Books in This Series:

Anderson, Book 1

Burton, Book 2

Leland, Book 3

About This Book

NOTE: This is a four-part series where many answers are revealed only in the final installment.

Step into a world where loyalty and courage are put to the ultimate test.

Join Burton and Anderson as they stand by Talia and her triplets, determined to shield them from harm after a shocking attack. The tension in the hospital corridors contrasts to the warmth in Talia’s home—where friendships deepen and unexpected romance blooms between Burton and nurse Sammy.

Sammy stands strong as they navigate dangerous events to unravel the dark secrets of Talia’s husband, Timothy, and his ties to a sinister worldwide criminal network.

Get ready for an emotional journey, filled with suspense and heart.

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Prologue

‡‡

Burton sat outside the hospital ward, where he’d been for the bulk of the last week. When Sammy walked up once again, he looked up and smiled. “Hey.”

“You’re still here?” she asked, with a smile. “I figured you would be gone by now.”

“Nope. We’re not sure she’s out of danger yet.”

She frowned at him. “I thought they caught the husband. Timothy, wasn’t it?”

“They did, but he’s just a pawn and not the drug cartel boss. The bad guys don’t have their money yet, so there is still work to be done.”

“Right, which means that you’ll still be here for a bit,” she guessed, frowning.

“Maybe, … I’m not sure. Why? Am I in the way?”

She looked at him, then shook her head. “No, it’s just … you’ve become a mainstay. I’m not really sure what I’ll do when you’re gone.”

He smiled. “You could always go out with me, maybe for coffee or something.”

She stared at him and then flushed bright red. “Maybe,” she muttered, then darted into Talia’s curtained-off room. When she came back out, she was a little more composed.

“How is she doing?” Burton asked, holding back a grin.

“She’s coming along nicely. I hear they’re hoping to make arrangements for her to go home before long. She’ll need help with the babies, of course, and she’ll also need an aide to help her.”

“I know.” He snorted. “That’s what everybody keeps talking about. She’ll need help. I can attest to that.”

“She will. It’s a fact of life. Those babies won’t be easy to look after, particularly when she’s still got so much going on to heal her body, to get through rehab.”

“I hear you. I was just hoping that she could leave sooner.”

“I don’t think so yet, but I can’t be sure.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Anyway I’ll see you next time.” She looked back and asked, “Do you want a coffee or something?”

“I would love a coffee,” he said, with a smile. “I haven’t been able to get up and do much, so everything’s on hold while I keep an eye on her. Even coffee.”

“I really appreciate the fact that you’re doing that.” Then she stopped and asked, “Where do you work anyway? In security?”

He laughed. “No, I’m military, but I’m taking time off to help my buddy.” He nodded toward the room where Talia was in the bed and added, “There’s just the two of them, brother and sister, and when my brother-in-arms put out the call, I came running.”

She smiled, her tone softening. “That’s good to hear. We need more people who are willing to do that.”

“We do, and sometimes you get to be that person, and, other times, it’s just hard,” he noted. “How long have you worked here?”

She smiled. “About three years now. I keep thinking there are other ways I could use my profession, but, for the moment, I’m here, and I’m happy to be working,” she shared. “Hang on tight, and I’ll be back with your coffee.”

He smiled and watched her sashay down the hallway. She was one of those women who had that little hip check that went vroom-vroom. It was natural, and, when she was in a rush, it really kicked into high gear. He’d been watching it all week, telling himself not to be an idiot, that he had no time for this, but seeing how it appeared that Anderson had finally decided that he and Pamela would take it to the next level, maybe it wouldn’t be wrong for Burton to consider somebody himself.

It had been a while since his last relationship. Quite a while, if he were honest. Mostly because a few times back it ended up being quite the shit show, and he’d been avoiding anything serious ever since. But something about the triplets and seeing Anderson come together with Pamela made Burton realize that maybe, just maybe, it was time to try again. As he watched Sammy come toward him with a cup of coffee, he realized it absolutely was time.

The trouble was, he was on duty, and so was she, and, in his case, it wasn’t something that would be resolved very quickly.

When she handed him the coffee, she smiled. “There you go, just for you.”

He called back as she walked away, “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

She lifted a hand, and then she stopped, turned to face him, and added, “So, if it’s not over, are we still supposed to be concerned about visitors who come and ask about her or who we see up here?”

He put the coffee down, turned, and eyed her with intensity. “Yes. Have you seen anybody?”

She frowned and nodded. “Yeah, I thought it was all over, and you would be leaving now,” she began, “so I didn’t really give it much credence. But somebody was here this morning. You were seated there, and he came, saw you, and then suddenly decided he was on the wrong floor.”

“Did he say that? Or you assumed that?”

“I have no idea why but I felt it. He might have really been on the wrong floor, but I don’t know that for sure.”

“What did he look like?”

She frowned and shared, “He looked really similar to her husband, but it couldn’t be him since he’s in jail, right?”

Chapter 1

‡‡

Burton Hallmark watched Sammy disappear down the hallway. Learning that Talia’s husband may have been at the hospital again troubled him deeply. How in the living hell did Timothy Magnus get out of jail? That thought was messing with his brain. He immediately phoned Anderson.

“Are you kidding me? He should still be in prison—or at least at the jail in the sheriff’s department,” Anderson declared, his shocked tone amplifying the underlying worry.

“I know, but someone might have let him out,” Burton suggested.

“How are they getting away with this? It’s the second time that he wormed his way out of prison. What the hell is going on?”

Burton added, “Remember that we’re not certain it’s him. I called because, if it is him, we need to stay alert to the possibility.”

“Right, stay alert,” Anderson scoffed. “Alert to this guy causing problems and thinking my sister has some answers for him.”

“Did you locate the money?”

“Not entirely. If that’s what he wants, we can’t help. We’ve found some, but we’re unsure how much remains.”

“Tim probably wants anything he can get his hands on right now. Find the damn money, dude. We can’t risk it,” Burton murmured, scanning the area. “I’m staying put.”

“You need anything?”

“Not if Leland can relieve me later.”

“Great.”

“Problems?”

“Yeah, Pamela returns to work.”

“It’s been one week already? Good God.”

“She took that time off to help us out, but she has to get back to her real job,” Anderson explained in a low tone.

“That will put you alone with the triplets.”

“For now, yes.” Anderson sighed. “She’ll visit after her shift, though she’s working full days. Her job isn’t exactly relaxing either.”

“I didn’t think she would abandon us.”

“Hardly abandonment,” Anderson scoffed. “She’s been invaluable.”

A painful cry echoed in the background.

“What’s that?” Burton asked in alarm.

“The babies. … I swear these three are acrobats, I put them in the playpen, but they’re incredibly mobile,” Anderson shared, clearly frustrated. “I’m just containing them, but that won’t work for long. We need more equipment.”

“Equipment?” Burton chuckled. “Like what?”

“Something, anything. You know, something for containment.”

“You can’t build a damn prison for them. They are babies,” Burton noted, still chuckling.

Anderson laughed. “Nah, not what I had in mind. Yet a bigger playpen might help, and, with three of them, it’s still not a complete solution.”

“I know. I am just happy to not be where you are.”

“I don’t know how Talia managed before. It seems impossible for us nonmagical folks,” Anderson quipped, half-laughing. “Pamela did so well with them too.”

“True enough.”

“Consider what we can bring in, even temporarily. Anything to help.”

“I will.”

“And watch for Timothy.”

“Definitely.” He sighed.

“The big bosses Timothy was working for worry me too.”

“Same here. How much money or whatever else are they still seeking?” Burton asked. “I sure hope they’re not just tying up loose ends.”

“The loose end should be my brother-in-law, not my sister.”

“Consider what she might have witnessed though. They beat her severely, but, the fact remains, she was conscious for some of it.”

“The question is whether she saw enough to threaten them. Maybe the goal was her death,” Anderson shared quietly. “Maybe she wasn’t supposed to survive at all.”

After a pause, Burton responded sadly, “You’re probably right. In that case, this whole mess and the cleanup isn’t about money or things at all.”

“It’s about ensuring she never wakes up, making sure all loose threads are tied off … permanently,” Anderson whispered.

“I’m here,” Burton assured. “I’m keeping watch.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it,” Burton replied in a somber tone. “We have each other’s backs. Always have.”

“Right,” Anderson stated, audibly composing himself. “I get it.”

“It hits harder because she’s your sister, man.” Burton sighed again. “I understand the situation, and I’m angry, but I’m less emotional.”

“I know, and I value your balanced perspective.”

“There’s no perspective. Someone’s trying to kill someone they nearly beat to death. Her survival is remarkable, and we must give her time to recover. She won’t leave her babies without a fight. If she knew her ex was involved, she would want justice.”

Anderson laughed. “She’s not vengeful, but she won’t let him have the children.”

They agreed she would fight to keep the triplets safe. “Keeping Tim away protects the babies and Talia, as he clearly prioritizes himself,” Burton said. They discussed contacting his girlfriend about any money. Alice Quinn was a tough nut, and they both had seen enough to know Alice would be pissed.

Anderson continued. “Whether it’s money, drugs, or blackmail material, the sheriff’s office has it all, but do Tim’s bosses know that? The blackmail information is significant, but worthless in the hands of the authorities. I think the big bosses will pursue us for information we can’t provide. That’s why Talia suffered in the first place,” he noted.

Burton agreed. “She didn’t have what they wanted. Your brother-in-law wouldn’t surrender the information. Tim probably thought she was dead, so why care about her or the children? Both actions are despicable. Tim’s true nature emerges in these situations,” Burton pointed out. “We’re left managing the aftermath. Just focus on the babies.”

Then another cry erupted.

“On it,” Anderson said, laughing and groaning simultaneously. “These babies are something else. I am hanging on by a thread here.”

“Take care of them, and I’ll be in touch.” And, with that, Burton ended the call.

Entering Talia’s hospital room, he reflected on how he often guarded rooms with vulnerable women, staying hidden from view, but this was different. She was helpless, comatose in a bed with railings, going nowhere. She wasn’t conscious and didn’t know what was happening around her. The situation worried him immensely, especially since he had seen firsthand how extraordinarily dangerous someone with nothing left to lose becomes.

Prison time would be suicidal for many of these people, and they just wouldn’t survive. They wouldn’t consider themselves in any way responsible for their actions. So coming back to take out Talia—this defenseless woman they had already had one go at—would be minor to them.

She would literally be one step in a long series of things that the drug bosses had to do to get clear of whatever trouble they were in, and that really sucked because she was a beautiful person, was a beautiful human being, and her babies were gorgeous.

To think that Burton would ever even say that about children also blew him away because he was a die-hard, never-going-to-have-babies kind of guy. But these Lisas? He burst out laughing to himself, checking down the hallway to make sure nobody heard him. All three of these Lisas were absolutely adorable.

They still had no clue on the correct name for the right triplet, and Anderson was still calling them all Lisa. Pamela was the only one who used all three names, and even she didn’t know which one was which. Burton shook his head at that, wondering how such a thing could be, but the reality was, Talia was the one person who knew which triplet was which, and she wasn’t able to tell them yet.

Burton thought, if he could guarantee getting a partner like Talia, he would have half-a-dozen kids himself, and that was another thought that stopped him in his tracks. Yet it was true. For whatever reason, those little girls had completely changed the way he had previously viewed parenting.

He would never want triplets for himself, as that would be an absolute nightmare. But to think that it was possible to have little girls just like that? Wow, he just might be convinced to go that route. He was still chuckling to himself when he stepped back out into the hallway and took a good look in both directions. A door, about twenty-five feet down from him, was just closing.

He frowned at that because who the hell would that have been on an empty floor? He walked over to the door, knowing it was already too late, and he wouldn’t see anybody at this point, but it unnerved him slightly. The hallway was empty. It wasn’t just about somebody coming to this floor and not seeing him there in the hallway. They could have taken that to mean that they were okay and safe. However, it could also mean that, whoever it was, was doing a time check to see when he was on duty and when he wasn’t—something he had worked hard at varying so he had no established pattern for anybody to follow.

He had learned that in the military. Whether he liked it or not, he learned to be safe. In this instance, it wasn’t just about keeping Talia safe, but a woman with a very special job in this life—to raise those little girls. As much as he didn’t mind being on guard duty, it was also frustrating that he didn’t have more to do. If he had some avenue to pursue, something that he could work on …

With that thought in mind, he quickly texted Levi, asking if there was any research he could do while he was on guard duty.

Levi, instead of texting back, picked up the phone and called him. “Hey, I’ve got a roadmap into the organization that Tim works for,” he began. When Burton started to say something, Levi snorted and cut him off. “No, you don’t get to know where I got it from, but there was an effort to try and take down the entire organization a while back. So, this is part of the research they had into the case. Dingo, who seems to be a local crime boss, has always been one step ahead of the authorities, and no one has been able to pinpoint who the guy even is.”

“Let me have a run at it.”

“Okay, you got it. Let’s see if you can make heads or tails of any of it,” Levi said. “I just sent it over in an attachment.”

“And what is it we’re looking for?”

“Anything,” Levi replied. “Any connection to Timothy, Alice Quinn, Talia, law enforcement, … any connection to anybody. … I’m still a little concerned as to why they targeted Talia.”

“Because Timothy was happy to have her be the target. He needed to get away from the babies.”

“Sure, that looks simple enough, but why was he even involved?”

“Because of his line of business,” Burton stated.

“Tim supposedly runs a company, and they move a lot of goods back-and-forth across the California-Mexico border. Yet there are other ways to do that without getting involved with people like Dingo. I mean, Dingo’s operation must have their own system so they aren’t entirely dependent on some loser slimeball like Tim, who’s mucking up their whole business.”

“So, are you thinking their system is bigger than what you’re seeing?”

“I think there’s more to it. I could be totally wrong,” Levi admitted, “which is why this research hasn’t been prioritized highly enough for us to have a chance to dig into this organization at all. So, if you’re asking for something to do, I’m more than happy to have you take a look.”

“Yeah, absolutely. Let me check it out,” he agreed. “And it is interesting that the only person saying why he got into this mess in the first place is the same guy whom we already know we can’t trust. I heard this morning that it’s possible he came to the hospital again.”

“Why would he do that? I thought he was in jail.”

“Me too, so I don’t know,” he shared, “but we have to figure it out. He doesn’t have siblings, right?”

“Oh, now that’s a hell of a good question. Particularly if somebody is looking to pretend to be him. Let me see if I can track that down too.” Levi was clearly scratching something down. “Anderson know anything?”

“Anderson hasn’t mentioned siblings, and he may not even know. It’s not as if he had a whole lot to do with his brother-in-law. He checked out Tim when he and Talia first got together, but Talia was adamant that everything was fine. Mostly because, in her previous relationship, Anderson had, according to her, crossed all boundaries, and, therefore, was no longer allowed to check up on her potential partners.”

Levi snorted at that. “Doesn’t that sound typical?” he muttered. “I wonder how she feels about it now.”

“I’m pretty sure she would likely retract anything of the sort right about now.”

“Agreed, but first let’s figure out what Tim’s up to because I really don’t trust him. And you have the means, so find out if he’s even in jail. That’s part of the issue we’ve got right now.”

“Let’s say he is in jail. How do we have the same person in two places?”

“A brother,” he suggested.

“That would make the most sense.”

“So, let’s get on that too,” Levi muttered, his tone already distracted. “I can run some of this through our databases.”

“Let me focus on the organization chart because that’s something you don’t really have time for. And you track down any siblings Timothy might have running around the block. Plus, I can send a quick text to Anderson and see if he has any idea. So, what about the safety of other people in this mess?”

“Like who?” Levi asked, distracted.

“Pamela for one. She was looking after the babies. She was the one at the house when Tim broke in.”

“What do you mean, was?” Levi asked.

“She had to go back to work. She had taken a week off to help out, but now she’s back at work. And the question is, will she be safe? That’s the biggest part we’re concerned about. Also you should probably know that they’re a couple.”

“Who’s a couple?” Levi asked.

“Anderson and Pamela, who else? They already had a history, and I guess that connection kicked in again. Anyway, now he’s got five ladies to worry about.”

“Of course he does,” Levi quipped, his voice calm but reassuring. “When there’s love, there’s lots of love,” he added. “And it’s not uncommon for it to keep spreading around the world.”

“You say that, but I’m not sure that’s my world,” Burton replied, with a laugh.

“Ah, you’ll get touched by it as well,” he proclaimed, a smirk in his tone. “You just wait.”

“No, I’m good,” he argued. “I don’t need to be dealing with any of that right now.”

“Course not. Still, don’t be surprised if it happens despite you fighting it.” And, with that, Levi was gone.

Sitting in the hallway on a lone chair, Burton didn’t have any table space or even a place to write notes. While using his laptop on his lap and trying to write notes could be done, that wasn’t the easiest. So he headed back into Talia’s room and sat down at a chair with a small writing desk. Checking out where he was located, he decided to move all the furniture around so he was half behind the door, which would give him a little bit more space and keep him out of view at the same time. Talia was in a ward, but, so far, she was the only one in here.

Burton had to wonder if that wasn’t deliberate too.

Yet behind the door, the way this was designed, the hallway was such that the wall was right there, so it didn’t give him enough room either. Changing yet again, he moved over to an empty bed across from her and gently closed the curtains. He could see her just out of the corner, but anybody coming in would not know whether he was there or not.

Satisfied that he was still in the best position to safeguard Talia—and yet capable of stopping anybody coming in, if need be—Burton sat down with his laptop and got to work.

Sammy walked through the halls, going about her day. She was delivering medications and checking in on a few people who, as they were short on staff, needed a little extra boost. Still, her mind kept returning to Burton and the scenario with Talia.

It was upsetting to think that Talia had just been at home, looking after her babies, when she’d gotten beaten up so badly. Sammy didn’t even know the whole story, but, because Burton was there watching over Talia constantly, obviously an awful lot more was to this than anybody was really saying, and that revealed something too.

When it was time to head back up to the fourth floor where Burton was, she automatically picked up a cup of coffee and brought it with her. He wasn’t out in the hallway, which made her frown, especially considering that she was pretty sure she’d seen Talia’s husband right here in the hospital this morning.

Thinking Burton may be with Talia, she walked into the ward, but there was still no sign of him. With a snort out loud, she muttered, “Damn, where the hell are you?”

“I’m right here,” he replied, from behind one of the curtains.

She stepped around to the other side to see him sitting right there. She nodded. “That makes more sense. I couldn’t figure out why you would have left,” she admitted, smiling at him.

“I needed to get some work done, so figured this was probably as good a spot as any.”

“It is a good spot,” she agreed, “and you’re tucked in quite nicely here.” She glanced around.

“Well, you didn’t know I was here, so I’ll take that as a good sign.”

She laughed. “If that’s a good sign—”

“It is because I want to shock anybody who finds me here.”

“Right,” she muttered. “Element of surprise. I get it.” She handed him the coffee and added, “I’m not sure why this has become a bloody habit, but apparently it has.”

“Well, I like it and appreciate it,” he told her, with a big grin, “so thank you.”

She nodded. “Will you literally stay here until she’s healed?”

He looked over at Talia. “I’m not sure how that works, but I will tell you that we’re not leaving her here in a defenseless state until we know she’s safe. Hopefully we can get her case solved, and she can go home around the same time because those babies need her.”

“I actually wondered whether you should bring them in for a visit because that might do her a lot of good.”

He looked at her with interest and nodded. “That could be arranged if you think it will help her.”

“We do see that in some cases. I mean, obviously the doctors are keeping her sedated. They lightened the dosage, but she’s still under and not coming back out of it anytime soon. And that’s more so we move the healing a little further along.”

“Right,” he replied.

“After that, if her progress is still slow—which I’ll tell you honestly is quite likely, based on what we’ve seen so far—then bringing the babies in might help.”

“It would be pretty chaotic with the babies around,” he pointed out, “because they’ll be all over the bed. They’ll want Mom, and she can’t respond.”

“No, she can’t, but it would also help stir her out of the slumber that she’s in right now and might help her fight a little stronger.”

He pondered that and nodded. “I’ll mention it to Anderson.”

“He’s the brother?”

“He’s the brother. He’s home with the babies right now.”

Her lips twitched. “I guess that’s kind of a shock for all you guys, isn’t it?”

“It sure is,” he agreed, “but there’s something special about those little girls. They sure tug at your heartstrings. I’m already a big fan.”

Her smile gentled, and she nodded. “That’s a good thing. Those little girls have been through a lot already. They need a champion on their side. I still think you should find out their names though.”

“We know what their names are,” he clarified, with a helpless shrug. “But, when I say they’re identical, I mean they’re identical. We can’t really tell them apart. Even if we could, we still don’t know who is who. We’re just hoping that, when Talia wakes up, she does.”

Sammy laughed. “I know that was mentioned before,” she noted, “but I just think it’s way too funny.”

“Maybe,” he muttered, “yet it’s also the reality of being there with three little girls whom we didn’t know very well at first, but we are getting to know very quickly.”

“Indeed,” she declared, with a big smile. “That’s all you can do right now.”

“They are characters, all of them, and they each have their own personality. Even if Talia doesn’t remember who’s who, it would be easy enough to figure out who they should be.”

She shook her head at that. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” she replied, with a bright smile. “I have faith in mothers.”

“I do too,” he confirmed, “but this mother has had a really rough time. And, with the head injury, I’m really hoping there won’t be any memory loss.” When Sammy didn’t say anything, he looked up and asked, “There could be, couldn’t there?”

She nodded. “Any head injury could cause amnesia, all sorts of things, but it’s not necessarily permanent, depending on the type of injury and whether it’s caused by swelling. That’s part of the reason they’re keeping her sedated—to heal … because they’re keeping an eye on her brain,” she pointed out. “Talia’s not out of the woods, but she is making progress. As for her memory, that’s a matter of wait and see.”

“Right, wait and see,” he repeated, with a wince. “Not an easy thing to tell the families.”

“No, it isn’t,” she agreed. “Families always want answers we can’t always give. Right now, we don’t know how this will end up. Nobody can tell you the outcome. We don’t know what her cognitive or physical state will be. She did take quite a beating. There was extreme blood loss, though, yes, we’ve replaced it. We can do a lot physically, but we don’t know where she’s at emotionally. So, what her mental state could be is anyone’s guess. Just think about the trauma she went through.”

He considered Talia quietly for a long moment and then nodded. “I think the biggest concern is how she’ll be emotionally. We don’t know if she knows her husband was behind a good share of it.”

“What do you mean?”

He stopped, then frowned. “I’m talking out of turn anyway, so ignore what I just mentioned.”

“Not that easy to ignore because, as I already told you, I believe he may have been here again,” she pointed out.

“Okay, I will give you crumbs because that’s all there is. He was behind what happened to his wife, based on what he did—or didn’t do,” he clarified. “He was supposed to give the assailants some information, but he didn’t want to. And she was there with him, according to him, and they beat her up because he wouldn’t hand over the information.”

Sammy frowned, shaking her head. “What?”

He nodded. “So, is he technically responsible? Morally, we would say yes. I don’t know how a court of law would perceive that situation,” he added. “I’m sure you can understand how her brother and I look at it.”

She stared at him and muttered, “That is just so wrong.”

“It is wrong, but, sometimes in life, that’s what happens. You make a choice and then have to live with what you have done.”

“Sure,” she conceded, “but if that’s your wife and those are your kids? The babies. … Jesus, were the babies there at the time?”

“Presumably, but again we only have the information from the husband, and we can’t really trust anything that comes out of his mouth.”

“No, apparently you shouldn’t.” She groaned. “And when people are up against a wall—”

“Exactly,” he replied, with a smile.

“I guess you see all kinds of horrible things in life,” she muttered. She couldn’t imagine, yet she’d seen plenty too.

“I certainly learn a lot about humanity,” he replied. He sipped the coffee, smiled, and said, “This is good. Yet everybody always complains about hospital coffee.”

“Yeah, but that’s from the little bistro around the corner,” she clarified. “So, it’s way better than our standard coffee.”

Burton chuckled. “Right. That makes more sense.” A friendly silence surrounded them.

She turned to face Talia.

“Anyway, if you see anything else, please tell us immediately. If you don’t have my number, let me give it to you. If you even think you see this guy anywhere near the hospital, let me know.”

She nodded, and they quickly exchanged numbers.

“When I came out of the ward a little bit ago”—he frowned and checked his watch—“probably two hours ago, … the door going down the stairwell was closing.”

She seemed surprised, then shrugged. “The other wards are busy, but this area is pretty empty. It could have been anybody really. Maybe someone ended up on the wrong floor.”

“Maybe,” he muttered, not convinced. “This whole floor is empty, which seems unusual for any hospital.”

“It is,” she replied. “Normally we’re full up, but right now everything’s pretty calm. This floor gets the overflow when needed.”

“So, there aren’t many people here all the time, is that it?”

“This floor was due to be redesigned, using these rooms for something else, but budget cuts kept that from happening. So this floor isn’t in use all the time.” She frowned, thought about it, then shrugged. “We did have a series of car accidents and had quite a few more people here at the time, so I’m not sure any mystery is here. Let’s not go looking for trouble,” she said, with a laugh. “We have enough problems without searching for more.”

“Agreed,” he conceded, with a smile. “I was just trying to figure out why she would have been placed here specifically.”

“I can look and see if there are beds elsewhere. Do you want to move her?” she asked, turning to him with a frown. “Would that be better or worse?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Maybe better … but it would be good to know the options. Let me know if that’s even an alternative and what the other rooms look like.”

Sammy added, “Yet, if somebody knows Talia’s here, it’s just a matter of time before they organize how to handle it. If she’s here and not discharged, they’ll just know that we’ve moved her. I don’t think anyone in the particular industry you’re worried about would have trouble finding out where she is.”

“Maybe not,” he agreed.

“Something to think about,” Sammy muttered.

“Let me know how it all looks.”

“Will do.” She walked over to Talia, did a few checks, then turned to him. “She’s doing pretty well. I’ll be back in a bit.” With that, she turned and walked away.

She headed to the registrar’s office to look at the current inpatient numbers. The hospital was busy but not that busy, and considering that those rooms were out of the way, it was probably a good place for Talia. Yet it was odd that she had been put there in the first place.

One of the younger doctors asked her, “Are you looking for something? You are frowning.”

“Just trying to figure out why that one patient up on the fourth floor is there when we have nobody else on the floor.”

He shrugged. “I asked for it. It seemed she could use the peace and quiet, and that floor is not commonly in use, so she would get less interference and noise.”

“She could have gone into a private room,” she suggested, turning to him.

“We had that whole floor available, so I wasn’t worried about it,” he told her in a brisk tone. As she studied him carefully, he asked, “Why? You got a problem with her getting a little more peace and quiet?”

“No, not at all. Just seems odd.”

He looked at her in astonishment. “Odd?”

“Yeah, odd,” she repeated, then laughed. “A lot of people would be very happy to have a whole floor all to themselves.”

He eyed her in surprise and asked, “Is it a whole empty floor?”

“Right now it is, yes. It’s the one to be redesigned into something else. Was it to be new offices? I don’t know. We’re probably the only hospital in town that’s small but not overcrowded.”

“Yeah, but that’s because everybody’s going to the bigger hospitals now,” he explained. “We have to ship out so many to bigger hospitals because they need a particular speciality or something that we don’t have. We’re literally just keeping this hospital alive.”

“I understand, yet it just seems odd that she’s on a whole floor by herself.” He frowned at that, and she shrugged. “I guess we could just leave her there.”

“I think the same reasons apply,” he noted, staring at her strangely. “It seems like you’re against it. Is it really that many extra steps for you or that much more of a problem going up one more floor?”

“Nope, just don’t want her forgotten.”

“Hardly,” he scoffed. “She’s obviously on the roster. You’re looking after her on your shift, and then we still have everybody else.”

She nodded. “Just seems weird.”

“You’re looking for trouble where there is none,” he muttered, with a headshake. “Surely you have something better to do.”

She checked her watch and then nodded. “That I do. It’s actually my break time.”

“Good,” he said, with a stern look. “Sounds like you need it. A little bit too much work these days, maybe.”

Chapter 2

‡‡

Burton looked up as Sammy walked in, munching away on something. “Hey,” he greeted her. “I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon.”

“I don’t know about that,” she murmured, with a shrug. “Seems like I can’t quite leave this spot alone.”

“Problems?” he asked, eyeing her curiously.

She sighed. “There shouldn’t be, and that just means that there could be. I don’t know that there are. I just … don’t know,” she acknowledged. “I questioned one of our younger doctors as to why Talia is here all alone when the rest of the hospital is basically … much busier.”

He looked around and nodded. “And it is a good place for her, but go on.”

“She’s out of the way, and it’s a little more private. I know. I get that. Anyway I decided to grab my break while I still had enough brain cells left to actually take it,” she quipped, with a smirk. “I kind of upset the doctor with my questions, though I didn’t intend to. Doctors don’t particularly like being questioned, you know?”

“I don’t think anybody does,” he noted, smiling at her. “Most people prefer to keep their own counsel as to why they’re doing things.”

“I understand.”

“Are you bothered about it?”

“I don’t know that I’m bothered about it,” she clarified, then shrugged. “I guess I just can’t quite leave it alone, which is probably the same thing.”

“That’s interesting too,” he said, studying her more closely. “What bothers you about it?”

“She’s segregated, and I don’t like that, particularly if she has …” She shrugged. “If there’s any issue where somebody could get at her here, it seems like she has been left vulnerable.”

“Except that I’m here.”

“Sure, but do they—he/she/it—expect you to be here on duty?”

He nodded. “True. I’m certainly not arguing that.”

“That’s good, yet maybe you should be. I just feel like I’m going a little bit crazy, worrying about something that’s probably nothing to fret about.”

