opening the door, she stepped out and walked around to Warrick’s side. He tucked her up close. She couldn’t help leaning in closer to absorb some of his strength. To the officer standing in front of her, a frown on his face, she asked, “What do you want to know?”
Penny answered all the questions fired at her. To think she was going through a second event like this in such a short time period was a living nightmare.
“No, I don’t have a clue where he might have gone.” She’d seen enough to know her nightmares were just beginning.
“Do you know if he has any close friends nearby? A place where he might lay low? We already know about his brother. Do you know anyone else close to him?”
“No, I didn’t know him that well. You’d have to ask Nina. I can’t believe he killed two cops and Tabitha. She was completely innocent.” She looked over at Warrick, tears never far from her eyes. “This will destroy Nina.”
“Nina needs to get better, and she needs to find another place to live a long way away from here,” Warrick said seriously. “Even when they catch her ex-fiancé”—he let out a heavy sigh—“it’ll be hard for her to deal with the guilt.”
Penny nodded. She stood taller, her arms hugging her chest. She was chilled through and through. More cruisers arrived as a large-scale manhunt began. She thought it was somewhere around two in the morning already. She understood that Warrick had been okay to wait until all the local people had been interviewed, but the police had taken the information she’d given and then asked her to stay so they could ask her some more questions later.
But now she was chilled and tired. She was heading back into the shock zone, and all she wanted to do was go home, curl up with a heating pad and cry. It was too unbelievable. She looked up at Warrick. “Can we leave now?”
Warrick glanced at the cop.
The cop nodded, handed them both cards and said, “Let us know if you think of anything else.”
“It won’t be tonight,” she said, stifling a yawn. “I’m too exhausted to do anything but sleep.”
Warrick walked her back to her car. His gait was not normal. Then again, he’d been on that damn foot all the time he should have been resting with his leg up.
“You’ll be held back from working yet another week if you don’t get off that leg,” she warned him. She automatically went to the driver’s side. Inside, she reached a hand out for the keys.
He handed them to her. “I know.”
She drove slowly toward her apartment. The roads were empty. There was an eerie silence to the world around her. “Is he coming after me next?”
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” Warrick said.
“So shouldn’t we go straight to a hotel now?”
“I just had a better idea. We’re going on base.”
She shot him a startled look. “We are?”
He nodded. “A friend of mine has an apartment there. He had to go back East. His father had a heart attack. We’ll stay at his place. Take a left there.”
“I could use clothes.”
“Tomorrow. We’re too tired for anything else.”
She thought about that for a moment, then realized he was right. Tomorrow. It was already tomorrow, dammit. She took the corner and drove back toward the base. They remained silent until she pulled up to the security checkpoint. She rolled down the windows on both sides, explaining who they were.
Warrick handed over his ID and gave the address for where they were heading. The men nodded, wrote down their names and lifted the bar.
She drove through, then said, “I didn’t expect to get through that fast.”
“I sent Mason a text, asking him to clear it for us.”
“Oh.” She should have thought of that, and she would have if her brain wasn’t so fuzzy.
Following his directions, she ended up outside an apartment building. “Is this personnel housing?”
“It sure is. Singles, usually men,” he said with a smile. They walked inside the front door, and he led her to the elevators. “My buddy, Morgan, lives on the top floor.”
“How will you get in?”
“Mason again. He has Morgan’s keys. He came in and unlocked it for us and left the key on the counter.” Sure enough, the apartment was unlocked. Warrick stepped in front of her, making sure she waited at the entrance, did a quick search of the apartment, came back and nodded. He led her inside, locked the door behind him, picked up the spare key sitting on the counter and pocketed it.
He took one look at the couch and sighed. “I’ll take the couch. At least this one is big enough for me to lie down on.”
She walked through to the small bedroom and saw a huge bed. “Forget it, Warrick. The bed is way too big for just me. We’ll both sleep here. At least we can get some real sleep.” She took off her shoes, dropped her sweater on the chair. “Or do what you want. I’m too damn tired to even argue.” She kicked out of her jeans, folded them and placed them on the chair, pulled her T-shirt over her head, then went to the bathroom, came back out shortly and crawled under the covers.
