Someone was here. Jeff’s mind connected the dots, the way it had been doing ever since Zander told him the truth of who Toni was. He figured he could guess precisely who was darkening the doorway of his secondary hideout.
Jeff pulled his pistol from the holster on the back of his belt. No need to flick off the safety, given he never engaged it. If there was a threat, that extra step meant precious seconds during which he could be dead already.
He could hardly believe it was true. Toni’s real identity, and she didn’t even remember. There was so much to say. And yet, the threat was still very real. He wasn’t going to forgive Zander for a while.
And he couldn’t even talk about it with the one person who was right in the middle.
Because she didn’t remember a thing.
“This place is a dump, bro.”
Jeff didn’t stow the weapon back in its holster. Tate. He stepped from the bathroom and saw his friend in the middle of the living room. “What are you doing here? I figured you were…never mind. I could have shot you.”
“Toni is safe, by the way.” Tate stuck a hand in his jeans pocket, despite the fact Jeff still hadn’t put his gun away. “When she’s released from the hospital later today, she’ll be in protective custody at the motel in town.”
He wanted to quip back, asking why that was any of his business, but his mouth couldn’t quite form the words. He didn’t want to talk about Toni. And yet, at the same time he wanted to soak in everything about her.
She was here. Alive.
“That frees us up to find this guy who tried to kill you before he shows back up to try again.”
“You know who he is?”
“We have a lead on a stalker who was interested in Kristine Simmons. Savannah hasn’t been able to find him, but she has all the cops out looking.”
“And you think that’s who tried to kill Toni?”
“Plus burn down that barn with you in it and Ruby upstairs.” His gaze roamed over Jeff, like he was trying to assess him for injuries. “You good?”
Jeff shrugged. Aside from the cough and a couple spots where he was a little singed, he was good.
“She said he hit you over the head.”
“I can still remember who I am.”
Before Tate could comment on that, Jeff continued, “What is there for us to do?” It seemed to him like the cops had it covered with the stalker—if that’s who was behind all this. “Toni is safe, and the cops will take care of this guy.”
“You’d rather stay here and do nothing?”
“I’m not doing nothing.” Jeff stowed the gun then, only so he could scrub his hand down his face. “There are things happening you have no idea about.”
Tate strode to the couch and flopped down. “So tell me.”
“Toni isn’t who you think she is.”
“No? She doesn’t really have amnesia?”
“She isn’t helpless.”
“Seems to me that might not be true. Then again,” Tate said, “we’re all, in our own right, both strong and vulnerable. We all possess the ability to take care of ourselves, but we need each other as well. More than some of us want to admit.”
Jeff started to argue. Talking hit that scratch in his throat he’d been ignoring since the fire and he had to cough it out. That made his head pound, even though he’d taken a good dose of over-the-counter pain meds.
He’d been on enough drugs after his arm was blown off that he didn’t especially want to go in and see a doctor now. Or take more than the basics, unless the situation warranted it.
If he had a problem, he would call the doc.
“Your friend got herself medical treatment. Her hand is bad, by the way. But she’ll heal.”
He got water from the cracked sink. This cabin was barely a hut, and even a hunter out trying to bag a deer in season would think twice about staying here. Didn’t matter though. It was more secret than his previous house. And that was all that mattered. “By the way, why’d you come here?”
“Zander gave Toni the address for the other house.”
“That’s why she had it in her pocket?”
Jeff nodded.
“That’s great.” Tate slapped his knees. “There’s no breach of security if he sent her. Right? She’s not an assassin. I’m sure once she remembers everything, you two can talk it out.”
Jeff just stared.
“What?”
“Just because you married the love of your life doesn’t mean it’s going to happen to me. You know my life isn’t going to work that way.”
“Why not?” Tate shrugged. “She’s in danger, you’re dragged in. You help. She falls the rest of the way in love with you. What’s wrong with that?”
“Uh…the fact she doesn’t want to spend her life with a one-armed man who lives in a dump with no name, no bank account, no identity, and no contact with the outside world?”
“Pshh.”
“Those aren’t things you can just dismiss.”
“Seems to me you can just talk it out.”
“Great. Then we’ll be static when our enemies catch up with us. Two people are more visible than one. When I thought she was the threat, it was fine. Now that I know she’s here because of me, I can’t let them find either of us. If they do, it doesn’t matter what’s happening between us. We’ll both be dead.”
“Good. Now that I know what you’re worried about, we can make a plan.”
Jeff shook his head. “If there was an answer, I wouldn’t have been declared dead by the military.”
“Then why push so hard to find this guy trying to kill her?”
“It can’t just be because he shot me?” Jeff could hold a mean grudge if he wanted to.
“Seems like you’re intent on ignoring the obvious.”
He folded his arm across his chest. “And what is that?”
“She needs you. Duh.” Tate stared at Jeff like he had no clue. “Maybe he hit you over the head harder than I thought.”
“Did you come here for a reason, or just to tell me how I’m wrong when you know barely anything about the situation?”
Tate stood. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“You’d rather stay here? That guy is out there. He still wants Toni dead. You want to hide out and lick your wounds while he hunts her down and kills her?”
