to my place and drop you off with Ashley.”
She did as he suggested, shoving jeans and a few tops into her suitcase. She yanked a skirt and sweater set—interview clothes—out of the closet, rolling them into balls before slipping them into the case. On top she threw in her makeup case, hair dryer and her oversized Chargers jersey. Even if she couldn’t be in her own home, she could feel like it with the football shirt her dad had given her before she left for Lybania. Somehow it helped thinking he was near.
Even if he had no idea what was going on.
If she told her parents, they’d insist she stay with them until the risk was past. But that just left them as vulnerable as she was.
She’d meant what she’d said to L.T. earlier. She wasn’t going to put her sister or her parents in jeopardy. And that meant biting her tongue when they called.
As she slipped a light jacket over a fresh shirt and pair of jeans, L.T. thumped twice on the door of her room. “You about ready?”
She opened it. “I guess.”
He reached around her for the handle of her bag, holding it as if its weight didn’t even register on his internal scale. Leading the way to the door, he glanced over his shoulder as she grabbed her glasses and toothbrush from the bathroom.
She spun in a slow circle, taking quick inventory of anything she might be missing. Clothes. Check. Makeup. Check. Bills?
“Who’s going to check my mail?”
He lifted a shoulder. “We’re going to be less than ten miles away. We can check in every now and then. With any luck we’ll find the guy in just a few days, so you won’t miss anything important.”
A few days? All of this could be over so soon? She was scared to hope for it, but couldn’t deny the relief that the idea brought. To be free from this storm would mean she could start her life again. She could figure out her next move and find a new purpose.
She nodded quickly before following him out the door and turning the dead bolt into place with a solid click. Dropping the keys into her purse, she turned toward the two trucks parked at her curb. It was amazing that none of her neighbors had made a commotion about the 4x4s taking up most of the narrow street. Then again, maybe the other residents had gotten a look at the men leaning against the pickups and didn’t want to have to face them.
Three SEALs pushed themselves off the side of the first truck, standing at easy attention. They didn’t twitch or tremble, their arms hanging loosely at their sides.
Immediately the side of her face itched, and she fought the urge to run a finger down her scar. She didn’t have to flit around just because their inherent stillness made her skin tingle. Even if it really wasn’t natural to be so motionless.
Or maybe she still clung to every motion as a reminder of her own humanity.
The youngest guy—the one L.T. had called Willie—followed her with his eyes, then settled them onto his lieutenant.
“I’m going to take her home, and then I’ll meet you all back at the base.”
Willie’s eyebrows rose in the silent question that loomed over all of them. Wasn’t this her home?
Without pretense or preamble L.T. said, “She’s going to stay with me and Ashley for a bit.”
Zig lifted one brown eyebrow, but they all remained silent.
And somehow it was worse than if they’d teased or joked about it. What did they think of her?
“She’s still the mission until she’s completely safe. And we’re all going to pitch in.” L.T. stared at each of his men, daring them to question his command. “Understood?”
The steel in his voice sent a shiver down her back, and she zipped her coat all the way to her chin. The men, on the other hand, weren’t intimidated. They simply nodded their agreement and mumbled a few “yes, sirs” before piling into the first truck and leaving her standing alone beside the only man between her and danger.
* * *
Tristan hefted Staci’s bag from the bed of his truck and carried
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