The Soldier's Mission (6 page)

“M
y other hiking boots are in my car back at the café.”

Paco eased her down the stairs, sticking to the wall while he scoped the parking lot. “Your car is no longer at the café. I had someone tow it away—to a safe place.”

“Oh.” She'd have to remember that this man was trained to be one step ahead of everything and everyone. Including her. “Thanks, I think.”

He looked down at her low heeled sturdy boots. “Those should work. You might have to run, though.”

“Since I've been shot at and chased already, I can do that,” Laura replied, praying she could survive this.

“Don't worry about me.”

He huffed a chuckle. “Good one.”

“Okay, worry about me then. What's the plan?”

“For now, to get around this wall and make sure the parking lot is secure.”

Laura didn't push for more. He needed to focus and she wouldn't distract him. She knew this from her years working with CHAIM. She needed to clear her head, too. She'd come here on one quest but now things had changed into a full-fledged CHAIM mission. Now, she
was running for her life with the very man she'd come to save.

Funny how the tables had turned on her. Maybe God was giving her a test. She'd been blessed with a good life and two loving parents, siblings to nag her and comfort her. Laura had never been through any kind of test such as this. She'd breezed through school and college, hired on with CHAIM right away and found work at a good clinic in Phoenix. A charmed life, some would say. A blessed life for sure.

Then two things had happened. She'd broken up with Alex not long after Kyle had ended his life, forcing her to wonder what she could have done differently in both situations. She wanted things to be different for Paco. She wanted to help him, had come here to validate her professional skills.

But someone out there had a bone to pick with her. Someone out there wanted her dead. The chill of that ran down her spine with all the pressure of bony fingers. But the injustice of it made her spine stiffen.

She instinctively clung to Paco's shirt but vowed to get herself out of this fix, somehow.

“Looks clear,” he said on a low whisper. “We're going to head for those trees to the right. That should give us enough shelter to get us out on the road and away. We can hide behind buildings as we go.” He turned, bumping into her, his big body blocking her fears about the outside world, but opening up a whole new set of conflicting emotions inside her heart.

“Stay behind me and hold on to my shirt. If I tell you to run, let go and run behind me, okay? But keep me in your sights.”

“Okay.”

“On the count of three.” Paco counted then took off in a running crouch, his gun drawn. Laura held to his shirt, leaning low as they hurried across the open parking lot.

They made it into the trees then he whirled to tug her behind him while he scanned the area. “So far, so good. Must still be in the building looking for us.” Turning to check on her, he said, “Next plan of action—try to find a way out of here.”

“We're not going up into the canyon, are we?”

“No. We don't want to get in a ruckus that might injure tourists or attract the park rangers. Not so hot. The idea is to draw our attacker away from this area. He wants to isolate us, but that can work to our advantage.”

“But where will we go?”

He rubbed a hand across his brow. “My plan is to either get you back to Phoenix or to get you to Eagle Rock.”

“Eagle Rock? That's in Texas.”

“Yes, but it's our main safe house. The security is so tight you'd have to bring in an army to get to anyone staying there. Warwick helped update everything recently, since we're all supposed to convene there for some sort of retreat next week. I hadn't planned on attending but maybe that's the best place for you, so I guess we're going to the party.”

“You have to attend anyway,” she said. “It's mandatory.”

“Yeah, only CHAIM would suggest a retreat then make it mandatory. I don't do mandatory very well.”

“But if you take me there—”

“I'll have to sign up for the fun stuff. I get that.”

That he was willing to do that for her spoke volumes
about Paco Martinez. In spite of his tough, gruff exterior he was redeemable. But then, she had believed that since the night she'd heard his voice rasping across the phone line. She'd hold to that belief until they could get past this threat.

“Thank you,” she said, determined to stick with him no matter what.

“My job,” he replied, obviously just as determined to finish this and get her off his back. He glanced around one more time. “This is a busy area. I don't think they'd try anything but then, they did mess up my truck and trash your room.”

“They have my laptop now. Maybe that's all they wanted.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Let's get moving.”

He checked his phone. “Hold on. I've got a message from my brother.” He pulled up the number and waited.

“Buddy, talk to me.”

Laura listened as he repeated to her what his brother was saying.

“Wíago's still in a coma. They're doing tests.” He waited then said, “But he's in good physical shape.” He looked into Laura's eyes. “Something about bleeding in the brain or swelling.”

Laura digested the information. “Bleeding in the brain—a hematoma. That means they might have to do surgery to relieve the pressure.”

Paco nodded, repeating what she'd said back to his brother. “Yeah, exactly.” He looked at her. “Buddy says that's pretty much what the doctor told him.” Then he talked to his brother a couple more minutes. “We're safe for now. No, you stay with Grandfather. The sheriff is
investigating the guy who broke into the café. I'll be in touch.”

Laura watched as he hung up. “I'm sorry. It sounds as if your grandfather's injury has gone from a concussion to brain trauma. That's serious, Luke.”

He looked out over the trees. “Tell me something I don't know.”

Laura gulped, thinking one of his black moods was coming. Guilt weighed at her, dragging her down. If she'd stayed in Phoenix, this wouldn't have happened. But then, if she hadn't come here, would someone have come after her in Phoenix? Or worse, come after Paco and killed him? Or did this person want them both dead? Her head hurt from tension and fatigue and shock. She'd like some answers, not constant questions inside her brain. But right now, she'd like to get away from the danger she felt pressing like a heavy fog all around them.

He dragged her along while she mulled over all the variables. Then he stopped so quickly, Laura plowed right into his broad back.

