Josie had barely spoken a word to Blade since arriving at the safe house. She was distracted, preoccupied and jittery, hardly surprising under the circumstances, but he sensed that something else was weighing heavily on her mind—something more than the narrow escape from her attacker. She was pacing the hallway, stressing about her missing suitcase.
“Relax,” Blade said. “Detective Pullman will be here soon. Why don’t you sit in the living room with Detective Sykes while I make some iced tea?”
As she shook her head, Archie’s voice echoed through the house. “Mom, Mom,” he called, tearing down the stairs. “You should see my room. It’s got a jungle painted on the wall.” He took a deep breath and splayed his fingers in the air, pausing for dramatic effect. “Including tons of parrots. Sherbet loves it. It’s like being back in the wild.” He turned to Blade, his expression changing to an earnest one. “Budgies don’t actually live in the jungle. They are knave to Australia, but Sherbet doesn’t know that.”
“The word is native, honey,” Josie said. “Budgies are native to Australia.”
Blade smiled at his son. “You are such a smart kid, you know that? I had no idea that parakeets come from Australia.”
“I know all about parakeets,” Archie said, already climbing the stairs to return to his cool new room. “I can teach you.” He continued speaking even as he rounded the bend in the stairs and disappeared from view. “Boy budgies talk better than girl budgies. That’s why I got a boy.”
Josie pulled her cashmere cardigan tightly around her waist as she stared up the empty staircase. “He sure loves that budgie,” she said in a faraway tone. “It’s his best friend.”
“Are you okay?” Blade asked, going to stand next to her in the wide hallway. “Do you like the house?”
Josie glanced absentmindedly around the brand-new family home still smelling of fresh paint. The house was set in a recent development on the outskirts of Wichita, where every home was almost identical: large and detached with a perfectly clipped lawn. Inside, the overwhelming presence of the color beige created an insipid and characterless interior, broken up only by the occasional potted plant. But it was comfortable, with big fabric sofas and a wide-screen TV. Blade wouldn’t have cared if Detective Sykes had taken them to a barn in a field. As long as he was with Josie and Archie, this was all that mattered.
When Josie didn’t answer his question, Blade put a hand on her arm, and she shrank away from his touch.
“It’s nice,” she said, shivering slightly. “A little cold, perhaps, but the thermostat just got switched on.” She walked to a heating vent in the wall and leaned against it. “There are a lot of stairs, so maybe you’d like to choose one of the downstairs rooms as your bedroom.”
“Stairs are no problem for me,” he said.
“Are you sure? I’m sorry. I didn’t think to ask about accessibility.”
“I said that stairs aren’t a problem for me,” he said, injecting a little annoyance into his voice. She was trying to be helpful but failing miserably. “I might sleep on the first floor, anyway,” he continued. “I’d like to stay close to all the points of entry.”
Josie fell silent. Something else was bothering her.
He tried to catch her eye. “What’s up?”
She took her time to respond. “I’m not sure that this is a good arrangement.”
“What do you mean?” Was she asking him to leave?
Josie clearly struggled to contain her tears when speaking. “I don’t think it’s safe for Archie to be with me right now. It’s not fair to him. What if that crazy man finds me here?” She pointed to the front door. “You saw what happened on the drive over here. This guy doesn’t care who gets caught up in the cross fire. Archie could end up…” She couldn’t finish the sentence, and put a hand over her mouth to stop a cry from escaping.
“A detective will be stationed here twenty-four hours a day,” Blade said. “And there are panic buttons in every room. Plus, I’ll be here around the clock. I promise to protect our son with my own life if necessary.”
She looked him straight in the eye, her green irises glinting like jade. “School starts back next week. What are you going to do then? Sit with him in class? Stand guard in the school yard at recess?”
Blade heard the hostility in her voice, but he knew it was caused by fear. “Archie is in first grade,” he said. “He can take a couple of weeks off school, surely? We’ll homeschool him for a while. Between the two of us, plus your dad, I think we’ve got all bases covered.”
She sighed heavily. “We can’t keep him cooped up in this house all day every day. He needs to see his friends. He needs to be a normal little boy.”
Blade began to wonder what Josie was skirting around. “What are you suggesting we do? It seems like you have a plan already but are shy about sharing it.”