“Well, one of the first things that we always look at when we come up against something we’re uncomfortable with is the where and the why. We’ve secured the where with our three shifts. We’re still working on the why. Since no further attacks have come Talia’s way in the hospital, I’ll take that as a good thing.”

She nodded, then blurted out, “Did you ever marry?”

“Nope, I sure didn’t,” he told her, surprised at the sudden change in topic. “After a bad experience right out of school, it kind of soured me on that whole long-term relationship thing,” he added, with a grin.

“Ah, so you just like to play it nice and easy now?”

“When you’re deployed a lot,” he began, shaking his head, “that is probably for the best, since I’m mostly gone all the time. That causes all kinds of trouble in relationships. With long-distance romance as rocky as it appears,” he added, as he shook his head, “I’m inclined to keep the status quo until my situation changes, you know?”

“Of course,” she agreed. “And it is a challenge, isn’t it?”

“It sure is,” he stated. “But those babies? Man, it sure didn’t take them long to bubble wrap my heart and to tie a string from it right to their little fingers.”

She burst out laughing, then added, “No matter what they do?”

“No matter what,” he declared. “I’m more than happy to do anything for them. Except when it’s diaper duty,” he added. “Oh my gosh, they can absolutely destroy a diaper in seconds.”

She burst out laughing. “You do know that’s not just triplets, right? That’s all kids,” she pointed out, with a big smile.

“It’s still pretty horrific, and, until Pamela helped us get their diets right, it was, well, … literally a shit show.”

She smiled at him. “And yet here you are, a big tough he-man who can handle all kinds of battles, but scared of a diaper change.”

“Yeah, I am, and I am not ashamed to admit it at all. Battles I can handle,” he declared. “Nobody told me about battles with a diaper and so much poop that it’s hard to even imagine, … times three. I couldn’t believe how slippery they get. At first, we were terrified their poopy little bodies would slip right out of our hands.”

She smiled. “I can imagine the poopy messes at that stage of life, particularly considering they’re babies,” she shared. “It’s great to see your face when you talk about them.”

He rolled his eyes at that. “Sure, everybody just loves to see somebody dealing with poop.”

“I deal with poop all the time,” she shared, laughing, “but it’s mostly with adults.”

He winced at that and nodded. “I know that it’s a normal thing. You would think that it wouldn’t be an issue, and it’s not really an issue, but holy crap. If I can get Anderson to do the diaper changes, I’m all in.”

“And here I thought you would be all over it, stepping in and helping your friend.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Then he grinned at her. “And I don’t really care about the diapers. Yet sometimes, wow, you just get them in a fresh change, and the next thing you know, they’re filling them all over again. Can you imagine?”

“Yep, sure can. That’s how it works.” She chuckled. “Or even better, just get a diaper off, then realize you don’t even have a diaper right there at hand. Next thing you know, they’re completely messing up your mat or your blanket or towel or whatever it is.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen that a time or two as well,” he noted, with a grin. “Honestly, it’s been a pretty wild experience, and I am so happy that I came because I don’t know that I would have experienced all this up until now without it.”

“Good.” She nodded. “That’s how it should be. And what about your friend now? Will he return to live action or get deployed again?”

“Not until Talia is on her feet and healthy,” he noted. “We had somebody helping us, but she had to go back to work, so Anderson is at home, alone, with the triplets. Leland is coming to cover things here, so I can go home and give Anderson a hand.”

“Sounds like you still need another set of hands if you’re trying to solve this mystery too”—she pointed at the laptop—“which I presume is what you’re up to.”

He laughed. “I don’t know about solving the mystery, but I’m certainly trying to solve some of the issues going on around us right now. So, I am working on the laptop, but it’s not that easy. The internet sucks here.”

She snorted. “The internet really sucks. You called it right there. It is what it is. Anyway, it’s my break, and I was trying to get away from all the work downstairs. However, it is almost time to head back—unless you need to go hit a bathroom or do something, in which case, I will stay for a few minutes so you can do that.”

He smiled at her. “The bathroom’s right here, so I’m totally okay to use that one. Nobody’s coming in while I’m here, so that’s all good.”

“Okay.” With a smile and a wave, she headed back to work.

Burton wasn’t sure about that visit from Sammy, except that she was obviously a little disconcerted about Talia’s location. As he thought about it, maybe it was odd, but it was still one he preferred because it was easier to defend. Of course, they also had fewer reasons for anybody to come up here, which was also an interesting part to this location.

Still, it would be okay and definitely an easier place to defend, so he would just stick with it and not make any attempt to have Talia moved. He didn’t think that Anderson would have a problem with that either, but one never really knew what was going on.

Just then he heard footsteps, and he stiffened, readying himself, only to see Leland pop his head around the corner.

“Hey,” Leland greeted him, with a smile. “Heard you were looking to take a break.”

“I absolutely am,” he replied, “but only if it’s convenient.”

“It’s convenient for the moment. I have a bunch of work but was hoping to do it on a laptop.” He spied the laptop here and asked, “Are you using that?”

“I am, but I can leave it for you if you want,” Burton replied. “I’ve already finished my first go-through on the work I was doing for Levi.”

“Perfect. Find anything?”

“Nothing definitive,” he noted cautiously, “just the interesting path forward with the various people involved. I mean, they’re all characters, and they’ve all got stuff going on. I just don’t quite understand what they’re up to,” he added. “I tried to follow some of these trails, and it keeps coming back to this one guy.” He tapped the name on the screen.

Leland looked down, read the name, frowned, and asked, “Why do I know that name?”

“I have no idea,” Burton replied. “It’s just a name that keeps popping up, but I can’t find enough information to see if it’s important or not to Talia’s case.”

“It’s an uncommon name,” Leland said, as he read it out loud. “Colby?”

“No, I think that’s Colbert. Definitely an R is in there.”

Leland repeated it a couple times.

Burton nodded. “I’ll carry on following leads on this for Levi, but I’ll tell him about this guy. He’s kind of a local legend in a way.”

Leland snorted. “That’s the problem. Local legends have a habit of getting into trouble, … like before they became a local legend. Then they use that as a way to fund a new lifestyle—or, because they couldn’t fund that lifestyle, they became a local legend for something else.”

“Well, I won’t say yes or no in either case. Yet something is going on because, for whatever reason, the name Roger Colbert keeps popping up.”

“Okay,” Leland noted. “I’ll keep that name in mind.”

With that, Burton stepped out of the room but then returned and added, “Hey, look. I mentioned to Sammy that you would be coming at some point, but you still may find the nurse coming in and looking at you a little suspiciously.”

He looked up and asked, “Sammy? The cute blonde?”

“Yeah, that’s her,” Burton said, with a goofy smile. “Just a heads-up that she might be a little suspicious initially.”

“Got it. I’m okay with that. I’ll just explain it to her.”

“Good enough.” With that, Burton headed out, but, for some reason, he couldn’t quite leave without telling Sammy personally, even though he knew that she would see Leland as soon as she got up to the fourth floor for the next check on Talia.

He headed down, wondering where and what department Sammy was working in. As he got near a nursing station, he asked where he could find her. One of the nurses shrugged. “Good question. She’s kind of floating right now, so she’ll be all over the place.”

“Okay, never mind then,” he said, with a small smile. As he headed out to the parking lot, he sent her a text instead and let her know that he had been replaced by Leland, just not to be surprised the next time she pops in. He got a text back immediately.

Thanks for the heads-up. Sorry for worrying you earlier.

He stopped and took a moment to answer her in detail, telling her that she should always listen to her instincts, and it was not a problem at all.

He got a laugh emoji back, and he smiled as he stepped outside, looking for his vehicle. He walked across the parking lot, and another vehicle came flying out in his direction. As it came around the corner, he heard the vehicle shift, almost like it was gunning for him.

He immediately stepped back onto the curb, but the driver just changed direction and still headed right for him, picking up speed. Burton threw himself behind a great big streetlamp with a huge concrete base, knowing that the car’s front end would smash into that before it got to him. And, sure enough, at the last minute, it swerved out of the way and took off down the parking lot. It was a small black truck, with, of course, no license plate.

Swearing at that, he immediately contacted Leland, and, when he picked up, he explained what had just happened.

“That’s not cool. Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. Just a heads-up for you.”

“I’ll keep her safe, but, now that someone has you pegged, you need to be extra careful.”

On that note Burton headed home to Anderson. As soon as he walked in, all he heard were angry cries from the little ones. He walked upstairs into the nursery, multiple faces turning his way, and Anderson sat on the floor, rather desperately trying to change one baby right in front of him.

Anderson turned to him and sighed. “At least you got good timing. Would you mind—”

Burton needed no explanation and scooped up one of the crying babies. She sniffled and immediately stopped crying and looked up at him, patting his face. “I got one. You feel free to grab the other one when you can.”

Anderson stood, picked up the one he had just changed and tossed her gently into Burton’s other arm. “Here’s Lisa two.”

“We really have to do something about their names,” Burton muttered.

“Yeah, we really do,” Anderson acknowledged, “but it sure isn’t happening today. Right about now, I’m happy to have anything to call them.”

Burton smiled and struggled with the two babies in his arms and asked, “How has it been?” Then Lisa one, the first one Burton had picked up, started crying again. “She’s definitely not a happy camper.”

“No, she’s wet, and I need to get her into a dry diaper,” Anderson shared. “Unless, of course, you want to put Lisa one down, come over here and give me a hand.”

Together the two of them very quickly had both babies changed, while the one Anderson had changed already sat there, bawling like a maniac. All three babies with clean diapers were put on the floor.

Anderson sat back on the floor as they started to climb all over him. Then he lay all the way down so they had more space to climb and to just relax. “I guess it really doesn’t feel very good when they have wet bottoms. I was trying to Google that, and apparently some babies are totally okay with it, at least for a while, and other babies are like No, fix this and fix it now.”

Burton burst out laughing. “Figures your sister would have three of the fix it and fix it now kind. I suspect they’re that way because she’s always fixed it right away.”

Anderson smiled. “I can’t imagine her not doing it that way.”

“Nope, I can’t either.” Burton smiled. “Other than wet or dirty diapers, which is a given, how have they been this morning?”

“They seem a little more tired, a little crankier, a little more … I don’t know,” he muttered, turning to Burton. “They’re just to this point of, Okay, we’re so done with this. We want Mom back.”

“I was wondering when that would hit.”

“It never even occurred to me,” Anderson admitted, sadness in his tone and misery in his expression. “Believe me that I wasn’t thinking they would have that kind of recognition.”

“But of course they would.”

“I get it now,” Anderson said. “I get that they’re not fools, and they’re very well-loved children. So, for them, this is likely even more of a hardship.”

“I would think so, yes,” Burton replied. “Your sister is doing fine though.”

“How can they tell if she’s not awake?”

“I think they can. Her vitals are stable. They didn’t want her to wake up just yet and come out too quickly because of the pain, which they would have trouble managing without the drugs.”

“Right,” Anderson muttered. “We want her conscious enough that she’s not hurting, but we want her to stay calm and quiet and to not relive the attack or jerk up to go run to her babies.”

“Exactly, but she’s doing better. I felt like she was doing better. Thought you should know.”

“Good, I’ll take that,” he said quietly. “It’s certainly been an interesting challenge.” He pointed to the kids, scooting around on the floor.

“Yeah, you’re not kidding.” Burton eyed his friend. “I can’t say this is what I thought I was getting into.”

“Yep, neither did I,” Anderson admitted, as he ran his fingers through his hair. “In here we have like literally five minutes of peace and quiet. So, is there any discussion we need to have, anything new?”

“Yeah.” Burton told Anderson how Sammy was concerned about Talia being all alone on that fourth floor, wondering why she had been put up there to begin with.

Anderson nodded. “I don’t think that’s such an issue, more so because we were talking with the sheriff about keeping her safe. I’m sure that just seemed like an easy answer for now. Plus, we didn’t know that we would be running security.”

“The hospital is short on staffing, so I don’t think they would have changed anything even if we weren’t keeping an eye on Talia,” Burton added.

“The sheriff’s department doesn’t have anywhere near enough resources either, and people like Talia just fall through the cracks. I wonder if her husband was hoping that she wouldn’t make it.” Anderson turned to Burton.

“I’ve thought about that a couple times, and I would suspect that was exactly what that asshole Tim was hoping for. But she’s stronger than she looks, and now that we’re pretty sure she will make it, I hope he gets to see the inside of a jail cell for a very long time.”

“I kind of like forever myself.”

Burton laughed. “You’re right. Forever sounds pretty damn good. On the other hand, we’re supposed to be, you know, good people.”

“We are good people,” he declared. “That’s why we’re here.”

“True enough,” Burton muttered. “I also was looking at the files Levi sent me, and I found a name that was connecting, over and over. Roger Colbert. Every time I tugged a line, he was involved, one way or another.”

“What more did you find?”

“I admit that I couldn’t get very far. The internet is absolute crap at the hospital.”

“The name sounds familiar.”

“That’s what Leland said too.” He stared at Anderson, curiosity in his eyes. “Possibly because he was a politician.”

“That’s it,” Anderson snapped. “Damn, I knew I’d heard of him. I don’t know if he quit or if his term was over. … I remember him from way back when. Supposedly something about him starting out as a bad boy but made significant life changes, and he was voted in based on that premise.”

“Interesting. So, it might be nothing. Yet it might be something.”

“Always.” He picked up one of the Lisas and moved her toward her sisters. “Our parents used to know Colbert way back when too.”

“Any business connections?” Burton asked.

Anderson shrugged. “Not that I know of, but, after our parents died, everybody was full of condolences, but nobody really wanted to help or really knew how to help,” he shared a bit too casually, as if he had detached from it. “Everybody just drifted away.”

“I’m sorry about that. That would have been a shitty time of life.”

“It absolutely was a shitty time of life,” he confirmed, with a smirk. “Not a whole lot you can do about it but just step up and keep moving because there is no other option.”

“Right, so would you ever suspect that this Colbert guy was involved in drugs?”

“Suspected him? No, but nothing really surprises me anymore. Let me put it this way. He certainly would have had the connections from way back when, and getting into politics would have been a way to throw suspicion off him and to build his connections.”

“Politicians aren’t supposed to be liars or cheats.”

“No, they aren’t, but a lot of politicians are trying to shake off tails themselves. They’ve done something that they need to put a more legal spin on,” Anderson noted.

“So, we’ll have to see how that comes out. Yet I found a fair bit of information on the internet about him, but not necessarily anything too negative.”

“No? Maybe get Levi to pull his criminal record.”

“He really had a criminal record?”

“Yeah, but it was juvie, so, people are likely to forgive if people have cleaned up their act.”

“Interesting. I wasn’t even thinking about something like that, but it’s possible, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely. And, if he’s gone back to that life of crime again, then we need to know,” Anderson muttered. “The bottom line is, hopefully Talia’s out of danger.”

“I did speak with Sammy again, and she’s pretty sure she saw the husband again this morning. I did text you, asking whether asshole Tim had a brother.”

“Did you?” Anderson asked blankly, then pulled out his phone. “God, I didn’t even see it. Sorry about that.”

“It’s all good. Your priority is the babies.”

“Yeah, the priority is the babies, and everything else is a mess.”

“We’ll get this figured out, don’t worry. Anyway, does Tim have a brother?”

He sat back and frowned. “I am not sure I even know anything about his family. Why?”

“We’re wondering if his brother, if Tim has one, wasn’t the one at the hospital, assuming Tim is still in custody.”

“Well shit, that’s a good thought too. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because you’re a little busy,” he reminded him.

He nodded. “I got complacent,” he admitted, with a smile. “Pamela was here every day, handling all this with such ease that I forgot what it was like to be alone with them. I have been go-go-going all day and haven’t even had two seconds to answer phone calls. So, even if you’d called me about it, I wouldn’t have been able to answer you.”

“And, again your whole job right now is looking after the babies.”

“How is that a thing?” he muttered, shaking his head. “I’ve done two tours in Afghanistan and fought for what? Eight years? And yet here I am, … changing diapers.”

“And,” he pointed out, “loving it.”

He stared at him for a long moment, and then he started to laugh. “It’s definitely different,” he clarified, with a smile. “I’m not going to say loving it, but I am not hating it.”

“That’s for sure, and that’s because you also know why you’re doing it, and you know who you’re doing it for.”

Anderson smiled. “Agreed. And the fact that she’s getting better is huge news.”

“And these guys? … Are we talking naptime now?”

The babies had started to cry and whimper a little bit.

“I was hoping to feed them first and then maybe get them down to sleep. What time is it?”

Burton checked his phone. “Holy … crud. I didn’t realize it was seven already.”

“Yeah, you’ve been at the hospital all day.”

Burton added, “Speaking of the hospital, somebody in a small black truck tried to run me down in the parking lot there as I left today. No license plate.”

“Of course not. Tells us we’re getting close to something though.”

Burton nodded. “True.”

“Our lives are on a completely different tangent now, aren’t they?”

“Yep. It’s a completely different life.”

“It is, indeed,” Anderson confirmed, handing him a baby. “Give me a hand. Let’s get them fed and maybe we can get them to sleep.”

And that’s what they did. They were in luck, as the babies were tired but hungry. Dinner went reasonably well, and, by the time they had them all cleaned up, bathed, and in bed, no whimpers or arguments came from any of them.

The men managed to get back out to the living room, where they both collapsed. Anderson looked over at him and said, “If you’re okay to stand watch, I’ll hit that computer for a few minutes and see if I can find out some information on Roger Colbert that is niggling at the back of my head.”

Burton smiled at him and nodded. “You go. I’ll crash for five.”

“Good enough,” Anderson replied.

Burton added, “Presumably you’ll hear them.”

Anderson turned to him and muttered, “Oh, I think I’ll hear them. I can’t imagine anybody not hearing them.” With a laugh, he headed to the computer, leaving Burton in the living room, stretched out on the couch, ready to close his eyes.

Chapter 3

‡‡

Sammy was just dozing off to sleep after a long and stressful shift when her phone rang. She looked down, surprised to see that it was Burton. “Hey,” she answered in a sleepy voice. “Problems? What’s the matter?”

He hesitated. “I shouldn’t even be calling you.”

“Well, you have now,” she pointed out, with a laugh. “So, it’s really not a good time to tell me that you shouldn’t be calling me.”

He groaned. “The babies are kind of sick.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re really fussy, and they’ve got fevers.”

“How old are they?” she asked, her mind clearing rapidly.

“Not quite a year.”

“Ah,” she muttered, trying to keep the smile out of her tone.

“You’re laughing. Why? Does that mean it’s not serious?”

“I don’t know for sure because obviously I’m not there, and I can’t see them. So I can’t really tell you for sure, but, at that age, chances are good that they’re teething.”

“Teething?” And then he burst out, “You mean, like getting new teeth?”

“Yes, getting new teeth, so that’s quite possibly what’s happening.”

“Oh my God,” he said.

“What did you expect?” she asked in exasperation.

“I figured that they came with teeth.”

“Yeah, well, have you seen any teeth?”

There was silence, and he muttered, “No, there’s no teeth. … No, wait. There are teeth. Yeah, but they have like what, twenty-two to pop out?”

“Twenty primary teeth. That’ll take a while for all of them to poke out.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?”

“Where’s Anderson? He’s there too, I suppose.”

“Yeah, he’s walking with one of them. I’m walking with another one, and the third one we’re trying to keep asleep.”

“Not going to happen,” she noted cheerfully. “You’ll end up with that third one awake pretty soon too.” And just on cue, she heard another one screaming in the background.

Burton groaned. “How long will this last? … This teething?”

“You go through a few rounds of this, so each time could be a few days to a few weeks.”

“Weeks?” he cried out in horror.

Sammy heard Anderson groaning in the background. “Look. They’re probably fine, but, if you’re really concerned, you should bring them into emergency.”

“Emergency?” he repeated. “And then what? They tell us they’re teething?”

“They might. They’ll check them for fever, and they’ll give you a few options.” Impulsively she heard herself saying, “Look. I can come around and check on them if you like.”

“Yes, yes,” Burton muttered, his obvious relief flying through the phone connection. “Please.”

She laughed. “But that doesn’t mean I’m staying and looking after them.”

“No, no, no, I understand,” he acknowledged, “but it would be nice to know that we were not dealing with something that needed all three babies to be rushed to the hospital.”

She immediately hung up. She’d only been dozing and hadn’t even gotten ready for bed yet, but still, she couldn’t even believe that she had suggested such a thing.

She texted him. Give me your address. It came through immediately. She walked out to the car and headed in the direction of the house. As she pulled up in the front, she heard the din inside, and she just groaned—but, hey, they were sick babies, so what can you do?

She walked up and knocked on the door and heard Burton holler, “Come in!”

She opened the door and stepped inside, the noise level hitting max volume, the two men standing there, clearly miserable. Anderson had two of them, and Burton held just one.

He looked at her and muttered, “Thank you,” and such a fervent gratitude filled his words that she had to laugh.

“Hey,” she reminded them, “hopefully it’s pretty minor.”

“Yeah, I hope so. This is Anderson, by the way.”

She smiled over at him and nodded. “Yes, I’ve seen you at the hospital.”

“Yeah, I really appreciate you coming by. If it’s teething, I presume …” Then he frowned and admitted, “I don’t know anything about this.”

“Pain relief, something for the fever,” she suggested, “and you may want something cold for their gums.” She proceeded to the kitchen and said, “Let’s see what your sister would have had here. The triplets already got some of their first teeth …”

“You know they have teeth, right?” Anderson asked.

“Right, of course. I know that. However, they don’t have all their first set of teeth yet.” Both men seemed so flustered and out of their depth that she wanted to laugh, yet gave them both a hug instead because they looked like they were in need. As she went through the procedures of how to handle teething, another knock came at the door, and it opened. A woman stepped in and looked at her in surprise. “Hey,” she said, with a smile. “I see they called in for reinforcements.”

Anderson looked at the woman and muttered, “Oh, thank God you’re here, Pamela. We couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t stop crying. We fed them. We changed them. We walked them, but all the normal things wouldn’t work. Burton had to call Sammy to check up on them.”

“And what did we end up deciding?” Pamela asked her.

“They’re teething,” she said, holding one of the triplets. “I’m Sammy. I’m one of the nurses who’s been looking after their mother.” She smiled down at the triplet in her arms, who was already calming down with a little bit of Tylenol.

“Ah, and I’m Pamela, the social worker involved in the case.”

Anderson shook his head. “She’s a whole lot more than that, but I can see that she would probably try to tell you that’s all she is,” he shared with a big smile, as he leaned over and kissed her.

Shushing him, she turned back to Sammy. “Thank you for coming. I would have been here earlier but for work.” Pamela turned to Anderson and plucked one of the babies out of his arms. The little one, as Sammy watched, went straight for her and just tucked in.

“You’re the one who took the week off,” she guessed.

“Yeah, I am.”

“Not supposed to get involved with your work.”

“Oh, I hear you,” Pamela admitted, with a laugh.

Sammy nodded. “Yet I’m here too, but what are you supposed to do when these absolutely adorable babies are suffering?” she asked, with a smile. “As are the men,” Sammy added, with a bigger smile. “Yet you guys are doing great.”

Anderson shrugged. “But is there anything else we need to know about this?”

“It could go on for a while and repeats in spurts,” Sammy noted.

Then Pamela added, “This could actually last a few weeks. … I don’t want to get you guys completely overwhelmed here, but teething is, you know, part of the natural process.”

They just frowned at her, shared a worried look at each other, and groaned. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, very serious.”

Sammy had to chuckle. “Get them through this bout, and you’ll be good for a few days, a few weeks, and then chances are they will do this again, as they bring up more teeth,” she explained, with a wry smile. They just looked at her as if it were some major trauma. She chuckled. “If you could see your faces right now.”

“I don’t think we want to,” Anderson muttered, glaring at her now.

“This is already fairly traumatic.” Burton groaned.

“Of course it is,” Sammy confirmed, smiling, “for the babies.”

Immediately Burton winced and nodded. “Right? That’s the reminder we needed. The babies are hurting over this.”

“Right,” Anderson muttered, “so this is a normal dad thing, huh?”

“Definitely. At least it’s a normal mom and dad thing, or a single mom thing,” she added, with a chuckle.

“We’ll start with the whole normal mom thing for the moment.”

“Good, that works. You’ll need a little more patience and tolerance.”

Anderson let out his breath. “It’s not so much the patience and tolerance. It’s the worry, and I guess that’s also something that parents go through all the time.”

“When is it serious?” Burton asked.

“When is it not serious?” Sammy asked in exasperation. “We see a lot of parents at the hospital in emergency, and it’s pretty minor. Then again, we see parents come in with critically ill children who are like, Oh yeah, I figured they would just get over it, in situations when they should have brought the child in a whole lot earlier,” Sammy shared.

Something in her tone made Burton turn to her. “That sounds like something you don’t want to relive.”

“Damn right I don’t,” she proclaimed. “Yeah, I’ve seen some lack of treatment and care that you never want to see. But then so has Pamela because social workers also get to see some of the absolute worst in humanity.”

“Right,” Anderson noted, “and, of course, we too tend to think that we see it because we’ve been out in the military dealing with all kinds of issues. Yet you both have been in the trenches right here in this small town.”

Sammy nodded. “In this instance, we’ve all had experience and exposure to some of the worst that people can do to each other,” Sammy shared, “but this is not what we’re talking about right now. This teething is not anything that will affect the triplets long-term.”

“And it’s not your fault either,” Pamela added, eyeing Anderson, then looking back at Burton. “This is literally teething. Just teething.”

Anderson stared down at the little girl who was even now calming in his arms, but she was still looking a little hot and bothered.

“You could try a cool bath,” Pamela suggested. “You can try any number of things. Every baby is different.”

Anderson brushed the hair off his face and checked on each of the three Lisas—technically Lisa, Lily, and Lana.

“They do love their bathtime,” Burton noted. “I’ll go run it now.” And he grabbed one of the Lisas and headed into the bathroom.

Sammy followed, not sure what she was supposed to do now. She watched as he confidently ran a warm bath, and she smiled. “Looks like you’ve had a little experience.”

Startled, he looked back at her and grinned. “Maybe a little bit of experience just recently because of these babies, but it certainly hasn’t been any experience that I’ve ever had prior to this.”

“Well, you’re acting like it’s old news now,” she said, with a smile.

“In that case one or the other of us is lying,” he declared immediately. “Absolutely got to be lying involved.”

She burst out laughing again. “No, I think you’re doing fine.”

“You think so?” He shook his head. “This is not really what I thought life would be like at this stage.”

“Of course not. And you’re here to help somebody who rather desperately needs it, so it makes sense that you’re both out of your depths.”

“Being out of our depths isn’t something—I know this sounds absolutely arrogant—but being out of our depths is something we’re used to,” he admitted, giving her a sour look. “Both of us would consider ourselves very capable, but this?”

“Makes you feel inexperienced and incapable?” she asked, and he just nodded. “I get it. I really do. It’s different for you, but these babies need you, and his sister needs you too.”

“So, here we are,” he stated, with a nod. “Otherwise you would never see me doing this.”

“I don’t know. I think you guys are doing a great job,” she said, with a particularly bright smile. “So, have a little more faith in yourself and just keep doing what you’re doing.” She watched as he struggled with just one of the triplets so far and gave him a couple hints on how to hold her and how to carry her easier.

Anderson came to add the other two babies to the tub, then stayed to hear more tips from Sammy, leaning on the doorjamb. Before long, Sammy was involved in a full-on teaching session. Even Pamela listened in. When Sammy was done, she turned to Pamela and asked, “You have anything to add to that?”

Pamela shrugged. “Honestly, you guys are doing a great job,” she said warmly. “It’s just a matter of having a little more self-confidence to handle this. You were thrust into something so foreign to you that I’m sure it’s enough to give you two the heebie-jeebies.”

“Heebie-jeebies?” Anderson repeated, with a big grin. “That’s a good word for it.” He looked over at Burton. “How are your heebie-jeebies?”

Burton rolled his eyes. “I thought I was doing pretty well without getting the heebie-jeebies,” he replied, sending them all off laughing.

With the three babies in the bathtub, sitting quite comfortably and splashing each other, the two women sat up on the counter as the two men knelt on the floor beside the babies.

Sammy looked over at them and repeated, “I agree with Pamela. You guys really are doing a great job.”

Anderson and Burton turned to her and laughed.

“Sammy, I still can’t believe you even came.” Burton chuckled, and he looked over at Pamela. “I put out the call for help because we weren’t sure how bad this was. Plus, I wasn’t sure when you could come back.”

“Of course you did,” Pamela agreed, looking at him in surprise. “Anybody would have.”

He frowned and asked, “Why does it feel that nobody but us would have?”

She laughed. “That’s your insecurity talking.”

“I may be many things, but I am most definitely not insecure,” Burton exclaimed in a tone that sounded rather pompous.

Sammy giggled. When he looked over at her and frowned, she giggled again. “If you weren’t insecure,” she began, “that comment wouldn’t have made you react that way.”

He shrugged. “Okay, maybe I’m a little insecure … on this topic.” He looked over at Anderson. “What about you? Are you a little … insecure?”

“Hell no,” Anderson declared immediately. “I’m not too proud to admit that I’m very insecure when it comes to these three. Honestly, I’m terrified I’ll do something wrong.” He stopped, and his voice got thick as he shared, “I just want to do it right, so, when Talia comes home, she’ll know her babies have been looked after just fine.”

Pamela reached out a hand to Anderson, who was sitting closest to her on the floor. She could just barely touch the top of his head, and Sammy smiled when she saw Anderson lean into it.

“The thing is, you’re doing everything right,” Sammy told them. “Give yourself a break and realize that these things are just life with babies.”

“Yeah,” Anderson muttered. “I think Burton and I have decided no babies for us.”

