Come Gentle the Dawn (14 page)

He settled his hands on her shoulders. Brie was trembling. His fingers tightened slightly on her warm flesh. “It’s going to be all right,” he told her quietly, holding her wavering gaze. Her lips parted, and Linc groaned to himself. Oh, God, just to lean down and touch her wine-red lips and take away the pain he saw so clearly in her haunted eyes.

Brie swayed toward him, and she heard a soft gasp escape him as she leaned her head on his chest. His heart was beating strongly against her ear, while her heartbeat was erratic. A quiver raced through her as she felt his hands loosen from her shoulders and his arms gently wrapped around her, drawing her close to his seemingly indestructible body. Just for a second, she
cried to herself, let me forget! “Linc…” she said in a ragged whisper.

Linc brushed her hair with a kiss, inhaling her warm, feminine scent all over again. Hot, scalding fire uncoiled deep within him as he felt her arms slowly go around him and she pressed herself against his hard contours. With one hand, he stroked her silky hair. “It’s going to be all right, kitten,” he whispered, his voice strained. “I know what’s going on inside that head of yours. I can see it in your eyes. This time, it’s going to be different. No one’s going to get hurt, I promise you.”

A shudder ran through her, and Brie clung to his dark, healing voice. “I—I’m afraid,” she said hoarsely. “It’s so much like the other call that got John killed.”

“Shh, I know that.” Linc managed a strained smile and gently drew her inches away from him. He didn’t want to, but if he didn’t he knew he’d overstep the boundaries of trust he was building with her. But he wanted to kiss those trembling lips.

“Now listen to me,” he said, his voice more authoritative. “My specialty is explosives. I know them like the back of my hand.” He gave her a slight smile and brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen across her brow, tucking it gently behind her ear. “I also know the kinds of wires used on that stuff. If it’s a setup, we’ll know going in.”

Her eyes rounded with terror. “But we didn’t last time, Linc.”

He gave her a small shake. “Neither you nor John was an expert in explosives, Brie.” His face hardened. “I am. I spent sixteen months in Nam finding and detonating all kinds of explosives under the worst
possible conditions. Believe me when I tell you nobody can fool me when it comes to a setup with explosives. Now go on, get dressed. I’ll get the coffee in the thermos and have the van waiting for you by the time you’re ready.” Linc reluctantly released her, watching her closely. At first Brie swayed, then she seemed to draw on some reservoir of strength within her and stepped away. If she was a killer, this was the best act he’d ever seen put on for his benefit. It could be a trap to kill him, he realized. But one look into Brie’s eyes and Linc nearly rejected the possibility. Her voice was low and tortured.

“I won’t take long.”

The drive would take two hours. At three-thirty in the morning, the interstates were free of all but a few cars. Red lights flashing, the white haz-mat van moved at a steady sixty-five miles per hour toward its goal on the lakefront of Cleveland. Linc glanced at Brie. She had been silent since they had gotten in the van.

“Tell me one more time about those wires leading from the drums that you and John saw.”

Brie stared out into the darkness. “They were gray wires, four of them leading to the center drum. They had red things on them.” She rubbed her brow. “I drew a picture of them for the investigating officers and one for you.”

“Draw them again for me now?”

Without a word, Brie took a pen from her pocket and the clipboard from the dash and painstakingly drew him the picture he requested. Her lips tightened as she bore down on the pen. “I’ve always thought that, since John was murdered, I would be next.”

The admission came out so low that Linc barely
heard it. He snapped his head toward her, his eyes narrowing. “What makes you say that?”

Brie shrugged. “Just a gut feeling, Linc. Nothing I can prove.”

Frustration curdled in his throat. “Who do you think did that to John?”

She closed her eyes and tipped her head back. “That’s like asking me to find the needle in the haystack.”

“Look, you’ve got to be more specific with me, Brie. Who holds a grudge against you? You leveled fines against a lot of companies. Certainly there has to be a specific company. Who’s really angry about being caught? Could they have put a contract out on you two? Have you received any threatening phone calls? Letters?”

“Slow down, Linc. I can answer only one question at a time.” Again, his eyes had that look in them, and Brie wasn’t sure if he was friend or foe. She hadn’t even had time to ask him about his odd and unexplained behavior over the break-in at Carol’s home, or the fact that the chief talked to him about it, and not her.