“I think he should go stay with my aunt in Nebraska for a while. It seems like the safest option.”
Blade didn’t like this option at all. “How is it safer? He’ll be unprotected there.”
“Don’t you see?” Josie replied. “My attacker isn’t interested in hurting Archie. He’s only interested in hurting me. And if he finds me here, he might target Archie to get to me. So it makes sense for us to be separated.” Her voice cracked slightly. “As much as I can’t bear to be parted from my little boy, I have to be sensible.”
Blade could hear Archie and his granddad talking upstairs, their voices intermingled with the chirrups and whistles of Sherbet. They sounded relaxed and happy in their new environment.
“I understand your reasoning,” Blade said quietly. “But I happen to think that the best thing for Archie would be to stay with his mom. You’re a family, and families should stick together at times like these.”
She stood up straight. “Are you thinking of what’s best for Archie or what’s best for you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you met your son only this morning, so I’m guessing you don’t want to be parted from him.” She eyeballed him, challenging him. “You don’t want to send him to Nebraska because you want him here with you.”
“Of course I want him here with me,” Blade said, his voice rising slightly. “You’ve had six years to get to know our son, and I’ve had barely six hours.” He put a hand on his heart. “It physically hurts to think of all the time I’ve missed out on.”
“That’s not my fault,” Josie retorted.
“I’m not blaming you,” Blade said, feeling the need to calm the situation down before they began a blazing argument. “The time I’ve missed with Archie is all my own fault. When I came back from Afghanistan, I should’ve realized there was a chance you could be pregnant. I should’ve talked to you instead of leaving in a hurry. I was in a bad place, and I shut you out. I’m sorrier about that than you’ll ever know.”
Josie leaned against the vent again. She seemed pacified by his apology.
“You’ll have plenty of time to catch up with Archie and get to know him after the trial,” she said. “For now, we need to focus on how to keep him safe. I’m going to call my aunt today.”
Blade tried to contain the frustration that was creeping into him. “So my opinion doesn’t count?” he asked. “Am I a father in name only?”
Josie’s shoulders sagged. “I don’t want to fight with you, Blade, but I think it’s too dangerous for Archie to stay here.”
“At least I can keep an eye on him if he’s close to me,” Blade said. “A father should be allowed to protect his son, right? There’s no way I can relinquish that authority to anybody else.”
She looked resigned to Blade’s fierce argument. “Okay,” she relented. “Then I’ll ask my aunt if you can go stay with her, too. She has plenty of space, so I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”
Blade ran a hand down his face in exasperation. “I need to be able to protect you, too, Josie. I’d rather you and Archie were in the same place, so I can keep you both safe.”
“I never asked you to look after me, Blade,” she said coolly. “I have police detectives to do that. That’s what they’re trained for.”
Blade raised his voice slightly. “That’s what I’ve been trained for, too. I know how to detect danger, evade capture and protect the innocent. And I probably know how to do it way better than a Wichita detective.”
“But…” she began, before stopping.
He crossed his arms. “But what?”
“You’re not a SEAL anymore. You were medically discharged, remember?”
“I’m still the same man.” He looked down at his legs. “Physically there’s a little less of me now, but I have the same heart I always did.”
“You don’t have the same body,” she said. “You shouldn’t be running through a hail of bullets or standing guard for hours on end. You’re training for the Invictus Games, right? You can’t afford to be injured. You have to protect your good leg.”
He raised his eyebrows. “My good leg?”
“Yes,” she said, folding her arms. “You have to take care of yourself.”
He stared at her, his patience with her condescension wearing thin. “I’ll take the risk.”
“I’m just trying to look out for you, Blade,” she said, a little more softly this time. “This is serious.”
His patience finally snapped. “I know this is serious,” he said. “And the risk is mine to take, not yours.” His pent-up anger was threatening to burst its way out into the open, so he threw his hands up into the air and turned on his heel. “I’m done talking with you.”
As he stalked away, Josie called him back. “Blade, wait.”
He stopped, but kept his back to her.
“I’m sorry if I upset you,” she said. “Let’s not fight. I don’t want Archie to see us arguing.” She sighed. “I won’t call my aunt today. I’ll give it a few days and then reassess the situation. How does that sound?”