“Oh yeah? You say that now, but you just wait,” Pamela interjected, with a chuckle.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Anderson argued. Then he looked over at the babies and shook his head. “But they are damn cute.”

Burton added quickly, “When they’re asleep.”

Both women burst out laughing, and the babies, as if thinking it was all about them, started to splash the men as hard as they could. Within seconds, they were both soaked. And that’s when the laughter really took off.

In the end Burton had enjoyed the crazy night they’d had, and he’d gotten to know Sammy a whole lot more. The babies had finally gone to sleep, and the four of them sat down together in the living room and enjoyed adult beverages. It provided a sense of normalcy, even though it lasted just a few minutes.

Anderson had convinced Pamela to stay the night. She may have done so out of sympathy, but both men were appreciative no matter what, whereas Burton had sent Sammy home. Regardless, both women were working tomorrow. Knowing that he and Anderson should be fine now for the night, with a third adult in the house, it was the right thing to do.

Sammy had eventually gone, but they had spent nearly an hour talking out by her car before she left. Just talking, and it felt really good, something Burton hadn’t done in a very long time.

As he got up the next morning and was putting on the coffeepot, his phone lit up with a text. He looked down and smiled. It was Sammy, asking how the night had been.

He responded immediately, saying the babies had slept through the night. She gave him a quick thumbs-up. Just starting work. Talk to you later. And, with that, she was gone, but the memory stayed with him for the whole day.

He already felt a bond with her, just from their interactions at the hospital. The fact that she had come through and had pinch-hit last night when they’d really needed it meant a lot. It also revealed an awful lot about the kind of person she was. For a guy like him, character was everything.

He’d known some terrific women in his time, but either it was not the right time or they were after very different things. But, for Sammy, she didn’t seem to necessarily want anything different, or maybe that was just him projecting. At any rate, it had been a great evening.

Hearing a noise behind him, he watched as Pamela walked into the kitchen and announced, “Well, this really sucks, but I’ve got to go home and get changed and head to work.”

He winced. “Sorry about that.”

“I should have brought a change of clothes,” she muttered. “Anyway, are you guys good here?”

“We’re good,” he replied, a grateful smile on his face. “Thanks for coming last night—and staying overnight.”

She smiled and waved and was gone within minutes.

Burton heard the shower upstairs, and, by the time Anderson showed up, tired but with a quiet happiness on his face, Burton felt great about it. “I’m really happy for you and Pamela,” he shared.

“Yeah, me too,” he replied. “Not exactly what I thought would happen out of all this.”

“I don’t think we thought that far ahead, did we?” he asked, with a wry smile.

“Nope. Neither one of us did,” Anderson noted, grinning.

“But at least you know I’m here now. … I still don’t know what the future holds,” he admitted. “That really gets to me.”

“Of course,” his buddy agreed, “but we have to trust that Talia’s coming back and that she’s able to handle this.”

He tilted his head, listening for sounds from the nursery. “I can’t believe the triplets are still asleep.”

“Must be the baby Tylenol. I did get up in the night and deal with one who was fussy, who ended up waking the other two,” he shared. “Pamela came with me, and we put them back to sleep. It worked out, since they were due for another dose, which no doubt helped them sleep the rest of the night. We didn’t want to wake you, so we just handled it.”

“I appreciate that,” Burton said, frowning, “but you could have.”

“And, if we needed you, we would have. The thing is, we had no reason to disturb you, so that seems to make a huge difference.”

“It does, doesn’t it? I mean, two adults is obviously better, but three, when you can, that’s absolutely fabulous.”

“We might have a few minutes.” Anderson poured two cups of coffee. “I can’t guarantee that, of course, but if we’re lucky, we have a few minutes, and then it’ll be time to get the babies up.”

“Exactly,” Burton agreed. He noted how Anderson hesitated, so Burton asked, “What’s the matter?”

“During the night,” Anderson began, raising his hands, “a vehicle was parked out front for quite a while. I would have woken you if I thought it was important. We definitely didn’t like the looks of it. I tried hard to get some photos of it, but they left. So, I don’t know if it was just someone visiting a neighbor or what. I just don’t know.”

“Did you get photos? What kind of vehicle?”

“I did,” he confirmed. “A small black truck.”

Burton stared at him. “Remember what I told you about the parking lot?”

“Yeah, I know, and neither of us got a chance to see it any closer. So, no point in waking you up if you couldn’t identify anything.”

“Yeah, but—”

“What good would that have done?” Anderson asked, with a note of humor. “Oh, I woke you up to let you know that the black truck that tried to run you down was just here and is now gone.”

He nodded. “Okay, good point.”

“Believe me, if I had a good reason to wake you, I would have in a heartbeat.”

Burton snorted. “I believe you on that point.”

The two friends laughed, and Anderson nodded. “So, it looks like they’re not giving up anytime soon, huh?”

“Looks like it.”

“Great, so it’s status quo as usual, with everybody staying safe, right?”

“Yep, that’s exactly where we’re at. And what about Leland? Did he—”

“He’s checked in. He’s looking for relief, if you’re up for it.”

“I got that one,” Burton confirmed. “No problem.”

“Good, and, in the meantime, we’ll have to keep a closer eye on the babies just because of the teething.”

Burton grimaced. “Of course both women are working, and both work the day shift—a long day shift.”

“Of course, but then we don’t need the women,” Anderson declared, with a big goofy grin on his face.

“We may not need the women, but it sure was good to have them.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Anderson nodded. “It was very good to have them.”

Chapter 4

‡‡

Sammy, after her third yawn, picked up her empty mug, walked over to the coffeemaker, and poured herself the second cup of the morning.

“Sounds like you might need to inject it this morning,” her coworker joked, now laughing.

She glanced over at her and nodded. “I didn’t get much sleep, that’s for sure.”

“How come? You were off at a reasonable hour.”

“I was, but a friend of mine had some trouble,” she explained, “and I went over to give him a hand.” She didn’t want to say too much, but it was laughable as she explained a little bit about it.

The other woman looked at her in horror. “Triplets? And men?”

She began, “They were definitely struggling, not because they were men,” she told her coworker, “but because they didn’t have any experience with babies.”

“Good God, you would think somebody would have hired a proper nurse for these children,” she replied, frowning.

Immediately Sammy went on the defensive. “I don’t know why they would,” she stated, then shrugged. “No reason to. The men are perfectly capable of handling the babies on their own.”

“But you just said they didn’t have any experience.”

Sammy snorted. “Exactly—like new, first-time parents, but with triplets,” she pointed out. “The babies were teething, so nothing was really wrong, and they were doing a great job.”

“If those were my babies, I wouldn’t want them looked after by a bunch of clueless men,” she muttered.

“I didn’t say they didn’t have any clue. I said they didn’t have any experience, and that’s a whole different story.” Irritated at her coworker jumping to the conclusion that these men were completely incapable, Sammy headed off with her roster to do the first rounds.

She had to leave her coffee behind until she got back but immediately realized she would be better off taking a moment or two and just sitting here before she got started. The other woman left on her rounds.

Just as one of the friendlier supervisors headed her way, a yawn escaped her.

“You didn’t have a good night’s sleep?” she asked gently.

“I’m okay,” she replied. Then she downed her coffee and went about her work. She entered a room to check on a patient. The older woman greeted her, a smile on her face, but she looked tired. When she asked about her sleep, she shook her head.

The patient said, her voice quivering, “It was not a good night. I don’t sleep well here.”

“Do you want me to get something from the doctor to help you sleep?” she asked quietly.

The woman shook her head. “No, thanks. I don’t like taking anything. It makes me feel weird,” she stated.

Sammy frowned at that, nodded. “I certainly won’t force meds on you,” she noted. “Yet if you want to try something—”

“No, I don’t,” she muttered and just waved her on.

And it was kind of that way for the next few patients. People were out of sorts, as if something had set them off throughout the evening.

By the time Sammy made her way up to the fourth floor, where Talia was, Sammy was more than happy to see Burton sitting out there. She stopped in front of him and smiled. “I wasn’t sure I would see you here today.”

“Yeah, I came to give Leland a break,” he replied.

“Of course.” She nodded.

He checked his watch, then stared at her quizzically. “Did you get any sleep?”

“I did, thank you,” she told him. “How are the babies?”

“They had a decent night,” he admitted. “That infant Tylenol seems to work wonders.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, “just something to keep in mind when needed. Sometimes nothing will work, but I’m glad it did.”

“We are grateful,” he noted, with a smile. “The fever had us worried, and we didn’t know what we were dealing with.”

“And I wouldn’t have a clue what to do if you put a gun in my hand,” she pointed out. “Different people have experience in different things. “You put babies in my arms, and I know what to do. It’s the same thing.”

“Well, it’s good to know that some people understand.” He chuckled. “We’ve been teasing ourselves about it all morning.”

“Good,” she stated, with a nod. “That’s the kind of attitude you want to have. Not everybody can be great at everything.”

He nodded and smiled. “I get that. We’re being humbled time and time again in this job.”

“How so?” she asked.

He shrugged. “You know how it is. You walk into normal jobs, where you have the skills and the training. Even though something is different, something is unique about it, you still have the history or some skill level that you can draw on to handle the new circumstance. But in this case? Wow.”

She laughed. “It’s all good. Don’t put so much pressure on yourselves. Those babies are doing just fine.”

“They are, aren’t they?” he declared, and such pride filled his tone.

She chuckled. “Look at you,” she muttered. “Pretty soon you’ll be a dad with your own kids. A happy, proud papa.”

“I kind of feel that way already,” he admitted. “It’s hard not to fall in love with them. Once you’re there spending time with them, they’re just so special.” He shook his head. “I can’t imagine how anybody doesn’t love their own children.”

“And yet—” she whispered.

“I know,” he acknowledged, grimacing. “I know what you’re not saying, and it just saddens me so much.”

“Of course,” she agreed. “And that’s what gives you your humanity and makes you so special.”

He looked at her in surprise and then grinned. “Aw, shucks,” he quipped.

She shook her head at him. “I hear you, you know? I hear you trying to brush it off, but you guys are doing a great thing, and I know that Talia will appreciate it.”

“Some people might say it’s a great thing, but for us? It’s doing what’s needed,” he declared. “It’s stepping up for friends and family who need help. When they need help, you give that help. There really shouldn’t be any questioning it.”

She smiled. “I need to go in and check on her. Back out in a minute.” As she went in Talia’s curtained-off area, Sammy checked the tablet to see how her night had been and what was going on in her world.

She read the doctor’s notes about the medication once again being reduced and looking for signs of life in the next day or two. She smiled at that.

She looked up when Burton joined her. “They’ve reduced her medication again,” she shared, with a big smile. “So, they’re expecting her to come around in the next twenty-four hours or so.”

“And that’s good, right?” he asked.

“That’s very good,” she stated. “The only thing is, we need to keep an eye on her pain level. It’s hard to heal when you’re in extreme pain. So that will be a priority, once we see how she surfaces.”

“Will she wake up in pain?”

“I hope not,” she replied, “because we’re not taking away the pain meds. We’re just reducing the dosage, so she’s more … conscious.”

“Good to know.”

“I’ll check in with the doctor to confirm,” she muttered, going through different tabs in Talia’s file to be sure. She went through another couple, looking for what she wanted, then she nodded. “Okay, same medications, just reducing them slightly, and set for an X-ray next week on that pelvis.”

“Another X-ray?”

“Yes, there were some concerns that it may not have been set as well as it could be, but they’re really hoping that it’s fine. So, they’ll check it, especially since she’s been out for so long. They want to see signs of the healing coming in.”

“Good enough,” he said. “I can’t imagine a busted pelvis. It sounds horrific.”

“It is horrific,” she acknowledged. “Yet people can recover from this and can do well. Of course keeping her calm and letting that head wound heal is another big issue.”

“I didn’t even realize she had a bad head wound.”

“Yeah, along with the busted pelvis, they cracked her head pretty well too.” She grimaced, adding in a casual tone, “I really hope you get these assholes.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about that. We will. The problem is making sure we get all of them and not just the minions,” he pointed out.

She winced. “That’s always the hardest part, isn’t it? I mean, why the hell should anybody out there be allowed to do what they did to her? And how about her husband?”

“The one who not only allowed it to happen but pretty much directed it to happen?”

“Yeah, you don’t want to hear my response to that either,” she grumbled, with a headshake. Now that she was done here with Talia, she turned to Burton and asked, “You okay here?”

“I’m fine.” He nodded. “Thanks again for coming and helping us out last night.”

“Not an issue. I’m going to grab a coffee. Do you want one?”

“I absolutely want one,” he confirmed, his smile lighting up further.

She stared at that smile, shook her head, and muttered, “That should be a lethal weapon.”

“What?” he asked in confusion.

She burst out laughing. “Your smile.” He grinned at her, a wicked grin that sent shivers down her spine. “Oh, no, you don’t. None of that.”

“Are you sure?” he teased, batting his eyelashes in an overblown and hilarious way.

She chuckled even more and said, “Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, not going there.”

“We could go there.”

“Nope, not going there,” she repeated, but she was still chuckling.

He pointed at her, his eyebrows raised. “See? You don’t sound convinced.”

“Maybe not to you,” she clarified, “but the answer is still no.” As she walked away, she glanced back and added, “At least at the moment.” With a laugh of her own and a teasing glance, she headed out to get their coffee and then to visit the rest of her patients.

As she turned and glanced back again, she realized Burton had decided to stay in Talia’s room. She hesitated and sent him a text, asking why.

He sent back a text. I go by instincts. I can’t always tell where, why, or how, but I’m not ignoring it.

She agreed with not ignoring those nudges. Yet it was odd to watch him assume that sense of responsibility and follow it blindly on a completely instinctive level. She went to get their coffee. As she returned, walking up the hallway with his cup, she saw him stepping out of the room. He was talking on the phone.

She held up the cup. He smiled at her, accepted the cup, and within a few minutes said goodbye to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

“All good,” he told her.

“Are you sure about that?” she replied. “Seemed something was up.”

“They’re doing research on one of the locals, somebody of interest.”

“So, who the heck is this mysterious they you’re always talking about?”

“Levi and his band of misfit geniuses.”

“Ah. That clears it up,” she flippantly responded. They were still just names to her.

“According to Anderson, this local is some politician, kind of a legend in these parts.”

“Oh, you’re talking about Colbert then,” she replied.

He frowned at her and slowly nodded. “Yes, I am talking about Colbert,” he confirmed.

“Yeah, the jury seems to be out on whether he’s good or bad,” she shared cheerfully, “and yet nobody seems to care that he’s just operating in the background.”

“Right?” he noted, shaking his head. “Have you ever had him in here?”

“Sure,” she replied. “Once or twice. He’s had”—she frowned—“I think he had some heart work done a while back.” She was quick to add, “I’m not sharing personal medical history here either. With him being a politician, he’s supposedly shared that to the public.”

“He’s not that old, is he?”

“Nope.” She frowned again. “I also seem to remember some Good Samaritan story where he came in with somebody who had been physically beaten or something, maybe an accident. I don’t remember,” she muttered. “Anyway, he stayed at their side the whole time, but it was obvious he was really, really angry about something.”

“So, he wasn’t the patient then?”

“I can’t say for sure. I just remember that whatever it was, he was very angry, and that’s probably the only reason I remember it at all. Yeah, he was so very angry.”

“Interesting,” he muttered. “Makes you wonder.” He was already typing a text to someone.

“As far as I know, he’s not in any kind of trouble—unless you’re telling me that he is.”

“Nope, not telling you anything like that yet,” he told her, with a smile. “It’s just that his name keeps coming up all over the places we look. So I’ll have the research team look into these hospital visits as well.”

“Well, he was involved with all kinds of things at one time, at least according to all the rumors and the propaganda,” she clarified, with an eye roll, “considering he’s on a political kick. There have always been stories about him, but more recently it’s been how he got to where he is and how hard he worked to turn around his life and all that good stuff. I don’t know how much truth there is to any of it.”

“Good point,” he noted. “I had heard something about him having a record.”

“Yeah, he was involved in some gang activity when he was young, if memory serves.” She shrugged. “I really try not to pay too much attention to that kind of crap. Personally, I would like to see people start being nice to each other and not ending up in the hospital.”

“You don’t work in the ER very often, do you?”

“Not anymore,” she stated, still with a smile. “I used to be there full-time, but I got burned out there. Now I’m only there if they need help because it’s so busy or they are short-handed.”

Burton watched as Sammy left yet again.

What she had shared matched up. Colbert was apparently pleasant, amiable, easy to get along with, and, in a way, that just made him even more dangerous because it gave him a persona that people in general would never worry about. The potential for gang relations was also interesting, as to whether he was truly in or out.

Gangs were generally pretty unforgiving, but Roger Colbert was running around, playing out in the open. So, if he was so open in his dealings, without any thoughts for repercussions, then whose side was he really on?

Burton had to ponder that. Should he—or the next new guy coming in to help—go undercover? It was definitely a possibility, and that would provide them with all sorts of insider access.

Could Colbert have made an arrangement to stay in the gang but get himself involved with politics too? That was also a plausible explanation. Burton figured it was probably quite doable. Plus, the man was obviously smart and working very hard at being well-loved and respected. That went a long way with the community. And, if he kept up any kind of gang activities, he might be able to balance it out, but how?

It didn’t seem like Colbert could really be involved in local street gang activities. It seemed to be so much higher than that. Organized crime? That was just a step-up kind of thing, so maybe it was more about that than involving himself in anything at the local level.

Either way, if Colbert was involved in this, he had covered his tracks remarkably well, plus had a good system in place to keep himself looking clean. Yet still keeping everything flowing in the direction he wanted it to go revealed an awful lot about how this Colbert guy worked. Burton wondered if he could do something more in terms of getting that level of information, which could help too. Yet, so far, everybody he’d talked to about Mr. Colbert had had the same kind of reaction as Sammy did, which was interesting.

He sat back down on the hallway chair. When a man in a black suit walked up to him and sat down beside him, Burton looked over at him.

The man watched Burton with a questioning gaze.

Burton asked, “Sorry, did you say something?”

The man replied, “Not yet, but I’m just trying to figure out why you’re here.” He continued to stare at him, but something was in that gaze.

Burton smiled. “I’m just here to visit. You?”

“Uh-huh, me too.”

“Sent by Mr. Colbert by any chance?” Burton asked, a smile on his face. He was sick of the long games, so sometimes he just wanted to see what would happen. This was one of those times, and, seeing this man’s face, Burton wanted to do something, anything, to move this thing along.

Immediately the other man stiffened and glared at him.

“Yeah, that’s what I wondered.” Burton nodded. “See? Takes a much smarter man to make sure this goes in the direction he wants,” he stated, staring at the stranger.

“What are you talking about? I am here visiting someone. And what’s this about Mr. Cobe? I don’t know any Cobert.”

Burton laughed. “It’s Colbert, with an L, but nice try.”

The other man stared at him for a long moment, then replied, “Some people get cocky and think that they know everything—actually assume that people give a shit about who they are and where they’re going in life. Sometimes there is nothing at all to see. Yet they think they know everything, but they don’t know jack.”

“Then there are other people,” Burton countered, “who assume that just because the people around them don’t know what’s happening, … that no one else knows either. Smoke and mirrors, right? If that is how you want to play it, that’s fine. I’ve been known to play a bit myself from time to time.”

Silence came for a moment. Then the stranger looked him square in the face and nodded. “If you want your sister to stay alive, time for you to back off.”

“Is that a threat?” Burton asked.

“It’s a warning.”

“I get it. Someone’s getting nervous, and that’s totally understandable.”

“You are out of your depth.”

He smiled at him, nodding. “Meaning, too many questions about Colbert’s background?”

The other man’s face tensed. “This is your only warning. Remember that.” Then he got up and, moving quickly, headed down the stairwell.

Chapter 5

‡‡

As days went, it had just been one more of those long, busy workdays. Sammy was okay with that, but, by the end of her shift, she’d seen both Leland and Burton. She’d seen Burton once more before Leland took over, and everything appeared to be fine.

She checked in with Leland before she left. “All is well?”

He nodded. “All’s well.”

“Good,” she replied. “There was some talk earlier that maybe this one politician might be involved.” He turned to her, his gaze a little flat. She frowned. “I guess you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Nope,” he stated, with a genial smile.

His smile notwithstanding, she got the impression that the Colbert door was definitely closed. She frowned, wondering if she had upset anybody because it wasn’t her intention. As she got home, she called Burton. “Hey, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s okay,” he told her. “Why? What’s up?”

“Well, I stopped in to talk to Leland for a minute before I left, to make sure everything was okay, and I got the impression that he wasn’t ready to talk to me.”

“No, he probably isn’t,” Burton stated.

“Look, if I said anything to upset you, I—”

“Nope, you didn’t, but we also don’t know who is involved, and we can’t have anybody alerting the wrong people.”

She hesitated and added, “That seems specifically pointed at me.”

“I’m not saying it is,” he clarified. “We’re not exactly sure what’s going on, but a warning was given today that we have to take seriously.”

“Oh, good God,” she muttered. “How did you hear about it? Who told you?”

“It was addressed to me specifically,” he replied, again not giving her any information.

Taking a chance, she blurted out, “Look. My comments about Colbert earlier were just because I don’t know anything about him. I hate to see a man’s reputation get blown apart because of a line of questioning that has nothing to do with him. And I only told you about it.”

“I get it,” he said. “That’s not the point.”

“So? What is the point?”

“You’re the one who contacted me, remember?”

There was definitely a distance between them. Almost desperate to regain whatever ground she’d lost with him, and knowing that she would need to sit down and figure out why that upset so her so much, she shared, “I didn’t mean anything by it. I guess that’s kind of the reaction you might expect when you talk about somebody who’s been a long-time force in this town—”

“Yeah, we know that,” he interrupted. “And, if we didn’t, we’ve certainly been made aware of it now.”

“And do you think I had something to do with that?”

“I don’t know. Did you?” he asked curiously.

“Well, since I don’t know what the problem is, but you’ve obviously got some sort of a problem with me all of a sudden,” she stated, “it would help me to understand why and what. I didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Talia, and I’ve been doing my best to help her all this time.”

“I know that,” he emphasized, then sighed. “Still, the fact remains, somebody tipped off Colbert that we were asking questions about him.”

She asked, “And you think it was me?”

“I don’t know who it was,” he said in exasperation. “But I’m the one who got the warning today to stay clear or else something more would happen to Talia. And that warning … was for Anderson. So, they clearly don’t know me, just assumed I was her brother.”

“Oh my gosh,” she cried out. “When did this happen?”

“It happened today at the hospital,” he shared calmly. “And he clearly had a good idea that questions were being asked.”

“But that didn’t have to be me,” she declared, clearly frustrated now. “I haven’t talked to anybody. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t even mentioned anything to anybody.”

“That’s good,” he said, “and you need to make sure that you don’t from this point forward.” His tone had warmed as he spoke, as if understanding that she really didn’t have anything to do with it.

“I mean it though,” she repeated. “I haven’t spoken to anybody.”

“Good. For your own sake,” he added, “you need to make sure you don’t. I don’t know how far they’re willing to go to clean up and to keep things quiet. Just make sure you don’t get caught in a crossfire.”

In the background, she heard somebody calling him.

“Got to go.” And, with that, he ended the call.

She stared down at her phone in shock.

Things never really became real until, all of a sudden, people started talking about warnings … and in the hospital where she worked every day. She thought about it and racked her brain, trying to figure out if she had mentioned something to anybody. She didn’t think so.

At what point in time could she have even mentioned it? It’s not like Colbert’s name came up in conversations among the staff or the patients. Colbert was not the kind of person she had anything to do with socially, so how did any of this make any sense? And the fact that it bothered her so much was equally disturbing for her. She spent the next little bit worrying that maybe she had mentioned it to somebody unintentionally. Yet, as she thought back throughout her day, nothing popped up.

She finally sent him a text. I’ve just mentally gone through my entire workday. I can’t see at any point in time where his name was mentioned.

He immediately texted her back. It’s all good.

She wasn’t sure that it was all good because it felt very much as if she had done something wrong, or she might have come close to doing something wrong. She hated that feeling. Yet she also didn’t want to even come close to doing anything wrong either. Being wrong in a case like this could be fatal, and she was only just beginning to understand that.

Poor Talia could not handle another beating, and to even think that Sammy could be complicit in something like that hurt her on so many levels. It’s not that Burton blamed her, but she had certainly felt shut out, just in case, and that was something she found very hard to deal with. As she sat here thinking about it, she wondered what had happened, as she hadn’t even seen anyone around and wondered who had threatened Burton.

She certainly didn’t have access to the hospital’s cameras. Hopefully the men did, but she had no way of getting that sorted. And she wondered if she had missed anything else today at work. The only thing that came to mind had been one of the staff smiling up at a man in a suit, then whispering something about him being delicious when he’d gone.

The nurses often joked about seeing good-looking men in the hospital, just because they were stuck in a job that often gave them way less peace of mind than they needed. Even as Sammy pondered whether that would have been the threatening stranger, it wouldn’t have made any difference because he would have just been there for whatever purpose he had, and she didn’t have access to visitor logs. She didn’t think anybody on staff tracked that.

She groaned, headed to bed for an early night, her frustration levels on high as to why and how anybody would have mentioned anything about Colbert. Could it have been an innocent comment, or would it have been something absolutely devastating and possibly fatal?

Later as Sammy struggled to fall asleep, she realized she hadn’t set her security alarm. She reached for her phone, and, using the app, she quickly set it, only to have it report that one of the living room windows was open. She stared at that message on her phone and shook her head.

She never opened that living room window. It was behind the couch, awkward to reach, and never used. She had no reason to consider that this could be something sinister, and yet it was sinister. She immediately got out of bed, quickly grabbed a robe and slippers, and walked to the top of the stairs.

She lived in a small townhome but an end unit. It was two stories, and this window in the living room was on the ground level. Why the hell was it open? Who the hell had opened it, from the outside no less? Had somebody been in her house? And, if they had been, did she have anything on camera? Rather than going down to that living room window, she brought up her video camera on her phone, but she didn’t have any camera covering that particular window, just the front door. Still she hoped someone had started at her front door.

So she checked anything from the front door in the last few hours and found nothing. That living room window was very hidden behind a large hedge that surrounded her property, except for the sidewalk coming up the center to her front door. The camera only kept track of anybody coming up that sidewalk, which meant she had no idea if anybody had come into the house or not. Was that window big enough for somebody to crawl in?

Unfortunately the answer was yes. She immediately made a call.

Chapter 6

‡‡

Sammy guessed that Burton had been working away, probably researching the Colbert connection, based on the absentminded way he had answered her call.

“Are you okay?”

She took a deep breath and asked, “Remember when you called me for a favor?”

He said, “I most certainly do. If you need something, I’m there. What’s up?”

“Well, I don’t know that I need something,” she began, “but I’m a little … worried.”

“Spit it out,” he ordered. “No point in calling me and then not telling me whatever is bothering you.”

She snorted. “If I knew what was bothering me, it would be easier,” she snapped, “but I went to go to bed and checked to lock down my security. However, the system says that I have a living room window open.”

“Okay, so go close it,” he asked, frowning.

“No, you don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand.”

“I don’t ever open that window,” she shared. “It’s behind the couch, and I can hardly even reach it. So, honestly, I’m a little worried about going downstairs and dealing with it.”

“How long have you been home?”

She pondered that for a moment. “Maybe twenty, thirty minutes. I was tired and worn out, so I just came upstairs. It’s been kind of a shitty day. I had a shower and went straight to bed, but when I went to turn on the alarm system, it wouldn’t set because of this one window. And I never open that window, so, if it’s open, somebody else did it.”

“So, you think that either somebody has been in the house or—”

“Is still in the house,” she finished for him.

“Stay where you are, go into the bathroom, lock the door. Give me your address.”

She took a deep breath. “It could be nothing.”

“Don’t waste time talking like that,” he snapped. “I’m on the way, just text me the address.”

And, with that, Burton grabbed the keys to the SUV and headed outside.

He checked for her text, put her address into the online map, and was at her condo within a few minutes. He stopped and walked around the outside perimeter, immediately seeing the open window. Then he headed up to the front door where he checked that nothing was out of sorts at the door either. When he couldn’t see anything, he sent her a text message. I am at the front door. Make sure the alarm is off.

She texted him right back. I haven’t changed anything. I’m coming down to let you in.

He waited, his gaze steady through the window at the top of the door, making sure she was okay. As soon as she opened the door, she looked up at him with relief. Her eyes were huge and wide, and her lips were trembling. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said. “This kind of stuff is very unnerving.” He stepped inside and shut her front door.

“Well, particularly after everything you were saying today about you know who,” she whispered.

He frowned, not sure where this was coming from. “Is there a connection I need to know about?” he asked cautiously, not quite sure what to make of her comment.

“I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “I haven’t had anything to do with him, but I know my father has, which is maybe why I got a little defensive when you brought it up—because of him.”

“And in what way does your father have something to do with him?”

She shrugged. “I don’t really know. And my father has passed now. I just know the name had been mentioned, but he’s also kind of a colorful figure around town. So it’s not like I was particularly worried about it or that it triggered any kind of alarms.”

“Of course not,” he replied casually. Yet his gaze took in the living room as he walked immediately around her first floor, heading for every closet or nook that he could find, looking for any hiding space. He did a thorough check and then turned and looked at her. “Looks like all is well here, but I need to check upstairs too.”

She trailed behind him every step of the way, but the fact that her living room window was open for whatever reason was still a problem. “I’ve already checked the security film,” she shared, “and it doesn’t show anybody coming up the front walkway, and the living room window is out of the camera’s view. It’s just the front doorbell that’s capturing anything.”

“Right,” he replied. “A pretty standard camera, a Ring doorbell, but it won’t do the job in something like this.”

