Building Ties (Military Romantic Suspense) (SEAL Team Heartbreakers Book 4) (30 page)

Her phone rang and she paused to check the screen on her cell phone. “I have to take this.” She spoke for a moment with her editor then hung up. “There’s been a double homicide in San Carlos, Brett,” she said. “I have to see the information officer at the station for a statement before I interview Mary’s office mate.”

He nodded. They caught the trolley back to the parking structure.

They took the stairs to the third floor and walked up the incline toward the car. At the shuffling sound of a footstep behind them, Brett spun, his hand going to the Sig beneath his jacket.

A bang echoed through the structure. An all-too-familiar ping just ahead of them triggered Brett’s instant survival response. As two more shots were fired, he pushed Tess between the cars and at the same time he pulled his weapon.

Gunshots came from above them. Alonzo was returning fire.

Alonzo called out, “Are you hit?”

He scanned Tess for any injury. Her eyes were wide, her cheeks pale, but she wasn’t hurt. “We’re okay,” he yelled back. He chambered a round in his weapon. “Get back against the wall, Tess, behind the car as far as you can. Dial 911.”

She scrambled to do as he said. With her covered, Brett eased forward and looked around the car bumper for any movement. Everything remained quiet. Nothing moved. A few seconds later the sound of running feet came from down the incline, and a thin figure in jeans ran around the curve. The stairwell door they’d just come through clattered shut below them.

Brett came up to a half crouch and started around the car. Tess gripped his jacket from behind.

Alonzo ran from his car to join them, gun in hand. “It was a man, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and a ski mask. He ran back down the slope.”

“Stay with Tess. I’ll see if I can catch him.”

“No. Brett. Please.” She was white, shaking like crazy, and clung to him, her grip tight.

With difficulty he quelled the nearly irresistible urge to follow the shooter and—. He reached for her instead. “Okay, honey. It’s okay.”

He guided her behind the cover of the closest vehicle and held her. Once she’d calmed, he looped an arm around Tess’s waist and urged her into the rental car.

Alonzo followed them and took up a defensive stance just behind the rear quarter panel, gun in hand.

Brett gave him a grateful nod.

Adrenaline continued to zing through his system, and his heart pounded. He tried a deep, slow, in-and-out breath.

“Are you okay?” Tess asked.

He nodded. “Are you?”

She shook her head and averted her face. “Every morning when you start the car, I wonder if it’s going to go up in flames like mine did. Just walking from the apartment to get into it, I break out in a cold sweat. I want this to end, Brett.”

He reached for her. “I do too, honey.”

“He could have killed either one of us.” She sounded close to tears.

“But he didn’t.” He brushed her temple with his lips. “This will pass, Tess. You just have to get through this moment to the next.”

“That’s what you do when you’re in SEAL mode?”

“Yeah. That’s what I do.” God, he hated that she had to experience this.

She leaned forward and rested her head in her hands, her elbows braced on her knees. “The only easy day was yesterday.”

He rubbed her back, offering the only comfort he could. “That’s what we say.”

She looked up at him, her brown eyes almost black against the creamy smoothness of her skin. “Well, it sucks.”

*

The police in
this district were going to know them both by name by the time they caught the person or persons after her. Detectives Hart and Buckler had shown up as the patrol cops were taking their statements. Alonzo surrendered his weapon, since he’d returned fire.

“We’d like for you to come have a seat in our car so we can talk about some options, Ms. Kelly,” Buckler said, his tone quiet.

Tess exchanged a glance with Brett. He gave a shrug. They settled into the back seat of the detective’s unmarked car and closed the doors.

“It’s clear this man, whoever he is, isn’t going to go away until he’s caught. And we just learned that Homeland has bowed out of your investigation. So I guess you were both right about terrorists having no part in your attack.”

She stifled a sound of impatience. So
now
they wanted to get involved. “The FBI is still investigating.”

“They aren’t investigating this. We’ve already called the parking structure owner and requested a look at the camera footage here and the level below. We’re already pulling footage from street cameras. And we’re canvassing the area for anyone who saw the shooter inside the structure or leaving the building.”

Tess nodded. At last someone was sharing something with her.

“We’d like to put you in protective custody until we catch the shooter, Tess,” Hart said, his dark brows drawn together in a frown.

“No. It could take weeks for you to catch this guy, and I’m not sitting inside my apartment going crazy while you do it. I’m going to Washington D.C. tomorrow with Brett, and we’re getting married in ten days and going on our honeymoon. I have a life.”

Hart frowned. “You got lucky this time, Tess.”

Brett shifted beside her, and gave her knee a gentle squeeze. “We’re going to D.C. tomorrow morning. We’ll be gone until Friday. No one knows we’re going except our families, Tess’s boss, and my commanding officer. We’ll take precautions to make sure we aren’t followed to the airport. That gives you guys almost seventy-two hours to catch this fucker before we’re back. If you haven’t caught him by then, we’ll revisit this discussion.”

The detectives exchanged a look. “Okay,” Buckler answered for them both.

Brett nudged her with his elbow. His blue gaze insistent.

Tess grimaced. “I interviewed Hamilton today. He admitted to me he’d been blackmailed into dropping out of the Ellison Project bid. I encouraged him to contact you. I’d let him stew a few hours, then give him a call.”

