Then an old habit kicked in. One he was always careful to keep to himself—and he definitely had to lock down now that Zee was here.
“You seeing this, Matt?” He didn’t know when he started talking to his fallen brother-in-arms. Somewhere between the horrible day that the op went wrong and the funeral.
He watched Matt’s widow through the glass a moment longer. “If you had anything to do with sending her here, I’m not real impressed with your sense of humor.”
The memory of the last time he’d seen Zee slid into his mind whether he wanted it or not.
The funeral had been gray and cold, the ocean wind cutting through the cemetery while the team stood at attention beside the flag-draped coffin. Zee had stood with Matt’s family near the front, dressed in black, her hands clasped tight.
She hadn’t made a single sound. No sobs for the husband she’d lost. Not even a sniffle.
But tears had slipped quietly down her cheeks while she stared straight ahead, silent and shaky in a way that twisted deep in Church’s chest. Even then, there had been a strength about her that made it impossible to look away.
Seeing her now, three years later, stirred a different reaction in him.
She looked thinner. A little worn around the edges, like life had taken a few hard swings at her since the funeral and she’d taken every one without bracing.
He didn’t like that.
Matt wouldn’t have liked it either.
He slowed for half a step outside the office, but nothing could dispel the weight he carried in his chest.
Matt had trusted him, and he’d let him down.
Church dragged a hand over his jaw, the scrape of callus on stubble the soundtrack to the painful realization setting in.
He’d watched Matt’s six and made calls that kept them both breathing. And still…Matt hadn’t come home.
He couldn’t believe she was here, in his world.
His gut twisted. He didn’t have a place in her life—didn’t deserve one.
He continued past the glass before he could let the thought burrow any deeper than it already had, and headed for the exit. Standing around watching her wasn’t going to solve anything—for either of them—and he had a job waiting on himoutside Willowbrook. The Black Heart Security team’s “easy” assignment.
He stepped into the Wyoming air and strode toward his truck, pulling his keys from his pocket.
Bodyguard duty on a movie set wasn’t exactly his usual kind of mission. But he felt a responsibility to help out his team when they offered it. Besides, it would keep him busy while they waited for the operators in training to arrive. Most of the prep work for the first training rotation was already done. There wasn’t much left to do except wait.
And waiting gave a man too much time to stand around watching things he wasn’t sure how to handle.
Church reached the movie location just as the afternoon light began to soften over the mountains.
The valley opened wide beneath the ridge line, the Wyoming peaks rising sharp and rugged behind the temporary village of trailers and equipment trucks. Pines framed the edges of the clearing while a narrow dirt road wound down through the trees toward the set.
Someone had chosen this place for its beauty, and while he noticed the striking backdrop of granite and sky, he saw it the way he always saw terrain. As cover. Elevation. Or places enemies could hide.
He parked his truck along the edge of the clearing and stepped out, letting the door shut behind him while he scanned the area for the very things he’d look for when dropping into a battle zone.
In this case, the battle would be keeping potential threats away from a movie star.
He took a slow walk around the perimeter. A handful of crew members moved around hauling cables and big lights on stands. Trailers were clustered in a row on one side of the clearing.
The road coming in was visible from a distance. Good. Anyone approaching would be easy to spot. The tree line on the north side was thicker. A person could slip in there if they were determined enough.
He made a mental note to find out who owned that property and what the chances were that people could enter the set through those woods.
“Hello.”
