Fatal Truth: Shadow Force International (39 page)

“He was going to shoot you.” She closed her eyes against a sudden welling of tears. “I knew he was. I couldn’t let him do that.”

He brought her knuckles to his lips. “I was supposed to be guarding your body, not the other way around.”

The floating feeling was back, playing with her senses. Time seemed to ebb and flow. Her eyelids dipped, snapped back open. “What were you going to say a minute ago? When the nurse was still here.”

It had been important. That she was sure of.

Tipping his chin down, he rested his forehead on her knuckles. “I need to tell you something.”

“I’m listening.”

“Sixteen days,” she heard him whisper. His breath was warm on her fingers.

What was he talking about?

He raised his head and he met her gaze head-on. “I want more than sixteen days.”

The drugs and sleepiness were messing with her understanding. “What?”

“I want more than sixteen days with you.”

How long had she been out? They’d only been together a week. “What are you talking about?”

“I…uh…” His mouth moved, but words stopped coming out. He cleared his throat. “I thought I nearly lost you, and I… I’d like us to start over. But first I have to know, can you forgive me for misleading you?”

Starting over. Today was a new beginning for them. He was so sincere, so determined, a smile hovered at the corners of her mouth. She wished she could sit up and hug him.

The most strength she could conjure was to pat his face. “I might if you promise never to lie to me. Oh, and one other thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Come on my show and be interviewed. For real this time.”

“You don’t have a show anymore, Savanna. Remember?”

“I will,” she countered. “I have the scoop of the century. I’m going to have plenty of job offers.”

He grinned and put her hand back under the covers. “I promise never to lie, and we’ll negotiate the terms of my surrender with the interview when you’re feeling better. For now, I better go let your parents know you’re awake. They got here a couple hours ago and are very worried about you. They went down to the cafeteria for a bite to eat. Do you think you’re up to seeing them?”

Hell no. Her eyes were too heavy to hold open and she wasn’t sure she wanted to see her mother just yet anyway. “You should let them know I was awake and making plans for the future, but I’m going back to sleep now.”

He tapped her hand through the covers and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “I’ll tell them.”

“Thank you,” she said, closing her eyes. Precious, perfect sleep waited for her. “By the way?”

“Yeah?”

“I…want more than sixteen days too,” she said around a yawn. “Whatever that means.”

Snuggling down in the sheets, she kept an image of Trace’s smile in her mind as she let the sweet, peaceful darkness consume her.

Chapter Twenty-seven

_____________________

______________________________________________________

One month later

S
AVANNA’S STOMACH REVOLTED
at the lunch she’d packed herself. Ever since leaving the hospital, she’d had to eat small meals and stay away from carbonated beverages. The doctors had declared her healed, but soda and jalapeños were no longer part of her diet.

A knock sounded on the door and Charity, her new assistant popped her head in. “They’re ready for you in make-up, Ms. Bunkett.”

“Thank you, Charity. If you’re going to the corner deli for lunch today, would you pick up one of those strawberry-banana fruit smoothies for me?”

The girl had gotten her hair cut, her dark curls framing her lovely face and making her look her age instead of like a high school student. She had a soft southern accent and the organizing efficiency of Martha Stewart. “Like the one you had yesterday?”

Savanna nodded. “Solid food just isn’t working for me again today.”

“Sure, no problem. I’ll be back before you go on air.” She started to shut the door. “Oh, and Mr. Riceman wants a moment with you after the show to discuss the breaking news out of Oregon and that guy the FBI arrested for child porn. Says there’s a story there for you.”

Savanna nodded and Charity hustled off. Zeb was Savanna’s new boss after she had threatened to sue her old network for the rights to her show. They’d tried to get her to come back, now that she was America’s sweetheart again, but she’d told them to shove it. The lawyers had worked things out and she’d moved
The Bunk Stops Here
to her new network. She’d cut a deal with the executives of CNBC and Crime Investigations to bring Zeb with her, putting
The Bunk Stops Here
back on a national platform and getting back to work.

Lindsey had been left without a show but Savanna had heard she’d come up with a new cold case investigation show, and so far, it had decent ratings. Beatrice could not tie her to Norman and they’d all concluded that Lindsey was after Savanna’s job, but nothing more. Savanna wished her well and hoped they never crossed paths again.

The same was not true of Randy, the doorman. Rory had done some digging and was sure Randy was really a former, old-school CIA operative named Langston Covington. He’d done a few operations for various secret groups, including Command & Control at one point. He’d probably been assigned by Linc Norman to keep an eye on Savanna in hopes Parker would pay her a visit.

Parker
had
been visiting when Savanna was away but she was too good to get caught, even by someone like Covington.

Savanna had been offered multiple career deals, just like she’d predicted to Trace in the hospital. All she’d wanted was to be back on the air, under her own terms, debunking conspiracies and blowing the whistle on corrupt government officials, big businesses, and anything else that fell under her radar.

Every news outlet in the country, and a few outside of it, had asked her for an interview, to tell her story about what had happened with the president. She’d declined. Soon she’d have to go in front of Congress and give testimony. That would be the only interview she would ever do on the subject.

Several publishers had asked her to write a memoir. She’d considered it for half a second, then said no. If Parker or Trace wanted to write a book about what had happened, she’d give them her blessing, but she didn’t want to keep reliving the events of the past few months.

She suspected they didn’t either.

“Hey sis.” Parker blew into Savanna’s room in a royal blue trench coat with some wicked looking heels. She was smiling and looking like the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders. “Can I borrow that new Michael Kors bag again tonight? Henley asked me on a second date.”

Savanna accepted a hug, then shook her head at her sister. “No way. He took you to that German bar last time for a hotdog and soccer and you spilled beer on it.”

