All Due Respect (19 page)

God, but she was grateful for that.

The door opened, and she stepped out, then grabbed her card and walked on to the lab.

It was blessedly empty, and she felt grateful for that, too. More than anything, she needed to just sit down for a

while and let her head calm down. Then she could think. Karl was out. And, unless she found a way to stop him, she would be as much his prisoner now as she had been during their marriage.

Her stomach heaved, her arm ached. She swallowed hard, knowing she couldn’t live through his torture again and survive. Surviving it once had been a miracle.

In her office, she dropped into her chair and stared through the glass into the darkened lab. Why in the name of all that’s good hadn’t she learned to defend herself?

You thought you had more time.

She should have had more time. Two more years. But, no. They let the bastard out on good behavior due to overcrowding.

And in the same fell swoop, they condemned you to hell.

“MORNING, Dr. Holt.” The guard nodded.

“Morning, Lieutenant.” Seth stopped at the lab’s first checkpoint.

“I guess everyone in the zone’s getting an early start this morning.”

“Excuse me?”

“Dr. Warner came in about three.”

Strange. She’d been worn out last night. If anything, Seth would have thought she might arrive late today. “Did she say why?”

He picked up a paperback novel he had been reading. “Getting a jump on things.”

What things? Seth wondered. The lieutenant talked on, and Seth diverted his attention back to the man.

“Left about twenty minutes ago. She said to tell you she would be late getting back.”

Julia had come and gone? “Did she say where she was going, or why she would be late?”

“No, sir.” The guard looked torn, as if he could add something but doubted the wisdom of doing it.

Seth glanced at his name tag. “What is it, Lieutenant Janus?”

“Nothing, sir. I’m probably just tired and seeing things that aren’t there.”

“What things?” Seth pushed.

“Well, Dr. Warner, sir.” Janus thumbed the pages of his novel. “She looked like she’d had a rough night.”

“We all did,” Seth said. “Didn’t they brief you on the lockdown?”

“Yes, sir.” Janus stood up a little straighter. “But this was different. She kept checking behind her, like somebody was following her, and she looked … I don’t know.”

The guy’s in prison.

For now.

Recalling that snatch of conversation between him and Matthew had the hair on Seth’s neck standing on end. “How did she look?”

The lieutenant looked away, lowered his gaze. “Haunted, sir,” he said, then returned his gaze to Seth’s. “Sounds crazy, but that’s the only way to describe it. She looked haunted.”

“Thanks for letting me know.” Thoughtful, Seth headed toward the lab and checked his watch. It would be a couple hours before he could check with Matthew to see if her attacker was on the loose, and he had no idea where to look for Julia. He’d try her at home and on the cell phone. If she was being followed, she would have stayed put in the vault.

In his office, he made the calls. No answer at either of Julia’s numbers. Then, he left a message for Matthew.

Nothing else he could do but stick out the wait. Seth put in a couple hours on his sensor design. One day, maybe Congress would cut loose with the money to fund it. With all the budget cuts, odds looked slim at best. The U.S. needed the capability. Sadly, the honchos who controlled the pursestrings didn’t yet realize it. But Seth did. And making sure it was ready when the need arose kept him working at it, despite the odds.

Would that make him patriotic in Julia’s book?

JUST after ten, Julia came into the lab. Seth took one look at her and recalled Lieutenant Janus’s warning. She did look haunted. Haunted, pale, and raw-nerved.

When she came close enough, Seth whispered, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Seth.” She kept walking.

Having learned long ago that any time a woman says she’s fine, hell’s coming to call, Seth leaned against the lab table and watched her walk into her office, close the door, and plop down in her chair. The glass wall between them couldn’t hide the fact that she was haunted and dead tired any more than it could hide the fact that her left arm hung limp across the armrest of her chair. Something had gotten to her in a big way. Was it the lockdown? The sensor-codes theft? The incident at her apartment?

No. She had buried her emotional reactions to those things. He had witnessed that himself. Something else had to have happened. Something that hit her so hard she couldn’t bury her feelings about it. But what?

