They said goodbye and Ben drove up to Sarah’s home.
A worried Jim greeted them at the car, opening Sarah’s door.“Can you walk?”he asked.“Or should I carry you?”
“No, I can walk.I’m just a little wobbly.”She took her dad’s arm.
Willie ran up from the barn.“Miss Sarah, are you all right?”Concern tightened his young features.Before she could answer, he faced Ben.“Nothing happened to her here on the ranch, Sir.I’ve been watching out real close.”
“No, I know that, Willie.”Ben came around the hood.“I was on the highway when the accident happened.Saw it all.You’ve done well here.”
“Don’t want to lose my place on Team Sarah,” he said, studying her pale features.
Ben clapped the youth on his back.“Your place is solid on the team.Keep up the good work.”
Sarah forced a weak smile.“I’m okay, Willie.Just bruised.”Slowly, she moved toward the house.
Ben followed.
Because she didn’t want to go to her room yet, she lay on the living room sofa and accepted a cold compress for her head.
While she rested, Ben pulled Big Jim into the kitchen for muttered explanations and to tell him of his plans.
Jim nodded.“I think that’s best.”
After that, Ben took up night vigil.He made an outdoor circuit of the house, made certain all windows and doors were locked tight, then viewed the video camera feed.There was nothing out of the ordinary.
In a chair opposite Sarah’s sofa, he took out his Glock, checked the chamber, and then laid it on the coffee table.He turned the lamp down low and laced his fingers over his stomach.
As the evening progressed, they didn’t talk much and in a couple of hours, Sarah fell into a fitful sleep.
He didn’t relax.The evening was long and the hours stretched out.He was a sentinel in the night now, a guard dog on hyper alert.He didn’t sleep.
At daybreak, Sarah awoke, stretched, and blinked sleepily.She spotted Ben in his chair.“Did I pass out here on the couch?”She began to sit up.“Ouch,” she said, her hand going to her temple.The contusion was already turning blue.
“Yep,” Ben said, getting to his feet.“Glad you’re awake.We need to head out now.”
“Head out?”
“Pack a bag.You’ll be gone for a while.”The urge to leave right then gripped him.
“I will?
“It’s too dangerous to stay here.We’ve got to get you off the X.”
“Maybe it’s just early morning” —she pushed hair from her eyes— “but I feel like you’re speaking a foreign language.”
“The X is the most dangerous place you can be in the battle zone,” he explained, picking up his weapon and holstering it.“If a squad of military men find themselves in the worst possible position and under fire, that’s the X—the hot zone.That’s where we are right now.This asshole tracking you is getting too close.”He rubbed his beard stubble.“I have to get you out of here.At least for a while.Until things cool down.”
“Where am I going?”
“To Texas,” he said.“With me.”