“I cleaned it off.”

“Took me two days to get the smell of that place out of the leather. Yuck.”

“We’re going to the Smithsonian with Beatrice and Cal to see
Einstein and the History of the Brain
exhibit.” She leaned a hip on Savanna’s table and picked at the uneaten lunch, snagging a couple of almonds. “There will be no beer involved.”

“Sure there won’t.”

It was good to have Parker back. They’d been nearly inseparable since Savanna had left the hospital. Parker had helped her move into a new, more secure building, and they’d spent quite a few nights telling each other the secrets they’d both been keeping.

This thing with Henley, though…

“You really like him?” Savanna asked, watching Parker stack a slice of cheese on a cracker. “He’s not your type.”

“That’s an understatement.” Parker chuckled but the blush on her face said it all. Normally, she gravitated to brainy types like herself. Geeks. Not bad boys with shady backgrounds and even shadier restaurant preferences. “I guess I’m up for a little ‘not my type’, you know? He’s so funny, and he can change his accent on a dime. No lie, he can do Southern Texan, Upper East Side New York, and everything in between. Irish, Scottish, British, East Indian. Aussie. He wants kids someday.”

Kids? Holy cow.

But there was that look in her sister’s eyes. The one that said Parker was happy.

And maybe in love.

Damn. That made two of them, only Savanna’s shady bad boy had left her high and dry.

It’s not like we were dating.

He’d said he wanted to start over. They sure had. He’d stuck around for a week after she’d left the hospital, taking her to physical therapy, and making sure she had everything she needed at her new place. Driving her to and from meetings with federal officials to give her statement and to meetings with the heads of various networks who wanted her to join their news teams. It had been a whirlwind of fun. Then, poof. He’d disappeared without so much as a ‘see ya later.’

“You can have the Kors bag,” Savanna said, heading for the door. Work was the only thing that kept her mind off the emptiness she felt every time she thought of Trace’s absence. “I have to get to makeup. Talk later, I promise.”

“Have you heard from him?”

Savanna stayed her hand on the doorknob. Parker didn’t need to say his name for Savanna to know who she was asking about. “Yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

Beatrice had told Savanna that Trace had been called to San Diego by the Navy for some meetings, but he wasn’t responding to her texts, and her calls went straight to voicemail. “Well, I haven’t heard from him directly since he left two weeks ago. However, the breaking news today about the guy in Oregon the Feds arrested?”

Parker’s eyes lit up. She still thought like an undercover operative even if she no longer was one. “You think Trace is behind that?”

Parker had told her most of what she could about her life undercover, and Savanna had told her sister about the coach who’d molested her. There were no more secrets between them. “The man is going by an alias, Parker, but it’s
him
. Coach Watson.”

Parker came off the desk. “No. Are you shitting me?”

Savanna shook her head. “Trace went after him. For me, I’m assuming.”

“That guy.” Parker smiled. “I really like him.”

Me too
. “He is not a good communicator.”

“Really? He went after a man who hurt you as a kid. Knowing Trace, he probably wanted to kill the guy but that wouldn’t have given you justice. Having the asshole arrested and embarrassed on national TV? Oh, yeah,
much
more satisfying. His alias will be stripped away and the truth of what happened all those years ago will come out, Savanna.” Her sister winked. “Seems like that’s a pretty strong message from a guy who loves you. You now have the opportunity to reveal everything that bottom-feeding piece of scum did to you and Nora, and make sure he never hurts another girl again.
That’s
justice, little sister.”

Maybe she was right. But love? Did Trace love her or was he acting out of a sense of duty and honor? Or, God help her, friendship? “Why can’t he text me and just say he’s okay?”

“That would leave a trail to Watson, and one thing he’s a master at, is not leaving a trail. He’s doing it anonymously and that’s the only way for him.”

She hadn’t thought of that. “At first I thought he ran because they might throw him back in jail, but his name’s been cleared. Beatrice said the Navy wants him back. They want to put him in charge of his own SEAL team. Have him teach them and take them into the field. She claims that’s why he left, but why wouldn’t he tell me?”

“Maybe he didn’t want you worrying about it. Of course, the Navy wants him back. He’s the ultimate fighting machine. Do you think he’ll do it? Go back to being a SEAL?”

Savanna shrugged. “Like I said, he doesn’t tell me anything. If he goes back to the Navy, it could take a year or more before his platoon is ready to go.” Rory had filled her in on how things worked with the Teams. “And that would mean he’d be in San Diego and I’d be here.”

Parker closed the distance between them and squeezed her arm. “He’ll be back soon and you guys can talk. You haven’t told him how you feel about him. He’s making decisions without knowing the truth. You said no more secrets, but you’re keeping a very big one from him.”

Her stomach clenched sending a new way of nausea through her. Maybe Parker was right. Not telling Trace she loved him, wondering if he loved her, was keeping her nerves on edge and affecting her mending stomach.

“If he would return a call or text me, I could at least get a feel for what he wants. Does he want a relationship? Does he not? I can’t say anything until I know. If he wants to go back to the SEALs and he ends up not doing that because of me, I couldn’t stand that. It would ruin things. I won’t be the reason he doesn’t go back to serving his country, Parker.”

“You read the file I brought you? The real one?”

Savanna nodded. She was using some of the basic information from it for her show in an hour. “That’s what I’m talking about. He’s a bona fide hero. The quiet, unsung hero. Maybe that’s what he still wants to be.”

“Or maybe he wants to start a new life with you. I’m telling you, that man loves you. I saw it the night you were shot. He’ll be back, I promise. I know how his brain works. And as soon as he is, you two need to talk and then we all have to go out and celebrate our new jobs.”