The man wasn’t as big as Neil, but he had the same sunny disposition. Complete with a scowl and a hooded gaze that followed her everywhere. What Gwen found appealing about having a man follow her around all the time, Karen would never understand.
Although Karen knew it wasn’t the man’s occupation that attracted Gwen, but the man himself. She sure as hell hoped the sex was spectacular for her friend. Maybe when they forced their heads out of the sheets they’d realize no one was following them and come home. Karen couldn’t wait for a heart-to-heart with her prim and proper friend.
“Try not to freak the kids out,” Karen told her bodyguard.
He looked around them and followed her into the club.
Her gaze roamed the room, searching for Juan. When her search came up empty, she tried to hide her disappointment.
“Miss Jones!” Amy ran up and threw her arms around her.
Karen hugged her back and smiled. She loved these kids. Missed them.
“How are you, hon?”
“I aced my algebra test.”
Karen slapped Amy’s palm in the air. “Good news.”
A couple of the other kids joined them, hugging and telling her how much they missed her. She dropped her purse at her math table and looked at the work spread out for the kids. Each one was at a different level but it appeared that they had all moved ahead in their studies while she’d been away.
“Are you back for good?”
“I am.” Unless birdman arrived again. But she’d keep that to herself.
“There was a cop in here the other day asking us about you.”
Karen shrugged. “Yeah, he’s a friend of mine. Sorry about that.”
“Is everything OK?” Steve, who’d been quiet the whole time asked.
“Seems like someone out there is trying to scare me.”
The girls lost their smiles and the boys listened closer.
“Is that why they took Juan in to talk to him?” Steve asked. His voice angry.
Teenage gossip traveled fast. “The police talked to a lot of people. I’m sorry they had to come here.”
“You’re here all the time. Maybe they thought one of us saw something.” Amy was like a middle child, always trying to see reason and come between the extremes in a family.
“So who’s the goon at the door?”
Karen swiveled away from Steve’s scornful face. He and Juan were friends, and it was obvious he wasn’t happy about the police questioning him.
“He’s my bodyguard.”
“Seriously?”
“I don’t think I’ll have him for long. Just till they catch the guy following me.”
“Wow, Miss Jones. Aren’t you scared?”
“I was at first, Amy. Now I’m just pissed. You know? Like how dare someone try and get under my skin.”
Steve kept looking at the bodyguard and then back at her. “You don’t need a bodyguard here,” Steve said. “We can take care of you.”
Karen smiled. “Maybe you can convince Juan to come back.”
Steve shrugged. “Maybe.”
It was all Karen could ask for.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gwen stretched her back and ignored the ache the gardening was creating. At least if she were tired that night, she’d manage some sleep. Tossing around and dreaming of her husband, of where he was and what he was doing, wasn’t leaving her time to rest.
To make matters worse, shortly after she and Ruth stepped on the path of restoring her flower garden, a call came in on behalf of Annie, asking for Ruth to fly to Florida. Something about her being sick, or so Charles had said.
Now it was only she and Charles in the house.
Gwen didn’t like the arrangement in the least. The man watched her, but never made eye contact. She shifted her gaze to the house and noticed him in the window watching. He dropped the curtains but didn’t move away.
He’s only helping out Neil.
Neil…who’d been gone for nearly twenty-four hours. Twenty-four long and lonely hours.
You can do this.
Over her shoulder, he still watched.
You can do this! It’s only a few days.
She shoved her hands back in the dirt and yanked on a stubborn weed.
“Well at least it isn’t raining,” Rick said in his ear from three hundred yards away.
Neil watched the trees swaying in the wind that had kicked up from nowhere. “Careful what you say.” It wasn’t uncommon for the late summer storms to knock out a couple of inches of rain before blowing to the east. They were prepared for anything. That’s how the marines rolled.
Inside the tent, where neither of them planned on sleeping, was a decoy that only someone with heat-sensitive goggles would be able to see. Hot rocks from the campfire were placed inside a thermal bag that radiated heat and made anyone with the right equipment believe that someone slept inside. The knoll Neil was perched on backed up to a cliff a good three hundred feet above. There was no way anyone would scale it to get to him. Essentially, he was boxed in the canyon with only two ways in. Rick scouted on the northeast side while Neil watched for any activity on the southeast.
“Ever get the feeling we’re waiting around for nothing?”
“You think Billy wasted himself?”
“Hell no,” Rick’s harsh whisper rang in Neil’s ear.
“Raven will come.”
“He’s going to know we’re waiting for him.”
Neil moved his goggles to where Rick sat, and scouted all around him. Nothing. “He’ll know I’m waiting for him. For all we know you’re next on his list.”
“Still convinced he’s not coming in guns blazing?”
“Not unless his motivation has changed. Only way his motivation will have changed is if he thinks we’ve ID’d him.”
The wind blew around the giant pine above him and made it creak.
Damn wind.
The dark sky didn’t even sport a sliver of a moon. It wasn’t too long ago he was looking up into the stars and sharing his childhood dreams with Gwen. He hated leaving her behind. He’d hate having her here more.
“Think you could nod off for an hour?” Rick asked.
“I might.”
“I’ll pull back, and watch your back.”
Neil tucked back into the rock while Rick moved into position. An hour of sleep here and hour there was all any of them ever managed while in the field. The night before, Neil didn’t even get that. Between his worry and need over Gwen and internal debate that Rick might know more than he was telling, Neil didn’t chance sleep. Yet it became increasingly apparent that Rick was as much a target as he was. If Rick was behind any of this, he’d have made a move on him long before now. He needed to trust and God knew he needed to sleep.