Rogue Alliance (16 page)

             
“I work at the police department. I can find out any damn thing I want.”

             
Carmen smiled. She seemed to appreciate the
banter.

             
“Touché. All right, then. I’m going to school now. See
ya at four
.”

             
W
ith that
,
she turned on her heel and sauntered out the door with a bounce in her step.

             
Shyla plopped down in her chair behind the desk. What the hell had she just signed herself up for?

             
She’d only been in the offic
e for forty-five minutes and
already had a run-in with the chief,
small-talk with
Jason, an enlightening call from Quentin, and now a surprise visit from Carmen with a promise for dinner and a
workout, followed by a debriefing at Hal’s at seven. Not too mention the rotting egg smell that she couldn’t get out of her nostrils.

             
Her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller I.D. It was Victor. Holy hell, it was going to be one of those days.

SIXTEEN

             
Shyla waited at the glass door of the precinct and watched for Victor’s car. When he called he’d asked if she would like to ha
ve lunch with him. She didn’t, b
ut she couldn’
t very well have told him that, s
o she said yes.

             
When he pulled up in his Hummer,
she w
alked out the door with a swing in her hips
as she imagined
a smitten, young girl would do
.

             
Victor smiled and rounded the
car to open her door.

             
“Hello, G
orgeous.”

             
She gave him a flirtatious grin and a li
ght kiss on the mouth.

             
“Hello, H
andsome. Where are you taking me?”

             
“I thought that place overlooking
the river would be nice. I’ve never been there but I’ve heard they serve excellent halibut. How does that sound?”

             
“Sounds perfect,” she
said and climbed into the vehicle
. She was glad that it was somewhere she’d never been. The restaurant had only been built over the last few years. No memories there.

             
As she reached across and grabbed her seatbelt, she caught sight of Shawn staring out the window. His face was stern
and his hands were jammed in his pockets
. She couldn’t understand why he was
always so irritable with her, b
ut guessed it had a lot to do with her bei
ng female. Q
uite possibly
, too,
he knew about her history.

             
She looked away and enjoyed the ride. It was a sunny day without a cloud in the sky. Redding was known for its beautiful weather.

             
Once they sat down
to lunch,
Victor surprised her when he ordered for her. She’d never had anyone be so presumptuous before. It was insulting and infuriating. It was tempting to give him a piece of her mind. But she held her tongue
and kept to her role
.

             
“You left without saying goodbye last
night. I woke up to only a note,” he said
with a slight inflection of irritation
.

             
“I didn’t wan
t to wake you,” she said simply, “a
nd I wasn’t ready to sleep over just yet. It seems too…”

             
“Too what?” he teased.

             
“I don’t know,” she shrugged,
“
I don’t s
leep well away from home anyway,
but maybe next time.”

             
They cha
tted and enjoyed their meal. T
oward
s
the end she excused herself and went to the restroom. On her way, she passed a middle-aged couple seated at the bar. The man glanced her way and then did a double take.

             
She didn’t recognize him, but she was sure he recognized her. Quickening her pace
,
she escaped into the ladies room. She ran through all possible scenarios and tried to place who he was, but nothing specific came to mind. He must have
been a friend of her parents; h
e was the same age as they would have been.
Would he try to talk to her? What would his
reaction be? A
nge
r, judgment, kindness
? She had no idea
,
b
ut she didn’t want to find out, a
t least not in front of Victor. She still hadn’t mentioned that she was originally from Redding. She’d only mentioned Seattle and she still wasn’t
even
sure if she was going to bring it up. She kind of liked the idea of him not knowing any more about her past than absolutely necessary.

             
When
she couldn’t hide
out in the bathroom any longer, s
he peeked out
of
the door and sighed a br
eath of relief when she saw
the couple was no longer there.

Slowly
,
she emerged and hustled back to her table. She wanted to shoo Victor out of there quickly, before she saw them, or anyone else
, again.
S
he simply just didn’t want to face it.

             
They made it across the parking lot before Victor said anything.

             
“Where’s the fire?” h
e teased.

             
“Oh,
” she laughed,
“
I just don’t want to take too long on my lunch break. Hal’s a pretty easy going boss, but I don’t want to push my luck. I’m still the new girl
,
remember.”