“It wasn’t against the law for Frye to investigate his competition. Morally repugnant, but not illegal,” Buckler pointed out. “And we didn’t have evidence he had used the information in an illegal way. If Hamilton calls us, it will create a link between him and Frye that will allow us to investigate.”

“A phone call and a little pressure aren’t an investigation, Detective,” Tess said with an impatient sigh. She ran fingers that still shook through her hair, pushing it back from her face. “It occurred to me this might not be the only time he’s done this. You might want to check the records of other building projects he’s been involved with and put out some feelers.”

“We’ll take care of Hamilton and Frye.” There was a strained note of patience in Buckler’s voice. “We can provide you a couple of uniforms as a protection detail until you leave for the airport in the morning.”

Tears threatened again. When would all this end? “I’d appreciate it. I think Alonzo deserves a day off after getting shot at.”

“We’ll need a detailed statement from both of you about what happened here. You can come by the station and write it when you get back from D.C.,” Hart said.

The sooner she got it down on paper the better. She didn’t want a single detail to slip her memory. “I’d rather go to the station and do it now.”

“Tess—” Brett started.

“No, I want this behind me.” She wanted the son-of-a-bitch to go down for attempted murder.

“Now, is there anyone else you can think of besides Frye who might have a reason to do this?”

“No,” she said.”

“What about Gordon?” Brett suggested.

“Gordon who?” Buckler asked.

“Ronald Gordon. I’m doing a story about Daniel Delgado.”

Silence reigned for ten seconds.

“Shit.” Brett breathed the word. “I guess we know who’s been investigating the grocery store holdup.”

‡

I
’m going to
lose her to this place
. From the moment their plane touched down in Washington D.C., dread took root and wound its way through Brett’s gut. They picked up their rental car and took the scenic route to the hotel to get the lay of the land though traffic was heavy. The late March weather was crisp, and the cherry trees D.C. was so famous for were only at bud stage with a few blossoms here and there.

How could California compete with the national capital? The place had a regal feel to it. Huge buildings, stretching a block each, emulated ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The business of their nation was conducted within the walls of many of them. History was carved into every street corner.

He’d get through this somehow. He’d transfer to Virginia, and they’d only be two hours apart. They’d meet in the middle somewhere as often as they could. As much as he kept repeating those things, a sense of loss clung to every thought.

“I’ve been here three times and I’m always awed by the Capitol building,” Tess commented.

“We’ll have to go to Rome someday, so you can see where the idea for the design came from. St. Peter’s Basilica is unbelievable.”

“I’d love to go to France and Italy. I’ve never been. I turned down an opportunity when Dad invited me to meet him in Paris. But at the time he was covering a story and I was only seventeen. Mom was worried I’d end up in a hotel room alone or wandering the streets while he went off on the trail of something big.” She turned toward him. “Can you do that? I mean go out of the country?”

“Well, I have to fill out paperwork. Uncle Sam wants to know where I’ll be and when I’ll be back, just in case. But yeah, I can apply for leave if I’ve built it up, and go as long as things aren’t running hot or we’re not up for a deployment.”

“Doesn’t having Uncle Sam control your every move aggravate you sometimes?”

It was the first time she’d said anything negative about his job. Coming on top of this trip and the interview and tour she’d be doing tomorrow, he felt more than a pinch of pain. “Yeah, it does sometimes, honey. But I signed up to be there if I’m needed.”

He parked beneath the hotel portico to unload the baggage. The fifty-three degree April temperature seemed more like thirty as the wind whipped through. They rushed to unload the trunk. “Go on inside and I’ll deal with the car,” he urged as Tess stood by clutching her sweater tight around her.

“Living in a moderate climate has made my blood thin,” she complained, and rolled her suitcase inside.

He filled out the paperwork and accepted the slip to have the vehicle parked, then wheeled his bag inside. Tess stood at the check-in desk, signing the paperwork and accepting their keycards.

She hooked her bag and tugged it along behind her to join him. “Let’s change into some warmer clothes and get something to eat.”

“Sounds like a plan.” While he’d taken a power nap on the plane, she’d put the finishing touches on the Daniel Delgado story. “Are you going to send Taylor your Delgado story?”

“Already done. I did that while they were signing us in.”

Brett shook his head in wonder. She could multitask with the best of them. But at least she wouldn’t have part of her attention snagged on something undone.

They took an elevator up to the seventh floor. After wheeling her suitcase into the cream and blue room, Tess pulled back the drapes and looked out at the city. “It’s a beautiful place. Or at least this part is.”

Brett stowed their bags on the luggage stand. “I’m sure it has its seedy sections like everyplace else, but it is impressive.”

“And cold.”

Taking that as an invitation, Brett looped his arms around her and tugged her back against him. He nibbled her earlobe, felt her shiver, and his body responded. “I could warm you faster if you were naked. Skin to skin contact works better to raise the body temperature.”

“Opportunity knocks,” she said with a laugh. “I wish you hadn’t said that about all men being lechers. It’s stuck in my brain.”

“You’re still tempted, though.”

She tilted her head back against his shoulder. “Always with you, but I’m also starving. Aren’t you?”

“I’m a guy, so I’m always hungry for one thing or another.”

Tess laughed.

He nipped the muscle between her neck and shoulder. She caught her breath and pressed back against him in response, and her hand gripped his thigh. Then her stomach growled loudly.