All the while he stood in the doorway to the bedroom and watched her.
She gave him a half wave. “Just take care of yourself, and both of us will reconvene in the morning.” And she closed her eyes.
The trouble was, she couldn’t quite relax until he decided what he would do regarding his sleeping arrangements. She heard him in the bathroom; then the bed sagged as he sat on the other side. She heard rustling movements, as if he was undressing, then clips, and she realized he was taking off the hard plastic walking casing around his plaster cast. With that, he stood, managed to get his jeans off and then lay down on the bed.
“Get under the covers,” she said. “You have to have a good night’s sleep too, or you’ll never heal.” She could feel his hesitation.
Then he stood back up, pulled the blankets down and slid under the sheet.
She smiled. “Good. Sleep.” She heard his muttered goodnight back to her, and then she let her eyes drift closed.
When she woke the next morning, bright sunshine streamed into the room. She could hear birds chirping and even dogs barking outside. She lay here for a long moment, remembering exactly where she was, only to envision the scene at Tabitha’s place.
Dry-eyed after shedding so many tears last night, she could still feel the burn as they wanted to tear up with all the injustices in the world. She’d had such a wonderful evening on the beach and for it to end with Tabitha’s murder was too much. She thought about how the families of the two cops must be having the worst day of their lives. How damn unfair. George had a lot to answer for.
She sighed and shifted in the bed. And then remembered Warrick was supposed to be here with her. She rolled over onto her back and frowned. “Of course you’re not here.” After another moment she sat up and made her way to the bathroom. After using the facilities, she did a quick wash, longing for a shower, but, even more than that, a change of clothes. She did the best she could to braid her hair so it was a little neater. She opened the bedroom door and smelled coffee. She dressed quickly in the same clothes she’d worn last night and grabbed her sweater, putting it on too. She remade the bed the best she could, mentally noting she needed to thank the man whose apartment it was.
She walked into the kitchen to find Warrick sitting down, a cup of coffee beside him, his fingers busy texting on his phone.
He looked up and smiled at her. “How are you doing?”
She shrugged, then plunked her butt down on a kitchen chair. “I’m doing as well as I can. I slept decently.”
He nodded. “Ditto.”
She stared at him for a moment. “Any news?” she asked hopefully.
He shook his head. “If you’re asking if they found George, the answer is no.”
She sighed. “Of course not.” She glanced around the apartment. “As much as I appreciate your friend lending us this space to get some rest, I’m not sure what our next step is,” she admitted.
“As soon as business hours officially start,” he said, “I’ll phone the police and get an update. I did leave a voice message earlier, but nobody has responded yet.”
She nodded. “I don’t imagine we’re on their priority list.”
“Not to mention they were up all night too,” he reminded her.
She winced. “Like we were.” She glanced at her phone. “I don’t know if I should go into work or not.”
“Why would you?” There was no condemnation or judgment, just curiosity in his voice.
She looked up at him and smiled. “Two reasons. One, there are a lot of forms that need to be processed, yours for example, and it gives me something to do that keeps me busy. Two, while I’m at work, I’ll be 100 percent focused on getting the job done, and I won’t be worrying.”
He rapped his fingers on the table as if thinking deeply. “Both of those are good reasons. It’s nice to see you’re dedicated to your job.”
“It’s not even so much dedication. I like my job. I like seeing things get processed and completed. I like knowing I’m helping others. For many people, the type of work I do is boring, dull, a necessary evil. But there is an occupation for everyone out there, and I’m quite happy with mine.” She gave him a bright smile. “But, in order to do that, I need to go home and get a change of clothes. And, before I show up at the office, I need food.”
“Do you have to make the decision right now?” His voice was low. “Let me check with the police. See if they have any problem with you reporting to your job. If they suspect you’re in danger, they may feel obligated to put a detail on you. And that won’t be good for anyone. They may also forbid you to go to work in order to protect those you work with. The fact that Nina works there too just adds to the danger factor.”
