“Will you stay with me?”
He reached out a hand slowly, giving her plenty of time to watch the approach, and then cupped her cheek. “I’ll be right here, the entire time. If you need to go to the hospital, I’ll go with you there, too. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Chapter Three
How is she?”
Cruz craned his neck to look out the window. “Physically? She’s a trooper. Arm’s in a sling for a few days but she insisted on starting with Atlas at oh-five-hundred this morning.”
That despite his assurance to her that it was completely fine for her to have started later. She’d mentioned she might be late, damn it. She should have taken the time for herself.
“That so?” Beckhorn’s voice held equal parts surprise and admiration. Cruz shared it. “How’s Atlas doing?”
“He’s acknowledging her existence.” And didn’t that chafe his ass just a little bit. “She’s out walking the perimeter with him now.”
Speaking of, the pair came into view finally, far out across the grounds. Atlas kept pace with Lyn’s short stride, adjusting to her changes in speed and coming to heel when she paused to check out flowers or whatever.
Dog still maintained an air of disinterest, but he was out there with her and not laying on his belly in the kennel.
“So he’s making progress.” Beckhorn pressed for more.
“Baby steps, my friend.” Cruz chuckled. “Don’t go reporting him as recovered any time soon.”
“This mean you don’t want me to keep digging into who sent her?”
Cruz leaned back in his chair, considering. Her fear had been real the night before. Terror, really. “She was damned shaken up last night. Take a look at the debrief I sent you, off the record. Someone was looking for info she didn’t know she had. Or maybe she didn’t have it yet.”
“She’s a liability.” His friend made a grim noise.
“I had her check out of the hotel and gave her a place to stay here where I can keep an eye on her.” He didn’t entirely trust her yet but he was sure she hadn’t been faking anything the evening before. Her reactions had been genuine.
“You’re going to keep her around?” Beckhorn whistled, low and long. “Is she that hot?”
“It’s not about that and you know better.” Of course, Lyn chose to bend over right about then, checking out a pretty wildflower or weed or something, and he got a faraway view of her shapely rear.
Okay, she was hot.
But he wouldn’t keep a liability around just for that. He had Atlas in mind.
“Yeah, yeah,” Beckhorn continued, oblivious of the view. “What’s the plan now?”
“We both know there was something to the way Calhoun died.” It was a big part of the reason Beckhorn had called Cruz so soon for Atlas. He’d needed someone he could trust to oversee the dog’s recovery before something unfortunate occurred. “Accidental friendly fire, my ass.”
“It’s the ‘accidental’ part in question. We both know it wasn’t friendly even if the round did come from one of ours.” Beckhorn’s tone went flat. “What we need to do is both prove it and find out why. Calhoun reached out to you just before he died and whatever drunk text he sent you pointed to Atlas.”
“At the time, the message hadn’t made any sense so I assumed it was a drunk text.” Cruz swallowed hard on the guilt and self-recrimination there. Not sure what he could’ve done from across a damned ocean but he still felt he should’ve realized something was wrong and helped his friend stay alive.
“It still doesn’t make any sense.” A string of curses followed. “Look. No ripping ourselves up for what we would’ve, should’ve, could’ve. We do the right thing now.”
“Yeah.” Cruz nodded even if Beckhorn couldn’t see.
Lyn resumed her stroll and Atlas took up position by her side. Dog might play like he wasn’t interested in the woman but he was engaged and Cruz would take whatever help there was to be had.
Of course, he might have more in common with the dog than he’d prefer to admit.
Last night, she’d suffered a bad scare. Things could have been far worse if he hadn’t shown up when he did. He’d been ready to rip her a new one when he’d come to her door, ajar only because her phone had landed in the entryway. It’d taken seconds to change gears from being angry with her to charging in to help her.
He’d have still gotten through, but it would’ve taken longer for him to realize what was going on and to break down the door. She’d been very lucky.
In those moments, he’d become someone else. The man he used to be. The stranger he’d locked down after he’d returned from deployment. When he’d heard her in danger, he’d gladly embraced the old rage and the cold calm to rush the door. Eliminate the threats.