Jenna had made use of the facilities, found a café and ordered two cups of coffee. She was backing into the swinging door of Sawyer’s room when she heard a loud bang on the other side.
Thinking Sawyer might have fallen out of the bed, she shoved through quickly, her gaze going to the empty bed. Then she saw the man dressed in scrubs crouched by the window with a pillow in his hand, pressing it hard over Sawyer’s face.
Jenna flung the cups of hot coffee at the man and charged at him, hitting him like a linebacker tackling a quarterback. Her impact was enough force to knock him into the window glass.
He staggered, righted himself and spun to face her.
Jenna backed away and did the only other thing she could think of—she screamed bloody murder and dived across the bed, landing on the other side.
The man rounded the bed and came at her, his hands reaching for her neck.
Jenna grabbed the lamp off the nightstand and swung it hard.
The attacker knocked the lamp from her hands and it crashed into the wall.
The attacker’s hands wrapped around her throat and squeezed.
Kicking and flailing with all her strength, Jenna couldn’t get the man to let go. Her throat ached, she couldn’t breathe and darkness crept in around the edges of her vision. All she could think of was that she couldn’t let this guy kill her. If he did, there’d be no one stop him from killing Sawyer, if he hadn’t already.
With renewed resolve, she jerked her knee up, connecting with the man’s groin. He loosened his hold. Jenna knocked his arms away. She dropped to the ground, rolled out of reach and stood on the other side of the bed. With the little bit of strength she had left, she shoved the bed with all her might, slamming it against the man and pinning him against the wall.
Then Sawyer was standing beside her, leaning his weight into the bed with her, his face pale but his jaw set.
Trapped at the waist, the man couldn’t free his legs. He reached into the waistband of his scrubs and pulled out a handgun.
A large, shiny bedpan sailed across the room and caught the gun as the man pulled the trigger. His arm jerked back.
Jenna’s heart stopped. Nothing had hit her, which led her to believe Sawyer had been hit. When she looked over at him, her heart started beating again. He was still upright. The only blood visible soaked his bandages where he’d ripped his stitches loose.
Duff charged into the room and yanked the man out from between the wall and the bed, jerked his arm up behind his back and slammed his face into the wall.
Montana arrived and offered a zip tie to secure the man’s wrists behind his back. “Nice to see you have things under control. While you take care of our assassin, I’ll check on things downstairs.”
Jenna slipped an arm around Sawyer’s waist and let him lean on her.
“My father?” Sawyer asked.
Natalie entered the room as Duff left, and went to Sawyer, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Sawyer, I’m so very sorry.”
“What?” Sawyer gripped her arms. “What happened?”
Jenna’s heart pinched in her chest. Though she knew this was all a sham, she was amazed at how real Natalie and Sawyer made it feel.
“Your father—” Natalie paused, swallowed hard and continued “—was shot dead at the front entrance of the hospital.” Then she hugged him again and whispered something into his ear. She stepped back. “They’ve taken him to the morgue in the basement. His body will be prepared for shipment back to the States.”
Sawyer stared at her for a long time before saying, “I want to see him.”
“You shouldn’t be up and about,” Jenna said. “You’re bleeding.”
“I’ll let the doc sew me up again, but I want to see my father one last time.”
A nurse entered with two Mexican policemen.
The policemen took the attacker out of the room.
Duff left and returned with a wheelchair. He and Jenna eased Sawyer into it. Then Duff rolled him out of the room and down the hallway to the elevator. Jenna walked beside the chair and held Sawyer’s hand. She had to let go as they entered the elevator car.
The trip to the basement didn’t take long. When they arrived, an orderly led them into an embalming room, where a body lay on a gurney, covered in a sheet and surrounded by Lance, Quentin, Montana, Carly and Becca.
Natalie spoke to the orderly in halting Spanish, and he left.
As soon as the door closed behind the orderly, Senator Houston flung back the sheet and sat up on the gurney. “I thought you’d never get rid of that orderly.” He rubbed his chest. “I have to admit, I didn’t expect it to hurt that much. But I’m damn glad I had the armor plating.” He directed his attention to Sawyer, his brow furrowing into deep lines. “Son, are you okay?”
Sawyer frowned. “Why did you come?”
The frown eased from the senator’s brow. “I got a message that you would be killed if I didn’t come to Cancún immediately.” He stared at Sawyer. “I came.”
Sawyer’s jaw tightened.
Jenna could feel the tension between the two men. She laid a hand on Sawyer’s shoulder, wanting to take away the physical as well as the emotional pain. But she remained silent.
Sawyer reached up and covered her hand with his as he spoke to his father. “You realize now that you’re dead, you have to stay dead until we figure out who is trying to kill you.”
His father nodded. “I spoke with Royce Fontaine, head of Stealth Operations Specialists. I understand what has to happen.”