He let the anger flow from his body and turned around. This was progress. “It sounds like we just made our first coparenting decision. I’m happy with that arrangement.”
Josie’s eyes flicked everywhere but to Blade’s. “Good.”
Silence descended, quickly followed by awkwardness, and the huge gulf between them was evident. Neither knew how to reach out to the other, too afraid to speak for fear of igniting another disagreement.
“I’ll go help Archie unpack,” Josie said, running upstairs as if making a quick escape. “He might need me.”
Blade watched her feet bounce up the stairs, her ballet pumps lightly brushing each step, and he wondered whether she would find every coparenting decision as difficult as that one. If so, he had a long, hard battle ahead of him.
And she not only was unwilling to share her parenting role but also continued to treat him like an invalid. Blade had come to terms with other people’s misplaced offers of help, but to hear them from Josie was doubly hard. They made him sad, angry and disappointed.
He shook his head, still smarting from her comments about needing to protect his good leg. Both his legs were good. They were strong and fast, serving him well. He certainly didn’t need to be cosseted and protected. Josie should have known him better than that.
But apparently, she didn’t know him at all.
* * *
Josie sat on the edge of Archie’s bed, watching her son play with Sherbet while her father settled into his room. The bird was out of his cage, walking along the wooden floorboards, exploring his new environment. The budgie’s wings were slightly clipped, so he couldn’t fly far, but he enjoyed his freedom and usually ended up in mischief somehow.
Along one wall of the bedroom was a huge mural depicting various animals that wouldn’t be found living naturally side by side in the wild—lions and tigers, pandas and kangaroos, giraffes and grizzly bears—but the effect was striking and vivid. She could see why Archie loved it.
“Are you okay, Mom?” Archie asked, steering Sherbet’s beak away from his Power Rangers toy. “You look like you’ve been crying.”
Josie smiled brightly and rubbed her thumbs beneath her eyes. “I’m fine, honey.” A few tears had managed to spring forth on her way up the stairs, but she had hoped her son wouldn’t notice. “I’m just a little tired.”
She stood and walked to the window, hoping to see Detective Pullman drive up in the car that contained her suitcase. All her clothes and toiletries were in that bag, and she didn’t want to be without it. She hated to admit it, but she wanted to look her best while Blade was around. Although they were poles apart, she still felt an old attraction simmering away. Blade was as good-looking today as he was the last time she’d seen him, with sandy curls and a wide, playful smile. She admired him for pulling himself up by the bootstraps and turning his life around, but she wished he didn’t look quite so handsome. It would have been much easier if he had returned to her life as a less attractive man.
She focused her attention back on her son. “Archie,” she began, “how would you feel about going to stay with Aunt Susan in Nebraska for a little while?”
Josie knew that she and Blade had already discussed this issue and made a decision, but it wouldn’t hurt to get Archie’s feelings on the matter, would it? She ignored the sensation of disloyalty to Blade and awaited the answer.
“I want to stay with Dad,” he said, continuing to play with the budgie. “I like it here, and so does Sherbet.”
Archie’s response was predictable. Even though he had known his dad for so little time, accepting Blade as his father came totally naturally to him, exactly as it should have been. Yet her son’s words stung deeply.
“What about me?” she said with a forced laugh. “Don’t you want to stay with me, too?”
“Sure,” he said, jumping up to fetch Sherbet’s toys. “I don’t want to go to Aunt Susan’s house. Her big, sloppy dog will frighten Sherbet, and she always watches boring movies where ladies cry all the time.”
Josie giggled. Her aunt Susan loved old romance movies, and Archie hated them.
“Okay, honey,” she said. “I just wanted to know how you felt about it.”
“If I stay here with Dad, we can watch boy movies where cars turn into other stuff.” Archie struck a pose, extending his arms and clenching his fists tight. “And we can pretend to be robots and fight everybody who tries to come in. It’ll be awesome.”