He grimaced. “Sorry. It’s just that I’m worried, that’s all.” He almost said I care so much for you, Brie. I’m not going to let anyone even get close to harming you. No matter how hard he tried to see her as a suspect, his heart kept insisting the opposite. He swallowed all that, concentrating on her halting answers.

“We never got threatening calls or letters. A few company officials hinted that we’d be sorry if we had the state attorney general go after them.”

“Are there any other names beside the ones on the list you already gave me?”

She gave him a disgruntled look. “Now you sound like those damned investigators.”

He ignored her sudden sarcasm, not understanding it. “Just think.”

Brie placed the clipboard on her lap and rubbed her temples gently. “Linc, I was barely out of my coma and in so much pain I didn’t know who I was, where I was or what happened, but those investigators were in there, hour after hour, grilling me the same way you’re doing now. And what has it gotten us? Not a damn thing.” Her eyes were bright with hurt. “John’s dead, and the Cleveland police are no closer to who did it than months before.”

Linc’s mouth flattened into a single line. “They shouldn’t have questioned you like that. With those kind of deep burns, you had to be almost out of your mind with pain.” He glanced at her, his eyes turning tender. “I’m sorry they did that to you, Brie, for whatever it’s worth.” The bastards were unprofessional in the worst way. If he’d been in charge of the investigation, he’d have waited until she was at least stabilized.

Her heart ached with humiliation. What was happening to her? Brie had never spoken about her three months in the hospital to anyone, not even her parents. She gave Tanner a confused look. “How do you know so much about burns?”

His smile was cold, matching the glitter in his darkened eyes. “Remember, I was in Nam.” His voice was lowered. “My best friend, Captain Dick Martin, got third-degree burns over fifty percent of his body from a booby-trapped line of explosives. I was the first to reach him and I rode out with him in the med-evac helicopter.” His tone grew hoarse. “My tour was up in two
weeks. As soon as I made it to the Philippines, on the way home, I stopped by the burn unit at the Navy hospital there. Dick was like a brother to me. I decided to take my thirty days’ leave and stick it out with him. I saw his agony, Brie. I heard his screams as they soaked him in that water, filled him full of morphine then peeled that burned flesh from him.”

Brie shut her eyes and turned her head to one side, feeling nauseous. “Then you know…” she whispered rawly.

He reached over, sliding his fingers across hers, which were curled tightly into a fist. He massaged her hand until he felt her fingers loosening. Her flesh was damp and cool. “Yes, I know, kitten. That’s what I wanted to tell you the morning you woke up screaming from that nightmare. I understand your shyness and not wanting anyone to see those scars.” His voice deepened, and he gripped her hand firmly in his. “More importantly, I know what courage it takes to fight back from something like this, Brie. I saw the psychological damage it inflicted on Dick. They gave him support and therapy, but he was never the same. But you—” he swallowed hard against a sudden overwhelming torrent of emotion “—you’re whole. You’re functioning despite the burns. And the loss of John. Believe me when I tell you, lady, you are brave in a way I’ve seen few people be in my life.”

Tears pricked her eyes, and for a moment, Brie thought she was going to cry. But the tears just stayed there, and so did that huge, clawing sensation in her chest. Without a word, she lifted Linc’s hand and pressed her cheek against the back of it. “Thank you.”

Silence returned to the van. Brie held his hand for a long time, his touch giving stability to the world falling apart around her. Linc understood in a way few ever would. At times, she could feel his gaze upon her, but it didn’t bother her as it did before. There was so much she wanted to blurt out and share with him, but the time and place were wrong. They were going to Cleveland. To a warehouse very close to the location where John had lost his life. And this time, Linc was with her. A searing pain ripped through Brie. What if Linc was killed? That would mean the loss of yet another partner. Brie couldn’t stand the avalanche of pain that followed. She bit down hard on her lower lip, afraid that she would cry out.

*

The garish lights provided by a fire engine washed over the area. Brie walked at Linc’s side, careful to make her face devoid of any emotion as they made their way toward the huddled group of fire fighters, police and reporters. Linc’s presence shored Brie up enough so that she could think and act coherently. He stood to her side and slightly behind her, saying little as she covered all the salient points with the officials.