“Well, I wasn’t really planning for something like this,” she noted in a wry tone.

He nodded. “Nobody is”—he patted her hand—“until it happens, and then all of us wish we had something more.”

“Am I supposed to get something more?” she asked, as she turned around and looked. “I don’t want a repeat of tonight.”

“Have you checked to see if anything’s missing?”

“No, that never occurred to me,” she admitted. “I went straight to the bathroom, locked the door, and I’m now trailing around behind you.” She gave a hysterical laugh.

He heard a nervous edge to it still. He nodded. “Let’s do that now,” he suggested.

She hesitated, then nodded, and walking with him at her side, she went through the first floor of her house, looking at everything. She didn’t see anything missing or out of place.

“What about upstairs?” he asked her.

She winced. “I really don’t want to think of anybody going upstairs.”

“If they were in your house, they for sure went upstairs,” he replied. “It could have been just a simple attempt at a robbery.”

“I don’t really have anything,” she pointed out, as she faced him.

“What you think you have versus what somebody else might think you have is a different story,” he told her, with a gentle smile. “People have no idea just how much of their household stuff is easy to sell.”

“Well, honestly, at this point, I would be totally okay if it were just a random robbery versus something targeted.”

“You mean, like Talia?”

“Yeah, like Talia,” she confirmed, a tic in her jaw visible. “All your comments today just settled in tonight, and I’m now questioning everything.”

“And questioning everything is not a bad idea. I don’t want you getting paranoid though.”

“Am I being paranoid?”

“Nope, not if that living room window is something you don’t open.”

“I wouldn’t ever open it,” she repeated, turning to look back at it. “I mean, look at where it’s located. It’s not exactly something that’s easy to even get to.”

“No, and it’s also one of the reasons it was something he could open because it’s out of the range of the front door camera, and you’ve probably ignored that window since forever. It was likely easy for them to open from the other side, just because you probably opened it and closed it once in the last however many years you’ve been here.”

She frowned and shook her head. “I don’t even know if I’ve ever opened it.”

He didn’t say anything, just nodded, then closing and locking the window, said, “Let’s go check upstairs.”

And, with that, she led him upstairs to her bedroom, obviously hating the idea of anybody being up here.

Burton went through the spare bedroom and then her room intently. Turning to her, he shook his head. “For what it’s worth, nobody is here now. I’m not saying that there wasn’t someone earlier, but the house is empty. So you don’t have to worry about somebody hiding in a closet.”

She hesitated, then whispered, “I know it’s really asking a lot, but can you check … the attic?”

He looked at her in surprise. “Yeah, I should have done that in the first place. Where is it?” She pointed to the top of the master closet. He frowned and said, “I don’t like the location of that either. Why the hell do builders put access in rooms like that?”

“I don’t know,” she muttered, raising both hands. “Right about now, I’m not really happy with any of it.”

He moved the access door ever-so-slightly, then asked her, “Has there ever been anything on top of the attic access?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Why?”

“Because it feels like a weight is sitting on it, so I can’t open it easily. That should be a good thing then.” He continued to look up at the attic access door, an unsettling feeling in his gut. “Do you have a ladder? Or something that gets me closer to the hatch, where I can put some weight under the door and really put my shoulder into it? It’s just a tad too tall for me to reach from here.”

“Not really.” She frowned at him. “Do you think it’s an issue?”

“I don’t know if it’s an issue or not,” he told her pointedly. “But I’m not really able to check if I can’t open it. It could just have been stuck simply by not being opened for years. I highly doubt you’ve opened it. Have you?”

“No, of course not,” she said. “I wouldn’t have a clue why or what would be needed.”

“Just a minute,” he noted. “I’ll grab a dining room chair and use that. Chances are, if it hasn’t been opened, it’s not an issue at all. If it’s been opened recently, it wouldn’t be that hard to open now. Yet I want to check it out anyway.”

“In that case,” she added, with a half laugh, “it’s probably not an issue. I just realized the other day that it was even there, and it kind of unnerved me.”

“With good reason,” he noted immediately. “And you don’t ever have to be ashamed of something like that. It’s always better to check first.” He went downstairs and grabbed a chair, brought it up to the closet and positioned it under the attic access, stood atop it, and gave it another hard shove. It wasn’t budging. Pulling out his phone, he used the flashlight option, took a closer look, and said, “It’s been painted over.”

“Oh, well, thank heavens for that,” she muttered.

He smiled and nodded. “It does mean that you’re in the clear. Any other places like this?”

“No, not that I know of,” she said. “I just … got so freaked out over that security message that I went a little off the deep end.”

He said, “Not an issue.”

“No, but I really appreciate you coming and taking a look.”

He nodded. “Now, while we’re up here, let’s make sure you aren’t missing anything.”

“Sure,” she agreed.

As he watched, she went through her dressers and frowned, looked around, checked her night table. “I mean, it’s not like I have any valuables here.”

“You keep it out of the house then?”

“I have a safe deposit box at the bank, which is just for me to feel safe. I don’t have anything here. So that’s a good thing.” Then she frowned and asked, “Is there any way to know if somebody added something?”

His gaze narrowed in contemplation, and he asked, “Is there a reason why somebody would?”

“No.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just a stupid thought I had again.”

“No, it’s not. You’re simply listening to your instincts, and I’m trying to figure out why you’re feeling so uneasy in your own home.”

“I’m uneasy because of that open window, and now I’m worried about what you told me earlier, about that name you mentioned earlier. … I guess I’m feeling paranoid.”

He smiled. “I’m not against you feeling paranoid because it will keep you safer. Let’s just not go overboard.”

He walked around, playing with an app on his phone. As he held up his phone around her night table, he froze because the light on his phone was now flashing. He looked down at it, checked the security settings to make sure it wasn’t a false read, and then holding his finger to his lips, he turned to her.

Her eyebrows shot up, and he walked over to check the inside and outside of the lamp, but it was her charger that was in question. He found a small addition at the back, behind the night table. He pulled it out and took a look at it, his expression, his thoughts, definitely not on the pleasant side, and then without warning, dropped it to the floor and stepped on it hard, crunching it beneath his foot.

Chapter 7

‡‡

Sammy stared at him, open mouthed, and then looked at the item on the floor. “What the hell was that?” she asked. “And why did you break it?”

“It’s a listening device,” he said. She gasped. “So, you did have an intruder. There was no dust on it, and it looked like something that potentially had been relatively easily installed. The question is why?”

She frowned, then shook her head. “The only reason why would be the fact that I was seen at the hospital with you.”

He considered that for a long moment, his gaze narrowing as if wondering about the merit of her assumption, then pulled out his phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling Anderson.”

As soon as the call connected, he provided the update, and she heard Anderson’s surprised shock on the other end. She herself wasn’t even sure what to think.

She walked over to the side of her bed and collapsed on the edge. She looked around her room, feeling a horrible sense of violation. She had felt something earlier but hadn’t recognized what it was. Now she had a name for it. Now she felt the reality that somebody had invaded her space, and she just didn’t know why. She felt utterly violated.

She looked over at him. “Why would somebody do that?” she asked, her voice fading.

“Because they think you know something,” he shared. She winced. “Or”—he shook his head—“and I know you’ll absolutely love this one, they assume that we have a relationship, and there might be … pillow talk.”

She felt the heat rising up her cheeks as she stared at him, her hand over her mouth. Then she shuddered. “Talk about a sense of violation,” she murmured.

“Exactly, and that is something that will be hard to let go of very easily.”

She looked around her bedroom. “Do you—” She didn’t even know what to say.

“Go on. Spit it out,” he urged her, as he walked over and sat down on the bed beside her. Wrapping an arm around her, he tugged her up close. “You’re allowed to be upset. You’re allowed to not know what to think. The question is, what will we do from here?”

“Yeah, that’s a good question,” she muttered, relaxing against his chest. “Presumably they now know that I found the bug.”

“No, not necessarily.”

“Why?”

“They’ll know that it’s not working, but they won’t necessarily know why.” Then he hesitated. “If there was one,” he began, with a nod, “there could be more elsewhere.” She shivered at the thought. He nodded. “Obviously I’ll search, but we could use some better equipment.”

“This is fairly sophisticated to bug my bedroom,” she noted, staring at him.

“I get that, but then so is murder.”

She blinked. “Murder?”

“Or at least attempted murder,” he pointed out. “Look at Talia.”

She nodded slowly. “I hadn’t really considered that,” she murmured, “but I guess if they’re willing to do what they did to her …”

“Exactly,” he muttered.

She shivered as she looked around. “Now I really don’t feel safe.”

“Right, and I’m not sure what to do about that either right now,” he admitted, pondering it. “I don’t want you here alone.”

“Yeah, that’s nice, but you can’t stay here because you’re needed with the babies.”

He sighed. “I know. I have to take that into account too.” He scrubbed at his face. A few minutes later, Anderson phoned again.

She heard the conversation as Burton held put his phone on Speaker and held it up for the two of them.

“Levi’s sending some improved security equipment for Leland to inspect both houses,” Anderson shared, “and I’ll have Pamela’s house checked too. Plus Talia’s hospital room.”

“Oh, good thinking,” Burton replied. “At the moment, we’re not sure what to do about Sammy because I surely don’t want her here all alone. Any suggestions?”

“Yeah, we have spare rooms here. Get her to pack a bag for a few days, and both of you come back over here.”

She wanted to protest, but Burton held up a hand, still listening to Anderson on the phone.

Anderson continued. “I know it won’t be as quiet and possibly never peaceful because of the babies, but she’ll be as safe as we can make her here.”

She stared at Burton in surprise and then shrugged, reality settling in. “Thank you. That’s more than I was expecting.”

Anderson, his voice gentle, stated, “This is happening because you’re helping us. So we’ll do anything we can to ensure this doesn’t get any worse.”

She didn’t even want to think about what worse could mean. The implications were already so horrific that it sounded incredibly ugly. Since he had taken that call, Sammy had been sitting here pretty zombie-like.

He ended the call and motioned around the room. “Can you grab a bag and start packing so we can leave?”

She bolted to her feet and immediately grabbed her travel suitcase. “I need my uniforms,” she muttered. “I have to go to work.”

And he immediately started helping her. It took them about twenty minutes, and then she just stood there, looking around the room. “Anything else?” he asked.

“No. … I haven’t really spent much time outfitting this place or getting nice things—mostly because I’m so busy. Plus, I was a student before that and never had much money. I always promised myself new furniture, but I never quite got there,” she muttered. “As I’m looking around now, a part of me wants to take nothing. I don’t want anything with the memory of them inside my home,” she shared, half staring at him, realizing she sounded a little out of control.

He immediately pulled her into his arms.

That sense of security when being held, even if just for a moment, was overwhelming, and she allowed herself to collapse against him. When she finally lifted her head, she looked up at him, tears in her eyes, and whispered, “It’s not fair.”

“No,” he replied, his tone gentle. “It’s not fair. And it’s part of the propaganda of fear. It’s why it works so effectively because now you end up looking behind you all the time, and that’s not what you want, but it is something that they’re happy to have you do.”

“I didn’t do anything to them.”

He nodded. “Neither did Talia.”

She closed her eyes at that reminder. “Well, that’s a good way to look at it.”

“No, it’s a really sucky, nasty way to look at it,” he declared, “but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s the reality of what we’re up against.”

She groaned. “They really thought that maybe you would be passing out major secrets in bed or something?” she asked, staring at him in disbelief. “How is that even a thing?”

He chuckled. “It’s quite often a thing—but not my thing. Then again they don’t know that.”

“It’s not my thing either,” she muttered as she glanced around the room. “So, do I leave everything else just like that?”

“Yes, you do. At least for the moment,” he clarified, “and, when we are clear of this, we can get you back in here.”

“What if I don’t want to come back here?” she asked, eyeing the place. “It just feels—” She frowned as she searched for the right word. “It doesn’t feel …” Yet she couldn’t come up with anything.

“Safe,” Burton suggested, watching her closely. “It doesn’t feel safe anymore.”

She nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly it. It doesn’t feel safe anymore. It doesn’t feel like mine. It feels like it’s somebody else’s.”

“And, if that’s the case, when this is over, we’ll find you another place to live where you do feel safe again.”

She gave a harsh, resolute headshake, then said, “I’m not sure that’s possible now.”

“It’s possible,” he stated. “You will find life after this. Just like Talia will too, and we’ll help.”

She gave a broken laugh, turned determinedly, picked up her bag, and announced, “Let’s go.”

Burton led the way, with her following in her car, back to Talia’s house, where they were all camped out, and he realized it was a good thing Talia had a big house.

It worked out for them so well in this crazy situation. Apparently, she always wanted a large family. Although he didn’t think that she expected to get three babies all at once, but he was sure she would have been happy to have them regardless.

As he walked Sammy to the front door, Anderson showed up, a gentle smile on his face, as he whispered to her, “I’m so sorry.” Then he hugged her. “This is not what we want for you.”

She nodded and wiped back the tears. “No, it’s not what I want either,” she agreed, “and now they’re just pissing me off.”

“Good,” he stated. “Better to be pissed than to be a victim. Being angry is always better. It’s not that you can think clearer, but it will release the shackles of that victimhood, so your brain functions better. Otherwise you freeze like prey, and they have the upper hand.”

“How is it that you people even know things like that?” she asked, staring at him.

“Unfortunately,” he replied, even with a kind smile still on his face, “we know it because it’s the world that we live and work in.”

“I’m so sorry for you.”

He chuckled. “Yes, I’m also sorry that something like this is necessary,” he added, giving a dry laugh. “We do what we can to keep people safe. In order to do that, we also must understand the methodologies of what bad people are doing in this world in order to combat it.”

“And you can’t keep ahead of it, not always.”

“No,” he confirmed, with a chuckle. “Cybercrime is one of the biggest headaches to stay ahead of, and not a whole lot we can do about that. We just do our best and keep going.”

“But you’re not in cybercrimes,” she noted, giving Burton a sideways look.

“Nope,” he conceded. “It would be easier to find a job after this if I were.”

“Well, you could always retrain,” she said jokingly.

“I’ve considered it,” Burton shared. “I’ve taken several courses on it. I’m just not anywhere near as proficient as a lot of the people out there are.”

“I imagine it’s something that you have to stick with it pretty intently.”

“It is.” He nodded. “Up until now, we were happy doing what we were doing, so we weren’t really looking at future options.”

“How about now?” she quipped, with a wry look. “Any thoughts about future options at present?”

He chuckled. “Maybe. Not exactly sure what that’ll look like though.”

“Right, and I shouldn’t be pushing you. I’m the one who just finished college and got a couple years of experience under my belt,” she shared. “I wouldn’t want to be changing that anytime soon.”

“Exactly, and no reason for you to even contemplate that,” he pointed out. “We won’t let these guys ruin your life to the extent that retraining is necessary.”

She sighed. “Glad to hear that, … but it seems fairly difficult already, just thinking of all of us under this roof.”

“Our apologies ahead of time if the babies wake you,” Burton added, his tone low and soft. “We’ll do what we can so you can get to work on time, but it’s a bit of a challenge some nights.”

She smiled. “That’s not the issue for me. It will likely be more about the nightmares as to what’s going on in my home when I’m not there. Plus, now, no matter where I live, I’ll need a higher level of security. At least then, if somebody comes into my house, I’ll know about it. I had never really considered that would be necessary,” she admitted. “Not exactly a comforting thought.”

“No, it isn’t, but we will get to the bottom of it,” Anderson declared, as he looked over at Burton. “Take her up to the spare room at the back corner, will you? She’ll probably feel a whole lot better if she has a window out to the backyard, which is pretty peaceful.”

Burton nodded. “The master bedroom. Good idea.” He motioned to her as he picked up her suitcase. “Come on. Bedtime calls.”

She frowned at him in astonishment. “No way I’ll sleep now.”

He stared at her, one eyebrow raised. “Okay then. Tea? Scrabble? What’s your pleasure?”

She shook her head. “I have no idea,” she muttered, as she scrubbed her face.

“Maybe just a hot shower, then bed?” Anderson suggested. “Maybe a cup of nice, sleepy tea and a hot shower to try and wash all this away.”

“I don’t know,” she muttered, staring at him. “All of it is just a little too much to wrap my head around.”

“In that case, just put it out of your mind and keep on going,” Anderson said, with a smile. “Tomorrow it won’t seem like it’s quite so bad.”

Chapter 8

‡‡

The next morning, Sammy arrived at work a little disheveled and not quite as bright or as early as she had thought she would be. As she walked in, she was yawning again. Yet she had to smile at the memory of the scene she’d left at the house. One of the babies, her mouth full of something white and sticky, blew bubbles in Sammy’s direction, as if to say, Good morning, and then promptly hit Burton on the chin.

His face had twisted, then slowly relaxed as he sighed. “This is my new reality.”

She’d burst out laughing and had to run as she was already late, but it was a picture to keep her smiling.

“Oh, another bad night?” asked Kim, one of the day nurses.

Sammy smiled. “Just a busy night.”

“Again?”

“More or less.”

“Looks like a lot busy,” declared someone behind her in a mocking tone. “You’re supposed to show up for work nice and fresh, ready to go.”

She turned to see Albert Field, one of the residents whom she had turned down for a date several times already, so they were already on less than friendly terms. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Then she walked away.

“Yeah, you better. These people are sick and need you,” he called out behind her.

She turned to him and flat-out asked, “Are you accusing me of not providing good care?”

He immediately held up his hands defensively. “Whoa, you should come with a warning sign when you haven’t had any sleep. Don’t blame me. I didn’t keep you up.”

“You don’t have to worry about that ever,” she snapped, turning back. “It will never be because of you either.”

One of the women passing by started to snigger at that. Kim also chuckled. Albert glared at her.

Kim shrugged and stated, “You asked for it, so leave her alone. She’s tired, and she hasn’t been sleeping well.”

“Well, then she should get that fixed. We have a job and a responsibility here,” Albert said, still glaring at her, obviously not liking that Kim had taken Sammy’s side over his.

“You should get to work then,” Kim told Albert.

The resident sulked off in a huff, and Sammy whispered her thanks to Kim, who laughed.

“He’s been a snot since he got here. You know that whole, I’m a doctor, and you’re nobody mind-set? That is getting so old,” she complained, with an eye roll.

Sammy nodded. “Well, that’s his fault.”

“But we also know that an awful lot of nurses like to hang around with doctors.”

“Maybe, but not the case with him. He’s insufferable.”

And, with that, Kim nodded. “Get on. Go to work,” she whispered, “before he comes back and has something else to snap at us for.”

“Will do.”

And, with that, Sammy got on with her day. And a busy day it was, with no end in sight in terms of the work. But when the time came to head up to the fourth floor to check on Talia, all the fear from last night came rushing back. Sammy was reluctant to open the door to the ward, even knowing that she had to check on Talia. Yet Sammy hadn’t even talked to any of the guys on bodyguard duty today. She was a little disturbed to see nobody sitting in the hallway.

She walked to the ward, took in a deep breath, and opened the door. As soon as she stepped inside, she heard papers moving on the far side. She peeked around the corner, and Leland was there.

“Hey,” he greeted her. “It’s that time, isn’t it?”

“It is,” she agreed with a dry laugh, her color returning. “Wasn’t sure if it would be you or Burton.”

“Burton is picking up a delivery,” he shared, his head buried in the papers again. “Then we’ll switch up, so I can head over and check your house. I do need access though.”

She turned off the alarm then pulled out her keys and removed a single key for him. He smiled. “You must really trust these guys to hand over your house key like that.”

“Well, if I can’t trust you guys,” she replied, “I don’t know who else to trust. I’m already way past the troubled mark.”

“You’ll be fine,” he said, pocketing the key. “I’ll go check out everyone’s houses, so we know at what level of sophistication we’re actually talking about here.”

“I’m hoping for the dollar-store variety,” she quipped, “because anything else just makes it even scarier.”

“If they’ve got money for quality surveillance equipment, they have money for even bigger crimes,” he noted. “So unfortunately this is one way to get a sense of it, and, well, … you get the picture.”

She shook her head. “All of this is just so wrong.”

“I agree,” he said. “We’re all on the same page there. Just give me a chance to check with Levi’s fancy equipment he sent over, and then we will know where we’re at.”

Sammy frowned. “You’re going alone?”

“Yep, we have one more guy hopefully arriving soon, but he’s still tied up on an op and will be delayed a bit because he’ll be driving from the middle of nowhere—or so I heard.”

“You guys could always hire a nurse.”

“We could, but Anderson seems to think the babies would be better off with family, meaning us.”

She smiled. “I do love that positive thinking. I’m not sure the babies consider you guys family though, at least not at this point.”

“Maybe not, but you know who would consider us family?” He turned and looked at the unconscious woman in the hospital bed. “Talia would, and that’s who we’ll be facing at the end of the day.”

She looked at him in surprise and then slowly nodded. “That’s a really good way to think of it,” she said. “I hadn’t considered that.”

“Nope, but we do. Everything we do here is for Talia, so she can get back to her life that was taken from her.” Then he turned to Sammy and smiled. “So, don’t you worry about me. As soon as Burton gets here, we’ll make the switch, and I’ll go see what I can find.”

“And will you tell me?”

“Of course,” he stated. “I’m certainly not one of those people who think you’re better off not knowing anything. As far as I’m concerned, any and all information that we find is important to share regardless. So, I will absolutely let you know.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I appreciate that.”

He grinned. “I presume you deal with a lot of people who seem to think otherwise.”

“I grew up with a family that thought I could be a nurse but wasn’t good enough to be a doctor. You know that kind of thing, and it sort of warps your thinking over time.”

“Yep, it sure does,” he agreed, with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t in any way say that you couldn’t be a doctor. You should be whatever you want to be and go from there.”

She chuckled. “You’ll make a great father.”

He looked at her in horror. “Oh, hell no, not me. I think all this baby stuff has gone to everybody’s head,” he muttered. “I mean, all of a sudden, they’re all talking about what great fathers they’ll be. Last time I saw these guys—No. Let me change that. Every time I’ve ever seen these guys, fatherhood wasn’t on their radar at all. I don’t get it.”

She howled with laughter. “That’s because you guys are getting such great exposure to those three sweet little babies right now.”

“And that may be true,” he admitted, shaking his head, “but, right now, I’m having way less to do with the triplets. Although one of them, man, I tell you. She just looks at me, and my heart melts.”

“Only one of them?” she asked in astonishment. “I mean, there are three of them.”

“I know, but that one,” he admitted, “she breaks my heart.”

“You can tell her apart from the others?”

“Oh gosh, yes,” he declared, staring at her in surprise. “They are not all alike, you know?”

“You know that Burton and Anderson can’t tell, right?”

He started to laugh. “I think they’re starting to see differences,” he told her, with a smirk. “They just didn’t know which one was which to begin with. So, Lisa one, Lisa two, and Lisa three is who they are.”

She groaned. “That is just terrible.”

“Maybe, but short of anybody knowing who is who for real,” he pointed out, followed by a chuckle, “that’s where it’ll stay, at least until we get Talia back to identify them again.”

Just then his phone buzzed. He pulled it out, looked down, and smiled. “Parcels picked up, and Burton is on his way,” he shared. “I’ll just finish up this work, and then I’ll see you later.”

She smiled and nodded. “Good enough. I’ll check on Talia, and then I’ll come back and talk to Burton later.”

She quickly finished her rounds with Talia, making sure everything was okay. She was happy to see even more signs of her coming back around again. Talia asked Leland, “Has she made any sounds at all?”

“Yeah, she just starting to make some noises, mostly pain though.”

She frowned at that. “Resurfacing can be really harsh, but we don’t want her hurting as she comes back to us though. … Yet it’s time,” she murmured, as she stared down at the unconscious woman.

“So these noises are normal, right?” he asked.

“Yes, but we’ll adjust her medication over the next few hours as needed.”

“So presumably she’ll sleep quite a bit, even when she wakes up?”

“Possibly, yes, and also possibly not,” she replied. “She may come to with a sudden jump, which we hope not because that means pain is bringing her back. Plus, we also need her to be quiet and to not move when she comes out of it because of the shattered pelvis.”

He nodded. “It’s amazing what the human body can stand,” he muttered as he stared at the woman in the bed.

“It is, and it’s also amazing that assholes can inflict that much damage on a defenseless woman without a care.”

He shook his head. “I’m in agreement with you there. … Now apparently you’ve been targeted too, so make sure that you let somebody know when your shift is over. Even better, have somebody come and be here for you as you drive to work and as you leave too. All of us are pitching in to make sure everybody’s safe. So, if it isn’t me, make sure you call Burton or Anderson.”

She frowned at him, concern written all over her face.

Leland pointed at her to bring the point home. “We can’t have you going out of communication for any extended period of time because we won’t know if you’re in trouble or not. If we don’t know, we can’t help,” he told her.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I hadn’t really thought of that. I left in a rush this morning, tired, kind of worn out after not sleeping great, and, to be honest, I didn’t give it a thought.”

“We saw that, so Burton followed you here this morning. So, our first priority is to keep you and Pamela and Talia and the triplets all safe and sound, taking things one day at a time,” he shared.

“Thank you all for that.” She nodded. “Now I have to get back to work.” After updating the notes on Talia’s file, she headed back down to the main nurses’ station, thinking it would definitely be a long day.

Burton walked into the hospital, his senses on high alert as he took a look around at everybody to ensure nothing was untoward as he headed up to Talia’s room. It was heartbreaking that they were still in this position, but even more so now that Sammy had been affected as well.

He and Anderson had a long talk about it this morning, agreeing that she needed to stay for as long as they could convince her to, hopefully until they got to the bottom of this. The last thing they wanted was another victim, particularly when they already understood how challenging it would be to save Sammy if she wasn’t close by so they could keep an eye on things.

These men came after Talia, so they had no qualms about picking on women. And the last thing Anderson wanted was anybody else hurt because of this mess.

They also were trying to track down Tim’s family history, specifically any living relatives of Timothy Magnus. Apparently he had been adopted. Burton was pretty sure Talia had no idea—or, maybe even if she did, it hadn’t been presented as an issue at the time.

Right now, Burton wasn’t sure Tim would have even told her. When she was in love and happy and everything was great, it all seemed like fun and roses, but now it was a whole different story. Nothing seemed amiss here in the hospital, but Burton still raced up the stairs to Talia’s room on the fourth floor.

The hallway was empty, but he also knew that Leland would be inside the room. As he stepped in, he heard Leland talking to somebody, and he briefly got excited to think that maybe it was Talia. He raced forward only to see that Leland was talking on the phone.

Leland finished off the phone call. “Okay, Burton’s here now. I’m heading over, and we’ll start checking out the houses. I’ll give you an update later.” He hung up, looked at him, and noted, “You looked pretty excited there for a minute.”

“I thought there was good news. When I heard you talking, I hoped you were talking to Talia,” Burton explained, as he stared at the still unconscious woman.

“Not yet,” he said, “but it would be nice if she woke up right away.”

“It would be great if she did. Anderson is covering it well, as he’s focused on the babies, but he is still worried sick.”

“Talia waking up would change things completely,” Leland stated. “She will still need a lot of care, care that we don’t necessarily have available for her.”

“I was wondering about that,” Burton added, “the thought of her still being in pain and dealing with all the healing is pretty rough. Plus, she may need rehab, from what I heard.”

“Well, the pain meds will help with the first, and we’ll help her through rehab as well,” Leland vowed, as he packed up his gear. “By the way, I saw Sammy here about”—he looked at his watch—“maybe forty-five minutes ago. So chances are, you won’t see her for a bit.”

Burton nodded, then raised his eyebrows. “How did she look?”

“Stressed and running on empty. I told her that I would head over to her house today, and she gave me her key,” he shared, holding it up. “So, I will probably start there. I’m still trying to get an angle on why they would have gone to her place. I mean, what would they hope to hear?”

“If they saw us together, they might have understood that we were getting close,” Burton shared, with an embarrassed shrug. “I wasn’t thinking that anybody would come after her because of it.”

“Of course not. So, pillow talk, huh?”

“Careful what you say to her. She seemed pretty upset that anybody would think that,” he added, with a grin.

“So, we can take that to mean that a lot of people they deal with let loose their jaws all the time. Obviously they expect to be working with people who do. So keep that in mind.”

“Which means that they have that habit themselves,” Burton pointed out.

“And that is something else worth noting because, if one of them has loose lips, you can bet the information is available and out there. We just have to find it.”

“Ex-girlfriends, you’re thinking?” Burton asked, his gaze narrowing at Leland, thinking about what the options could be.

“It would certainly be one thread to tug. We just need to know who that would be, which won’t be the easiest thing to find out,” he said. “Have you got any info on Timothy?”

“Nothing so far.”

“What about Roger Colbert?”

“I don’t know the man. Anderson says that he’s a mainstay around this place and a bit of a womanizer because he’s that slick politician kind.”

“Right?” he said, a wolfish smile on his lips. “In that case, maybe we can roust up some old girlfriends of his and see if that was an issue.”

“Kind of an odd question to ask them though, isn’t it?”

“Won’t matter how odd it is if it gets us what we need to know.”

“Oh, I hear you. I hear you. It’ll just be interesting if they’re all about him or ready to spill some of the less savory details about the relationship.”

Burton pondered that for a moment. “I think it’ll depend on how Colbert left any of them.”

“Yeah, if it was a good parting, she’ll be happy and not want to talk, but, if he screwed her over or cheated on her or something else along that line, you and I both know women scorned are not to be messed with.”

“Well, here’s hoping that a woman scorned is somewhere in his life,” Burton stated, with a laugh, “because you’re right. That’ll backfire on him pretty-darn fast. And backfiring is just what we need right now.”