Josie bit hard on her lip. Her son had no true idea of the level of danger facing them, and she was glad of it. In his mind, he and his father could save the day simply by imagining themselves as Transformers. On arrival at the safe house, Archie had instantly torn around the place as if in a racing car, encouraging Blade to do the same. She had seen a sudden change in his behavior since Blade had shown up. In just a few hours, her son had gone from being a sweet and gentle-natured boy into a car-loving, boisterous kid. Although her own dad had tried hard to be a father figure to Archie, he was missing an essential ingredient—the energy of youth. Blade’s appearance had triggered a rambunctious quality in her son, and it made her even more concerned that she was losing him. Blade was demanding an equal say in parenting, and her son had talked of little else but his father since he’d shown up. She knew it was silly, but she felt shut out.
There was a knock on the door, and Blade’s voice could be heard on the other side. “Hey, anybody home?”
Josie opened the door and steered him inside. “We have to keep the door closed because Sherbet’s out of his cage.”
Blade looked around the room, nodding in approval. “Great bedroom, Archie. I think it might be the best in the house.”
“You can share if you want,” Archie said, putting the bird onto his index finger and guiding him back into the cage. “You can have the top bunk.”
Josie fought hard to suppress her increasing sense of exclusion. Archie still occasionally climbed into her bed after a bad dream or during a storm. She loved being able to cuddle her son and give him the reassurance he needed, but Archie could turn to his dad for these things now. She told herself that it was natural for him to want to share his bunk beds with his dad rather than her. After all, they were just getting to know each other. But it still hurt nonetheless.
“Thanks for the offer,” Blade said. “But I’ll be sleeping downstairs.” He tapped the side of his nose. “Kind of like a guard.”
Archie’s face lit up. “Cool,” he said. “Can I sleep downstairs, too?”
Blade shook his head. “Only grown-ups can be guards.”
Archie picked up the birdcage from the floor and held it in the air. “I’m gonna show Sherbet around the house.” He looked up at his father. “Then can we play Power Rangers together?”
Blade ruffled his son’s hair. “Sure, buddy.”
Josie opened the door. “I’ll play hide-and-seek later if you like,” she suggested. “This house has loads of great places to hide.”
“No, thanks, Mom,” Archie said, walking out into the hallway. “I like Power Rangers better.”
She tried to hide the disappointment on her face, but she wasn’t quick enough.
“I’m still a novelty,” Blade said. “It’ll wear off soon enough.” He pointed to the stairway. “Detective Pullman just arrived. He’d like to speak to us in the living room.”
Josie breathed a sigh of relief and walked out into the hallway, seeing Archie walk with Sherbet up the next flight of stairs. With six bedrooms, this house would have been perfect for a game of hide-and-seek, but it looked like Archie just wasn’t interested in his usual favorite game.
She heard Blade’s unique footsteps behind her, one foot falling more heavily than the other. She turned to offer him her hand, but he waved it away brusquely. He had shunned all her offers of help and support, and she was a little hurt by it. It was like he was punishing her for trying to show kindness.
Detectives Pullman and Sykes were sitting in the living room, deep in a hushed and serious conversation, a pot of hot coffee in front of them. When they saw Josie come in, they rose and smiled, but she knew instantly that she had interrupted something important.
“What happened?” she asked, sitting on the couch. “Do we have to move again?”
“No,” Detective Sykes said. “We have no reason to think you’ve been located here, but we’re very concerned about your safety traveling to and from the courthouse when the trial starts on Monday.”
Josie’s heart skipped a beat. “Why?”
“We found the black sedan abandoned on a street in Sedgwick,” Detective Pullman said. “Somebody was in a rush to escape. A notebook was left behind detailing your exact movements over the past three weeks. It shows when you leave the house in the morning, what time you eat lunch, where you go, what time you return home and even what time you switch off your lights at night. It’s a perfect record of your day-to-day life.”
“Someone is trying to establish a pattern,” Blade said. “Looking for opportunities to strike.”
“That’s our assessment, also,” Detective Pullman said. “It means we have to be super careful about Josie’s routine, always changing it so that this person is kept guessing.”
Josie felt sick. Somebody had been watching her day in and day out, and she’d had no idea. For too long, she had assumed that the menacing notes and phone calls were just empty threats, arising out of community anger at her defense of a perceived molester in their midst. But it was more than that. For three weeks, this man had been preparing to act on those threats, meticulously planning and plotting. And if the police officer hadn’t been at her house this morning, he might have succeeded.
“Josie needs to have a permanent bodyguard assigned,” Blade said, shifting a little closer to her. “Someone who will shadow her throughout the trial.”