She stared at him, that ugly twisting in her gut intensifying. “I hadn’t considered that,” she admitted.
He smiled. It was gentle and reassuring. “You’re not alone here. I won’t turn around and desert you while this madman is making our lives difficult.” He had his foot resting on the chair, but he swung it the floor now. “This makes my job a little more difficult, but we’ll manage.”
She groaned. “The thing is, it shouldn’t be your job.” She emphasized the last word. “It’s not that I’m against having a little more security around me, given what happened to Tabitha, but this really hasn’t got anything to do with you.” She caught his gaze and saw a glint of anger there. She frowned and demanded, “Why are you getting mad?”
“Stop insulting me, and I won’t get angry,” he snapped back.
She glared at him.
He glared right back.
She sighed. “This is a stupid conversation.”
“With you it often is.”
She shook her head, decided now was not the time to start another fight with Warrick and stared around the kitchen to avoid setting him—or her—off. “So what do we do until you call the cops?”
“See if there’s any food here. If not, we can go out for breakfast.”
“I don’t really want to take advantage of your friend’s generosity any more than I have to.”
“You’re assuming you’ll sleep in your own bed tonight,” he said with a headshake. He lifted his phone and waggled it at her. “It’ll take an okay from the police to convince me that’s a good idea.”
“I want my life back.”
“We all want our lives back.” He lifted his ankle. “This has had me sidelined for weeks now. If I had my druthers, I’d be back on active duty, out training with my buddies. But I’m not. I have to do my best with that. You’ve been targeted by a madman. You have to do the best with that. Mine is an inconvenience. Yours could be the end of your life.”
As a rebuttal it was pretty damn effective. And there wasn’t a whole lot she could say in response. “I get that. I just don’t know how to handle it. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
“I highly doubt your boss wants you at work if you’re bringing danger to anybody else,” he said. “Isn’t there anyone who can handle the files on your desk?”
“Sure,” she said. “But they’re all on my desk, and I feel responsible.”
“But, if you aren’t replaceable, you can’t be promoted.”
Her jaw dropped. “I hadn’t ever heard that before,” she said slowly. She rolled the idea around in her mind and shrugged. “I’m not exactly a career woman. If I get promoted, I get promoted. If I don’t, I don’t.”
“Is it what you want to do long-term?”
She frowned. “I have no idea what I want to do long-term. I fell into this job. I enjoy it. It makes me feel good, but it’s not like it’s a passion. But then I don’t have any of those. I’m not an artist or a musician or a writer or anything like that. I don’t have a driving need to coach anyone, so this gives me something to do with my life.” His lips quirked, and she could feel her ire rising again. “There’s nothing wrong with being an average person.”
“Absolutely not,” he said. “But there’s nothing average about you.”
Inside, she admitted to being pleased at his comment. But she didn’t see anything special about herself. She really did enjoy her work. “The thing about the job I do is that I can be productive. I can mow my way through a ton of files, and, at the end of the day, I can see I’ve accomplished something. The fact that what I’m doing is helping people makes it that much better. But there’s another factor. I get to close the door at the end of my day, and I don’t have to think about it until I go into work the next day. It doesn’t come home with me. It doesn’t keep me awake at night. I have a life to live the rest of the time.”
“What do you do with the rest of your life?”
She grinned. “Lately I have been teaching yoga to little kids.”
His eyebrows shot up.
“Right? It’s a moms-and-tots type of class I teach at the community college. I love yoga, and I used to teach classes for adults. But then I realized so many people offer those kinds of classes, and I wanted to hit the other age groups who didn’t have access to the same kind of training.”
“So moms and tots?”
She nodded. “I also teach at two senior centers on Saturdays.”
“Would this George character know about them?”
She frowned. “I wouldn’t think so. I highly doubt Nina said anything about it. I also haven’t been doing the senior centers for all that long. I’ve been teaching at the community college for two years now though.”
“And what about at the Y?”