Leland packed up, grabbed his laptop bag, and added, “I’ll check this ward too and will let you know if I find out anything.”

“Good enough.”

With that, the two men switched off, and Leland headed down the hallway.

Burton settled into his spot across from Talia, then got up, walked over, picked up her hand, and told her all about the current events, and how everybody was pulling for her, was waiting for her to wake up, so they could bring her home to her family.

He wondered about bringing the babies in to see her, but, if she was coming back out on her own, then it would make sense to just let Mother Nature progress gently on her timing. Goodness knows, the woman had enough to deal with without coming fully awake, instantly worried about her triplets.

Even as he stood here and talked to her, he felt her, could almost see the seething awareness starting to surface. When she moaned gently, he just patted her hand and whispered, “It’s okay. You’re fine. Your babies are fine. We’re making sure all is well, so don’t you worry.” Then he placed her hand down, gently kissed her on the cheek, and walked back over to take up his seat and to keep up his vigilance.

Now he turned his attention to researching Colbert and whatever he might have for a sordid love affair that they could exploit for information—and the sooner, the better, because the ante had been upped, and who the hell knew where this would end?

Chapter 9

‡‡

At the end of the day Sammy remembered that Leland had headed to her house, looking for results of his search there. She sent him a text, asking if he found anything more in her place, and got the answer a bit too quickly. A single no, but she was happy with that.

If it were just one listening device, that’s something. The fact that it was put in her bedroom was outrageous, but it did go along with the theory that maybe they thought her relationship with Burton had gotten to that point, though it sure as hell hadn’t. Even now she had to wonder about the intrusiveness of it all. By the time she was done with her shift, she turned to leave, picking up her keys and heading out to the parking lot, only to find Anderson standing there, waiting for her. She looked at him in surprise.

He smiled and explained, “Leland’s at home with the babies. He’s done all the checks, so I ran over here to make sure that you were okay to come home.”

“Of course I am,” she muttered, waving her hands. “Although, if there are no other bugs—”

“Nope, not a good idea,” he argued, before she could even ask to go back to her home. “Obviously I can’t force you to stay with us, but it’s not a smart thing to consider right now because we still don’t know who’s behind it. Somebody thought it was worthwhile to break into your house to plant a bug. So, if they want to go back, what’s to stop them from doing it again?”

“I was really hoping you wouldn’t bring that up,” she muttered ruefully.

“Yet I did,” he stated, with a smile. “I am heading out to the grocery store. Want to come with me? Then I’ll follow you back to Talia’s place—or we can go right there. Still, I wanted to check if you had any food allergies and what I should avoid picking up.”

“No, I eat anything,” she replied. “I’m just tired.”

“Good, I’ll follow you there, and you take a nap,” he suggested. “Leland’s there, and I’ll let him know you are leaving now.”

“It’s that bad, huh?”

“Let’s just say that we’re cautious. We’ve seen too much of the ugly side of life,” he noted somberly.

She turned, looked back at the hospital, and thought of some of the cases that had broken her heart over the last couple years and nodded. “So have I,” she murmured. “Yes, I will stay at least tonight while we figure out what the next option is.”

“Good enough,” he replied. “I’ll get pasta for us tonight. I want to see the babies with noodles in their hair.”

She stared at him in astonishment and then burst out laughing. “Well, that won’t be a hardship,” she admitted, with a smile, “because that will be one of the first things they do with it.”

“I don’t know about the first thing. I was kind of hoping they’d eat some initially.” And, with a big grin on his face, he walked her out to her car and then headed over to his.

She was quite stunned that he had even come to see her at the hospital. She knew Burton was still up there working and realized just how these three men were juggling things around the clock, trying to keep everything functioning.

And now she had just added to their troubles. Frowning at that, but not sure it was wise to change anything right now, after waving to Anderson, he took off on his own for the grocery store, and she drove straight to Talia’s house. The whole way here, Sammy had been wondering about how close she felt to this woman who didn’t even know her name, didn’t know anything about her, and yet here Sammy was, staying in her house. Sammy wondered at the wisdom of actually doing that, wondered if Talia would wake up upset or would she wake up overwhelmed with joy that these people had stepped up to help? Sammy figured it would probably be a mix.

How could it not be?

The poor woman had missed out on time with her triplets, at a point where everything they did was a milestone. Thankfully the children’s care had been better than much of what she had seen at the hospital with her pediatric patients. She felt sorry for Talia because she had taken a huge physical hit, essentially from her own husband. That alone would be difficult for her to handle emotionally and physically when she woke up, and the adjustment would not be any easier afterward. But she would wake up from this, and she would return to her triplets, and that was important.

It was also important that the poor woman got a chance to get home, and that was starting to look more possible. She was doing much better, and, if she wasn’t awake tomorrow, the doctors would reduce the dosages again to help her along. With any luck, that would do it, and they wouldn’t have to keep reducing the pain meds.

On the other hand, it was part of the job, and it needed to happen. So, the sooner Talia was awake, the better for her in many ways.

Sammy just didn’t want to be the one to tell her about everything that had gone on before that had landed her in the hospital. But then, maybe Talia was more like Anderson and would understand that she had to look forward, had to get through rehab, and was damn lucky to have everybody who had stepped up to try and make her world safe again.

Sammy had no brothers herself, so just the thought of Talia having Anderson—who obviously would do anything for her—made Sammy’s heart warm.

The fact that all these men had basically shut down their own worlds to come and make this happen was amazing. Sammy didn’t know very many people who would do something like that, at least not to this extent. Lots of people would help for a time, but that help would dwindle very quickly, and that was a concern as well.

By the time she got inside the house, she heard Leland playing with the babies in the living room. She immediately dropped her bag in the closet, stepped forward, and stopped. He was lying on the floor, surrounded by toddlers. She dropped onto the floor beside him. He was on his back, the babies using him to stand or sit on, depending which triplet her gaze landed on. She grinned. “Don’t you look happy.”

He looked over at her and laughed. “Good timing.”

“Why is that?”

“Because they’re all changed and clean,” he announced, with a big grin.

“Lucky me. You don’t look too worse for the wear. In fact, I think somebody told me something about you being a ladies’ man,” she teased, nodding toward the three toddlers on the floor.

His laughter boomed, bright and cheerful. “I don’t know about being a ladies’ man, but, when it comes to little ladies like these, they generally love me.”

“Well, these certainly do,” she said in fascination, as the babies climbed all over him, but they seemed willing to come over and check her out too.

She smiled, picked one up, sat her on her lap, and Lisa—God only knows if it was Lisa one, two, or three—immediately gave her a great big burbling laugh and tried to grab her nose. “What is it about noses?” Sammy murmured gently, as she nuzzled Lisa’s chubby fingers.

“It’s quite something, isn’t it?”

“It’s like a handle, I guess,” she said, half laughing. A second Lisa scooted over to Sammy, so she snapped her up too. Cooing in the babies’ faces, she chuckled as first one, then the other, tried to grab her hair and ended up smacking her face instead.

“How was your day at work?” Leland asked.

“Busy, tiring, and yet frustrating because my life has flipped in a way I never expected. It makes me look at things very differently. I think the biggest thing is the loss of innocence.”

He turned to her and narrowed his gaze. “That’s a really good point,” he muttered. “Most people don’t think of it that way, but that’s exactly what it is. Up until now, your world was calm and complete. You weren’t thinking about dangers. You weren’t thinking about anybody attacking you.”

“Exactly. Now, all of a sudden, people are out there who, I don’t want to say were trying to harm me, but—”

“Oh, they were trying to harm you,” he countered, “and, if they weren’t trying, they just hadn’t gotten to that point, but I suspect that was next.”

She wasn’t sure what to say to that. “I guess it’s more methodical than that,” she began, lost in thought. “If hurting me gets them what they want, they are apparently okay with it.”

“Exactly,” he agreed.

“And, just that fast, I no longer look at people the same,” she admitted, “and I think that’s sad. I caught myself today, looking at various patients, wondering if they had ever hurt anybody like these men have hurt Talia. I never really had that kind of perspective before, and I don’t like it.”

“Understood, and I’m sorry because it is literally the loss of innocence.”

“You’re right about that. It’s also a sadness that our lives have come to that,” she muttered. “It shouldn’t be that way. Why can’t people just get along?”

“I don’t know,” he said, “but it’s definitely one of the questions for the ages, isn’t it?”

“And yet if we look at life over the ages,” she added, with a wry look, “I’m not sure society in general was any kinder. It seems like we have conquered civilizations, yet completely slaughtered the people who were there for no other reason than the fact that they were different. And apparently being different in this instance is a negative.”

“I don’t know if it’s even about being different,” he argued. “In most of the cases I assume you’re talking about, it’s all about conquering and taking what they want. So, it’s not that they were different, but they were weaker. So, if you could take from them, you did—because that gave you whatever you thought you wanted, even though it didn’t necessarily give you anything at all. Time and time again, it gave civilizations new worlds, new lands,” he explained, “and, for a lot of people, they wouldn’t need anything more than that.”

“That’s sad, but how could they do that?”

“I guess they were happy to take all of what someone else had and give nothing in return. Greed knows no boundaries, and I see these people as not wanting to work for anything. It’s sad and fundamentally wrong. I’m really not liking a whole lot about humanity right now, but,” he said, turning to her, “please remember there are those of us, like the group here, willing to pitch in and to do our part to ensure that Talia’s world will be okay when she gets back on her feet, whatever it takes. Not the same, of course, but regardless,” he added, with a dry laugh, “we will get it sorted. Come on. Let’s have a cup of tea. Anderson will be home soon with groceries, and then we can pitch in and make a meal and get these babies fed.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll head to my room for a shower first. I’ll be fast. If you are okay here?”

“Yeah, sure.”

She came back down a half hour later to find Burton in the kitchen making coffee, and Leland was nowhere to be seen. “Leland’s with Talia for now.”

She turned, looked around, and asked, “Where are the babies?”

“Down for their nap,” he replied, “although likely it won’t be a long one at this time.”

“Oh, good, so my shower didn’t disturb them,” she whispered. Then she silently went back upstairs and peeked into the nursery bedroom and smiled. She felt Burton come up behind her, and the two of them just stared at the sleeping triplets.

“It’s pretty amazing,” she murmured, “that they are even here right now. Just the thought of what a fertilized egg must go through to make one healthy baby, not to mention three, is just unbelievable.”

He gave a soft chuckle, his breath gentle upon the nape of her neck.

“It’s just amazing that they have done as well as they have, particularly in your care,” she joked.

He rolled his eyes at that. “We haven’t done a bad job,” he protested.

“I know,” she admitted, “and I’m really very impressed with that too.”

He sighed. “Why does everybody think that just because we’re men we can’t do this?”

“It’s not because you are men,” she corrected him. “It’s because you’re green at this. You’re brand-new parents, and brand-new parents make lots of mistakes.”

“We just hope that they aren’t bad ones.”

Sammy frowned, nodding. “I guess I hadn’t considered that, but I suppose you’re right.”

“It’s a lot of responsibility to adapt to. Yet Talia has obviously learned how to manage this group,” he noted warmly. “Though that’s not at all surprising. She’s an amazing woman and an amazing mom.”

“You guys are all close, aren’t you? You seem to know her well.”

“I certainly know her, as she and Anderson are the only two in their family, and Anderson and I have been friends for a very long time,” he shared. “We’ve stopped by the house quite a few times. I’ve stayed here for various time periods before she got married. Once she got married, that stopped. I didn’t have a problem with her partner, but I wasn’t particularly enthralled with him either.” He shook his head.

“So, you had a problem with Tim?”

“He just didn’t seem like he was good enough. However, I also knew I was biased, so that was always a problem.”

“It’s hard to stay unbiased when you’re emotionally involved with the people,” she noted.

“Yet not that involved after she married Tim. Believe me that, now, we all wish we had gotten a whole lot more involved.”

“I wonder if you would have seen it back then. Maybe Tim changed over time, particularly once the children arrived.”

Silence filled the room.

“Not all men are assholes,” she pointed out, “and not all of them would abandon their family like Tim did.”

“No, not all of them,” he grumbled, “but plenty would. It’s not a matter of men versus women. It’s just the makeup and the stress levels that people can handle.”

“Maybe having triplets was not what Tim thought this married life would be. Once that awareness hits, it’s hard for some people to adapt.”

“These babies are adorable, even though they poop and belch and throw up and have iffy tummies and don’t sleep very much. Yet we were all there for it.”

“Yes, we all were. To be honest, we all still are,” she stated, grinning up at him.

He turned, staring at her intently. Maybe because she stood right there, or maybe because they were talking, sharing hard truths, but he went that little bit closer and dropped a kiss on her nose.

She looked at him in surprise. “What was that for?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Seemed like an opportunity.”

She narrowed her gaze at him. “That’s it? An opportunity?”

He chuckled. “That’s hardly the way I meant it. Yet it just seemed to be …” He sighed. “Oh, fuck it. I just wanted to.” And then he eyed her closely. “Are you upset at me for it?”

“Nope, not at all,” she said. “Just was an odd thing for you to do.”

“No, it wasn’t an odd thing at all. Sometimes I think women just don’t understand what affection is anymore. It’s like you think all men are after one thing, or we’re like Timothy, royal assholes.”

“No, I don’t think that at all,” she replied, with an odd look. “It’s just, at the beginning of a relationship, you’re not exactly sure where and what anybody is up to, nor what the boundaries are.”

“Ah, so we’re in a relationship now, are we?”

She stared at him and shrugged. “You just dropped a kiss on my nose. So, it kind of seems like something is going on.”

He burst out laughing, wrapped an arm around her, and pulled her into a hug. He turned and looked back at the babies and smiled.

“Watch it,” she warned him, as she followed his gaze. “You’ll start thinking it’s time for you to have some.”

He looked at her in surprise, then shook his head. “Definitely not time for me to have some. There’s no time for anybody to do anything right now, except get to the bottom of this mess. Yet I do understand what you’re saying, and you could be right. For the longest time, I was thinking, Absolutely no way I would go in that direction.”

“And now?”

“Right now?” he repeated, raising his eyebrow. “I got to tell you. It’s not looking all that bad.”

She burst out laughing, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him. “Well, I’m glad to hear that you have shown such progress in that area. It’s still not the time.”

“No, it isn’t the time.” He studied her and asked, “What about you? Are you planning on having any anytime soon?”

“Not anytime soon,” she shared. “Down the road? I always thought I would have some, but … in the future.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She laughed. “I just want to make sure that I’m having them at the right time. It’s so heartbreaking when you have young people who come in and have no clue what they’re doing, didn’t plan or prepare. Yet here they are, pregnant, with potentially no medical insurance throughout the entire pregnancy. Now they’re in trouble, and they don’t even know where to go and what to do,” she shared. “It’s hard.”

“I get it.”

“Maybe you do, and maybe you don’t. I see the other side of it, which is, you know, the baby is born with some health problems, and it’s absolutely devastating for the families,” she explained. “So, there are times when I freak out about it, and I think, Nope, I’m not doing this. And then something like this happens, where I see these precious babies, and they’re happy, healthy, and beloved. They’re adjusted and looking like the world is their oyster. At those times, I want a dozen.”

He smiled. “That’s doesn’t sound practical to me.”

“Tell me about it.” She chuckled. “Just when reality hits, I kind of drag that back a bit to something more like maybe two.”

He smiled, gave her another hug, and nodded. “I’m so in agreement with you on that one. Practical too.”

“They are adorable, aren’t they?”

“Absolutely. And two would be enough,” he stated immediately.

“Any more than that, and it just seems like we don’t have enough hands.” She smiled. “Yet some parents think, even wanting two babies, that they should have a third, as a spare.” She shook her head. “How horrible would it be to grow up as the spare child? That’s gotta be heartbreaking and psychologically stunting too.”

“And yet look at what Talia got.”

“She was obviously thrilled,” Sammy suggested, as she turned to him, “and that’s a different story. But what if you didn’t sign up for this chaos?”

“Maybe you just can’t stand to not have more.”

“That is actually something I’ve heard from other women. They just love babies. So, they keep having more, whether it makes good sense or not.”

“The problem is, babies turn into children, and children turn into teenagers,” he pointed out.

“Yep. And that’s the kind of logic that people sidestep, which gets people into trouble. They don’t take that extra step and work out whether that’s really something they can handle at all the various ages,” she said, shaking her head. “In my case, I think two would probably be more than enough. Plus I don’t want to give up my career while I’m at it.”

“You don’t have to,” he declared, patting her on the cheek. “Certainly not in this day and age.”

“Good,” she declared.

“And now that we’ve got all those details worked out,” he noted, then burst out laughing, “can we just … get right to it?”

She playfully slapped him and laughed.

“Oh, I do like your sense of humor,” he said, with a smile.

She snorted. “Glad to hear that,” she began, “because you seem to be knocking off a few issues in your mind about a relationship pretty fast.”

He shook his head. “No,” he stated vehemently. “Most of the time when I have a relationship, I know it’s short-term with no strings. However, I don’t think that’s the kind of relationship you’re up for.”

She shook her head slowly. “No, it isn’t,” she stated. “I guess I had a period after college where I might have been a little wilder than usual, but I was not, even then, a party animal.”

“Good to know,” he muttered, rolling his eyes.

“I still prefer to know the name of the guy who I have a relationship with,” she added quietly.

He nodded. “And nothing wrong with that either, is there?”

“I certainly took some flak about it from friends,” she shared, with a smirk. “They all thought I should just go from party to party.”

“And, if that’s what they did, and they were happy with it, that’s fine for them,” he noted, “but it’s not so fine when you take that next step, and you want something else, but you don’t know how to get it. It’s all about setting standards, putting value on yourself, and having the type of relationship you want for yourself, recognizing when you can get it and when you can’t. I would never want you to go in a direction where you weren’t comfortable.”

She smiled. “See? You’ll already make a great dad to daughters.”

“You think so, huh?” Just then they heard a vehicle coming up the driveway. He smiled. “That would be Anderson.”

“Good,” she said, getting away from him some. “I’m kind of hungry.”

He nodded. “In that case, let’s make sure that you get something to eat. Did you have lunch?”

“I forgot to take anything with me,” she admitted, “so I just grabbed something from the vending machine.” At his frown, she sighed. “I should know better, but I woke up tired and didn’t have a chance to make anything on my way out this morning. It was hardly something that I had prepared for nor had I discussed it with you guys. So I just grabbed something at work.”

“I get it,” he conceded, “and it’s not surprising, as most people would likely have done the same, don’t you think?”

“Yep, I sure do,” she agreed, as they both walked downstairs and then outside to help Anderson unload the groceries. By the time they came back in, the babies were stirring.

She smiled and offered, “I’ll go.” With that, she walked upstairs and into the nursery to find the first of the Lisas waking up, her arms upstretched to be picked up.

Sammy found it interesting that none of the triplets were shy, even though various people reached for them constantly. The babies seemed to be totally okay with the fact that their caregivers changed. The girls didn’t really know Sammy, yet they were content to have her here.

As only one was fully awake at the moment, she quickly changed her, then cuddled her close. She was adorable with long tousled curls across her head, in a good happy mood and very talkative. Trying to keep the other two asleep a little longer if they needed it, she carried Lisa one out to the main living room to find Anderson standing there, still talking to Burton.

“Problems?” she asked quietly as she joined them.

“Not really. We got a little bit of information on one of Colbert’s girlfriends, and we’ve made a call to see if she’ll talk to us. So far, we’re not sure if that’s a go.”

“Right,” she replied, “and you’re talking about Roger Colbert, right?”

He nodded. “I understand you might know him.”

“No, it’s not that I know him, but my father used to know him.” She eyed Burton because she had only told him about it. “I don’t know anything about their relationship nor whatever happened, but my father just seemed to really look up to him, and then suddenly he didn’t. Of course my father’s been dead for a few years now, so I don’t have any way to find out what happened.”

“Interesting,” Anderson muttered, with a nod. “We’ll take a look after dinner maybe.” He looked over at Burton, who nodded.

“I’ll go,” Burton offered, “and you can stay here with the babies. Some sort of continuity in their care would make a difference, I think.”

“I was just thinking the opposite,” she interjected. “They seem to be very adapted to having multiple people looking after them all the time. I haven’t noticed them play strange at all, even with me, and I’m definitely a newcomer to them.” Her gaze going from one to the other, she asked the two men, “Have you?”

Both men stared at her, as if mulling it over. “If you mean fussing about strangers, no, I haven’t.” Burton looked over to Anderson. “Have you?”

“I was kind of hoping it was because they recognized me,” Anderson admitted, with half a laugh, “but, of course, they don’t. I’m just grateful that they are as comfortable with us as they are because it makes our job a lot easier.”

“It does, indeed,” Sammy agreed, with a bright smile. She turned to Burton. “So, does that mean you’re going out after dinner again?”

He nodded. “I will, at least for a little while, while I go talk to this lady.”

She asked, “Do you want me to come?”

He frowned at her, as if weighing the pros and cons.

Anderson interjected, “You’re certainly welcome to go if you want to, but I don’t know that there would be any benefit to it.” He asked Burton, “What do you think?”

Sammy interrupted them. “You do know that a lot of women are more comfortable speaking to other women, right?” she pointed out. “So, me being there might actually help.”

“She is right,” Burton noted. “The woman could possibly relax a bit, or she could get upset and shut down. If she’s feeling humiliated, she may not want another woman knowing, and yet another woman might understand what she’s going through. So, it’s kind of a toss-up,” Burton shared agreeably.

Anderson nodded. “It’s up to Burton then.”

Burton looked over at her and shrugged. “Sure, why not? Let’s see how it goes.”

By the time they finished dinner and cleaned up, she hesitated as she looked over at the babies. “Shall we at least get them into the living room?”

“No, it’s actually bathtime.” Anderson chuckled, and the babies cooed at him, as if understanding. “I’ll get them cleaned up from dinner, then we’ll go into the bathroom where I will lock the door and the three of us, four of us,” he corrected with a smile, “can work our way through the next stage.”

“Do you want us to wait though?” she asked, as she walked over closer. She picked up a washcloth and quickly wiped down faces.

“Give me a hand getting them into the bathroom, and that should be fine. I’ll be able to handle it from there. I’ve had a bit of practice by now,” he added, with a smile.

“It would still be easier,” she argued, “than doing it alone.”

Burton shook his head. “I need to go now,” he stated, as he glanced at his watch.

She was torn, and Anderson said, “Go on. It’s not a bother, and, by the time you guys are back, you can help me get them dressed and ready for bed. They’ll be fine just playing in the tub for a bit.”

“Okay, if you’re sure?” she asked ruefully.

Burton nodded and went to step out, “If you need help, just give us a shout, and we’ll get back as soon as we can.”

“Just don’t take your sweet time,” he said pointedly, “because yeah, as much as I can do this, it is a whole lot easier if I’m not alone.”

And, with that, the two of them helped bring the triplets into the bathroom then dashed off.

Burton looked over at Sammy as he quickly turned on the car engine and pulled out onto the street.

“Are you guys all using this one vehicle? Is this Talia’s SUV?” she asked.

“It is, and thankfully we do have a set of wheels here. Otherwise, we would be using multiple rentals the whole time.”

“Right, and I guess that would be an answer, if need be.”

“If need be,” he agreed cheerfully. “On the other hand, we’re doing fine with this for now, so we’re good. Plus Colbert’s ex is only a few minutes away from here anyway.”

“With Talia living outside of San Diego in this small town, nobody’s very far away from anything.”

He checked the GPS and noted they were only a couple blocks away. Within a minute, they pulled up in front of an apartment building.

“Interesting location for her.”

“Why?” he asked.

“I expected her to have a house or something bigger, better somehow.”

“Maybe she thought she should have something bigger and better too,” he suggested, with a smirk.

“Right,” she agreed, shaking her head.

“I guess it depends on if she’s working or not working, and we don’t know anything about what she’s been up to in the meantime,” he pointed out.

She nodded. “Hard to not jump to theories.”

“No judgment allowed,” he added. “We’re just coming to talk to a woman who we know had a relationship with this guy.”

“And you want to know if there was anything untoward about it, right?”

“Yes, and the particular reason for their breakup and how she feels about it all,” he shared, “but subtlety is the key here.”

“Of course.”

She wanted to laugh, but they were already walking up the sidewalk, and she was afraid somebody would already be listening or at least seeing them coming. As soon as they knocked on the door, it opened, as if somebody had, indeed, been standing there and watching them.

The woman frowned at them. “Who are you?” she asked, her tone calm but curious.

“I’m Burton Hallmark, and I am looking for Alexandra Boone.”

“That’s me.”

When Burton introduced himself, that was the first time Sammy had even heard his last name. As she listened to him talk, his voice was melodious, and Alexandra was responding, laughing and joking with him, as a level of trust was starting to build. He turned the conversation to the real reason why he was here. “I understand that you were a partner of Roger Colbert’s at one time.”

She sighed and nodded. “I was, until he went and had another sweet little thing at his side, but, then again, that was him.”

“Were you okay with that?” Sammy asked.

“No, of course not. I wasn’t okay with it at all. So we broke it off. Yet, for the longest time, I thought it would be a temporary fling, and then he would come back to me, but it wasn’t meant to be. That was my mistake for assuming he would be the kind who wouldn’t stray.” She shrugged.

“Sorry,” Sammy muttered, not sure what to say to that. Then she turned and looked back at Burton.

He was holding out some images. “Do you know these men?”

She looked at the one and nodded. “Yeah, I sure do. That’s Tim, Timothy. … Geez, what’s Tim’s last name?” Frowning, she told Burton, “He was working for Roger for a while, doing some sort of maneuvering of goods, but I don’t remember. Import, export, some BS like that.”

“Interesting.”

“Why? Are you looking for him? I did see him the other day.”

“Did he come here?” he asked curiously.

“Oh no, he was at Colbert’s place.”

“Well, his wife was badly beaten up,” Burton shared, “and we were investigating it a little bit deeper to find out everything we can.”

Alexandra frowned. “Somebody beat up his wife? Don’t they have triplets?” she asked, her eyes widening in horror.

“Yes, they do, and I’m helping to look after them while she’s recovering in the hospital.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear she’s recovering,” Alexandra said, with a shudder. “Some of the men involved around his place are kind of scary.”

“Have you ever seen them hurt anybody before?” he asked, watching her closely.

“No, I sure haven’t. I would never have allowed something like that,” she declared, shaking her head. “That’s absolutely not my kind of thing. I’m a very strong proponent of women’s rights, even though I had a relationship with somebody who’s very much the, … let’s just say, an old-fashioned man and women-stay-at-home type, but obviously that didn’t work out.”

“Is that what Colbert wanted you to do?”

“Well, that’s what he thought I should do, but he wasn’t talking marriage like I thought he was talking marriage. He was just talking a relationship and then dangling marriage like a carrot on a stick,” she scoffed. “Again, my fault for not having a better understanding of who he was.”

Burton added, “You don’t seem to be upset.”

“No, I’m not upset at all,” she said, with a laugh. “A tiger doesn’t change his stripes, and a leopard doesn’t change his spots. I mean, Colbert came to me from another woman, so it was always in the back of my mind that he could do the same thing to me. I know a lot of women don’t look at it that way, but all too often that’s exactly how it happens,” she acknowledged, with another shrug. “So, in my instance, karma definitely came around and bit me on the ass,” she admitted, with a wry smile.

“Ah, sorry about that,” Sammy added.

Alexandra turned to her, laughed, and stated, “No, I’m also much better off now. I do have a partner now, and he’s not involved in any of that scary stuff, so I know I’m better off.”

“Scary stuff?” Sammy asked curiously.

“Yeah, whatever business dealings Roger was in, he got angry and uptight about it just before we broke up. I often wondered if it had something to do with the breakup. Honestly, I was around him a lot, and, in many ways, I probably heard more than he ever wanted me to. So that breakup was likely more opportunistic on his part to get rid of me, as I was somebody who could cause him trouble later. The fact of the matter is, I’m just not that kind of person.”

“What kind of person are you?” Burton asked playfully, and Sammy’s heart skipped a beat hearing that flirty tone.

“I’m happy to move on and to not have to deal with any of that and those men again. They are scary to say the least.”

“Do you know who those men are?”

“I don’t really know them, but I know some names,” she replied cautiously, “and I would certainly be able to identify them.”

They spoke with the woman for a few more minutes, digging for anything on the relationship. Burton looked through the pictures on his phone. He held one up for Alexandra to see.

She nodded. “Yeah, I know him.” She reached for his phone and flicked through a couple photos and nodded. “Yeah, I know all three of these. They are definitely part of his group. What are you looking at them for?”

“Because they were, … more or less, let’s say, involved in some way.”

Sammy and Burton spoke with her for a few more moments, and, now armed with the names and information about Colbert’s associates, they had something.

Alexandra was looking more than a little worried now. “Do you really think they had something to do with the beating?”

Burton nodded. “It also had something to do with Timothy,” he added quietly, “but I don’t really know exactly how this will all pan out. But, if you had any idea who Colbert was working for, that could help.”

She stared at him and shook her head. “That’s an interesting question because he never would talk about it. There were always meetings in his office, and I was never allowed anywhere close, and they were almost always set for days when I wasn’t even around, so I wasn’t a part of it. But it’s obvious that he had somebody in power whom he worked with.”

She frowned as she looked back at his phone, now in his hand. “I don’t think he would be somebody who would attack a woman, but you’ve certainly given me something to think about.”

“And that’s good,” he stated, “because if he’s in any way afraid that you might have something to say to anybody about his activities, it might come back on you.”

She frowned at him. “And yet you came here.”

“I did,” he admitted, “because a woman is still in the hospital with devastating injuries, who hasn’t yet healed enough to get home to her babies. A woman who didn’t do anything.”