“I’ll be acting as her bodyguard on a daily basis,” Detective Sykes said. “And Detective Pullman will stay at the house with you, Archie and Tim.”
“Have you undergone bodyguard training?” Blade asked. “Or advanced firearms training?”
“No, I haven’t, sir,” Detective Sykes replied, fixing him with steely gray eyes. “But I’ve been a police officer for fifteen years, and I’ve been a Wichita detective for six of those years. I’m used to dealing with bad guys, trust me.”
“This isn’t just any normal bad guy,” Blade said. “This is a man who keeps painstaking records of every movement that Josie makes. He’s smart. He knows that ninety percent of the work is in the preparation.”
Josie shivered and leaned forward to pour a cup of coffee. Yet her hands shook so much that Blade took the pot from her hand and poured one for her. She pulled the sleeves of her cardigan over her hands and cradled the mug in her palms, allowing the warmth to seep through the fabric and act like gloves.
“I don’t want to scare Josie any more than I have to, but I really think that we need a specialist assigned to protect her,” Blade said. “Someone with a more advanced level of training than a police detective.”
Josie knew what Blade had in mind. “Someone with training like yours, right?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I’m not saying that your bodyguard needs to be a trained SEAL—”
Detective Pullman interrupted with an expression of surprise. “You were a SEAL, Mr. Harding?”
“Yes, I was,” he replied. “Does that shock you?”
“A little. I was given very little background information on you, sir. I was only told that you are the boy’s father and are a disabled veteran. I had no idea that you were in our elite forces.”
“I was a navy SEAL for ten years,” Blade said with a note of pride. “Until a combat injury ended my military career.”
The detective nodded slowly. “I see. Well, don’t worry, sir. Detective Sykes and I will take great care of you while you’re under our protection.”
Blade’s voice was hard. “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t need any protection. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, and Josie, for that matter.”
Detective Pullman looked confused. “I kind of assumed you’d need assistance in some areas…” He trailed off, clearly uncertain how to continue without causing embarrassment.
Blade sighed. He lifted the left leg of his jeans to reveal the prosthesis beneath. “I lost my lower left leg seven years ago. I’m actually quite fortunate, because the land-mine explosion that cost me my leg cost one of my buddies his life. At least I got out alive. Every disabled person is different, Detective Pullman, so don’t be so quick to assume we’re all in need of care.”
Josie felt the raw emotion coming from Blade. This was clearly a touchy subject for him, and she felt a little sorry for the detective. He had meant no offense. She sat back in her chair, thankful that she had been more sensitive to Blade’s situation. She treated him just the same as everybody else. He got no special treatment from her, except the occasional offer to lend a helping hand.
“I apologize,” Detective Pullman said. “I take your point completely. I’m afraid we don’t have access to police officers with skills as extensive as yours. The trial starts on Monday and is scheduled to last only a week or so. We simply don’t have the time to recruit anybody with advanced bodyguard training.”
“I’ll do it,” Blade said quickly.
Josie turned to him. “What? That’s a crazy idea.”
“What’s so crazy about it?”
She didn’t know where to start. “Because you shouldn’t willingly put yourself in danger for me. You came here to connect with your son, not to risk your life.”
He let out a short puff of air that sounded like exasperation. “I thought we discussed this already,” he said. “The risk is mine to take. Besides which, I’ve faced way more dangerous situations than this. I came here so quickly because Archie asked me to protect you, and I intend to fulfill that promise.”
Josie felt conflicted. She knew that Blade desperately wanted to act as a strong defender, yet she also wanted to shield him from harm. The public gallery could be packed, and he might have to stand on his feet for hours at a time, potentially causing him discomfort or pain, not to mention the risk of injury that she’d already pointed out to him.
“No,” she said. “It’s not fair. It’ll be very tiring.”
He regarded her for a long time, his blue eyes running across her face.
“I don’t tire easily,” he said flatly. “I’m not a toddler, Josie.”
She put down her mug and folded her hands in her lap, saying nothing. She didn’t want to fight again.
“We can’t allow you to act as an official bodyguard for Josie,” Detective Sykes said to Blade. “But if you wish to accompany her to the courthouse, that’s your prerogative. I’ll be her police escort throughout the trial, and I hope you’ll allow me to do my job.”