She nodded. “I don’t currently have classes there, but I start again in July. I do yoga outside. We all go on the front lawn where there is sunshine and fresh air. I teach classes for relaxation, for health, for back pains …” She shrugged. “I do a lot of different classes.”
“And yet you don’t want to do it full-time?”
“I never really thought about it,” she said. “I have a job that gives me a nice paycheck. That allows me to not have to worry about making my hobby a full-time career.”
“Interesting. A lot of people would prefer to do it the other way around, take the hobby and turn it into a career.”
“And then there’s that money-making pressure. Maybe I wouldn’t enjoy my hobby as much anymore.”
Just as he was about to respond, his phone rang. “It’s the detective answering my call.” He got up and walked a bit away.
She sipped her coffee as she listened to Warrick. It was a short call.
He returned and sat down. “They don’t have any leads. Your office is under surveillance just in case George does approach. The detective wants you to lie low for today and for the weekend.”
“And the yoga classes? I have two tomorrow at two different senior centers.”
“I mentioned them. Told the detective how you didn’t think George knew anything about them. The detective said, as long as you didn’t feel anybody would be in any danger, and George doesn’t know about them, and if you are smart getting there and leaving, it should be fine. I also told him that I would be attending your sessions with you.”
“Oh, you’ll love that,” she joked. But inside she was thrilled. “I need to call my boss though.”
“That’s a good idea. And make sure somebody else gets all those priority files to work on.”
“And then we have a full day ahead of us,” she said with a frown. “What do you want to do?”
“Mason is running by my house to grab me some clothes. Do you want Tesla to go to your place and grab some clothes too?”
“Can’t we go?”
“The cops don’t want us to. They’ve got your apartment staked out.”
“Well, I’m certainly not letting Tesla put herself into any danger.” Penny frowned. “If we can leave, I suggest we go out for breakfast, maybe do a little shopping. I could use a new set or two of yoga pants and tops anyway. I do have a favorite shop at the Bradbury Mall.”
He nodded. “In that case, we’ll do breakfast, shopping and make more plans after that.”
She chuckled. “Is everything so easy with you?”
“There’s no need to make this difficult,” he said gently. “I will do most of the driving, so you can keep a low profile and still enjoy the day.”
“And hopefully the cops will pick up George soon.”
“They’re on it. We have to trust they’ll do what they can to make this all go away.”
“Can we see Nina?”
He frowned. “In theory, yes. But I will check in with them first to make sure that’s still okay.”
“Did anybody tell her about Tabitha?”
“I don’t know. That’ll be up to her doctor to decide, whether news like that could set back her progress. Her healing has to come first.”
Penny pulled out her phone, found her boss’s number, checked the time and said, “It’s after eight. He’s usually in the office by now. She tapped her Contact entry for him and waited for him to answer. When he did, she explained the situation. “The police aren’t expecting him to show up at the office, but please be extra careful.”
“I can do that,” he said. “We do have a ton of work here, so it’s not great timing, that’s for sure. But we need to keep you safe.”
“It’s more than just me,” she said. “You need to be safe too.”
“If you have a picture of the gunman, that will help.”
“I’ll have Warrick send you something.” At that, she rang off. “My boss wants you to send an image of George, if you’ve got one, or if you can get one from the detective. My boss will give it to building security and have them go on high alert.” She stared restlessly out the kitchen window. “And, if that’s the case, surely it would be okay if I was there.”
“No. He could be watching for you to arrive. If you don’t show up, he won’t likely go after anybody there.”
She still hated the thought of it, but there wasn’t a whole lot she could do to make this any easier on anyone. “I don’t have my laptop.” She frowned. “I wish to hell I had gotten that from home. It’s got my schedules and everything on it.”
“I can ask the cops to pick it up from your apartment if you want.”
She spun. “It’ll take cops to go in there?”
He nodded. “I would highly suspect so. I was thinking Tesla might be able to get in because Mason would be with her. But I think a police officer should go in and grab you a change of clothes and your personal belongings.”
