The Soldier's Mission (5 page)

“Let's go,” he said, tugging her toward the truck.

She wiped her eyes and got in, the big truck making her look even more lost and tiny. Which only made Paco want to protect her even more.

He slipped behind the wheel, shaking his head as he brought the truck to life with a roar. This day had gone from bad to worse. And he had a feeling it wasn't going to get any better anytime soon. His grandfather was in the hospital, probably still in a coma. His brother would want answers. Paco wanted those same answers.

After calling his brother one more time to check on his grandfather, Paco glanced over at the woman huddled in the seat across from him and wondered if he could keep her safe and alive until he figured things out. He had to. He wouldn't lose her. He wouldn't be the last man standing again.

Not this time. Not with Laura Walton. She deserved better than that. Much better.

T
hey drove the twenty miles to her hotel near the foot of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. By now it was midday and a lot warmer in spite of the late fall temperatures. Laura's shirt was sticking to her back, chilling her as she cooled down.

Over the whirl of the faint air-conditioning in the old truck, Paco said, “Here's what we're gonna do. We'll check you out of the hotel and find a safe place to stay for tonight. That way, if you were tracked to the hotel, they'll know you're gone. Or if they've been there, we might find some kind of lead.”

“Do you think someone already knows I'm staying there?” she said, glancing up at the stone front of the lobby entrance. This hotel had looked so serene when she'd arrived yesterday afternoon.

“Probably. And they probably couldn't find a way to get to you before you left this morning. Or they wanted to get you in an isolated situation.”

“Which they did.”

“Yes. Two attempted hits in as many hours so I can almost guarantee more will follow.”

“I don't know why I'm a target,” she said, grabbing the door handle. “I wish I could explain this.”

He held tightly to the steering wheel, his silence stretching like the long road they'd just traveled. “You might be right about it being aimed toward me. Maybe someone didn't want you to talk to me for a reason.”

“Or maybe they wanted to kill both of us for a reason.”

“That's what we need to find out,” he said as they left the truck and entered the hotel the back way. “Let's check out your room, see if anything looks suspicious.”

“What if they're waiting for me?”

“I'll take care of that.” He walked her up the empty hallway without making a sound. “Just stay behind me.”

Laura wouldn't argue with that. He had a way of going noiseless in and out of places. But then, he was trained to be invisible. Right now, however, he was a very visible presence in her life. And a blessed one, considering she knew nothing about espionage or spying or killing people. She only knew how to help those who did so try and pick up the pieces when things got to be too much.

Was Luke ready to go back into the fray?

Please, Lord, let him be ready. Not for my sake but for his
. She had a gut feeling if he failed this time, it would put him over the edge. She also had a feeling he hadn't talked to anyone much since he'd come home from the front. Shane Warwick had warned her Luke Martinez could be as quiet and stone-faced as a rock when he went into one of his dark moods.

She'd come here on a mission of her own, though. And she'd brought trouble to an already troubled man. So she prayed for guidance and mercy and protection
for both of them. She wouldn't abandon him now, no matter the danger.

But when Luke opened her hotel room door and she saw what someone had done to her room, Laura knew this was about more than a jilted boyfriend stalking her or a grieving father seeking revenge. The bedspread and pillows were tossed and scattered, the drawers and closets thrown open and her clothes strewn around the room.

And her laptop was missing.

“I didn't bring it with me this morning,” she said. “I had my phone and I'd downloaded your file onto it. I didn't bring the laptop in case I had to do some hiking. I thought it would be safer here than in the car.” She turned to Paco, grabbing his hand. “They have my files. Everything is on that laptop.”

“Explain
everything.
”

“Notes on my patients, my personal files, you name it. My life is on there.” She didn't tell him that she'd saved some personal information about him on there, too. “It's all encrypted and backed up on an external hard drive at my office, and I have a password, but still—”

Paco dropped his hands to his hips as he surveyed the damaged room. “And the hits just keep on coming. A password won't stop anyone if they want to get to your files, sweetheart.” He gripped her shoulders. “Why would they take your laptop, Laura?”