Alexandra stared off in the distance and nodded. “Okay, I get that, and I understand why you had to come, but do not come back here again. I can walk away from this free and clear, and I am so grateful that I got the opportunity, but I won’t have any excuse if they see me talking to you again. I would never tempt fate like that, and I hope you understand.”

Sammy nodded, then spoke up. “Look. We also found listening devices in a couple of the houses we all live in,” she shared, “so you may want to have your place checked.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “What?” she cried out.

Burton nodded. “Yes, so keep that in mind too.” She cast a nervous glance back at the apartment behind her, and he nodded. “It’s a pretty simple listening device, but you do need to keep it in mind.”

“I don’t even know how to check for something like that,” she cried out, frowning.

Burton nodded. “I have the equipment, and I can come back with it if you want. At least then you would know for sure.”

She immediately nodded. “Yes, please,” she said, her lips trembling slightly. “Can you come back tonight?”

He turned to Sammy, who replied, “Yes, we can—or more likely Burton can.”

“Good,” Alexandra said. “Go get the equipment now because you have no idea. The thought that someone is out there, listening in? … It’s enough to make things nonnegotiable in my world.”

“Do you know if he used devices like that before?”

“Absolutely he did,” she cried out softly, “but I never thought he would ever use something like that with me.”

“Yet he has to have a way to see if you’re being true or not, doesn’t he?”

She stared at him and then whispered in a hoarse voice, “Please, go get the tools and check. I’ll wait right here for you.” She glanced down at her watch and added, “I mean, like now.”

He turned to Sammy, who nodded. “He’ll be right back.” Then they quickly walked back to the car and headed back to Anderson.

Chapter 10

‡‡

As soon as Burton and Sammy walked into the house, Anderson looked up.

“That didn’t take long.”

“Nope, but I’m going back,” Burton announced, then cocked his head at her.

She shrugged. “I’m staying here. I get it.”

“It’s fine if you want to come with me.”

“Nah, I’m good.” She chuckled. “Besides, Anderson could use a hand right now.”

Burton explained things to Anderson in an abbreviated version, how he’d agreed to go back and check her apartment for bugs.

“Good idea,” Anderson agreed, “and might also help her see our side of things.”

“Yeah, she’s a little freaked out right now.”

“Right. In that case, get a move on,” he said with a smile, waving him off.

Burton got into the vehicle, drove back over, and found Alexandra still standing outside. She had grabbed a sweater, and, when she saw him, relief broke across her face.

“I was afraid you weren’t coming back,” she admitted nervously.

“Do you have somebody with you here?”

“I did, but he’s gone now.” She looked around. “I need to make sure that he’ll be safe too.”

Burton didn’t say anything, just held out his tester and noted, “I need to go through the apartment.” She stepped back and let him in, and he immediately turned it on and started searching.

When he got to the bedroom, he winced and pointed as the light immediately flared up. Her eyes widened in alarm, and then a fury he hadn’t ever seen before in a woman crossed her face. She shook her head and said in a very furious tone, “Dear God. He really did it. … That chicken-shit bastard.”

“We don’t know if it was him,” Burton pointed out warily, as he removed the object and crushed it under his foot, “but somebody did.”

“Oh, it was him,” she declared, her tone scornful. “He also warned me about not getting myself into trouble over all this.”

“Any idea what that meant?”

“No, I wasn’t even sure what he was talking about, but I know that he didn’t like the new boyfriend I had picked up since he left me. He went out of his way to tell me it was not a good choice.”

“And who is this new boyfriend?”

She hesitated, then gave him the name. “Jonas Clarkson.”

Burton shrugged, didn’t know the name. “Okay, and why doesn’t Colbert approve?”

“I think he plays for the other team,” she muttered.

Burton looked at her in surprise, and she just shrugged. He asked her, “Are you aware of these competing teams?”

She winced. “Not really aware of the teams, just aware that, for some reason, there is bad blood between them. In Colbert’s mind, my boyfriend is on the wrong side,” she suggested. “Just the thought that these rooms were being bugged is beyond scary.”

“Not only beyond scary in thought,” Burton pointed out, “they have absolutely been bugged, and now you have the proof too.”

“Can you check the spare room? That’s my office space. I want to make sure it’s—”

“Clean?” Burton asked pointedly. “Sure, I can take a look.”

Just as Burton headed to the office door, a man stepped out from behind the curtain with a gun in hand and pointed it right at him.

“You can stop right there,” he stated calmly, but his tone was lethal and made Burton pause.

Burton stared at him and asked, “Jonas, by any chance?”

Jonas’s eyebrows shot up. He looked over at Alexandra, and she shrugged. “I told Burton that I was going out with somebody new and that you were probably working on the wrong side of the tracks.” She was nonchalant, and then she turned to Burton. “This is my boyfriend, Jonas.”

Jonas snorted. “Really? You actually used that wrong side of the tracks line?”

“In this turf war, yes,” she stated. “And you don’t appear to want to change it. Which is fine, just as long as you keep me out of it.”

“No, I sure don’t want to change,” he declared. “And you’ll want to remember that.” She glared at him, and he shrugged. “I told you that I’m here for a good time, not a long time. You don’t like it? You know what you can do about it.”

She swallowed hard, nodded, and then said, “Okay then. When you leave tonight, make sure you stay gone.”

He frowned at her in surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah, really,” she confirmed, her anger returning, “because somebody who I know—or at least know of—has been beaten to the point that she’s still in the hospital recovering, and she’s got triplets at home.”

He slowly nodded. “Tim’s wife. The thing is, that wasn’t me. And honestly, I’m not sure you can even blame anyone for it. Her husband threw her to the wolves.”

She stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, they needed information, and he wouldn’t give it. So they started to threaten him with hurting her. And when he still wouldn’t step up and be a man, he basically allowed them to beat the crap out of her.”

She winced. “I guess that’s what you would do with me too, wouldn’t you?”

He gave a brutal laugh. “Absolutely. Just so you know, that’s your future, sweetheart,” he said in a mocking tone.

She glared at him. “So, why the hell are you even here? I thought we had something going,” she asked, her face a mask now.

“I did tell you that I’m just here for a good time.”

“I know. I know. You’re here for a good time but not for a long time.”

“That’s right. And you shouldn’t feel sorry about it either,” he added, with a mocking smile. “It’s been a blast.”

“Yeah. It was a blast until …” She left it at that, followed by a sigh.

“So, it isn’t any longer.” He shrugged, then chuckled. “Okay, point taken. So, what am I supposed to do with this guy now?”

“You’re not supposed to do anything with him,” she stated in alarm.

“He came looking for what?” He spied the thing in his hand and nodded. “Then I find him with that.”

“More important than what you found me with,” Burton interjected, “is the fact that I found that this room has been bugged, as well as the bedroom.”

“That’s what I thought you would say,” he grumbled, turning that fury on her. “So, are you setting me up? Is that how this works?”

“No,” she snapped in shock. “I didn’t know it was bugged. How can you say that?”

“Well, why not?” he asked, his anger showing. “It’s obvious that you’re kicking me out now, and the only reason you would do that is if you had something better on the way,” he noted with barely controlled fury. “Women like you are never without somebody hanging off your arm—or you hanging off their arm is a better way to put it,” he snapped. “And don’t think I don’t know that old partner of yours has been sniffing around you again.” At those words, shock crossed her face. “Did you think I didn’t know?”

“He came to warn me that you were bad news,” she explained, staring at him in horror. “That’s all.”

“Right, like I’ll believe you on that one.”

She seemed to collect herself while Burton watched, his gaze wary as he stared at the two of them. “If this is a turf war,” he interjected, “I don’t understand who the players are.”

“Doesn’t matter if you do or not,” Jonas snapped, turning a cold gaze in his direction. “Much better if you keep your big nose out of it.”

“Right, well, that would be great, except that I was asked to come and check for bugs.”

“You actually asked him?” Jonas asked Alexandra, turning on her.

“Of course I did. How the hell can you be so thick-skulled? The last thing I want is to have my bedroom bugged, and my private conversations out there for the whole world to listen to, much less my home office.”

He snickered. “I hope they had a good laugh over that. … You know they were listening while we—”

“Did you know they were listening?” she asked, narrowing her gaze at him.

“Nope, I sure didn’t. I guess I should have though,” he muttered, a shadow crossing his face. “I should have expected something like that, and I’m kind of pissed that I didn’t. So that’s on me, but that doesn’t mean it’ll stay on me.” He glared at her. “So, when I leave today, you don’t know me.”

“Yeah, right,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. “Like everybody doesn’t know we haven’t been together for the last few months.”

“Well, I just ditched you.”

“No, I ditched you,” she snapped.

He chuckled. “Whatever your ego needs to make you feel better. … Hmm, I wonder what it would cost me to get those tapes?”

“And why would you want them?” she asked warily.

“Memories,” he quipped, with a big grin, “and to make sure you behave yourself in the future.” And, with that, he stepped back, looked over at Burton, and noted, “I presume you’re just an innocent stooge trying to get in her pants. I don’t mind that under the circumstances. I’ll let you off with a warning this time, but, if I see you around again, you’re history.” He backed up another step.

Burton stepped up as he took a step back.

The guy frowned at him and asked, “Do you have a death wish?”

“No, not at all,” he told him, “but apparently you do.”

“Yeah, and why is that?”

“Because I don’t like anything that you’re spouting,” Burton said. “And it’s rare that anybody gets away with talking to me like that.”

He laughed. “Think you’re somebody, do you? The reality is, you ain’t nobody. You might think you are, you might want to hope you are, but you ain’t jack shit,” he retorted. “And right now is not the time to be brave because, if I got to take you out, then I got to take her out too.”

At that, Burton stopped.

Jonas laughed. “See? I already got your number. You’re one of those chivalrous guys.”

“I thought you were too,” Alexandra snapped.

“God, no,” he argued. “And you knew the score, sweetheart. And you probably, in your own crazy way, thought you could change me, but that ain’t happening. I’ve been this way too long.”

“Yet Colbert’s trying to take you out,” Burton shared, holding up the still-blinking device.

He glared at him. “You don’t know anything about what Colbert’s trying or not trying, but don’t you worry. I’ll take care of him.”

“Before or after this next deal goes down?” Burton asked, smiling at him. “Seems your number’s up either way. If you’re not skipping town right now, your number is toast.”

“You don’t know anything about it,” Jonas snapped, glaring at him. “And the last thing I’ll do is listen to a techie guy like you. You don’t even know how to handle a weapon. I’m the one sitting here with the gun, so you can just shut the hell up.”

Burton nodded and didn’t say anything.

Jonas laughed and turned to her. “See? You can’t even find one with balls. Why the hell do you keep going after all these namby-pamby men?”

She nodded. “You’re right. I have been.” And she glared pointedly at Jonas.

He upped the wattage on his frown. “Nice try, bitch. Keep it up, and I’ll pistol whip you myself.” Then he shot a glance over at Burton and added, “I don’t think this guy will be too interested in stopping me, but either way I will have to shoot him. After I shoot him, I have to shoot you. But that’s a hell of a mess to clean up. So …” He gave her a mock salute. “See you later, bitch, or … not.”

Then, with a laugh, he raced out of the apartment.

Chapter 11

‡‡

Sammy stared at her watch for the umpteenth time.

Anderson, who was sitting on the floor in the nursery, looked at her and finally suggested, “Just text him.”

“And I would, except I feel very much like I would be interrupting something.” Then she flushed. “I guess I’m not exactly sure what that would be.”

He looked at her in surprise and then chuckled. “Not whatever it is that you’re thinking it might be.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, with half a laugh. “I really don’t want to get in the way of whatever he’s got going on.”

Anderson shook his head. “I’m thinking he’s checking for bugs and you’re thinking … what?”

She sighed. “He was flirting with her.”

Anderson held up a hand, shaking his head. “You got it all wrong. He’s not a flirt. Ever. Maybe he was just being friendly, warming her up for the questions to come.”

“I don’t think so.”

Anderson smiled at her. “Sammy, Burton is sweet on you. No way he would blow that by flirting with some woman he just met and right before your eyes. Listen to your gut.”

“We just met too,” she replied.

Anderson turned to face her. “So you really like him, don’t you?”

She sighed and took a bit to respond. “I can’t call him because I would be interrupting something,” she repeated.

“You might be interrupting, but it certainly won’t be something like that,” he stated, again with a smile. “That I can guarantee you.”

She frowned. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” He pulled out his phone and then frowned too. “But … you’re right. He’s been gone too long.”

“And yet maybe not,” she muttered, waggling her eyebrows.

He chuckled. “No, but keep that sense of humor. That’ll get you through this.”

“Not sure I want to get through anything,” she argued. “At this point, I could just go back to the hospital and forget all about you guys.”

“And I wish you could,” he replied immediately. “I really do because I think that might, in many ways, be a much-better deal for you.”

“It absolutely would be,” she agreed, nodding, “but I’m not too sure such a deal would be coming my way. There appears to be a whole lot more going on in this craziness than I ever expected. I mean, there’s no reason for that woman’s bedroom to be bugged.”

“Just like yours?”

That had her racking her brain, and he was right. “Well, there has to be a reason.”

“Exactly. We just aren’t privy to what that reason is.”

She nodded. “Still sucks though.”

“That’s because you’re looking at it from the perspective of an invasion of privacy,” he explained. “But, for the men who put the bug there, that wasn’t on their minds at all. That’s not to say they may or may not enjoy their job of listening in. They’re after information, and that’s what they’ll focus on. Nothing so rude and crude as this woman’s nightlife.”

“And yet they’re after pillow talk stuff, right?”

“Yes, generally that’s what it’s all about.” He looked over at her and asked intently, “Did he tell you that?”

“He mentioned something about it, and he’d mentioned that might be why the one was at my place.”

He nodded, his gaze was watchful.

“We are not to that stage in a relationship,” she shared primly. “And, even if we were, I wouldn’t be one to talk.”

“Neither would Burton, but nobody ever really understands what people do until they’re in that situation.”

“I guess,” she muttered, “still—” She took a deep breath and added, “It’s all a little disconcerting.”

“It’s a lot disconcerting,” he confirmed, with a nod. “I get it. Not exactly what any of us want to go through.”

“No, it’s pretty ugly.”

Just then, her phone buzzed. At the same time, so did Anderson’s. He smiled as he looked down at his phone. “Well, there you go. See? That’s him now.”

She read the message. On the way home. She took a deep breath. “Well, that’s a good thing.”

“It is, but what we don’t know is what happened. And, like you, I suspect something happened. I just don’t know what. And anything that happens in this scenario is bad news. So, let’s wait until he gets home, and then we’ll find out what really went down.”

When Burton walked in a few minutes later, they were both sitting in the living room, waiting for him. He greeted them both and then told them all about the newest details. At the mention of a gunman, Anderson frowned, and a look of shock crossed Sammy’s face.

“He really did that?” She stared at him. “You’re kidding, right?” She couldn’t get her mind wrapped around how fast that visit went south.

He nodded as he looked over at Anderson. “Jonas Clarkson.”

He frowned as he thought about it. “Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”

“That’s the competition. He’s the guy who used to work for Colbert but now has set himself up for business.”

“Wow. Okay, so he used to work for somebody. Then he decides to shaft him and take up his own business. Is that the deal?”

“Pretty much,” Burton stated cheerfully. “And he’s not a particularly nice guy either. He has now taken off. I don’t know whether he’s really gone or he’ll come back around and go after us.” At that point the humor fell from his tone, and he stared at her. “So, you have to be even more careful too.”

“Right, … okay,” she muttered. “I’m really thinking I should just go back to the hospital and stay there for a few days.”

“Can you do that?” Burton asked. “Could you sleep in the ward with Talia? We could look after you still, as we watch over Talia.”

“Sure. If things aren’t too crazy busy,” she noted, with a groan, “then I might have some access to sleep there. Conversely I can also expect that, if it’s busy, and I’m sleeping there, I’ll get called to work if they need me.”

“Of course,” he muttered. “I think that goes for anybody all over the world.”

She smiled. “That’s just one of those things that we don’t necessarily want to sign up for too quickly.”

He nodded. “I get that too. At the same time, if it keeps you safe …” He left it open-ended.

“I guess the real question is, how unsafe am I?”

“And that is something we can’t answer,” Anderson replied, turning to her. “In my mind, you are safest here with us because somebody will always be here, while we’re looking after the babies. But, yes, I can understand that you may not want to have anything more to do with us.”

“Not at all,” she said immediately. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Well, maybe you should,” Burton countered, staring at her with an intensity that made her uncomfortable.

She wasn’t sure what was going through his mind, but obviously something was. “Trying to get rid of me?” she asked, only half joking.

“No, I’m not trying to get rid of you,” he declared, his tone harsh. “But I’m certainly aware of the fact that, for you, this may not be a good deal.”

“It’s not a good deal for anyone in my situation,” she pointed out, staring at him. “I’m not sure about anything right now, and I’m not at all sure what I’m supposed to do about it.”

“Of course you have every right to be angry and frustrated,” Burton shared. “I’m sorry for my part in it. I didn’t think that talking to you at a hospital would get you into this situation.”

“It’s not your fault,” she replied. “Please don’t think that. I’m not blaming you.”

“Maybe you should,” he said bitterly. “God knows, I am.” He sank down to the floor, stared at the triplets, and added, “Maybe it’s time to consider moving them out too.” He turned to Anderson, who frowned back at him. “Don’t tell me that you haven’t been thinking about it.”

“Of course I’ve been thinking about it,” Anderson agreed. “I was trying to not disrupt them as much as I could and figured that, if three of us were here, we would keep them safe.”

Burton nodded. “As this case progresses, we have to decide if our efforts are proving worthwhile or not.”

“Well, you are safe though, aren’t you?” Sammy asked Burton in surprise. “And so are the babies. So, keeping them here in their home, where they’re comfortable and where you have a routine going on, is surely the best answer.”

“Until somebody decides to come here and change it,” he pointed out to her.

Anderson nodded. “Not something any of us want to think about, but, of course, it’s something that I have thought about a lot too.”

“Yeah. How do you feel about that now though?” Burton asked, with a wry smile in his buddy’s direction. “I’m not sure we’re staying ahead of the game.”

“Absolutely you are,” Sammy countered in surprise. “Look at what you found out tonight.”

“Sure. Look what we found out.” He snorted. “And yet there is still so much more to go.”

“That’s just the business,” she muttered. “It’s like medicine. You have to keep going and doing what you’re doing because it’s the only path presented that you can work with. You guys are the same. It’s not a whole lot different, if you think about it.”

Anderson started to laugh. “Well, she’s right there. Absolutely that’s where we’re at. We had just hoped to be a little further ahead than this by now.”

“Of course,” she confirmed, a smile on her face. “Nobody wants to consider that you’re fighting a losing battle, and I don’t think you are. I just think there are more challenges than expected, making me reconsider things.”

“Of course, and, if you’re rethinking, we are too,” Burton said. “We have to prioritize your safety.”

“And I appreciate you for considering that,” she replied, a bit more formally, as she eyed him. “I’m not sure if that’s paramount though.”

“Sure, it is.” He shook his head, waving his hands. “It’s one thing for me and Anderson to fight this battle. We’re fighting for Talia and for these babies,” he explained. “But they aren’t your family, and I don’t want you to get hurt in the process.”

She smiled. “Neither do I,” she stated cheerfully. “Yet we also have to understand that something here is starting to smell rotten, and that odor isn’t something we can get rid of, at least not anytime soon.”

“Not until we solve this,” Anderson noted.

“So, you know what you have to do. Take the time and get to the bottom of this, so we’re all free. Then we can all start living again.” She pointed a finger at Burton. “That’s when our relationship will start.”

He chuckled, one eyebrow raised, then nodded. “You could be right.”

“No, it’s not could be right. I am right, and you know it.”

He grinned. “I wasn’t going down without a struggle.”

“You were going down one way or another,” she announced, chuckling now too. “You just didn’t know it yet.”

The next morning when Burton got up, as he walked into the kitchen to see if any coffee was on yet, he caught the wry look on Anderson’s face. He frowned. “What’s the matter?”

“Oh, nothing,” his buddy said, a big grin on his face. “I just can’t remember the last time I heard you get up whistling.” He nodded at his friend. “Good for you.”

“Hey, my life has taken an unexpected turn. Not like it hasn’t for you too.”

“Oh, it sure has,” Anderson agreed. “Do you remember my sister always wanting us to settle down and to get married?”

“Sure, she had that whole happily married thing going on and wanted us all to have that.”

Anderson stilled at the thought. “Yeah, that whole happiness thing going on, which obviously didn’t turn out to be what she thought it was. Yet she wanted us to be just as happy as she felt at that time. And what I’m hearing from you right now is that you’re happy,” Anderson said.

Burton pondered that and then nodded. “In any other circumstance, I probably would have already taken the next step with Sammy, but this time it just feels different somehow.”

“That’s because it is different,” Anderson stated. “Whether we are ready or not, definitely something is going on here that we must come to terms with. Plus, you’re right that it’s not just you. It’s me too.”

Burton nodded, smiling at his buddy. “It’s interesting that we are both affected.”

“Not sure there’s any way not to be. I mean, they’re both good women. … Look at how they pitched in to help with the babies.”

With that comment, Burton finally realized that all three of the babies were on the floor beside Anderson, a measuring cup in each hand. The cups were filled with brightly colored plastic pieces all strung together that they could hold, and the girls were fascinated. He grinned. “You’re becoming an old hand at this.”

“That almost sounds like some sort of a compliment.”

Burton laughed. “Maybe it’s time for a career change. Maybe you should be a nanny instead of going back on missions.”

“No, I can’t say I really want to do that, at least not permanently. I am here to help out Talia and would never consider anything else as long as she needs me,” he shared, with a chuckle. “Though I will admit that I’m pretty-damn awesome at it.”

“Careful, hotshot, I remember how you looked when you had three slippery Lisas covered head to toe in baby shit, with no clue as to what in the hell to do about it.”

“Oh, Jesus, remember those first couple days? I could have kissed you when you showed up.”

They were still kidding back-and-forth when Sammy walked in, tired but ready to go to work. Burton got up, walked over, and gave her a hug. “How was your night?”

“It was fine,” she said, as a yawn escaped her. “It’s just, in a different bed, in a different scenario, I wake up to a sudden noise, and I think, What was that? Then I remember everything, and it’s just hard to go back to sleep again.”

He didn’t say anything, just nodded in agreement, knowing that she really wasn’t looking for an answer or anything like that. She was just looking to be heard for a moment.

“Anyway, I do have to go to work today,” she added, raising a hand. “I’ll pick up breakfast while I’m there, and yes,” she said, looking over at him, “I will get something to eat.”

He smiled. “Good thing.”

“I know. Otherwise, you’ll have to come over and make sure I do, won’t you?” she asked in a teasing voice.

“I’m following you anyway, just to be sure you are all right, and then I’ll relieve Leland at some point today.”

“Right.” She had an odd look on her face. “I keep forgetting.”

“That’s okay,” he said, a smile on his face. “We’ve got this.”

“Any news on anything?”

“Nope, nothing yet,” Anderson replied. “So, let’s just hope that we can get past this ugliness and find the next stage, or whatever it is that we’re heading toward.”

She snorted. “Yeah, it sure would be nice if I had some idea of what that even is.” She cast a glance at Anderson and Burton.

Anderson laughed. “It’s definitely happening, so you don’t need to worry about that. We just need to get Talia home and this other BS figured out. You’ll see.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sure, but it’s not quite so easy though. You guys will be heading off on missions, and I will be here working and wondering what the hell happened.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing—to give you something to think about.”

“Like I need that,” she muttered. “My job can already be pretty stressful at times.”

“I’m sure it is,” Anderson agreed immediately. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it sound like it was nothing.”

“No, it’s okay.” She gave a casual wave of her hand. “Some days are fine, and we see a lot of progress. Then there are days where it seems like everything is completely stunted.” She flushed and then shrugged. “As if you don’t already know that,” she muttered, looking at Anderson. “Anyway, if there’s any change in Talia’s condition today, I will let you know.”

“I was planning on coming up and seeing her once Leland got back,” Anderson shared. “If he needs a nap first, I’ll make that happen later. Otherwise, I will probably come up first.”

“Okay.” With a glance and a smile directed at Burton, she grabbed a travel mug, filled it with coffee, and walked out.

Anderson looked over at him. “She appears to be just as smitten as you are.”

“Maybe.” He smiled. “I don’t know. I mean, yeah, I hope so. And look at you,” he said pointedly. “We already know how well that’s going.”

“It’s great,” Anderson stated confidently, with a smile. “She went home last night. Yet, at some point, decided she didn’t like being alone, so she grabbed some clothes and came back and spent the night.”

Just then Pamela walked in the kitchen, yawning. She smiled at Burton.

“Hey,” he greeted her. “Bad night?”

“I don’t know if I’d call it a bad night,” she clarified. “It’s just, you think you’re doing okay, and then all of a sudden you hear a noise. So, you sit up and remember how crazy your world has become. In this case, I packed a bag and came back here, checked on the babies, and went straight up to bed,” she shared, looking over at Burton. “Thankfully I had a warm welcome.”

Anderson laughed. “Of course you did. Anybody would be a fool not to welcome you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Believe it or not, a lot of men out there are fools.”

He chuckled. “Well, not here,” he declared, with a big grin. “You can count on that.”

She laughed. “Okay, enough of that conversation,” she said, with a smile. “Aren’t you guys heading off?”

“I am. I’m following Sammy to work, then heading up to relieve Leland,” Burton replied, standing now. “And then I’ll stay on guard until Anderson comes.”

“Right,” Pamela murmured. “I sure hope she wakes up soon.”

“Sammy says they’re expecting her to wake up today.” Burton rubbed his hands together.

Anderson nodded. “Which is one of the reasons I’ll head up there myself. What about you?” he asked Pamela.

“I’m off to work, and it’s another full day. So, we’ll see how that goes.” She gave him a kiss and a sweet smile. “It’ll be busy. I can already feel like it’s that kind of a day. Still, call me if Talia wakes up.” She took off pretty quickly after that.

Burton looked down at his coffee, tossed it back. “I need to give Leland a break.” With a goodbye, he walked out to the SUV and headed toward the hospital.

He pulled in not that long after Sammy did. As he walked inside the hospital, with that same sense of diligence always there, he checked that nothing was strange, nothing was out of the ordinary, which would trigger some response from somebody. As soon as he walked into the fourth-floor ward, he saw Leland sitting at the side of Talia’s bed. Burton looked over at him and smiled.

“She woke up a few minutes ago, kind of gave me half a smile, and went back under again.”

“Really?” he asked in surprise. “That will make Anderson’s day.”

Leland nodded. “I hate to even leave her now, in case she wakes up again.” Then he looked at Burton and asked, “She already knows you, right?”

“She does, at least I assume she’ll remember me. She should. I visited several times over the years, and we always had good laughs.”

“Good,” Leland replied. “That makes me feel better. It’s best for her to have somebody she knows here when she wakes up, especially if it’s before Anderson comes in.”

“He’s planning on heading this way as soon as you get home, unless you need a nap first, which is fine.”

He nodded. “I’m good for a few hours, so he can come here and spend some time with her. So, I’ll leave now, and, with any luck, she’ll be awake when he gets here.”

“That would be great.”

As soon as Leland left, Burton sat down at her bedside and smiled at her. “Hey, Talia. I heard you woke up. You could give all of us a big boon today by waking up and staying awake, you know?” he shared in a teasing voice.

He used to tease her a lot because she’d always been such a romantic. Having that sense of good and right and lovely being literally beaten out of her was heartbreaking, and he wasn’t sure he or she would ever recover from it.

He wanted to find Tim and beat the crap out of him. The man was such a lowlife sleaze to have done that to his wife and the mother of his triplets. Just the fact that the guy got into this kind of trouble and put his whole family at risk at the first bump in the road was unbelievable. Burton’s blood boiled. It wasn’t terribly long before Sammy showed up.

She walked in and smiled at him. “So, how’s our patient?”

“Apparently she woke up, smiled at Leland, and then crashed again.”

“That is very good news,” she said in surprise, “but he was supposed to tell us.”

“Well, I’m telling you now,” he stated, as he sat here, staring at Talia, hoping she would wake up again. “I was really hoping that, when Anderson showed up, she would wake up for him.”

“And she might just be saving it for him,” Sammy stated cheerfully, “but the fact that she actually surfaced is really good news, so we’ll take it. Now I do need to check her over. So move it, buddy.”

She said it in such a teasing way that he immediately stepped away, a goofy grin on his face. “You can order me around anytime,” he told her, with a laugh.

She rolled her eyes. “Like I haven’t heard that a time or two,” she grumbled. “Do you have any idea how many bad jokes men use on us? It’s ridiculous. You want to play doctor? You can be my nurse anytime. Blah, blah, blah. It’s ridiculous.”

He burst out laughing. “And I can see why, and you can’t blame a guy for trying.” When she shot him a look, he grimaced. “Okay, so apparently you can.”

She gave him a second look but didn’t say any more, then quickly went through the check of her patient, updated the file, then turned to him. “If she wakes up again, you let me know—and right away, please.”

“Will do.” As she left, he called out, “What’s the cafeteria food like?” She turned and winced, and he nodded. “Right, so maybe I should ask Anderson to pick me up a breakfast sandwich or two.”

“You should have eaten before you left.”

He laughed. “Oh, and who are you to tell me?”

She chuckled. “Considering you’ve been telling me to eat for the last few days, and then you don’t eat yourself, you don’t have much to stand on,” she pointed out. “So, why would I listen to you?”

He rolled his eyes at that.

Sammy added, “When I get a chance, I’ll get down there and grab you something.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said immediately. “I can pick up something or get Anderson to grab me something. No worries.”