Linc stared at the aging warehouse made of wood; its roof was sagging. The full moon rode high in a sky tinged from light gray to terrifying total blackness. Linc kept his ears on Brie’s conversation with the police bomb squad while his gaze swept the area. Except for the red and white lights flashing against the warehouse, the place looked like a scene from someone’s worst nightmare.

A plan was made. Linc would make a careful, thorough investigation with Brie at his side while the rest of the officials remained at a safe distance. With
Brie’s drawing of the wires from the previous explosion and powerful flashlights in hand, they began a painstaking inspection of the outer perimeter of the warehouse. From time to time, Linc would stop and show Brie certain items, teaching her his trade. He didn’t tell her, but in his mind they were no longer in Ohio. Right now, they were out in the jungles of Nam looking for a hidden trip wire that could blow them all away.

Sweat glistened on Brie’s tense features as they completed the inspection of the perimeter, satisfied no wires led outside from the warehouse. She looked up at Linc’s hard, unreadable face.

“We have to go inside.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes, but I want you to wait out here for me, Brie.” She was still a suspect and could possibly put him in a situation where he could be killed.

Her eyes widened enormously. “No!” It was just like before—John sending her away while he moved closer to investigate. She wouldn’t do it again!

Linc gave her a patient look. “You have to trust me, Brie. There’s no sense two of us going in there. I’ve got your drawing. That’s all I need.”

Stubbornly, she shook her head. “I won’t let you go alone. We’re a team. I won’t stay out here.”

His mouth remained compressed. Using all his instincts and experience, he studied her ruthlessly. Brie didn’t have the face or eyes of a killer. All his senses told him she was scared to death. If she came along, he’d have to be on guard toward her and toward the situation. A double-edged sword. Damn. The look in her eyes told him she wasn’t going to be left behind. “All
right, let’s go. But stick close. If I tell you to hit the deck, do it.”

“Fine,” she answered faintly, taking a better grip on the flashlight.

He took her arm. “Let’s go.”

Brie’s heart pounded without letup. Her chest was aching and her throat so tightly constricted that it hurt to breathe. She and Linc headed toward the area where the explosives had been located. The beam from the flashlight stabbed through the pitch blackness, and Brie slipped her hand through Linc’s arm. There was no sound except for her harsh breathing and the scrape of their boots against the dusty, cracked concrete beneath them.

Linc froze. “There.” He moved the light down slightly.

Brie swallowed hard. There were five sticks of dynamite on the floor between two stacks of crates. Next to the dynamite was a mason jar with a blue lid.

“Kneel down,” he ordered quietly.

She knelt, keeping her trembling light focused on the explosives. Brie watched in fascination as Linc shone his beam at different angles. Finally, he slowly got to his feet. He turned, his face grim.

“Stay here,” he growled.

The cold command rooted her to the spot. This was a different Linc Tanner than the one she knew. Brie watched as he moved like a cat, no sounds coming from his heavy boots as he approached the explosives. Her breath caught as he stood only a few feet from them, carefully searching for wires that might lead from them. Tears stung her eyes, and Brie wanted to call out for him to be more careful than he ever had in his whole life. Her limbs froze, and her stomach shrank into a fierce, white-hot knot.

Linc dropped to his belly, all his awareness focused on that lone jar. He was a foot away from it. Sweat ran down his tense face, and he narrowed his eyes as he studied the contents. The bomb squad was ten feet away when it had first discovered the explosives and had backed away. There was a tattered label on the side, and he gently slid forward, his breath lodged in his throat as he read the faded label: picric acid. Swallowing, he gauged the crystals with even more respect. One jolting movement and he’d have his face blown off. If one crystal fell and struck another, it would set off an explosion that would level one third of the warehouse. He didn’t forget that Brie was only ten feet away. She would probably be killed, too. The thought made his mouth go bitter with bile. He got lightly to his feet, the front of his uniform filthy with dust.

Brie watched him walk back to her as if he were on eggs. He reached out, lifting her from her crouched position, his hand firm on her elbow. He didn’t know who was more scared in that moment. Brie’s eyes were wide with terror. The moment he touched her elbow, he saw some of the fear drain from her eyes, and he was thankful that he had such a profound effect on her.