She stared up at him, her mind racing with confusion. Then she straightened back into business mode. “Maybe they need information on one of my patients? Something damaging? But why would they want to kill me to get that?”

“Well, so you'd be out of the way. Which means this
information must be a big deal. Would your stalker guy want any of your files?”

“He might try to use them against me,” she said. “I was a mess when Kyle committed suicide and I confided in Alex, without giving out any names.”

Paco shook his head. “Doesn't add up. A stalker wouldn't try to kill you without confronting you. He'd want to justify his actions, try to reason with you. But he'd take you somewhere isolated so he could make you listen. And he wouldn't take your private files unless they had something to do with him.”

“Do you think it could be Kyle's father then?”

“Could be. Maybe he wants to keep his son's illness and the counseling sessions a secret. But if he killed you, that would only open up a whole new can of worms. Again, doesn't make sense.”

“None of this makes sense,” she said. “No matter though, I'll have to answer to my supervisors about this. I might even lose my job.” She looked down. “Just one more thing.”

“You got something else on your mind, something you forgot to tell me?”

Laura didn't have a chance to respond. They heard footsteps in the hallway, causing him to quickly shut the door, lock it, then shoved her into a corner. “Whatever happens, you listen to me, you understand?”

She bobbed her head. “What if something happens to you?”

“Then you go out onto the balcony and jump, run and don't look back.”

Laura prayed she wouldn't have to use that plan. Her room was on the fourth floor and she was deathly
afraid of heights. She'd been to the Grand Canyon lots of times.

But she'd never once stepped close to the edge.

 

Paco pulled his handgun out of the holster and held it toward the door. Someone jingled the handle, once, twice. They'd have to either use a card key or break the door down. And if they did either, he'd be waiting for them.

“Maid service,” came a feminine call. “Hello?”

He went to the door. “Come back later.”

Waiting with the gun drawn, he listened then heard a cart rolling away.

“Was that really the maid?” Laura asked from her corner.

“Can't say, not knowing,” he replied. “Let's get out of here.” When she rushed for the door, he snagged her arm. “Not that way. We leave by the balcony.”

Laura stepped back, shaking her head. Then she started tidying the place, shutting drawers, fluffing pillows. “Isn't there another way?”

Paco counted to ten, taking in her sudden burst of nervous energy. The woman was intelligent so what was she missing here. He pointed to the door. “There is that way where someone could be waiting to ambush us, or there is the balcony—the quickest way to escape.”

She straightened the ice bucket, setting it straight. “I vote the stairs.”

“Bad choice. Too isolated and too easy for someone to be lurking about. So I vote the balcony.” His patience wearing thin, he asked, “Just what is the problem here, Laura?”

She shifted, fidgeted, looked away. “I… I don't like high places.”

He frowned, lifting his eyebrows. “Say that again?”

“I don't do high places. I'm afraid of heights, okay?”

“But you're at the Grand Canyon!”

“Yes, but I didn't come to see the canyon. I came to find you.”

Putting a finger to his forehead, Paco said, “But you said you planned to do some hiking if you failed at finding me.”

“Yes,” she said on a frustrated whisper. “Low hiking. As in at the bottom of the canyon or maybe in some part of the canyon but not near the very edge of the high-up canyon.”

Tugging her toward the balcony door, he said, “This is only a few floors up, sweetheart. And it's grassy down there. It won't hurt a bit.”

“I can't do it.” She held back, a solid fear centered in her eyes. “My office is on the second floor of the clinic and my apartment in Phoenix is on the first floor. I usually don't go above level three but this was the only room available. I don't like elevators, either.”

“Well, then we're in serious trouble. We can't take the stairs or the elevator here. The only way out is through that balcony door and down.”

She ventured a glance out the door. “But we can't just jump.”