“And you’re going to walk away from your office for however long it takes?”
“For good, if I have to.” Rand Houston shoved a hand through his hair. “On the flight down from DC, I had time to reflect on my life, yours and what’s important. It took me thirty years to come to the conclusion that your life is more important to me than my work in the senate.”
Sawyer snorted. “A little late, don’t you think?”
His father nodded. “Yeah. But not too late for you. Now that I’m playing dead, whoever wanted to hurt me by hurting you ideally will stop trying. That’s what counts. Look, son, I don’t expect you to forgive me for being a lousy father. I just want you to live a full life and be happy. If being a SEAL makes you happy, I think that’s great. I might not have told you this, but the proudest day of my life was the day you graduated BUD/S training. I couldn’t be there because we had a hostage crisis in Libya going on at the time.” The senator shook his head. “I know. It was always something. I’m glad you’re going to be okay, and I hope when this is all over, we can meet for coffee and start over.” He held out his hand to his son.
For a long moment, Sawyer stared at it. Finally he took the hand and shook it. “I’ll take you up on that cup of coffee as long as I get to choose the place. I can’t stand that fancy coffee.”
Senator Houston grinned. “You’re on.”
Natalie’s cell phone buzzed. She listened and then lifted her head. “Senator Houston, your ambulance has arrived to take you to the plane.”
He nodded and looked around the room as if for the first time. “I guess I’m off to a new life and a new identity. Who knows? Maybe I’ll like it enough that I won’t want to go back to the Capitol.” He lay back on the gurney. Natalie covered him with the sheet, and they rolled him out of the morgue, into the waiting ambulance.
Quentin and Montana rode in the back of the ambulance with the senator. Carly opted to go with Quentin.
Once his father was on his way to the airport, Sawyer let Duff push his wheelchair back to the elevator and help him to his room and the bed.
“If you’re all right, I think I’ll head to the hotel with Natalie and Becca. I’d like to get a shower and shave. I’ll be back later.”
Sawyer waved at his friend. “Go. I seriously doubt I’ll be attacked again. If I am, I have my bodyguard to keep me safe.” He smiled at Jenna.
A warm feeling spread through her, but it was immediately cooled when the nurse and doctor entered the room.
They spent the next ten minutes suturing the torn stitches. They gave him a bag of ice for the knot on his head from being slammed into the window and apologized for the lapse in hospital security that allowed a madman to attack him.
All the while the nurse and doctor worked with Sawyer, Jenna hung back. Now that Sawyer was on the mend and out of danger of being shot or stabbed, he no longer needed her.
Jenna wondered if she should go back to her room and get on with her vacation.
The door closed behind the doctor and nurse, leaving her alone with Sawyer.
“Hey,” Sawyer said. “Why are you way over there, when I’m way over here?”
Jenna shrugged. “I was thinking I should go, now that you don’t need me anymore.”
“What are you talking about?” He lay back against the pillows. “You’re my bodyguard. All you need is a couple of cups of coffee and a hospital bed to neutralize any threat.”
Jenna crossed to him and let him take her hand. She liked the way it looked so small in his bigger hand. “I figured you might not want a boring accountant holding you back.”
He caught her chin in his palm and forced her to look at him. “You are not boring. Hell, you’re the most exciting woman I’ve ever had the honor to be saved by.” He laced his fingers with hers and brought them to his lips. “A wise old SEAL told me I should give myself and my girl a chance to find happiness. Now, since I don’t have a girl, or at least don’t have one yet, I was hoping, if you can stand to be around a guy who is all cut up and might bleed on you while making love, you might consider going on a date with me?”
Her heart swelled and threatened to burst from her chest. “I’d love to.”
“Good. As soon as I’m out of this hospital, you’re on. But while I’m stuck here, I swear this bed will fit two.” He patted the mattress beside him. “I won’t ask for anything but your warm body next to mine, and I’ll even let you sleep, because—” he yawned “—I think they gave me a really good painkiller.”
Jenna crawled up beside him, careful not to jolt him. Then she lay in the curve of his arm, snuggling beside a pretty amazing SEAL.
“Mmm. Now, that’s more like it,” Sawyer murmured. “I could fall in love with a woman like you. Feisty and never boring.”
* * * * *
Read on for an excerpt from
HARD RAIN,
the next installment in
New York Times bestselling author
B.J. Daniels’s series
THE MONTANA HAMILTONS.
When Brody McTavish sees Harper Hamilton’s runaway horse galloping across the pastures, he does what any good cowboy would do—gives chase and rescues her. But they soon have bigger problems when they make a gruesome discovery—human remains that will dredge up old Hamilton family mysteries...and bring about a scandal that could threaten all Harper’s loved ones.
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