He pulled out his phone and called the detective again. While Penny listened, they made arrangements for one of the men on standby to get a policewoman to go into Penny’s apartment and collect a list of items.
She nodded. “I still want to go shopping though.”
“We can. They’ll take the clothing and laptop to the police station. We can swing by there and pick it up after breakfast.”
She turned and glanced around the kitchen. “We could be here for a few days, couldn’t we?”
He nodded. “We could. Good thing we have the apartment then, isn’t it?”
She smiled. He was right. It was much better to be grateful for what they had than to rail against the circumstances she was forced to live with.
*
He was glad she could see reason amid her currently more emotional state. He understood her frustration, but, at the same time, Warrick knew it was not a smart idea to be moving about with a crazed gunman out there. Warrick was willing to go to a restaurant and do some shopping in a mall, but he’d already tagged Mason, asking if anybody with days off could act as a backup. Mason had responded quickly, saying Tanner had two days off. Warrick had agreed that Tanner would be ideal. He was relatively new to the SEALs unit. He had come in from back East months ago. But he was a good man. And there was a good chance nobody would know his involvement with Warrick.
“Did you send a picture of George to my boss?” Penny asked.
“The detective did,” he said absentmindedly as he put the key in the engine. “I also sent it to Mason, who sent it out to everybody we know. His photo should be up on all the social media sites and on the news platforms too.”
“Good,” she said with relief. “I don’t want my boss and coworkers to be sitting ducks. George could pull that same stunt from the hospital, taking everyone at work hostage and demanding that I appear again.”
“Even if he calls your office and gets your voice mail saying you aren’t there right now, he’ll wonder if you’re there and not taking calls.”
“Do you think he’ll try to get in?”
“He can try, but, with the security beefed up, hopefully he’ll see that as a deterrent.”
“Which means he’d try to get me at my home.”
Warrick shot her glance, hearing the despair in her voice. “And maybe that’s a good thing. The police are on this. For all I know, they’ve got a policewoman set up in your apartment as a trap.”
She stared at him, biting her lower lip. “And what happens if that policewoman gets injured? How am I supposed to live with that?”
“You’ll live with it, like we have to live with everything out of our control, including Tabitha’s death.”
Her face crunched up, and she sighed, sagging back in the seat. “I know you’ve dealt with so much death in your career, but this is a new event for me—knowing people who ended up murdered. It’s going to take some adjustment for me to get your level of guilt-free dealings when it comes to such brutality.”
He pulled out into traffic. He knew of a favorite restaurant in the same mall she wanted to go to. Tanner was already there, watching for their arrival. He knew exactly where they were coming from.
“Can we drive past my place to see if there’s any activity?”
He nodded and slowed as they approached her apartment.
“I don’t see anyone.”
“You’re not supposed to, but they are there. Now for breakfast.” And he drove past and on to the mall.
As he pulled into the parking lot, she looked around and said, “This is where I wanted to shop, but I thought we were having breakfast first.” She opened the door and hopped out.
“We are having breakfast first.” He walked around and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tucked her up against him.
He moved smoothly but definitely kept an eye out all around them. He had George’s face memorized in his head, but he also knew how easy it was for someone to disguise himself. And, if this guy had any skill at disguises at all, he’d already have made some major changes. Just adding or taking away facial hair and changing his normal hair color made a huge difference.
Inside the building Warrick relaxed ever so slightly. He motioned her down the front hall to another hall heading off to the left to another exit. “The restaurant is down here.”
She followed at his side, looking around. “I don’t usually come to this part of the mall.”
“That’s why you don’t know about the restaurant then.” He opened the door to the restaurant and smiled at the waitress. “Reservation for two for Warrick.”
He felt Penny’s gaze but ignored her. They followed the waitress to a booth with no window, just as he had asked.
Penny sat down and looked at the window tables. “Couldn’t we sit over there?”
He shook his head. “No.”
She frowned, looked at him for a brief moment. “Because it makes us targets?”
He nodded.
“Your mind must be full of horrid scenes and vivid memories that I really do not want to deal with.”