Matthew still hadn’t returned Seth’s call, but he could just ask her, straight-out. And he would, except Matthew had made it clear that Seth should keep his mouth shut on this, and through the years, Seth also had learned that when a woman says she’s fine, a smart man doesn’t pry or push until she signals she’s ready to talk. He pries or pushes, and she gets her nose out of joint. And a woman’s nose out of joint translates to a man living in misery, getting his ears blistered and his ass chewed, until she gets over it.

Life would be easier if trust could be forced. But it couldn’t, so he’d just have to wait, and hope it came in under its own steam. And he’d have to hope that whatever had happened to her didn’t cause either of them more trouble. Matthew’s willingness to go to the wall for them was about at an end. Seth still had no idea why Colonel Mason had gone out on a limb for them. Had to be because of Julia. She clearly had met with the man and had given him her word on bringing him into the loop if the occasion arose. Why hadn’t she mentioned that to Seth?

Wait. Wait. She had told him. She had gotten the suspects’ time-line list from Mason on the sensor-codes theft.

Seth glanced over at her. Tense, wary, pale, clearly scared stiff—and doing her damnedest to hide it. It was more trouble. Seth would bet his sensor on it. But it wasn’t about Jeff.

No, for Jeff, Julia would go to anyone for help, including the devil himself. Could be the attacker, Karl, something related to Benedetto. Hell, there were a dozen possibilities. So which one, or what, had caused this?

JULIA couldn’t stay in the vault forever.

She had gotten the restraining order against Karl that morning. Matthew had helped shove through the paperwork. Fortunately, he had connections with the staff judge advocate’s office on base and they had connections off base with the civilian authorities who handled legal matters. A judge had signed the order and Julia’s had a copy of it in her hand by nine-fifteen.

For what it was worth.

Which was nothing.

During the day, Seth had dropped by the office several times, including to invite her to ride along with him to see Jeff. But as much as she wanted to see him, she had refused. Karl could be watching. The last thing she wanted to risk was leading him to Jeff. There was no doubt in her mind Karl Hyde would do anything, use anyone—even a helpless child—to hurt and “punish” her.

Even Dempsey Morse had ventured out of his hermit hole after lunch and stopped by her office for a short chat, something he had done only once since she had taken over the project. He seemed like a nice man—said all the right things—but something about him set Julia’s teeth on edge. That she couldn’t peg exactly what had her grinding them.

Mr. Sandlis and Marcus had called in sick with the flu. And about five, Greta and Linda had left to take their kids out for pizza. It was after eight now. The lab had been quiet for hours, and Julia had lingered as long as she dared. She

couldn’t do anything to arouse more professional suspicion.

Unlocking her desk, she removed her purse from the drawer. There was no place to go but to the apartment. She needed clothes. Maybe she’d just grab some things at the mall and find an obscure motel.

Obscure motel? In Grayton? With Karl’s connections? Highly unlikely.

Resentment burned in her stomach. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? Why couldn’t he accept the divorce and just leave her alone?

He didn’t love her. He had deceived her into believing he did. Maybe even deceived himself into believing it. But he never really had loved her. For him, this was about control. He had married her, therefore he controlled her. Until death they do part.

For Karl Hyde, their relationship was that simple.

Feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders, Julia left the lab, then the vault, and then drove to the apartment.

The lamp she had left burning in the living room glowed, warm and welcoming, but, inside, dread dragged at her.

Just to be safe, she made the block, and then circled two blocks, checking for odd cars or anything unusual. Detective LeBrec had taught her the protective technique, trying to ease her fears during the time between Karl’s arrest and his trial. His buddies in blue had bailed him out. To their credit, they had done so before Detective LeBrec had filled them in on the entire story. Still, after they had learned Karl had duped them, they hadn’t had his bail revoked. LeBrec claimed it was a protect-your-own kind of thing. Regardless of why, Karl had remained free and she had been the prisoner. LeBrec had stashed her in a women’s shelter for safekeeping.

Less than an hour after Karl had posted bail, Agent 12 had shown up at the shelter and had given her several safety tips. One of which was to get the hell out of the shelter because every cop in the county knew where it was, and within minutes of her arriving there, Karl knew it, too. Mat

thew had reiterated the “secure the perimeter” technique LeBrec had taught her, and he had rented her a car and helped arrange her escape.