“Well, you also know that he’s probably flat-out racing to get here now that he knows she’s woken up. So getting you a breakfast sandwich will not be on his list of priorities.”

“You might be surprised,” he countered, a goofy smile on his face. “We share a sacred brotherhood.”

“Oh, please. Anyway, I’ll talk to you later.” With a hand raised, she turned, walked out of the room, almost to be mowed over by Anderson as he raced inside.

He asked her, “Is she awake?”

“No, not at the moment, though apparently she was very briefly earlier. I haven’t seen her awake myself yet,” she added, watching him closely.

“Right.” The disappointment was evident in his facial expression, as his shoulders slumped now too.

“Remember how that alone was a really good sign.”

He shrugged. “I was really hoping she would be awake now, so I could talk to her.”

“Talk to her or hound her?” she asked.

A smile lit up his face.

Sammy continued. “I suspect that your version of talk is more like everybody else’s version of hound.”

“She’s my sister,” he pointed out, “and I love her. I just hope she remembers me.”

“And yet I’m pretty sure the first thing out of her mouth will be about her babies.”

Burton watched the two of them go at it back-and-forth, and he agreed with Anderson, but he could also see the softening in Sammy’s gaze as she nodded.

Anderson shrugged. “I’m not saying she won’t.”

“And I’m not saying that she won’t be happy to see you too,” Sammy added, with a smile. “Of course she will. We just have to remember that there’s more to her healing than just waking up and talking. I don’t want her moving around very much, and she’ll need a full assessment when she’s awake. We also must adjust her pain meds, and that’s just for a start. There could also be updated imaging and any number of other things that she’ll need. We’ll need to watch her so she isn’t suffering,” she added. “So, as soon as she’s awake, let us know, and we’ll worry about all that. Try not to talk about anything that can cause her stress. As much as you need to have an investigative talk, we must ensure that she’s taken care of and stabilized. So, no stress.”

“Agreed,” he said, with a grin on his face.

Burton watched as Sammy walked away. Anderson stepped in, looked at him, and asked, “Wow, are you ready to deal with that dragon?”

“Yep, absolutely,” he declared, nodding in agreement, still watching her walk away. “Because that dragon is abso-freaking-lutely right.”

“I know she’s right,” Anderson muttered crossly. “I just … It’s just … I’ve been waiting this entire time, hoping she would open her eyes and would let me know that she’s okay, that she’s in there. So far she hasn’t decided to do that yet, and it’s pretty … disappointing.”

“Oh, man, you are slipping. The fact that she has woken up once is huge. So now we just have to wait and give her a chance to wake up on her own again. Regardless of when that happens, it’s already a major step forward.”

He sat down and added, “I heard something about you haven’t eaten as I was walking in, so if you want, go grab something down at the cafeteria or take the car and get something. I’ll stay here with Talia in the meantime.”

Burton thought about it, looked down at the sleeping woman, and nodded. “Maybe that would be best. Leland thinks you should be here when she wakes up. So I’ll just grab a bit of food and pick up another sandwich for later this afternoon.” And, with that, he looked at Anderson, then back at Talia. “And if she wakes up—”

“I know. I know. Tell Sammy ASAP,” he repeated, with a wave of his hand. “Go, and then maybe, if we’re lucky, she’ll grace me with her presence, and not just Leland. Oh my God, he was laughing like an oaf.”

And, with that, Burton quickly disappeared down the hallway, heading for food.

As he turned a corner, right at the stairwell to go down, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped, thought about it, backed up, and took a closer look at what was going on down the stairway. Whatever he had thought he’d seen was now gone, but, unable to leave it alone, he quickly took the stairs too.

Somebody … slightly familiar, but too far away to actually confirm. So he raced down the stairwell, hoping that he hadn’t gotten too far ahead, just as he heard the next level’s door slam shut. As he bolted through it, multiple people were ahead of him, filling the hallway. He thought that maybe at the far end he saw the man he was looking for. Even as he watched, the man disappeared into the crowd. By the time he got there, there was absolutely no sign of him.

Frowning, and not very happy with himself, he turned and made his way to the cafeteria to get that long-awaited food.

Chapter 12

‡‡

Hearing a shout behind her, Sammy turned to see Burton walking toward her, waving a couple sandwiches. “Hey. I just went down to the cafeteria. I left Anderson so he could spend a few minutes alone with his sister.” He smiled as he held out a sandwich to her. “You didn’t grab anything to eat either?”

“No, I didn’t,” she said, accepting it. “Thanks for this.” She looked at him and smiled. “Ham and cheese, always a good choice.”

“Mine’s bacon and egg, but I wasn’t sure about you and eggs,” he remarked.

“I have them sometimes, but it’s not a huge thing for me,” she replied. “This is perfect,” she said, as she unwrapped it. “Did I see you earlier down the other hallway a few minutes ago?”

“Yeah, I thought I saw somebody familiar, but, by the time I got there, I couldn’t tell who had been there and who hadn’t. Some sort of commotion was going on in that hallway.”

She nodded. “Security had a problem on the third floor with somebody high on drugs, and it always causes a ruckus as we try to get them moved out of the hospital.”

“Sorry, mental health and addictions have got to be an ugly side of your job,” he mused.

“It can be,” she conceded. “They also need help, so trying to help those who either don’t want to help themselves or are incapable of helping themselves is a challenge. But we do what we can.”

“Of course,” he murmured gently as he unwrapped his sandwich and took a big bite.

She laughed. “I guess this is what you would call, what? … A breakfast date?”

“Absolutely.” He nodded in agreement, a twinkle in his eyes. “A little unorthodox, and definitely not my style, but that would appear to be a good name for it.” He chuckled.

She just smiled as they both leaned against the wall of the hallway and munched down on their sandwiches.

“I presume you’re still on the clock and working hard,” he inquired.

“Yeah, but I did miss my break. So, hey, I will gladly accept five minutes to get some food down. But, when you hear me run, you’ll know that somebody needs me.”

“Of course.” He looked around at a rather organized hustle and bustle around her. “Are you happy in this environment?”

“Yeah, happy enough for the moment,” she stated. “There are lots of other options if I ever want to change, but this is where I feel I belong.”

“Good to know,” he said.

She smiled. “Why?”

“I just wondered if this is home for you,” he inquired, watching her with intensity in his gaze.

“It is home to me.” She turned to face him. “And again, why?”

“I’m just … looking at options.” He winked at her.

She flushed. “We’re back to that whole thing about clearing the air of all these things that have ample time to be sorted if we’re actually in a relationship.”

“Yes,” he agreed, “but I have a decision about my leave coming up, so … that’s not the easiest thing right now, especially when we don’t have a solution at the moment for Talia. And we need that.”

“Plus I have another forty-eight, maybe seventy-two hours,” she shared, “and then I have to check in and make a few changes to my schedule. I tend to forget that you’re all on leave too.”

“Yep. We too have to check in and make arrangements, and we dare not miss our orders,” he added with a smile. “We could be shipped out any day, and we might be at our base for a while.”

“And is that your life?” she asked.

“It is for the moment,” he said, almost identically copying her.

She laughed. “I guess I deserve that answer.”

“It wasn’t intended that way,” he replied, with a shrug. “Seriously I have a couple more years before I could shift it anyway,” he explained. “And this is the kind of work that I want to do. It’s also not the kind of work that I can continue to do forever anyway. So just like Anderson, Leland, Gunner, and all my friends, we’ve been considering plans B and C, trying to figure out what we want to do when this stage of our careers is over.”

“And will it ever be over?” she pondered.

“That’s another question,” he mused. “We could always take desk jobs.”

Yet such an abhorrent note filled his tone that she burst out laughing.

“I guess you can tell how I feel about that,” he stated, as he grinned.

She nodded in agreement. “I get it. I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t a nurse, but I could do a lot of different things with it. I could work for a single community. I could work for a nonprofit. I could work for blood banks. I could do all kinds of stuff.” She chuckled. “But this is where I’m at, and this is what I’m happy with … right now.”

“And that’s where you should stay then.” He crumpled up his empty wrapper and tossed it in the garbage can across the hallway. “At least one of us will have a job then,” he joked, as he leaned over and gave her a brisk kiss on the cheek, then turned and went back the way he’d come.

She was left, still holding the sandwich in her hand, staring behind him in shock.

When she heard a whistle and someone called out, “Now who is that yummy man?” Sammy turned to see Kim, and her face must have been flushed because Kim woofed. “Oh, boy, do you have it bad.”

She glared at her. “I do not.”

“You do.”

“Do not.”

“Hey, just do you … and enjoy it.”

While her denials had fallen on deaf ears, by the time Sammy made it to her station, she was grinning like crazy because Kim was right.

Sammy did have it bad.

As Burton walked back up to Talia’s hospital room, he took a detour, walking down the hallway he had taken earlier, to see just what could have been the location of this person he had seen and how could Burton possibly find out if it had been Tim, because, man, it sure seemed like it was.

He walked through the area, noting several security cameras. By the time he walked back up to Talia’s hospital bed, Anderson sat at his sister’s side, holding her hand. “Did she wake up?” he asked her brother.

Anderson shot him a look that was pure joy. “She did, though she didn’t say anything. But she woke up, took one look, smiled at me, and went right back under. She knew who I was.”

“And did you call anybody about it?”

“I did. It just happened, and now she’s back asleep again.”

Burton turned around as footsteps could be heard running along the hallway. He smiled as Sammy raced inside. “She’s already asleep again.”

“Right, and that’s normal,” she shared, with a nod. “But she’s waking up more and more, and that’s a good thing. Maybe next time,” she began, with a look over at Anderson, “she’ll stay awake a little longer. You need to be more patient than ever now.”

“I will.”

“We will,” Burton confirmed, eyeing Anderson. “This is definitely encouraging, and it’s exactly what you said would be the timing of it.”

“Nobody hits those markers perfectly, but that’s even better when we do.” Sammy patted Anderson’s shoulder and turned to leave. She was near the door when she pivoted to Burton, her gaze questioning. “I thought I saw you down a different hallway … again.”

He looked at her in surprise and got up to walk with her into the hallway just outside. “That’s because earlier, I swear to God, I saw Tim.”

She frowned and nodded. “I kind of wondered that too, but a crowd of people were there. I just couldn’t see clearly enough. I hope it wasn’t Tim. That’s the last thing we need here right now.”

“I know, particularly if she’s starting to wake up,” Burton added, keeping his voice down. “We don’t really want him interfering in her progress.”

“No, … God no,” she murmured, with a headshake. Her phone buzzed. “I’ve got to go.” With that, she dashed away again.

Burton rejoined Anderson, and, by the look on his face, Anderson had guessed what they were trying to discreetly share outside of his hearing. Burton sat down beside Anderson on the same side of Talia’s bed. “Any chance we can get access to those security cameras?”

Anderson pulled out his phone and texted Levi. “I updated him on your gunman incident from last night. I didn’t even think about security cameras here in the hospital or even those street cams by Alexandra’s place,” he admitted, “so let’s see if he can do something with that.”

When his phone buzzed a little later, he looked down and smiled. “He’ll check into it and see. They have some clearance but not necessarily enough to get into all the places they need to.”

“I’m surprised they even asked for permission,” Burton quipped, with a smirk.

“I didn’t ask him what he was doing or how he was doing it,” Anderson pointed out. “Just that we had a suspicion that Tim’s been here today, and we needed to know because, according to the sheriff’s office, he’s still in custody, and that brings us back to whether Tim has a lookalike brother or not.”

“Right, especially since I did find out that Tim was adopted.”

At that, Anderson stared off into the distance and nodded. “Now that you mention it, I feel like maybe my sister told me. Yet I didn’t remember that—until now.” He groaned.

“And it’s not for you to remember now either. Plus, if these supposed brothers look as much alike as we are beginning to surmise, we need a close-up look at each one to even begin to tell the difference,” Burton replied. “Just chill. Take it easy. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“I know. I know,” he muttered, “but it’s just so frustrating. Here we are trying to find out who the boogeyman is every time we turn around, and yet, for all we know, Tim could have three or four brothers.”

“And then the question is, does Tim know? Being adopted, did he ever check into his biological family? Is he connected to them now? Does he work with them now? Has he told Talia about them, and is there anybody else? You know, like his birth father, his birth mother or some parental figure or something?”

“I don’t know.” Anderson shook his head, as he stared down at his sister. “I need her to wake up to help us sort it all out.”

Burton patted his shoulder. “She will wake up, dude. She will.”

Just then, a soft sigh came from Talia’s lips, and she opened her eyes, looked up at one and then the other. There was no surprise in her eyes, just recognition. She grabbed Anderson’s hand as he reached for her.

“Hey,” he whispered.

“Hey,” she whispered back. “Are you home from leave?”

“I am,” he confirmed, his voice very soft and gentle. “Do you know where you are?”

She frowned, her eyes closing. “No, where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital.”

“Oh,” she whispered, as if the news were completely disjointed and disconnected from her brain. And then she opened her eyes, and the panic hit. “The girls, where are my girls?” she roared, bolting upright, then trying to get off the bed. However, when the pain hit, she collapsed back down, literally shaking.

He turned to Burton, who had already reached out to Sammy and told her that Talia was awake and talking.

A commotion of lots of footsteps neared them, as several people ran into the ward. One of them was a doctor. So Burton and Anderson were immediately shooed out, even though they protested and wanted to stay, but that wasn’t happening. All Anderson had time to say was, “She’s in a lot of pain.”

The doctor nodded. “We’ll take care of it,” and the door was shut firmly in their faces.

Chapter 13

‡‡

Sammy stepped out of the ward, feeling a sense of relief and joy as she turned to Burton and Anderson. “She’s coming along nicely.” She smiled. “Obviously we did a full check, and that’s required the administration of more pain meds for her sake, but she’s doing a lot better. She’ll probably be asleep again well before the doctor comes out.”

“I need to see her,” Anderson said immediately.

She shook her head. “You can see her, but you can’t talk to her or try to force her awake,” she ordered. As Anderson was about to protest, she held up a hand. “I understand how you feel, but the thing she needs right now is sleep so she can heal.”

“That’s the number one thing you can do for her, buddy.” Burton squeezed his shoulder.

“I get that,” Anderson muttered, rubbing at his eyes.

“I understand that it’s hard right now, that you want so much more,” Sammy added gently. “You just want to know that she’s alive, that she’s cognizant, that she’s still your sister, and that everything that happened to her won’t change her.”

He dropped his hands, stared at her in surprise, and finally nodded. Burton was also watching him. “Yeah, more or less, that’s exactly what I want to know.”

She nodded. “And most of that you will get to confirm fairly quickly,” she reassured him, patting him on the shoulder. “But still, she’s in a lot of pain. She’s come back to the surface, but we’ve had to knock her out a little bit just so she can rest to heal, to catch up to these new needs as she awakens and talks and moves. When she comes to the next time, she’ll be a little bit better. When she wakes up the time after that, she’ll be better still. Just realize that this stage can take a little bit, and then there will come the realization of what’s happened to her, and that will be another adjustment. Give her time.”

“She’s right,” Burton agreed.

Just then, her phone buzzed, and she groaned. She looked down at it. “I’ve got to run.” She bolted, leaving the two men staring behind her.

Anderson looked over at Burton. “She’s quite something, isn’t she?”

“She definitely is,” he acknowledged, pride in his tone. “And she handled you pretty well.”

He nodded. “She did, indeed. That still doesn’t mean I don’t want to go in and see Talia though.”

“And you will, probably in just a few minutes, but we can’t wake her up, on purpose or by accident. That way she can stay asleep as long as she needs, so she can heal further.”

“Right,” Anderson muttered. “I heard that loud and clear.”

“Good,” Burton said, with a big smile. “It’s hard. I know that. We both know it. We’ve both been on that side where recovery seems like a very long way away. But she’s strong, and she’s done incredibly well. So, we’ll just give her a little more time to just heal a bit more.”

Just then the doctor opened the door and stepped out. “I am Dr. Mathew Cross.” He looked over at both of them expectantly, and Anderson stepped forward and said, “She’s my sister.”

“Right, okay. Her tests show that she’s doing really well at this point. We are happy with the progress and feel that she should be pulling out of this pretty fast. However, it’s important that she gets as much rest as she can.” He frowned as he looked at the two of them.

Anderson nodded and turned to Burton. “We’ll let her be.”

“And you’re maintaining security for her, aren’t you?” He glanced around, and Burton and Anderson both nodded. “Do you really think that’s necessary?”

“We’re not taking any chances,” Anderson declared.

Burton nodded. “We don’t want anything to affect her progress. She’s already been through too much,” Burton added, his tone as casual as he could make it right now.

The doctor grimaced but nodded. “That she has, but don’t bring up the attack if she does wake up, at least not at the moment. I don’t know where she’s at for understanding what happened to her. And bringing that trauma back could easily trigger a relapse, and we can’t have that,” he shared quietly. “So, when she wakes, if she wakes in the next little bit, try to avoid anything stressful. I presume you’re staying,” he said, turning to Anderson.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “I’ll be here for a little bit, and then Burton will remain here.”

“Okay, good enough.” Then the doctor frowned and asked, “Wasn’t there … I feel like another man was here at times?”

“Yes, Leland,” Burton confirmed. “The three of us are taking turns.”

“Twenty-four hours a day, huh?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Exactly,” Anderson snapped, his tone hard.

Burton crossed his arms, a habit he had any time he was up against any kind of resistance. He simply wouldn’t listen to any argument on this matter.

Dr. Cross nodded. “As long as she’s getting the proper care and you don’t try to wake her, plus you call us when she is awake and needs any kind of assistance, I’ll leave you to it. It would be much more convenient if she were down among the general patient population of the hospital instead of up here,” he noted, frowning at the empty ward on the fourth floor. “Not exactly sure why she was put here.”

“I don’t think it matters. For the moment, having a lot fewer visitors for her is a good thing,” Anderson pointed out.

“We can’t be sure that her attacker won’t come back again to finish the job,” Burton clarified.

The doctor shook his head. “Anybody who does something like this to a woman with triplets? … Wow. What has the world come to?”

“It’s come to complete shit, that’s what,” Burton muttered, as the doctor walked away, already talking on his phone.

Anderson turned to Burton and whispered, “She’s doing fabulous. I’m so damn glad she knew me.”

“Yeah, she’s doing great. Even the doc said so,” Burton told his buddy. “And I’m absolutely delighted for her … and for you. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”

“I know I can’t do it, but I already want to race home, grab the babies, and bring them back here because I know that’ll be key for her healing.”

“Of course it’ll be key, yet we need the doctor’s permission,” Burton told him, with a grin. “Talk about triggering a response that they may not be prepared for.”

“I know. She’ll want to go home immediately once she’s fully awake.”

“Particularly when she finds out that the three of us have been handling the baby care,” Burton teased, with a guffaw.

“And we are handling the babies just fine,” Anderson declared, with a note of pride. “She might not have that much faith in our abilities, but I do.”

“Yeah, now,” Burton added. “Thankfully none of that teething has come back again.”

“Right, but you really shouldn’t say that out loud,” Anderson said, frowning. “Man, you are just tempting fate. According to the women, teething is a nonstop thing from this stage onward.”

Burton shook his head. “Pamela and Sammy both warned us that, from the time the first tooth comes through, it’s like, what? Eighteen months or something until they get twenty or so teeth,” he muttered, shaking his head. “That’s just wrong.”

Anderson winced. “Have you ever seen an X-ray of a baby’s skull?” he asked, followed by a laugh. “I mean, it’s like some sort of alien lives inside their head with so many teeth.”

“But none of that is important right now,” Burton stated. “So tell your sister that you’ll be back soon, and then maybe stop in at the sheriff’s department and see if you can talk to your brother-in-law. Just confirm he’s still in lockup. The last thing we want is for that asshole to know she’s awake.”

“Yeah, right. Wondering if Tim was down here earlier, we do need to figure out if he has a brother.”

Burton frowned. “And getting those adoption records unsealed is a bit of a challenge. Yet knowing that he’s adopted means everything’s changed. For all we know, he could have any number of other siblings.”

Anderson turned to him. “I thought Levi was checking into that. I haven’t heard from him. I know it takes longer with adoptions involved, but I’ll call him and will let you know if they found anything.”

Burton added, “Sammy and I both were pretty-damn sure we saw Tim—or Tim’s lookalike—here at the hospital earlier today, just before you arrived. … So I’m hoping Levi got us clearance to see the security footage from the hospital soon.”

Anderson’s gaze hardened. “How the hell is it that we don’t have access to that shit already?”

“Well, unless you want to start working for Levi, I’m not sure how to expedite that,” Burton said, with a mock smile. “Apparently he can get access to all kinds of stuff we aren’t privy to. As much as that’s frustrating, it’s also a damn-good thing that we’re friends with him, so we can get at least some access.”

“Right,” he muttered, with a headshake. “I guess we should be thankful for the small things in life.”

“You’re definitely supposed to be grateful for even small things.”

“But that’s a pretty big thing,” Anderson pointed out.

“Absolutely.” Burton nodded.

“I’ll text Levi for a status update and also head down to the station real quick. Then I need to go home so Leland can get some sleep, before he returns to relieve you later on, and start the cycle all over again,” he muttered, with a snort.

Burton nudged his longtime friend to the door. “Go say goodbye to her, then I’ll take over, and we’ll see you later.”

He watched as Anderson walked over, leaned down, gave Talia a gentle kiss on her cheek, and whispered something in her ear. Taking one long last look at her, he shook his head, smiled up at Burton, and vowed, “I promise, one of us will be back.”

With that, he turned and headed out the door.

Chapter 14

‡‡

Sammy got out of the car, grabbed the bag of groceries she’d picked up to help supplement what was going on at the house, and walked slowly up to the front door. She wasn’t sure how long she would need to keep this up, but it wasn’t so much stressful as feeling like she wasn’t contributing to the household expenses.

She stayed here, ate, and then left for work, sometimes with one of the guys, depending on who was taking the watch shifts. That didn’t leave a whole lot of time to help or contribute in any way, considering that she was staying here at their largesse, even though technically they were probably responsible for her situation. She was just grateful to have a safe place to come to. And happy to have no incidents coming home nor at the grocery store, without her usual escorts.

As she walked in, she heard a baby crying, something that she was slowly getting used to. Yet it seemed like another one was half laughing, and apparently the final triplet wasn’t making a sound. She quickly took off her shoes and moved through the living room, past the kitchen, and into the babies’ playroom, which served as a naptime area and a first-floor changing room too. Formerly it had been Talia’s home office. There she found Anderson changing one, who had been doing the crying. The giggling one on the floor was trying to crawl up his pant leg, while the third one sat in one of the playpens, playing with a toy.

She smiled. “You never deal with just one, do you?”

“No,” he replied, looking over at her in surprise. “I sure don’t. You’re off early.”

“Nope, I’m not,” she stated, with a smile. “I think your day just got away from you.”

“Yeah, after going to the sheriff’s department,” he added, shaking his head, “it’s just been babies ever since.”

“Well, they are a full-time job, and, like all jobs, it never seems to get any easier.”

He studied her closely. “Tough day?”

“Yeah, tough day,” she whispered. “One of my patients, whom I had high hopes for, she passed away. … I should be prepared, but it never gets any easier.”

“It’s not supposed to get easier,” he noted quietly. “Somebody needs to care. Somebody needs to tell the world how important it was that this person lived and that somebody was there to witness their struggle. I’m not sure how many people even understand how needed that validation is.”

She smiled. “I think most of us in this industry, it’s not that we get accustomed to it, but we kind of just shut it down.”

“I get that.”

“You just stop thinking about the effects of it all because seeing death all the time, if you focus only on that, mulling it over and over—”

“Yeah, you can’t deal with death all the time,” he declared, with understanding in his tone.

“Exactly, because, while that was going on, several other people needed help, people still alive and kicking. So, they were the ones who needed my help in that moment,” she conceded, with a half-smile. “Thus you just move on. You don’t have a choice. You have other people to care for. That one didn’t make it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help the next one.”

He smiled. “And, of course, that’s what you were doing, moving on and helping the next one.”

“Yes,” she agreed, a sad smile on her face. “Still is a little rough.”

“Of course it is. There’s coffee on if you want a cup,” he suggested. “Plus, if you want a bundle of sunshine, there’s always one of these little girls to pick up and to get cuddles from.”

She laughed. “Let me put these groceries in the kitchen, and I’ll be right back.”

“You didn’t need to pick up groceries,” he called behind her.

“Well, I needed to do something,” she called right back. “You guys have been feeding me since this nightmare started.”

“Right, but that’s the thing. It has been a nightmare and not of your making. So, we’re doing everything we can to try and minimize the damage to your world. This is just a precaution, but let’s not stop it too early and have it become something that we live to regret.”

She shook her head at that. “The fact that I’m even caught up in this is a little disturbing,” she acknowledged, trying not to make it sound like it was his fault.

“A little?” he murmured, a twinkle in his eye. “I figured it was perfect timing for you and Burton.”

“Sure,” she agreed, with a chuckle. “But not at the expense of … everything else going on.”

“I can tell you one thing though,” he added, as she faced him. “I know Burton from many years ago, and, if there was ever anything he would take seriously, it would be this.”

“Of course,” she noted, “and I wouldn’t expect anything less. He’s always got, or always appears to have, everybody else’s care on his shoulders.” Maybe it was an odd thing to say, but she was also in an odd mood. Just like Anderson had pointed out, it was kind of an off day. “Sorry, not that you and Leland don’t take on that weight on your shoulders as well.”

“No apology necessary,” he replied, glancing at her as he finished changing the diaper. “One of the things we have to respect in this world is the fact that what we do isn’t necessarily something other people understand or accept.”

“I can accept it,” she confirmed, with a dry laugh. “I damn-well know how that is, because, well, … look at the world we live in. Not everybody, a lot of people in fact, would accept what I do. They make comments on my career path and how I couldn’t get into medical school, so I had to be a nurse instead of a doctor.”

He smiled. “It has been a rough day, hasn’t it?”

She snorted. “I guess so.” She shook her head. “I’ll go try that coffee.”

After putting away the groceries, she grabbed a coffee, wondering at her maudlin view of the world right now. With a hot cup of coffee in her hand, she headed to the playroom again, just in time to spy one of the babies trying to make her escape out that door and beyond to the kitchen or the living room or wherever.

She put her coffee down on one of the little corner tables, scooped up the baby, and asked, “Where do you think you’re trying to run to, missy?” Lisa—no idea which one—laughed as if this were the best game ever, and Sammy had to smile. “They’re always so happy, aren’t they?”

“They are, even when they’re not, you know?” Anderson agreed, with a grin.

“But that’s not the same thing,” she countered, with a nod. “I mean, when they’re unhappy, it’s because they’re either wet or hungry—you know, the basics in life. But they aren’t caught up in this whole I’m unhappy because I don’t like my world type of depression. They just seem to be naturally happy, and that’s kind of nice.”

He didn’t say anything but handed her a cloth as baby Lisa burped.

“Did you feed them recently?” Sammy asked.

“Yeah, just a little while ago,” he shared. “And then this one decided to fill her diaper at the same time that she was eating, so then I had to take all three back out of their high chairs. And that’s just how it goes.”

She laughed. “It seems to be, though I can’t say that I’ve ever been around triplets before.”

“No, I haven’t either,” he agreed, “but it is what it is.”

She gently laid the baby on her shoulder, and, with the burping cloth in place, walked around, gently rubbing her back. As she glanced over, Anderson quickly, like an old hand with years of experience, changed the diaper of the first one—again. “The skill that you do that with, … your sister would be proud of you.”

He glanced over at her and cocked his head. “I don’t know about that, but—at least now that she’s starting to wake up—I have hope of getting her home again.” He looked back at her and asked, “You probably don’t know yet, right? But tell me if you do.”

“If you’re asking about your sister’s release date, you’re right. I don’t know,” she said, sympathy in her tone. “I didn’t check before coming off shift, and I’m sorry. I should have.”

“That’s okay.” He smiled. “You aren’t expected to do everything all the time.”

She laughed. “That’s good because honestly, I would fail miserably.”

He burst out laughing. “Well, that’s the good thing about jobs like that. They aren’t necessarily yours, are they?”

She shrugged. “It does seem to me like I’m expected to do an awful lot sometimes.”

He smiled. “And then there are days, like right now, where you just need to take a break and rest up,” he suggested. “I can hear the exhaustion in your tone.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she muttered. She continued to pace with one of the Lisas in her arms. “Should I be leaving?”

He stopped what he was doing and frowned at her, keeping one hand on his Lisa’s chest, and declared, “No, you shouldn’t.”

“Are you sure? It feels like nothing’s happening and that this is kind of overkill.”

“It’s not overkill,” he stated, “and I would absolutely hate to have you leave when we are at this stage.”

“Are you sure though?” she asked. “Maybe me leaving would be the best thing.”

“Best for whom?” he asked her in astonishment. “The last thing any of us want is to have you hurt over this.”

She groaned. “My first reaction would be to automatically say something like, Why would I get hurt? But then I remember Talia, and it’s hard for me to argue the point.”

“Exactly,” he replied, “and that’s part of the reason why we need you to stay safe and to remain connected to us. It isn’t about being weak. I’m not sure where this is coming from, but I’m concerned that it’s even an issue at all.”

“I don’t even know that it is really,” she admitted, rubbing her forehead. “I guess it just feels like I should be doing something more constructive, one way or the other.”

“No,” he countered flatly. “I need you to just do what you’re doing and to let us continue to do what we’re doing. And I promise, we are doing everything we can to get this situation resolved.”

She didn’t say anything, just nodded.

“Has somebody said something to you?”

She looked at him in surprise and shrugged. “No. And honestly, even if they did, I don’t think I would listen. I think it’s more about me just sitting here, waiting for something to happen. It’s a terrible feeling.”