“You know, I could shoot you up here and get rid of your car in the lake. No one would ever know what happened.”
Tate grinned. “Tough cookie. You can’t, because I told Conroy I was helping you. He’d come looking.”
“I regret sharing with you.”
Tate squeezed the back of Jeff’s neck. “Like I said. Lying to yourself, bro.” He gave Jeff a brotherly shove toward the door.
Jeff didn’t bother arguing. Not when he could at least admit he didn’t much want to stay up here in this stinky cabin. “I’m not in denial. Toni doesn’t remember who she is, or the fact she let me believe she was dead.”
Tate got in his side of the car. Jeff hesitated. His natural instincts were not to allow another person to be in control of his surroundings. There could be too many potential problems that arose, even with a guy he trusted.
Tate leaned across the front seat and shoved the door open. “Get in.”
Jeff settled in the seat.
“Need help with your belt?”
He answered by clicking it in. “What’s the deal with this stalker guy?”
“His name is Lenny Marks.” Tate pulled out in a spray of gravel. “Savannah talked to his father, Andrew Marks. The guy is elderly and has a nurse that comes every day. He’s in a wheelchair. Didn’t get much out of him when I knocked on the door. I’m pretty sure he hates the kid, or he’s just embarrassed. Or both. We’re going to track down the nurse. See if she’ll give us anything.”
“Fine.” Jeff stared out the window.
He did want to find this guy, even with the police looking as well. But being out in the daylight? That was a whole different situation. Especially when Tate drove through town. People knew his car. A few even waved.
Jeff pulled the hood of his sweater up, obscuring his face. “I shouldn’t be out.”
“Can’t live in fear, bro.”
“I thought I was in denial. Now I’m living in fear? You should make up your mind.”
“Or you should realize it’s both.”
“I don’t want to talk about his. Let’s just find the guy, and then I’ll go home.”
“Unless I drop you wherever Toni is. Then that’s where you’ll be.”
“Except now I know that’s your plan, I can duck out before it happens.” Jeff shifted in his seat. “Thanks for the head’s up.”
Tate grinned a clever smile Jeff did not like at all. If Toni was already wherever they were going, he would not be surprised.
“I can’t be wherever she is. It’s not safe for either of us.”
Right now, her life was anonymous. The cops in town, and Zander, would make sure she stayed below the radar until she remembered who she was. Then she’d realize it was too late.
“They told me she was dead.”
“Which is what she was told about you, right?”
Jeff bit down on his molars.
“You were both lied to. Or you did the lying. Doesn’t matter. You forgive each other, and you move on.”
“Hard to move on if you’re dead.”
“There’s a threat? Take care of it.” Tate shrugged.
As though it was that easy. “There will be no end to this threat. It doesn’t matter, it’s the choice I made to safeguard the identity of everyone on the team.”
“And it hasn’t occurred to Zander he should take care of this for you? Seems like something he would do.”
“I told him to leave it alone. Not a can of worms anyone needs opening.”
“Yeah but—”
“Can we not talk about this?”
The whole situation was entirely too complicated. She’d come here for him, and instead of showing up at the address she had, Toni spent her time trying to find his sister. Why would she do that?
Instead of putting feelers out and taking a neutral approach to the lie he’d been fed, Jeff had chosen to lick his wounds in solitude.
They’d both been steered like puppets, just the way their superiors had decided. And yet, she’d made the move to change things.
Was that what had happened? Until she remembered everything, there would be no way to know. His only shot was getting Zander to give up what he knew. He winced. After Jeff had blown up on the phone at his friend, he wasn’t sure Zander would answer anytime soon.
All he knew right now was that she’d come here for him.
Toni was in danger with no memory of how to safeguard herself. Instinct would take her so far, but it wasn’t enough. She needed her memories back.
“It’s not much farther.”
Jeff said, “We should be doing this at night. I can’t be seen.”
“I’ll make sure no one sees you.”
Tate didn’t understand the threat. Jeff should have explained it better, and was about to, when Tate pulled into a driveway. It went all the way down the side of the house, and Tate parked at the very end so they wouldn’t be seen from the street.
It would also be harder to get out if they were boxed in by someone.
“I don’t like this.”
Tate reached over and pulled a gun from the glove box. “But you like this guy being out there, torturing Greg Simmons, coming after Toni?” He waited a beat for an answer Jeff wasn’t going to give. Then he said, “Let’s go. She might know where to find this guy.”
There was a whole lot riding on this theory of Savannah’s that had the stalker behind all this.
But Tate was wrong. Jeff seriously did not like this guy, or the laser focus he had on Toni. Jeff wasn’t going to rest until he was removed from the equation.
Tate led the way to the back door.
It was open.
“I did this already at Simmons’s house. He was strapped to a chair and barely alive.” Jeff didn’t want to see that again.
Tate went in while Jeff stayed in the doorway. Conroy might’ve seen him, but that didn’t mean he needed to leave DNA or prints at any scene.
“We don’t need an ambulance.” Tate reappeared. “The nurse is dead.”
Jeff only cared about one thing. “Take me to Toni.”