The waitress returned with coffee and water, then asked if they needed a few minutes to look at the menu.
He nodded and smiled. “Just a moment or two longer please.” He picked up the menu and took a look. He had no idea what his day would be like, so he had to ensure he would have enough energy when he needed it. He glanced over the top of his menu. “Did you see anything you want?”
“All of a sudden I’m not hungry,” she muttered.
“Doesn’t matter if you are or aren’t. You need fuel. If not for right now, then for later in the day in case we need to run.”
Her gaze widened, and then she dropped her eyes to the menu again.
He could see the menu shaking in her hands. He closed his, reached across the table and clasped her hands. “It will be fine. But I don’t want you getting hungry later when we can’t get you any food.”
She nodded quietly, closed the menu and said, “Then you order for me.” She picked up her water glass and took a hefty drink. It seemed to stabilize her. She replaced the glass. “Make sure it has lots of meat in it.”
He gave a bark of laughter.
The waitress returned, and he ordered two of the specials. It came with eggs, sausages, ham, hash browns and toast. He didn’t know how much she’d eat but figured he could finish the rest.
They discussed the weather, friends, anything to do with something that wasn’t their current situation.
When their breakfast finally arrived, she took one look and laughed. “I said I was hungry earlier, but there’s still just one of me, not two of me.”
“If you can’t eat it, I’ll finish it for you.”
She stared at him in astonishment, glared down at his plate, then back up again. “Are you serious?”
He nodded. “Absolutely.” He quickly buttered his toast with the extra butter they’d provided and dug in.
He watched with quiet satisfaction as she took her first couple hesitant bites and then seemed to forget all about everything else and focused on eating.
She managed to plow through three-quarters of her meal before she slowly eased back and said, “I didn’t think I’d get this far.” She picked up a piece of toast, spread jam on it and took several good bites.
“Adrenaline comes in a big rush, and then you crash,” he said. “At that point, you need to build up your energy reserves again. Otherwise you stay exhausted.”
“So from here we can go to shopping?”
He nodded. “Absolutely.”
She groaned. “Eating a big meal is hardly conducive to trying on yoga pants.”
“I don’t think that will make much of a difference.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand women’s clothing. When I say they’re snug, that means one thing, but most clothes are tight.”
“You can always get a larger size,” he said with a note of humor.
She shot him a look. “Right. You do realize, in order to make women feel better, they changed the size specs so a woman who used to wear a size fourteen now gets to wear a twelve and feel great about herself?” she said drily.
He stopped and stared at her.
She chuckled. “I’m not kidding.”
“Why would they do that?”
“So every woman then gets to buy something smaller than what she used to wear. It’s all psychological-mind-games stuff.” She waved her toast around in the air. “But it works. Everybody feels better because now they get to buy a size smaller.”
He didn’t get it. “You’re only deceiving yourself.”
“That’s where the mind-game part comes in. It’s industry-wide, so nobody is deceiving anybody. The fact of the matter is, all of a sudden you wear a size smaller, and now you’re not fat after all.” She picked up the rest of her toast and looked at it. “I really want this, but I’ve already had more than enough of everything.”
“Decide how full you are,” he said. “If you’re at 100 percent, stop. If you’re at 80 percent, stop. If you’re at 70 percent, consider having a little more.”
She frowned. “Why stop at eighty?”
“Because stopping when not yet feeling full means you give your stomach a chance to get the message and to tell your brain you’re full,” he said. “Now, if you were me, you’d eat the entire plate and not worry about it.”
“Why? What’s the difference between you and me?” she asked suspiciously.
“It takes a lot for me to get full.”
“Even injured?” she asked. “If you were in full training, I’d understand, but you’re not doing all that much right now, are you?”
“Ouch.” But he nodded. “You’re right. I’m not doing as much. But healing also requires calories. And yesterday I can’t say I ate very much compared to my normal consumption.”
“Well, you’re certainly not fat, so your normal consumption must be about right.”
“I go up and down, depending on the type of training I’m doing.”
“Are you really into all that fitness stuff?”