             
As he opened her door she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. It was the couple from the bar.
They were walking on the opposite side of the lot. The woman was watching her feet. But the man’s eyes were glued on Shyla. Their eyes locked and she could see the fierce distaste which he projected. She definitely didn’t want to talk to him.

She whipped around, grabbed the handle of the inside door and hefted herself up
into the car
,
slamming the door behind her.

             
Victor paused, glanced toward the couple and then rounded the front. He opened his door and slid in.

             
“Do you know those two?”

             
“Huh? Oh. No. I mean, for a second I
thought I might, but no. I don’t.”

             
S
he glanced at her wristwatch.

             
Victor
took the hint and started the vehicle.

SEVENTEEN

             
It felt amazing to run. The one
thing Brennan did every day when
he had the chance
was take a
n early
morning jog
.
There was nothing like
it; his legs stretching out,
lungs filling up, everything inside of him alive and full of vitality.
Usually
,
he ran down the county road from Victor’s property. But occasionally, to mix it up, he would drive into town and fi
nd different parks or trails.

             
On T
uesday morning
,
he drove to town and
parked in Turtle Bay Park. The Sundial Bridge was infamous around those parts as it was made of glass and ran across Sacramento River.
He figured on a sunny morning such as this, it would be a beautiful run.

             
What he hadn’t expected
was that he would run into Shyla. It was six a.m. and he was twenty minutes in, getting up to
a good pace, past
the burn
,
and into the euphoria that followed
,
when he spotted her. Wearing baggy
,
gray shorts and a tight
,
pink t-shirt, she was bent at the waist and looked like she was about to get sick.

             
Should he keep going? Should he stop? He wouldn
’t be
able to pass by without checking on her and he knew it.

             
“Hey. Are you
okay?”

             
She glanced up. Her face was bright pink and she was panting heavily.

             
“No. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I’m fine.”

             
He stared down at her.

             
“You don’t look fine.”

             
With hands on her knees she frowned.

             
“Gee, thanks,
”
she said.

             
He stretched out a hand and offered her his bottle of water.

             
“Here. Take a swig. But not too much, too fast, or you really will puke.”

             
Shyla
hesitated but finally reached out and snagged the bottle. Ignoring his warning she took down half the bottle b
efore handing it back.
S
he was still breathing heavily and looked uncomfortable under his watchful gaze.

             
“What? I’m fine already. Thanks for the water. I appreciate it. You can go now.”

             
“Why are you always rude to me?”
Brennan asked.

             
“Why do you always look at me like I’m a freak or I’m gonna steal something?”

             
Brennan was taken back. Wasn’t he the freak?

             
When he didn’t answer
, she waved her hand in the air.

             
“Never
mind. I woke up early this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep so I had the brilliant idea to go for a run. Well guess what? I work out r
egularly, b
ut
only
with
weights. No cardio. I haven’t ru
n since…well
,
a damn long time
ago
. I think I about had a coronary just now.”

             
“I was starting
to wonder the same thing myself,
”
he smiled, amused.

             
They stood in awkward silence.

             
“So, uh, do you run
here every morning?” she asked.

             
“No. This is my first time down here. But I do run most mornings. I started a few months back. I felt about like you looked when I first started because I took it too hard too fast. It just felt so good to really run, you know?”

             
Her eyes narrowed. He knew he probably sounded ridiculous.

             
“Anyway, I
like to run.”

             
“Yeah, well,
” Shyla nodded,
“
I guess I’ll head back home. I’ve got to get ready for work.”

             
“My car is on the other side of the bridge. If you want, I can give you a ride.”

             
“Aren’t you going to finish your run?”

             
“Naw, I’m cooled down now. I would have to warm up all over again. I’m good for today.”

             
“Well then I’ll take you up on it. I’m stil
l not feeling quite myself.” Shyla laughed.

             
On the walk back
,
Brennan saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. When he turned, he saw a doe and her fawn walking down toward the river. Forgetting e
verything
,
he stopped and stared
,
amazed at the beautiful creatures.
Their movements were gentle without disturbing their surroundings. Their ears and tails twitched
signaling to each other. He had
n
ever seen a real deer. At least, not that he remembered.