Ultimate Courage (True Heroes Book 2) (11 page)

A whine cut into his train of thought and Souze’s shoulder bumped his leg. Rojas looked down into the dog’s eager gaze and gave his ears a scratch. Souze was becoming a lifeline.

Looking at Elisa, there wasn’t any doubt that she stood ready to run. And in the short time he’d come to know her, he decided he didn’t want her to.

“I have to go.” The words came out as a whisper, controlled and measured. “I thought I could give this a try, and I owe you and your friends a lot already. I’ll have to find some way to pay you someday. But I should leave as soon as possible.”

Rojas blinked. He’d been willing to give the woman some space, but hearing her sound so defeated made him want to tell her, show her, she didn’t have to be on her own. More importantly, Boom had been with her when whatever had happened to change her mind had hit. “Was my daughter in danger at any time?”

Elisa swallowed. She didn’t shake her head or immediately blurt out a denial. She thought about it and met his gaze directly. “I don’t think so. As soon as I realized there was an issue, we got in the car and I brought her back. Safe.”

Well, it might’ve made more sense not to come straight back, but it all depended on how much danger there had been to make Elisa add that last qualifier on the end of her statement.

He let out a slow breath, reining in his anger. “Start from the beginning. Tell me exactly what happened.”

She did.

For a nasty second, he wanted to rage at his own stupidity in entrusting his daughter to this woman and to shake Elisa for placing Boom in danger. But Elisa hadn’t. Under normal circumstances, the trip should’ve been fine. Hell, he’d known Elisa had been running from something and they’d had friends nearby just in case. Elisa and Serena should’ve been safe and Elisa shouldn’t be blamed for the persecution she was subject to. He needed to make sure the people he cared about remained protected. “I’ve respected your privacy up to now, but I do need to know if we should be expecting any unwanted company.”

“I hope not.”

He stared at her. “We’ll plan for the worst-case scenario.”

She bit her lip. “Which is also why I should leave. The stranger I saw didn’t seem to have noticed us. He was too busy looking over my car, under it. I got us back to your car while he was down there so I don’t think he saw us.”

“Take me through it one more time.” He needed to see if the details were consistent, if she was remembering clearly. And he wanted her to get some distance from what’d happened by thinking it through.

He’d warn Cruz to keep an extra close eye on the security feeds tonight, just in case. Gary and Greg had security cameras with line of sight to the first couple of rows of cars in front of their school, so he could also check into the identity of this guy. Could be someone who’d dropped something between cars and made Elisa jumpy. But Elisa had demonstrated a presence of mind and practicality thus far, so he was guessing she’d really seen what she thought she’d seen. He wasn’t going to doubt her until proof presented itself to say otherwise. And he had the means to verify what she’d told him.

His daughter was safely upstairs and about to take a nap, happy about the help and ideas Elisa had given her.

Elisa clasped her hands in front of her. “I’ll call a cab, get back to my car and head out. Hopefully he didn’t do anything to it and I can sell it in the next town I stop in.”

Alex studied Souze. Souze continued to watch Elisa. The dog’s ears were still swiveled to catch every nuance of what she said. His posture was tense, and his shoulders almost trembled with the tension he was sensing from the woman. As composed as she appeared, chances were she was frightened out of her mind.

His daughter was safe. He could help Elisa be safe, too. The men of Hope’s Crossing Kennels had better means to protect the people they cared about than most. They didn’t just keep their old military habits close; it was a part of who each of them was.

“You’re not going back to your car.” He pulled out his smartphone and sent a text to Forte and Cruz.

“I have to.” She said it quietly. “I know he could still be there watching, but everything I own is in that car besides the overnight bag I left upstairs at Revolution.”

He nodded. “Which is exactly why he’ll stay out of sight and follow you until you feel safe. Then nab you. You’re too attached to what’s in that car.”

“It’s still afternoon. Broad daylight.” Elisa unclasped her hands and held them in fists at her sides. “It was a busy parking lot with plenty of people walking back and forth. I can slip to my car and drive away. He wouldn’t be able to grab me in front of all those people without me making a racket and drawing unwanted attention.”

“True.” And good for her for having thought of those things. “Do you know how to check your car for anything he might’ve attached to the bottom? You said he spent some time looking under there. What if he wasn’t just looking?”

Her eyes widened, and her face paled. “Like what sort of things?”

What, indeed? Normal people didn’t have access to things like tracking devices or worse, explosives. “It really depends on who you’re running from and what sort of resources they have at their disposal.”

She pressed her lips together in a thin line. Her eyes dropped, and her gaze settled on Souze. “He owned half a dozen dogs like him.”

Rojas waited. Considering the pressure she was under, if he just let her uncork, it’d all come flowing out without her having a chance to filter it.