“And healthy living, healthy lifestyle, all that lovely happy-go-lucky stuff.”
She chuckled. “You are the last person I would expect to be involved in happy-go-lucky stuff.”
He just grinned and took another big bite of his toast.
She finished her meal, laid her fork down after the last bite of potatoes and moved her plate back. A half piece of toast remained, but he figured she’d had enough.
Finally she leaned forward, looking at him. “When were you going to tell me about the bodyguards?”
His eyebrows shot up. He leaned forward. “What are you talking about?”
She looked worried. “Are you telling me that they have to look after us?”
He dared not look around. He knew Tanner was slightly behind her to the left. “Who do you see?”
She motioned behind him. “Two big guys. I figured they were either cops, bodyguards or somebody you called for help.”
He shook his head. “No, sure didn’t.” He thought about that for a moment. It was easy for her to misunderstand who might be here and why. This restaurant was very close to the base, so there could be any number of reasons why somebody looking like that would be here. Hell, the guy could be a bloody retail clerk at a doughnut shop for all they knew. Everybody made superficial judgments based on looks all the time.
She leaned forward again. “Are you sure?”
He studied her carefully. “What makes you think they’re following us?”
“They keep looking at us,” she said, her tone low, worried. “Or maybe they’re just looking at me.”
At that, his grin widened, almost splitting his face. He leaned forward, so he whispered almost against her nose. “Sweetheart, there are a hell of a lot of good reasons why every man in this room is staring at you.”
She flushed bright colors and pulled back, giving him a hard frown. But he knew she was trying to get him to change the subject, and he wasn’t so easily persuaded.
“Are you sure you haven’t met them before? Maybe they’ve asked you out,” he said.
She glanced at the two men and shook her head. “I think I’d remember them.”
“It’s possible you made a bigger impact on them than they did on you.” He chuckled. “You’re a beautiful woman, and men notice.”
She shrugged irritably. “Whatever.”
He finished his meal and motioned for the waitress. She came back with the coffeepot, filled their cups and took away their dirty plates.
“You do that the same way Mason does. It’s like, you lift a little finger, and somehow the world around you jumps.”
“Have you seen Mason do that?” He certainly had, but it was normal for Warrick as he spent a lot of time with Mason.
She nodded. “I met Tesla for lunch one day, and Mason joined us. It was the same damn thing. As soon as he looked around for assistance, people jump in to help him.”
“I think it’s that air of confidence,” he said.
She nodded thoughtfully. “It’s possible, but I don’t know. I sure wouldn’t mind having that same sense of presence.”
“Why? So you can have people do your bidding?”
“No, of course not,” she protested. But then a twinkle entered her gaze. “Maybe a little.”
The waitress returned with the bill. He picked it up and handed her his credit card. She had the machine in her hand. She quickly ran the card through; he punched several keys and cleared the bill. She handed him a receipt, which he folded up and tucked in his wallet with his card.
“Do you want to finish your coffee?”
She nodded. “I do. Not to mention those two guys just paid for their bill too.”
“Interesting.” He gave a general look around, turning to see who she was talking about. His gaze drifting past them before coming back again. He didn’t recognize either of the men. He returned his gaze to her and shrugged. “No idea.” His phone rang. He checked to see a text coming in from Tanner, asking if he knew the two thugs. So he’d seen them too. He sent a response back. No, do you know them?
No.
They could be after Penny because she’s cute.
That’s what I was thinking.
Warrick put away his phone, tossed back the rest of his coffee, stood and held out his hand.
As she scrambled over the bench seat, she said, “Do I need to hold your hand?”
“You don’t want to?” His voice held a mock-injured tone.
She rolled her eyes, slipping her hand into his.
He tucked her close and wove his way through the tables out to the front door. He opened it and waited for her to pass through. His gaze checked the restaurant, but he saw no sign of the two men. Outside, he led her to the left and said, “We’ll head to the mall through here.”
Unperturbed, she nodded. Then she said, surprising him, “So can Tanner join us for lunch this time?”