“What are you doing in myhouse?”
“I wanted to talk toyou.”
Her exotic green eyes darted to the right, and King trailed her gaze. This young silent girl’s back was still turned to them, as she quietly colored at the child-sized table against the wall. “We can talkoutside.”
“I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just need to ask you a couple ofquestions.”
She put the coffee cups on the table and pointed to the door, clearly worried. “We can talkoutside.”
She thought he was a serial killer or something, he could see it plain as day on her face. And why wouldn’t she? He’d invaded her home, uninvited. For all she knew he could be Jack theRipper.
“Listen, Laura. I’m not who you think I am—” hebegan.
“Clearly,” she returned and then covered her mouth as if the words had slipped outunintentionally.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I am looking for your brother. He and I are on the teamstogether.”
There was a brief flare of surprise in her eyes that was just as quickly shuttered. Laura licked her lips, shuffling back a step. “My brother’s dead. If you are on his team you would knowthat.”
“Laura, I am not here to harm you or your daughter. I worked with John for years. I thought he was dead too.” King slowly lowered his hands to his side, careful to keep them away from his body in the least-threatening position as possible. The last thing he wanted to do was spook the sister. He needed her; she was his one connection toDawson.
“John is dead. And I’m sorry, but anyone that breaks into my house isn’t welcome here. If you truly are who you say you are then you’ll leave.” She crossed her arms over her chest in a protective gesture, easing her way closer to thechild.
He watched her carefully, noting how she just as often glanced toward the kitchen as she did to the child. King shifted his stance easing over carefully so that he could see farther into the room behind her. She was hiding something; even someone without training could see that. But he could also see exactly how fearful she was for her daughter, and that was not what he wanted. “Listen, I think that you and I both know that Dawson isalive.”
He paused, watching as her expression turned wary, not shocked. Affirmed, he continued, “And I know you must love your brother. I just want to talk tohim.”
And lock him away in a cell so that he can never harm anyoneagain.
Laura took the two final shuffles over to the child and placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder. The girl silently looked up and followed Laura’s tense gaze to King. Unlike her mother, the child swept him with an open and curiousgaze.
King smiled and attempted to put her at ease. “What’s hername?”
“Faith.” Her one-word, terse reply came as if onautopilot.
“Well Faith, I’m King. I’m a friend of your uncle’s.” Faith’s size put her around six or seven he guessed, her honey blonde hair a few shades lighter than Laura’s, deeper auburn-colored hair. She had clear, liquid blue eyes, piercing in their intensity. Faith got to her feet, a small tattered stuffed cat clutched under her left arm. “What’s your cat’sname?”
Laura scooted Faith behind her, squaring off with King. “Look, I can’t help you. I really want you toleave.”
King eased farther to the left, glancing beyond her shoulder. He could see the small island and white refrigerator tucked in the corner, but not the far wall where he knew the back door to the house would be. “I know he’s been here.” King took a shot in the dark, hoping against hope that John had indeed showed up to his only living relative. Where else would the mango?
Laura’s breath caught briefly. “He hasn’t; he’s dead,remember?”
Of course, she would be loyal to her brother, just as King had been loyal to his ownfamily.
King tried another tactic. “I sawhim.”
And Dawson had shot him nearly point blank, nearly taking his life, not just his eye. His fingers itched to touch the thick black patch. The image of Dawson popping up before him like a ghost, the bright orange explosion as he fired off a round just feet from his face, flashed in his mind. King forced himself to focus on the sister. “He’s changed, Laura,” King said quietly. “He’s not the same man he wasbefore.”
Laura’s hand, delicate and soft looking, drifted up around her throat, but she didn’t say anything inresponse.
Sensing something, a weakness maybe, King pressed forward. “We all thought he was dead too, but something happened to him. Something bad.” Something King and his team had to find out before Dawson unleashed whatever insanity he’d developed onto an unsuspectingpublic.
Or an unsuspecting family ignorantly attempting to protect theirkin.
King glanced at the young child behind her. “I know this is difficult, if there was any way for me to sugarcoat it I would, but your brother is not stable. He attacked my team and me. He hurt a couple ofus.”
“No, John would never hurt his own team any more than he would hurt his family.” Laura’s husky voice grew more forceful as she spoke. “I’ve known my brother my whole life, and the only thing he ever wanted to do was serve his country. He’s an honorable and goodman.”