Blade held both palms in the air. “I won’t interfere with your assignment, but I’ll remain with Josie at all times.”
“Hang on,” Josie said, rising. “Don’t I get a say in this?” She looked down at Blade. “You don’t want Archie to go to Nebraska because you want to keep an eye on him yourself, but now you propose leaving him unprotected so you can be my shadow at the courthouse every day.”
“Your son and his grandfather won’t be unprotected,” Detective Pullman said. “I’ll be here with them constantly. We have panic buttons that link directly to the police station, so backup is only minutes away. It’s the most secure environment possible.”
“It makes sense, Josie,” Blade said, pushing himself up from the couch. “I’d never leave Archie if I thought it was dangerous. You need me. I know you don’t believe it, but it’s true.”
Josie ran her hands through her hair. Her mind was racing, imagining all the scenarios and possibilities that might occur over the next week. And none were good.
“I’d like to sleep on it,” she said, turning to the detectives and asking, “Are we done for now? Because I’d really like to freshen up.”
“Sure,” replied Detective Pullman. “We’ll continue the conversation later.”
With that, Josie walked from the living room, slipping her fingers through the handle of her suitcase on the way. “It’s getting late,” she said. “I’ll ask Dad to start on dinner.”
“I can do that,” Blade said.
She used all her strength to heave the case up the stairs, determined to do it herself. “There’s no need,” she called. “Dad and I are used to sharing cooking responsibilities. We have a routine.”
As she bumped the case along the carpet, she thought of how Blade had come back into her life and taken over. He had assumed the position of favored parent, and now he expected to be her personal bodyguard, monitoring her every movement.
She had tolerated his intrusion, but he had just stepped over the line. Having him so close to her each day of the trial would take a huge emotional toll. His return had reminded her of what he used to mean to her, of how she had loved him so intensely. Once upon a time he was her world. Now he was a stranger. His constant and unwavering attention made her realize what she had lost, and she didn’t know how she would bear the pain.
* * *
Blade slipped his residual limb into the socket of his running prosthesis. Putting on this blade was like stepping into a pair of old, comfortable slippers. Sometimes he even forgot that the prosthesis wasn’t attached to his body with skin and bone. The way that the curved artificial foot rolled smoothly from heel to toe allowed him to run hard and fast. It had been tricky at first to get the right balance between his natural leg and the blade, but with plenty of practice and determination, he’d soon mastered the action. Running had opened up a whole new world to him, full of freedom and open roads, where a disability wasn’t a drawback. Running had breathed new life into his tired and hopeless spirit. And all this had happened because he had answered God’s call that day on the street in Florida. God had seen that Blade was weary and heavy-laden, and He had given him rest.
With Detective Pullman locking the door behind him, Blade left the house and pulled his woolen hat down over his ears. The dark night had turned a little frosty, and he was wrapped up warmly to ward off the chill. But the chill in the air wasn’t the only thing causing him discomfort. He also felt a heavy sense of menace bearing down on his new family.
He started off with a gentle jog to warm up his lungs. As long as Blade didn’t cause any commotion, his daily runs wouldn’t present a problem for security, and the detectives knew exactly what time to expect him back. They had even requested that he use the time to look out for anything suspicious.
He soon couldn’t contain his energy and built up a good pace, feeling the blade bouncing steadily beneath him. The pressure of the day melted away with every step, and he reveled in the sensation of lithe and nimble movement. To Blade, running was as freeing as flying.
He would need to run for a long time to clear his head of the day’s stress. While he had adored playing with his son all afternoon, his relationship with Josie was a little more difficult to crack. He guessed she found his sudden presence too invasive, upsetting the routines and habits that she had established over the years.
But however much she resented his intrusion, he resented hers more. Her constant desire to shield him from harm was beyond tiresome, and her reluctance to allow him to act as her bodyguard was particularly hurtful. Was she worried that he wouldn’t be able to cope physically? Or was she simply trying to prevent him from receiving another injury? Either way, it insulted him.
Josie needed him, whether she realized it or not. And despite his personal difficulties with her, he would step up. He was a navy SEAL, trained in close combat, surveillance and psychological warfare. And as he ran, he knew that all three of these skills would prove essential in the forthcoming battle.