“I can. And I'm pretty sure you'll be able, too. Since it might mean saving your life.”

“But what if they're down there waiting?”

A good point. Paco pushed her away from the door.

“I'll check things out.” Slowly opening the sliding glass
door, he peaked out and looked both ways then glanced down at the parking lot. “I don't see anyone but anything is possible.” Then he turned back to her. “I think I see a way to do this.”

“What?”

The wash of pure relief in her eyes told him she was serious about being afraid of heights. Another thing he'd have to remember right along with finding out what else she might be hiding from him.

“We can move from balcony to balcony until we reach the outside stairs at the end of the building. Do you think you can deal with that, at least?”

She walked to the open door and peered at the wide wooden-planked balconies. Then she took in a long breath. “I'll try.”

Paco heard footsteps out in the hallway. “Good, because I think our visitors are back. And this time I don't think they're concerned about housekeeping.”

Before she could panic, he shoved her and her big purse out the door and slid it shut. Holding her away from the open banisters, he said, “Don't think about it. Just act. That's how you survive sticky situations. You just have to take action.”

She bobbed her head, her eyes glazing with fear. “I'll try, Paco. I promise.”

Good grief, did she have to go all girly on him now? The woman had faced down an intruder and shot him dead. He needed her to stay strong until he could find a safe place to stash her.

“Okay, let's do it then. I'm going to climb over first,” he said, dragging her stiff form along. “Then I'll help you over. We do that until we reach the end, okay?”

She strapped her bag across her body as if it were a shield. “Okay.”

It was a weak “okay” but he'd have to go with it. “Don't think about it and don't look down. Just focus on getting from balcony to balcony.”

She nodded again, her eyes so big and blue he had to look away—or he'd chicken out too just to spare her—and that would be bad for both of them.

He leapt over the first sturdy railing then turned to take her hand. “That's it. I've got you. Just about a half foot between them. Plenty of room.”

She scooted across, holding on to him for dear life until he had her over the railing and on solid flooring again, her shoulder bag slung across her body and swinging out as he lifted her.

“See, not so bad. Just three more to go.”

“It looks like a lot more to me.”

“Just three—then we'll take the outside stairs and be on our way.”

If they didn't get assaulted at the corner of the building. He'd have to do a thorough overview before they could advance toward the parking lot and his truck.

“Here we go,” he said as he pulled her over the second railing. Glancing inside the room, he noticed an old woman standing there in a jogging suit drinking coffee. Paco waved and kept going. He didn't have time for explanations.

“The last one, Laura,” he said, not used to having to be so nice when giving commands or instructions. It was as foreign to him as holding her hand. Especially since she'd come charging into his safe, secure, quiet world and brought his heart right out its flat-lining existence.
Holding her hand, however, was one thing. Keeping her alive was a whole different thing.

“Last one. See, that wasn't as hard as you thought.”

She didn't answer. But when he tugged her over the last balcony and settled her on the landing near the hallway door to the inside of the building, she held to his arms with an iron grip. Surprising since she didn't seem to weigh much more than a doll.

“Laura?”

She wasn't listening. Instead, she was staring off over his shoulder. Great. Had she gone into shock again? Or was she about to have that meltdown he'd been dreading.

“Laura, we need to keep moving?”

“Paco,” she whispered, her voice low and tight-edged. Then she pointed. “Look at your truck.”

He whirled, gun lifting, his gaze moving across the big parking lot. Then with a grunt he dropped his gun down by his side and stomped a boot against the wall. “They slashed my tires!”

“That means they've been watching us. And now we can't leave.” She moved near him with an almost automatic need, as if she knew he was her protector now, whether she liked it or not. And whether he wanted to be or not. “What do we do now?”

He let out a breath of pure aggravation then pulled her back against the wall while he scanned the empty parking lot. “Well, beautiful, you did say you wanted to do some hiking. I'd say now's your chance.”