Walking into his office with Seth and pretending she had never before seen Matthew had been difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. She’d only had to block any memories of him from her mind and to keep them blocked. Fortunately, in the past three years, she had become adept at blocking memories. Except when she got the phone calls.

And since hearing Karl was out.

Everything seemed fine, so she garaged the car, walked up to the front door, and then checked the locks. Secure. She keyed the knob, the dead bolt, and then stepped inside, her heart knocking against her ribs. When she closed the door behind her, a little sigh of relief escaped her throat. Safe.

Moving to turn the key in the dead bolt, she remembered Seth and his mother, imagined the horror he must have felt at hearing his mother’s screams and not being able to find that key. Julia’s heart wrenched for the pain of the child, and for the guilt that remained with the man.

Nothing could chew a person up and spit them out like guilt. What she felt about Uncle Lou proved that.

“Hello, sugar.”

Julia jerked around. “Karl.” Oh, God! He was in her house? How had he gotten Into her house?

He smiled, but there was no warmth in it. At the foot of the stairs, he leaned, elbow against the banister. “Clever. Running off to the vault—and renting this place in Seth Holt’s name. I should’ve known you’d still be screwing that bastard.”

Julia finally slugged through her fear and found her voice. “Get out.” She fished in her purse. “I have a restraining order. Get out of my house now, or I’ll call the police and they’ll put you back in jail.”

“Don’t threaten me, sugar. It pisses me off.” He locked the dead bolt, snatched the key out of the lock, and then

stuffed it into his pocket. “You know what happens when I get pissed off.”

How in God’s name could she forget? He hadn’t raised his voice, but she felt as threatened as if he had screamed at her.

He sat down on the steps. His slacks bunched at his thighs and his brown leather jacket was unzipped, split open and hanging loose at his sides.

Oh, yes, she knew what happened when he got pissed. No more than that little reminder, and every nerve in her body stretched piano-wire tight. Fear cramped her stomach, tasted bitter on her tongue, raged through her as strong as it had before she had left him, leaving her feeling helpless. Hopeless.

Three years had passed. Three years. Hadn’t she made any progress? Any recovery? How could the fear feel the same? How?

Karl draped his arms over his knees. “I’ve done some checking, and it’s a good thing I’ve come home. You’re in a lot of trouble, sugar.” He smiled up at her, enjoying this, and then the smile faded. “So how do you like it?”

He’d lost her. Locking her knees to stay upright, trying desperately to think of a way out, she tried to clamp down on her fear that he had killed her uncle Lou, nearly had killed her, and now he had returned to finish the job. “Like what?”

“Being screwed and screwed over by your man, Seth Holt?”

Having no idea what he meant, she kept quiet.

“No matter. Those days are over, too.” Karl sprawled back on the steps, propping his upper body with his elbows on the steps. “He’s using you, Julia. And, being a genius and all, you’re still falling for it.”

“For what?” God, but her knees wouldn’t stop shaking. Any second she’d heave. Her stomach churned and rolled.

“He set you up to take the fall for the security breaches. He’s Benedetto’s mole.”

Shock streaked up her spine. How did Karl know about

this? He couldn’t know about this. No one could.

He knows, Julia. Accept it.

“You’ve always been Seth Holt’s sucker. He led you around by the nose, and you followed like a stupid bitch in heat.” Karl stood up, hitched his pants on his hips. A bar of lamplight slanted across his chin. “But those days are over, too. I’m home now, and you’re going to do exactly what I tell you when I tell you. Just like you always did.”

Julia swallowed hard. His tone and verbiage resonated of all the intimidation tactics he had used on her. He deliberately preyed on her fears. Damn it, she knew what he was doing. Exactly. So why was he getting to her emotionally? Why couldn’t she stand up to him? Why, after going through all she had to get away from him, was she still letting him scare her to death?

Because you know what he’s capable of doing to you. What he has done to you. You’d damn well better fear him, Julia.