They got into bed, like everything was okay. But nothing was okay, not really.
“Pima,” Stryker called. “Come here, demon kitty.”
The cat came whizzing into the bedroom, jumped up, and walked over his legs and up to his chest. He stared down at Stryker.
“This is my secret weapon,” Stryker said, patting the animal. “I need crazy kitty on my side.”
“You’re gonna need a lot more than that cat to save you. You’ve put me in a terrible situation. I know I confided that I want to leave the department, but now you’ve forced my hand.”
“Babe, you gotta trust me on this.”
She turned out the light and he spooned behind her. She lay there thinking about the man in her bed. By hunting for his mom’s killer, he’d become one himself. And she had envisioned spending the rest of her life with him.What am I gonna do?
His phone rang in the middle of the night, waking her from a deep sleep.
“Truman,” he answered. “I’m not at home. Hold on while I check my security cameras.”
Emerson turned on the table lamp.
“I slept through the alerts,” Stryker said. “No police. Did you turn off the alarm? I’ll handle it from here. Thanks for the call.” He hung up, bolted out of bed, and pulled on his clothes.
“Someone broke into your house?” she asked while dressing.
“Looks that way.” He grabbed his Glock. “Is your vest here?”
“Yeah.”
“Put it on?”
“We don’t have—”
“Do it.”
She took the extra minute to put on her Kevlar vest before holstering her Glock. “Where’s your vest?”
“Club.”
“We’ll stop there and grab it.” He opened his mouth to speak and she put up her hand to silence him. “Don’t argue with me.”
He said nothing.
As he drove, she re-played his security videos. Two people dressed in black and wearing black ski masks sliced through the screen door on his back porch, then cut the glass on his French doors. Once inside, the kitchen camera videoed them hurrying up the stairs. The camera in his bedroom activated when they walked into the room and sprayed his bed with gunfire.
Emerson gasped. “Oh, my God.”
He glanced over. “What are they doing?”
“They just unloaded on your bed,” she murmured. “If I had kicked you out…” She couldn’t finish that sentence.
* * *
Someone tried to take me out.
Seething with anger, Stryker pulled into The Dungeon parking lot and parked at the back door. Then, he set his gaze on Emerson. “You saved my life.”
Once in Travesty, heunlocked the gear room and put on his vest. She stood in the doorway, staring at the cubbies where his crew’s gear hung.
“I never would have suspected this was back here,” she said.