Paco turned to capture her in a long stare. “I don't get the card stuff. Why would they leave your card when they're obviously after
you?
”

“I don't know,” she said, gulping back her intimidation. “Disturbed people aren't logical about certain things. They can justify any action with what they think is a good reason. Maybe leaving my card is a way of teasing me, letting me know they can find things that belong to me, even in a Dumpster. It's a tactic to scare me. Which it has, by the way.”

Pulling her underneath the eaves of a tourist shop, Paco took out the two cards he'd saved, looking them
over. He squinted then held one of the cards closer. “It looks like a watermark or something on the back of both cards.”

Laura looked then pulled out her glasses from her purse pocket. “Maybe. Or it could be that they wrote something on a piece of paper that was pressed against the cards—some sort of cryptic message.”

“A message to you?”

“Possibly. But why wouldn't they just write it out?”

“Like you said, sweetheart, disturbed people do strange things. And whoever this is must have some sort of plan that he's put into action. Starting with you and me.”

He did a visual of the street. “Let's duck into the restaurant on the corner so I can check in. Kissie might be able to give me an update on the two names we sent her.”

Aggravated and tired, she followed him. “Shouldn't we stay on the move?”

“We will after I decide where to move to next.”

“Do we really have to leave Arizona?”

“Might be best.” He nodded then followed the waitress to a booth in the corner. Pulling Laura in beside him, he whispered, “Let's sit together, facing the door.”

Laura breathed in the scent of aftershave and sweat, her head reeling with thoughts and feelings best left unexplored right now. Paco practically filled the whole booth with his presence but she did feel safe all tucked in—or rather trapped—between him and the wall.

After they'd ordered sandwiches and coffee, he leaned so close she could see the rich brown around his almost black irises. “We're getting out of here. I have to arrange a few things first. We have a saying in
the desert: ‘Before you get somewhere, you have to go through a whole lot of nowhere.'”

“Are we going through the desert?”

“If we have to. The desert can hide a person for days.”

Laura didn't relish that idea. While she was in pretty good shape, making a trek through the hot, dusty desert wasn't on her list of things to do while she was being chased by bad guys. Nor did she want to spend the night out in the barren hills.

He must have sensed her hesitation. “I know my way around, so don't worry.”

“Right. I won't worry—not one little bit. Just like you won't worry about me—not at all. Good one.”

“Okay, I get it.” He shook his head then got Kissie on the phone. “What do you know?”

While he listened to Kissie's report, Laura kept her eyes on the door of the restaurant. Several other diners were settled into their meals and she sure didn't want anyone else to get hurt on her behalf. Praying that these people would leave them alone now that they had her laptop, she did a mental list of things to do.

Call her assistant to report the laptop missing.

Try to get her hard copy files moved to a safe location.

Have someone check her apartment—not a friend but someone official.

Try to stay alive until this was over.

She didn't realize he'd hung up the phone until she felt his hand touching her arm. “I've got some interesting news.”

“What?”

“Kissie says Lawrence Henner has several homes
around the world. One in the Cayman Islands, an apartment in New York and…a lake house near Austin, Texas.”

“Texas? Why? He can hunt and fish in Arizona.”

“Bingo. Why would a man who has everything he needs here in Arizona need a lake house in Texas.”

“Maybe he has relatives there. Or maybe he wanted a change of scenery—less desert and canyons and mountains.”

“Or maybe he has business there. Business he doesn't want us to know about.” He inhaled then added, “Nothing on your stalker boyfriend yet. And that right there should give us pause. He must be keeping a low profile these days.”

A shudder of apprehension shimmied down her body. “So what do we do next?”

He was already hitting his apps. “First, I'll let my team know about this. They've been updated on what happened to us today, so they're already on high alert. We've sent people to report to your clinic about your laptop being stolen and we've checked out your apartment. It's been trashed. No surprise there.”

Laura's heartbeat increased with each task. He'd just ticked off her to-do list. “I guess you moved my hard copy files to a secure location.”

“Yeah, of course we did.”

She felt better about the staying alive thing now. And wondered how he'd managed all of that when she'd never noticed him on the phone talking or texting. Well, maybe a couple of times during their drive here. Obviously the man was good at multitasking. “Thank you.”

“Quit thanking me.” He shrugged. “I don't know what it is, but something isn't right about this whole thing.”

A lot wasn't right about this whole thing, Laura thought as she listened while he gave Shane Warwick all the details of this bizarre case. “Since you're in Texas now,” he told Shane, “maybe you can do some recon work on this. And keep checking on Alex Whitmyer. I don't like the sound of him, either.”

Apparently Shane agreed to that. Paco hung up just as the waitress brought their food. Then he ate his sandwich as if he were starving.

While Laura sat there breaking her food into tiny pieces. Her nerves were rattling and hitting against her insides so furiously, she felt as if she'd been on a roller coaster.

“Eat,” he said, a firm tone stiffening his words.

“You'll need your strength.”

“Pray,” she retorted, frustration coloring her suggestion. “
You'll
need your strength.”

“Touché,” he retorted. “But me and God, we're not talking much these days.”

“But you said you prayed to Him.”

“Oh, I do. But I'm not sure He's hearing me clearly.”

“He listens. You made it through that rough night when you called me.”

He took a drink of coffee then sat his cup down. “I believe the Father always listens. But I also believe that sometimes we're just not worth the fuss.”

“You mean you think
you're
not worth the fuss. Luke, you have to know God won't abandon you.”

He gave her a hard look. “He wasn't there the day my entire unit was mowed down on that mountain.”

Laura had to change his perspective. “You lived for a reason, Luke.”

“Oh, yeah. And what is that reason?”

She looked down at her cold food, took a deep breath and looked back up. “Me?” she asked on a squeaky voice. “Maybe I'm the reason you survived. Maybe God knew
I'd
need you one day.”