“My ex is a businessman. The CIO of his own company with all sorts of contracts and security clearances. He was very good at his job, and he was a control freak. He kept me under his influence until I finally gathered the courage to leave. To be honest, I should’ve left way earlier but it took a hard look at what he was really doing with his special projects to make me decide.” She continued to study Souze, who in turn stretched his neck toward her, sniffing. The dog was inquisitive, which meant her fear was turning to something else. Rojas was hoping it wasn’t her giving up. “There were dogs like Souze walking the property, loose. A lot of them were like him. They noticed everything. And I didn’t know how to make friends with them. I thought about leaving a trail of hamburger patties across the lawn if I snuck away from the house at night, but dogs like Souze ignore food if they’re trained well enough. I couldn’t be sure one of them wouldn’t pull me down as I was trying to get out.”

True. Food was a powerful distraction, but all sorts of working dogs were trained to resist the temptation. A dog didn’t have to be a military working dog, police dog, or other type of service animal to reach that level of training. Besides, guard dogs like those may have had training to ensure they weren’t poisoned by potential intruders. Such training wasn’t foolproof, but it reduced the chances of success.

“When I left, I only took what I could fit in my big shoulder bag. I pretended I was on my way to run some errands and took a detour. I just took a wrong turn and kept driving. Didn’t even plan it. It occurred to me that the moment, the opportunity, might never come again, and I just drove. I’d keep going until I couldn’t stay awake any longer and catch a few hours’ sleep and drive again. When I found a small town, someplace barely on the map, I’d try to stop and see if I could get a job and hide for a while. I even sold my car twice and bought a used vehicle in its place. I’d stay for a week, maybe two before there’d be a text on my new phone or a strange man in town. Small towns always notice strangers. And I’d leave. It’s been six months and almost as many towns.” Elisa tipped her head to the side, still staring at Souze. “You know, the only things I missed about the house were the dogs. I thought I’d feel so much more secure if one of them would be allowed inside the house with me for accompany. German Shepherd Dogs are beautiful.”

Rojas couldn’t help a faint smile. She’d listened and learned. She’d taken an opportunity. And she’d given him a decent amount of information, most likely without even realizing it.

She straightened her head and dragged her gaze away from Souze. “At this point, I’ve driven across the entire country. I can keep going. The stuff in the car I pulled together along the way, things that were mine and a part of the life I was building but I was never sure how long I’d stay. I can leave it all behind again if I have to and make do.”

With nothing. Not even a car to live out of.

“How does he keep finding you?” Rojas watched her blink, come out of her fugue of sadness. She had really hoped to be happy at least for the morning.

“It’s been a learning process for me. You already taught me about the phone.” She lifted her fist and ticked off points on her fingers. “Cruz taught me about incognito windows not being enough. My ex is good with computers, has people who are good with them, too. Maybe they found the e-mail account I set up for myself and noticed when I logged in to check my e-mail in the first town or two. My mother means well, but she might’ve told them about it before I stopped checking in with her. I didn’t realize I wasn’t being careful enough. If I can learn to stay away from those mistakes, I should do better.”

Maybe. Probably. But she didn’t have the training, skills, survival instincts developed from mission after mission in hostile territories to draw from and he did. Forte and Cruz were soldiers, too. She wouldn’t have the enhanced senses of canine companions like the ones here. She wouldn’t have him.

“The next place you come to might not have the same type of people.” In fact, the chances were extremely low. Somebody, well-meaning or ill, could give her right back to her ex in any number of ways.

“You and your friends are all very kind.” Elisa looked toward the house. “Your daughter is amazing. I don’t want to cause any more trouble for any of you.”

He shrugged. “We’ve all seen our share of trouble. It’s all sort of relative these days.”

In fact, Souze had run down a gunman just a few months ago right there on kennel grounds. They’d had some truly unfriendly visitors when Lyn had first come to the kennels.

Elisa didn’t argue further. She just took a step away. “I should go.”

Should. But she didn’t say she wanted to. Didn’t say she had to. Didn’t explicitly say she was going to. So he had no trouble lunging forward and catching her hand. “Don’t.”

She did yank her hand out of his. Souze surged to his feet and barked.

Rojas didn’t reach for her again, but he stepped right into her space. She didn’t back down. Her ex might’ve tried to repress her, but the core of who she was still had a whole lot of strength. He could push her, and she’d push back. Whether she consciously understood it or not, it was because she believed he wouldn’t hurt her. And she was right.

L
etting her employer kiss her was definitely not the way to manage expectations. But Alex’s lips were warm and firm against hers, and excitement zinged through her at the contact. Every bit of good sense she had flew right out of her head, and instead, she enjoyed.

The discussion had wrung every emotion out of her and then he’d gone and given her hope. He’d offered her protection, a support system, friends. And he was offering her this.

She almost believed in him.

But she was still going to leave, and the idea of leaving without knowing what it’d be like to kiss him would’ve haunted her forever. So she was going to savor this one kiss. Just one.

Alex’s hand came up slowly to cradle the side of her face, encouraging her to tilt her head, and she did. He deepened the kiss then, his tongue running across her lips and coaxing them to open for him. She opened with a sigh, and his tongue swept into her mouth, gently tasting. She kissed him back in return, leaning into him until she had one hand braced against his hard chest.

A needy moan escaped her, and he responded in kind. When he lifted his mouth from hers, she almost tipped into him, her knees not holding her upright anymore and her head spinning.
Wow
.

She took not one, but several long breaths to clear her head, looking down at a black and tan face staring up at her with soulful, dark eyes. Souze wasn’t shy about watching, apparently.

The thought brought her the rest of the way to her senses, because weird. Yeah. Weird.

She took a step back, and Alex let her. He’d done that since the beginning. Letting her go if she wanted. So why was it so hard to leave now even if she kept saying she should?

“Thank you,” she told him, not looking up into his eyes.

“But?” Alex’s voice came cool, deep, and so sexy it just wasn’t fair.

“But I should go. Especially because this is obviously not a professional thing now.”

“No. But none of your previous employers particularly cared if you left, did they?” He sounded reasonable. “Did they bother to try to check on you?”

“Not that I know of.” She said it slowly. She’d had her phone with her, and she’d been checking her e-mail. Both big mistakes, she knew now. But she’d been paid under the table and they didn’t really have a way to contact her after she disappeared.

“I think that’s a little odd.” Rojas lifted his hand, giving her plenty of time to avoid him, and brushed her hair back from her face. “Maybe this time, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone care about whether you disappear.”

Tempting. Oh, it was tempting. “Getting tangled up with my boss is exactly how I got into this mess in the first place.”

“Ah.” There was a pause. “I take it you started working at your ex’s company, then got involved with him?”

Shame burned through her. She just nodded. This entire sharing exercise had gone way beyond her comfort zone. But Alex and his friends had already done so much for her, and this was some of what she could do to balance the ledger.

Personal information was a valuable currency, after all.

“Well, in the first place, your ex is an asshole, but only one representative of the human race,” Alex said slowly. “And, secondly, you’ll technically be working for Forte since he owns the place.”

“Semantics!” Scandalized, she looked up into his eyes and saw humor and amusement.

“Details,” Rojas countered. Then he cleared his throat. “Look. It’s not just about how much I’d like to get to know you better. And believe me, I would. There’s also something off about the way your ex has chased you. His texts to you to mess with your head. The unidentified creep messing around with your car, who I’m guessing is employed by your ex. A normal stalker is bad enough, but this is taking it up a notch in terms of money and resources invested in getting you back. I really do think your best chance of staying out on your own is to let us help.”

He was right. Part of her wanted to scream at moving backward, at admitting there was something she couldn’t do for herself. The other part of her, the part with the survival instinct, admitted pride wasn’t her best defense at the moment. Learning was. And Joseph Corbin Junior had found her a couple of times already. It was time to change the way she made her choices, break the pattern.

“You all can help me learn what I need to know to prevent him from finding me, right? Even if I decide to leave eventually.” It was important to her, being the person to decide when to leave even if she’d been feeble, wobbling about whether to or not all this time.

Alex nodded, serious. He wasn’t laughing or belittling this point, and she appreciated it. Everything about this conversation had become close to unreal in her head, and she was absolutely going to replay it in her mind over and over tonight, wherever she decided to go to sleep. Dissecting a conversation for every nuance and every possible way she could’ve chosen to handle it was sort of like counting sheep for her.

“I’m all about teaching a person to fish for themselves.” Alex glanced at her to see if she caught the reference.

She raised an eyebrow at him.
Duh
.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a lopsided grin. “And I have a lot of respect for those who recognize they need some help to get to where they need to be going. People helped me along the way, and I consider it paying it forward.”

Fair. She looked down at Souze. “You are a really patient dog.”

“He is,” Alex agreed. “And he’s been paying more attention to this conversation than he has to his training sessions for weeks. It’s interesting.”

Huh
. Elisa studied Souze more closely. The dog returned her regard with an enigmatic doggy silence. “He does seem to like to be part of conversations, or at least listen to them.”

“Could be part of it,” Alex agreed. “Why don’t you stay here with him for a couple of minutes while I go inside and make sure Boom’s settled? Then we can walk him back to the kennels and you can tell me what I’m getting into with Boom’s project.”

Sounded simple. “Okay.”

Alex handed her the loop on the human end of the six-foot leather leash. She took it and slid it over her wrist, hoping Souze didn’t suddenly try to charge off across the yard. The big dog simply sat again.

“Elisa.” Alex reached out to touch her hand.

She looked back up at him. “Hmm?”

“I’m glad you decided to stay a little longer.”