“Ah,” he said, a smile lighting up his face. “Okay, now that makes more sense. And you’re right. It is a terrible feeling. That is something we deal with fairly regularly, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are still way better off following through on what we tell you,” he explained. “Don’t take that wrong, and try not to look at it as taking orders from us or anything along that line. We’re just doing everything we can to keep everybody safe, including you.”

“No, I get that, and honestly, I don’t even want to think about it.”

“What they did to Talia is enough of a reminder for all of us, each and every day,” Anderson pointed out, his tone somber. “They don’t care what they do or who they hurt. They just take what they want.”

“I don’t think they even want anything anymore,” she offered. “I mean, how could they? There isn’t anything to get.”

“Some money was here. It’s been turned over to the local authorities. Although I guess maybe we shouldn’t have. It wasn’t even all that much money. It wasn’t enough money for these assholes to have this kind of anger over. I mean, yes, there was some money. And, yes, some money can make a big difference to some people, but I don’t think that’s the issue here. I think it’s all about them having some tiff over their business arrangement.”

“You find anything else besides money here?”

“Yes, my brother-in-law has some kind of a book that names the players, actual names or pseudonyms or whatever, and that’s something they could be concerned about, or something else completely different is involved that I don’t know about yet,” he acknowledged. “However, if Tim had the names of everybody in the drug smuggling organization, then that would definitely be something they would want to get back from Tim.”

“And did he give you something like that?”

“We found something like that, but it’s in code. Timothy surely isn’t talking. The local authorities have that too and are working on it,” he stated. “Of course, we’re hoping that work is something a little more viable than what we’ve seen so far.”

“If you say so,” she muttered, still holding one of the babies.

“That’s why we also sent a copy to our team to decode.”

She walked over, picked up her coffee, and had a sip, realizing just how much of a comfort drink it had become for her. As she placed the cup down, the baby in her arms shifted, wiggling somewhat. And she was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy, girl.”

Anderson laughed. “They’re just worms,” he declared, with a laugh.

“At least at this stage they are,” she agreed.

Anderson picked up baby number two and said, “I’ll take this one. If you want to walk with me, we can take these girls out to the living room, and we can sit in there for a while. Then I can come back and get your coffee.”

It took a little bit because baby number two desperately wanted to walk and baby number one desperately wanted to not walk. And that just seemed to be the way of it right now. As soon as they got one to cooperate, another one went off and vice versa.

By the time they made it to the living room with all three, she was laughing so hard she’d forgotten what she was even upset about. Maybe that’s what Anderson had intended because he gave her a look of satisfaction when he got them back over there again. “That’s the sound I prefer to hear.”

She rolled her eyes. “You might, but that doesn’t make it a sound I was particularly working toward.”

“Nope,” he agreed, “you were still trying to figure out how to make your world happen.”

“Of course,” she replied, with a groan.

“We aren’t blind, you know? I see how much this is putting you out.”

She stared at him in surprise and shook her head. “I don’t give a crap about that. I just feel like I’m not doing anything. And now, with Talia waking up, I’m afraid that news is going to get out to everybody in town. Then she’ll be back at high risk of getting her ass kicked again. I don’t know that she can take another beating.”

His smile fell away, and he nodded. “I get that,” he told her. “Believe me that I’m worried about that as well. I want to thank you for being concerned about her, but, at this point, we’re limited to what we can do.”

“Which is the main frustration,” she declared, “because I don’t want anything to limit us at this point. I just want this to happen and to happen fast so we are in the clear.”

When the door opened, they both jumped, startled. “Hey, it’s just me,” Burton announced, as he stepped into the living room. He smiled at them. “Leland stopped by to give me a bit of a break,” he explained. “I’ll grab a few hours sleep, and then I’ll go back.” He looked over at her and one of the babies in her arms.

Sammy smiled, walked closer, and said, “You might as well say hi.”

Instead of saying hi, Burton immediately reached out his arms, and Lisa, with a grin of delight, fell into them like it was the most natural place in the world for her to be.

Sammy smirked, shaking her head. “She certainly has your number, doesn’t she?”

“That she does,” he admitted, as he gave her a series of kisses and blew bubbles onto her belly. “Besides, she’s the reason we’re doing this, along with her sisters, of course.”

“And, if you could hang on to her for a few minutes, I can go make some food—providing Anderson doesn’t have something up his sleeve that I’m unaware of.” Sammy turned to him.

He shook his head. “Nope, no dinner plans. I’ve been fully occupied.”

“Good, I’ll go whip something up,” she shared and looked over at Burton. “I picked up a few groceries while I was out.” With that, she walked into the kitchen. As she worked, she heard the men talking a little bit. Burton gave her at least ten minutes before he casually walked in, his gaze intent. She sighed. “I’m fine, really.”

“I know you’re fine. We all know you’re fine, and that’s not the point,” he began, a smile on his face. “I gather it was a tough day at work.”

“Not any worse than a lot of days,” she muttered, turning to him. “Sometimes you just have a day that hits you a little bit more. And don’t go telling me that it’s a good thing or anything else. I’ve already listened to the world according to Anderson.”

His grin flashed. “I wouldn’t do that to you, … but I can understand his point and the fact that he’s a little concerned about you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, he might be concerned, but I’m fine.” As she looked over at the little one in his arms, she added, “Besides, like he told me earlier, these little ladies are why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

“True, it is,” he agreed. “That’s important, and Talia is important. But what’s also important is that you stay safe. I don’t want to hear that you’ve decided you’ve had enough and that you’ve taken off from the security we can offer you here,” he told her. “That would be traumatic and very difficult.”

She stared at him. “I’m not a fool.”

“I know that. Yet you left the hospital today without an escort, even stopped by the grocery store,” he noted. “And it wasn’t my intention to imply you were ever a fool, just that we worry about you.”

“Good,” she snapped, and then she groaned. “See? You guys are making me nuts.”

He burst out laughing. “Nope.”

“I know. I know. You’re going to say it, aren’t you?”

“Well, I’ve got to say something,” he teased. “I mean, after all, you’re the one who’s getting snappy here.” When she turned and glared at him, he nodded. “I get it. You don’t want to be here. You want to be in your own life, and everything is kind of stalled.”

“I think it’s the stalled part that gets to me most,” she shared. “I mean, if you had an enemy, you could do something about it. If you had a target, you could aim for it. If you had something, you could do something about it, … but this waiting like sitting ducks isn’t getting us anywhere.”

He smiled. “That is an argument and a problem that we deal with all the time,” he told her. “And you’re right. It is very frustrating, difficult, and aggravating. All those things are quite true, and yet we can’t change it until we have more information. All we can do is keep to the status quo and hope that everybody in our world”—he lifted and bounced Lisa on his hip—“is growing and strengthening. Talia is getting stronger every day, and that’s huge because, at some point in time, things will change.”

She frowned at him and asked, “In what way?”

“Well, as soon as we can get Talia home, then we’ll have her here with the babies, and we’ll be protecting one group instead of two locations,” he began. “That’s really important, since we’re spread a little thin right now.”

“Yeah, but didn’t you or someone say another friend is coming?” she inquired.

“Yeah, but exactly when, I don’t know. He’s finishing off an operation, then he’ll be here when he can. What that looks like timewise, I don’t know,” he explained.

She sighed. “Okay, fine. I’m not trying to be difficult. I just—”

“It’s all right,” he said. “I understand. Believe me that we both do.”

“Did you ask him about the sheriff’s department today?” she asked.

“Nope, not yet, but I will now.”

“Dinner’s about ready. So ask him while we’re eating,” she suggested. “I noticed the babies were getting a little fussy, and I thought maybe some food would help everybody’s temperament.”

He grinned. “Food is always a good idea.”

“Well, you have to wonder sometimes,” she noted. “It just seems like nothing is ever a great idea. Just lots of times there are good ideas.”

“It doesn’t matter what you call it, we’re happy to have any ideas.” He lifted one of the highchairs and plunked it down beside the table. “I’ll put this little lady in here. You can keep an eye on her while I go get Anderson and the other two,” he offered.

She smiled as he very efficiently, with the same level of efficiency as Anderson had with the babies, put one in the highchair. “I’m absolutely amazed at how quickly you guys have adjusted to this.”

He looked at her in surprise, then down at one baby in one highchair and admitted, “If I were to say that the training we’ve had in the military helped, would you believe me?”

She frowned and said, “No. Absolutely no way.”

His grin flashed again. “It wouldn’t necessarily be wrong,” he countered, “because, once we’ve assessed a situation, and we’ve learned how to handle it, then competency comes next. I would say that we got there pretty quickly with these three little ones.”

And then, with that, he left, leaving her staring open-mouthed behind him.

Over the meal—salmon and pasta with cream sauce and a salad, which was fabulous—Burton remembered to ask Anderson about the jail visit. “How is Timothy?”

“Useless,” Anderson replied. “Absolutely useless. He doesn’t want to talk, doesn’t want to say anything. He doesn’t know anything. Apparently he’s also not asking to be released anymore.”

“Ah, now that is interesting,” Burton muttered, with a smile.

“Why is that interesting?” she asked curiously.

“He probably feels like he’s in more danger out of jail than in.”

She pondered that and then nodded. “I can see that.”

“He’s protected where he is,” Burton noted.

“Only to a certain extent though,” Anderson pointed out. “He’s not got that many friends left to bail him out. So it’ll be a question of whether these guys care enough to kill him in the jail cell.”

She winced at such a thought. “It’s kind of heartbreaking, even though Tim is no saint,” she shared.

“It is a scary thought,” he added, with a smile, “but that doesn’t change the reality.”

She winced and nodded. “I guess not. It just seems like nobody cares as long as they get the information.”

Surprised, Anderson studied her quietly and nodded. “Personally I find it very difficult to move past him throwing my sister to the wolves and then taking off on these babies,” he explained. “It’s a level of deception and betrayal that’s just not acceptable. And Tim … hit that threshold very, very quickly.”

“Right,” she muttered. “I agree with you. I’m not letting him off the hook. I would just prefer, as somebody who works in the medical profession, that everything wasn’t about killing.”

He nodded. “You’re right, and we would prefer that too. … Still, the fact of the matter is, violence is likely to happen in this case.”

“They haven’t killed anybody though,” she pointed out. “So, I’m not sure that the law is necessarily going to care too much.”

“Meaning that, if my sister were dead, it would be a bigger issue?”

She winced. “I don’t mean it that way,” she said hurriedly. “It just seems so often that nothing is ever resolved because it’s not classified as bad enough.”

“I understand what you’re saying, and you’re right. It’s just not something I’m prepared to let go of in Talia’s instance,” Anderson declared, as he looked over at Burton.

Burton nodded. “Absolutely. Not something we’ll allow. What we want,” he explained, “is to get her home, to keep her safe, and to figure out what the hell’s going on.”

“I agree,” she muttered, “and it’s not fair. I feel like I’m apologizing constantly to you guys, and I don’t like that either. I guess I’m just worried. What happens if you don’t solve this?” She looked from one to the other. “What realistically happens then? What if the killer has taken off? I mean, there are just so many lines to tug, and yet none of the lines seemingly make a damn bit of difference.”

Burton’s phone went off just then. He picked it up, realized it was Leland, and stepped away from the table for a minute. In the home office, he answered the phone. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“She’s woken up several more times,” Leland replied, “and she very much wants to talk to Anderson.”

“I can arrange that,” Burton stated, relief in his tone. “I can send him right now.”

“Fine, but she’s gone back to sleep. Of course that’s part of the problem. We need him to be here when she’s awake. Send him as soon as you can and have him prepared to stay for a few hours in the hopes that she wakes up again.”

When he hesitated then, Burton knew something was up. “What else?”

“I’m not sure, but somebody stepped into the ward, took one look at me, and left again. I couldn’t leave my post because of her, but it sure as hell looked like the photo I’ve seen of Timothy.”

“You haven’t actually seen him in person, have you?”

“No, I haven’t, but I do know that this was a furtive movement. As soon as he saw me, he was gone again.”

“Which means that somebody is still trying to get access to her in that hospital room.”

“Whether it is somebody who’s trying to kill her or not, I don’t know.”

“Did you see if he had any weapon or anything?”

“I couldn’t see anything,” Leland said in frustration. “He took one look and booked it.”

“Fine. We will send Anderson up, prepped and ready.”

“I might stay for a little bit while he’s here too,” he added. “You know, … just in case.”

“Right. That whole just in case.”

“I know we’re a little thin on the ground, but I want to be here if anything goes wrong. Did you hear if Gunner got the message?”

“I did. He’s still in the field on a mission, and he’ll come as soon as he can.”

“I guess that’s the best we can hope for at this time. It’s about all we can hope for right now. There are three of us, at least.”

“I know. We completely understand,” Burton replied, laughing. “It’s just amazing how much more it takes because there are two places to protect, one with triplets.”

“I agree,” he murmured. “Anyway, send Anderson when you can. I am literally just sitting here, keeping an eye on things to make sure all is well.”

“Good enough,” he said, ending the call.

He stepped back into the eat-in dining area of the kitchen and looked over at Anderson. “Leland wants you at the hospital. Talia’s been awake a couple times. She’s spoken to him, and she wants to talk to you.”

“Your expression says there’s more.”

“He also mentioned that Talia had another visitor. Some man—who looked a lot like Timothy’s picture—stepped into the ward, took one look at him, and booked it. Leland tried to call out and talk to him, but, of course, he left. He couldn’t say the man was there for nefarious reasons, but he didn’t stick around to talk either.”

Anderson quickly finished his food, then asked him, “Are you okay to stay here?”

“Absolutely,” he murmured quietly. “I can take care of the babies. Go. Go talk to your sister. Maybe we can finally get confirmation about what the hell is going on here.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m hoping for.” He got up and looked over at Sammy. “That was an excellent meal, thank you.”

Burton watched as she nodded but didn’t say anything, as Anderson was already flying out the front door. He looked at her and added, “This food was excellent, really.”

She laughed. “Well, I’m glad because I don’t cook very much, and, when I do, I tend to rotate between about six dishes,” she admitted. “This is just one of them.”

“And it’s a damn-good one,” he replied. “We really appreciate it.”

She shrugged. “Honestly, it’s kind of nice to cook for somebody else for a change. I usually just cook for myself.”

“Well, … I was going to ask more questions earlier about the whole relationship thing,” he began, “but I didn’t want to … push any boundaries.”

She snorted. “Since when do you not want to push the boundaries?” Laughing, she said, “I feel like that’s something you do on a regular basis.”

“I do not,” he replied, “but I will admit to being very curious on that point.”

She looked at him in surprise and shrugged. “No, I haven’t had a relationship in a couple years,” she shared calmly. “At least not a serious one.”

“Good,” he said, “it’s really only the serious ones that are an issue.”

“Why is that?”

“I just don’t want anybody else stepping through the doors, all pissed off because I might be interested.”

“Might be interested?” she repeated, with a teasing glance in his way.

“Might, yes,” he teased, a grin on his face. “I’m not trying to stake a claim or anything because I don’t think you’re the kind of girl who would appreciate that approach.”

“First, I’m not a girl. … I’m a woman,” she stated, glaring at him in mock anger. “Second, I am perfectly capable of making decisions on my own.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he told her, a smile on his lips. “So, as long as you don’t have any relationship happening, I’ll take that as a good thing.”

“And you?” she asked, with a playful smile. “I get the impression that you have somebody in every port.”

He looked at her in astonishment and then chuckled. “Ouch, that hurts.”

“It might hurt,” she noted, “but the truth would be nice.”

“No, I absolutely do not have a woman in every port,” he stated, even with a smile. “And, for the record, I prefer one at a time, thank you.”

“That’s good to hear,” she replied, “because I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Good,” he confirmed, with a nod. “Now that we figured out those basics, plus all the other basics—”

“Right, we’re kind of clearing the air, aren’t we?”

With a big grin on his face, he nodded. “Absolutely we are simply clearing the air.”

She sighed. “Again, I feel like you have … I don’t want to say women everywhere, but, you know, like women everywhere.”

“I don’t,” he declared immediately. “I do not play the field. It’s one at a time, or it’s not at all. Now, if there was any privacy and peace and quiet around this place, I could show you.” He waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive fashion.

She burst out laughing. “Maybe it’s a good thing that we don’t have any privacy,” she pointed out, “because we still don’t really know each other.”

“So, what do you want to know?” he asked, eyeing her with interest. “Ask any question you want. I’m an open book, I promise.”

“Everybody says that,” she said immediately, “and then you find out I don’t want to answer this question and don’t want to answer that question.”

“So,” he offered, “let’s make a deal. You can ask ten questions, and I can ask ten questions, and we can go from there.”

“Okay …”

“What made you become a nurse?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious? That’s your first question?”

“Yes,” he declared, with a shrug. “I always want to know what makes people do what they do.”

Silence fell as she thought seriously about her answer.

He gave her an odd look. “It takes a lot out of you. It emotionally drains you, and I can see that it’s something that you don’t want to give up. So, what is it that still drives you to be a nurse?”

“My grandmother,” she said quietly, realizing that he would not let up. “I was very close to her. She believed in medicine. It didn’t seem to do very much to help her, but she still believed it. We had to hire nurses to look after her at home, and then that got to be too much money. So, my parents stepped up to do it, but they weren’t very good at it, didn’t like it, didn’t want to do it. So, it ended up being me more times than not. My grandmother was special, and it was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with her. It really broke my heart when she passed,” she shared. “Yet I also realized the value of what I had given her in the time that she needed it, and I think that just cemented it for me.”

“I like that,” he said.

“I wasn’t trying to give you any kind of idea about who I am in that way,” she explained, then shook her head. “It was the truth.”

“That’s all I want,” he told her. “Just the truth. If you go onto a dating app, you get what they want you to see. If you go out with friends, you get the version that the friend gives you. I just … would like to know who you are from your perspective.”

“From my perspective?” she asked, then laughed. “I’m single, dedicated, hard-working, probably focused too much on my career and less on relationships. I feel things deeply. I hurt easily, so I have built a shell.” At that, she flushed and finally added, “I have never shared any of that with anybody.”

“Good.” He gave her a big smile. “That’s the important stuff, isn’t it? It’s who you are, the real you, … on the inside.”

Still astonished, she shrugged. “It’s the truth. … Now your turn.”

“Okay. What do you want to know?”

Chapter 15

‡‡

Sammy absolutely loved the fact that she was getting honest answers from Burton. She’d learned how and why he’d gotten into the military family, the same as her into nursing, because of his grandfather telling him all kinds of stories and romanticizing the entire thing. His family had been absolutely horrified, blaming their grandfather for Burton’s decision the whole time, whereas Burton himself had been thrilled. It had become a sore spot for the entire family, but he didn’t let his grandfather feel guilt or remorse because how could something like that be wrong?

“Anyway, the family more or less got over it. I’m still alive, and, from their perspective, as long as I stay alive, I’ll probably get off the hook eventually,” he shared, with a laugh. “I don’t see them very much. They live a quiet life in Ohio, whereas I live—”

“All over the world,” she interjected.

He chuckled. “More or less. Obviously my military brothers and I consider Talia’s home as our home base, and we have come back here time and time again. Plus, it is so close to our military base in San Diego. Still, I go home to Ohio to visit with family and show up when it matters. Yet Talia’s house is home to me and to Anderson, even to Leland and Gunner. It’s a nice little area, and we’ve talked about settling in here because it’s where we all consider our personal home base is. I’m not sure why we chose this place,” he admitted, with a shrug and a smile. “I haven’t had any reason to go elsewhere. So, the only place we meet up is here.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” she replied. “Does Talia have any idea how lucky she is that you guys have been around, both before her attack and after?”

“She took it pretty hard when Anderson left for the navy, but she wouldn’t say anything against it because she knew how important it was to him.”

“Of course,” she muttered. “That sounds like what I would expect from her.”

He laughed. “Not everybody was quite so forgiving.”

“No, of course not,” she noted, waving her hands.

“Yet Anderson calls this place home, and that’s what’s important,” Burton added.

When the front door opened, they were still deep in conversation. When Leland walked in, he looked from Sammy to Burton and then back to her. “Am I interrupting?”

She turned to him and smiled. “Nope, we’re just talking.”

He nodded, but his gaze was intense as he studied her. “Seems to be a pretty intense conversation though,” he pointed out, watching Burton now. “And how are the babies letting you have this time is something else yet again.”

She smiled, watching the babes, now full, playing with their food or their plates. “Just pure luck, I’m sure,” she replied, trying to ease the tension that had suddenly thickened the air. “We’re just getting to know each other.”

“Ah.” Leland laughed. “That’s important too.”

“Ah?” Burton repeated. “What does that mean?”

“I forgot you two were an item.”

She looked at him in astonishment. “I don’t know that we’re an item,” Sammy countered, with a nervous laugh.

“We’re definitely an item,” Burton stated immediately. “She’s just not quite ready to call it.”

“Oh please,” Sammy replied, horrified that her cheeks were hot, probably turning pink.

“I thought you were going to stay at the hospital,” Burton asked Leland, taking the focus off Sammy.

“I was, and then I decided to come home, get a shower, maybe grab a few minutes of sleep, since Anderson is determined to stay for a bit. I’m about wiped out.”

“I can go up and do the night shift if you need sleep that badly,” Burton offered immediately, standing up and staring at him. “Are we thinking that the visitor is likely to come back tonight?”

“I don’t know. I’m hoping that the guy turns up while Anderson’s there, so he can see him and hopefully talk to him and confirm his ID. In the meantime, we don’t know who this guy is. As long as Timothy is in jail—”

Sammy asked, “Do we know for sure that he’s in jail? It is just a small sheriff’s office, with a small jail. Keep that in mind,” she pointed out.

Burton stared at her, confused for a moment. “What do you mean by that? Anderson just saw him there earlier.”

“I’m not sure what I mean, but I guess, … even if he’s in jail, that doesn’t mean that he’s staying in jail.”

Burton frowned at her, and then a slow whistle escaped. “Now that is something I hadn’t considered.”

“What?” she asked, now looking at him in confusion.

“I hadn’t considered that maybe he was being let out and then going back in again.”

Leland stared at her, nodding. “I hadn’t considered that either, though most of the time we’re dealing with larger jurisdictions with pretty standard procedures and heavy security.”

Sammy added, “Tim’s kind of a player, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was friends with the sheriff or at least some of the deputies. And, if they have no reason to suspect that he’s really involved, or if there are any hidden hands in play—”

“How did you think of that?” Leland asked, shaking his head.

“I don’t know,” she muttered, confused by their reaction and feeling a bit on the spot now. “It just seems to me that, if it looks like Tim, if it sounds like Tim, if it’s acting like Tim, why wouldn’t it be Tim?”

Burton smiled. “You’re right. That’s actually far more plausible than the twin theory. It was right there in our faces, and we completely overlooked it. Good job.” He pulled out his phone and called Anderson. As soon as he relayed her theory, they engaged in a heavy discussion back-and-forth.

She wasn’t even sure if she should have mentioned anything, but it was just one of those things that seemed obvious to her. Yet they were coming at it from a very different viewpoint and believed that Tim was actually incarcerated. Therefore, her theory changed everything for them.

Realizing that it was time for the babies to have a bath before bed, she got up. While the guys were still talking, she started the bath. By the time she got all three of the triplets into the bathroom and then into the bathtub itself, she was fully immersed in trying to keep them from drowning themselves and each other.

A tap came on the door, and Burton came into the bathroom with a smile on his face. “Hey, you could have asked for help, you know?”

She smiled and nodded. “It seemed like you guys were a little busy.”

“Well, that was a damn-good theory on your part.”

“Doesn’t mean it was right or wrong though, does it?”

“Leland’s heading over to the sheriff’s department right now.” He tried to keep one of the Lisas from pulling her sister’s hair. “He seems to think that he might be able to get some information out of one of the officers.”

“Oh, great,” she replied. “Is it a female?”

He laughed. “She is. I guess he stopped in to talk earlier and hit it off with her.”

“Good for him, but that doesn’t mean she’ll release that kind of information.”

“And yet it’s not like it should be hidden. I mean, the whereabouts of an inmate is not some top secret information,” he pointed out. “If he’s got a day pass to legally get out, that’s one thing. If he’s being released by some of the staff for some purpose, that should also be documented. And, if it’s something completely different, then we need to find out.”

“And what could possibly be completely different?” she asked, astonished.

He shrugged. “He could be bribing somebody on staff to give him an hour’s pass to go see his poor sick wife that he had absolutely nothing to do with hurting. And, of course, as he comes back-and-forth, the myth continues.”

“But they shouldn’t do that,” she muttered. “Is that even allowed?”

“No, they shouldn’t, but when you shared how it’s a small sheriff’s office and a small jail, the possibilities became clear. They probably just use that as a holding facility while they await more information or for the circuit judge to show up. And I realized it would actually be a very easy thing for not only the staff but also the mayor to pull off, which also would imply that they don’t seem to think Tim’s guilty. He’s been here in this area a long time, and chances are they all have their own ideas as to what happened. It’ll be some version of him being coerced, or he was unconscious at the time someone else did the beating, and now he’s being framed.”

“Good Lord,” she whispered, hanging her head. “The deviousness that people come up with is absolutely insane.”

“But it’s also the truth half the time,” he pointed out, as he squatted beside her. “So, I’m staying here with you and the babies, and Leland’s heading to the sheriff’s department because he also wants to know what kind of security system they have there. So, if Tim’s breaking out, we should be able to see him on tape, or, if somebody’s letting him out, the security system being used is something that Leland might be able to hack into and get the truth.”

She stared at him, her jaw dropping. “Do people actually do that?”

“Well, if not Leland, it will most certainly be somebody on one of the teams that we work with,” he shared, with a smile. “I guess for you, it sounds illegal and dodgy as hell, but it’s also a way to get answers.”

“I just thought I heard you say hack and I—”

“I did,” he confirmed, with a laugh. “So, we don’t know exactly what’s going on, but we need to know. Thus this is just one more of those little things we may have to try in order to figure things out.”

She shook her head. “Good God. I can’t imagine what the sheriff or the mayor would have to say if they found out what you were doing.”

“I guess it depends on if they’re complicit in the crimes, plus aiding and abetting a criminal, and a violent inmate at that,” he pointed out. “Or maybe they have no idea, and somebody else is helping him get in and out on his own.”

She rubbed her forehead. “That’s incredibly complicated.”

“And yet, at the heart of it, it’s very simple. We presume that the drug lords who are Tim’s bosses want something from Talia, but we don’t know what.”

“You sure it isn’t that USB drive? Or the book of names?”

“Maybe, and we need to know what the hell those things are all about too. Plus, the local authorities already have the USB and the code book, so what else is it that Tim’s bosses are looking for?”

Burton stayed close by, helping with the babies through bathtime, then got them into bed all nice and clean. Afterward, he read a bedtime story to the toddlers. By the time he was done, and they were sound asleep in the nursery upstairs, he heard a snicker from the door.

He stood, put his hand to his lips, then pointed toward the stairs. She was softly laughing about it. “Sorry, but it was so funny I couldn’t help it,” she whispered.

“Here I am reading a bedtime story, and yet the reality is, the bedtime story that they’re dealing with is likely to be very unhappy,” he shared. “So, it just seems like a mockery that I’m the one sitting here exposing that to them.”

She stared at him and frowned. “I hadn’t really considered that.”

“It’s okay that you didn’t, and just remember that dealing with bad things is something that I do in my world, so it did come to mind,” he explained.

“Plus the situation we find ourselves in right now,” she murmured. With the babies asleep, they sat down on the sofa in the living room. “You haven’t heard from anybody, have you?” she asked him.

He looked down at his phone and winced. “I had it turned off. Let me get it back on again.” As soon as he turned it on, messages came through, and he swore. He stood up and started making phone calls. The first was to Anderson. “What’s up?”

Anderson was distracted. “Hey, I was trying to get a hold of you.”

“I know. I had it off while I was dealing with the babies.”

“Oh. That’s probably a good thing, but I never seem to think of doing it.”

“Honestly, I did it absentmindedly while I was trying to get them to sleep, but then I forgot to turn it back on again. Sorry. What’s up?”

“Leland stopped in at the sheriff’s department.”

“Right, I knew he was going to.”

“As far as anybody there is concerned, their prisoner has not left the station at all.”

“Of course not,” he said, with a snort. “But then are they likely to admit it if they have somebody who has taken off and left?”

“I don’t know.”

“You sound troubled. What else is going on?”

“Apparently the mayor stopped in. Leland did talk to him about it, but the mayor declares there’s no way and that it wouldn’t happen. Multiple checks are required for any prisoner to get out of the jail itself. So, short of accusing them of not doing their job, Leland didn’t really have a whole lot of options. He did, however, see Tim briefly, still in his cell, and managed to get a look at their security system and has given that to Levi to continue looking into it.”

“So, you’re still thinking that it could be Tim, getting out of jail somehow, coming to the hospital to see Talia?”

“No, we’re just saying that needs to be ruled out. As Sammy pointed out, it’s a small office, so all kinds of shenanigans could be going on. We just hope they aren’t.”

“Yeah, I really hope they aren’t,” Burton stated. He walked over to join Sammy. When he reached out his free hand, she immediately put hers into it, and he squeezed it gently and tugged her closer. He asked, “So, where are you guys at now?”

“I’m still at the hospital, and Leland is now outside the hospital, checking in with Levi. I guess Levi has somebody pretty computer savvy, so they’ll take a quick look just to make sure that everything’s on the up-and-up. So far, I haven’t had any visitors here, which would put some of that rumor down to it not being possible for Tim to be the one coming in and out of jail to see Talia in the hospital. But, according to what Leland mentioned earlier, this guy who was here more recently didn’t necessarily appear to be aggressive.”

“Right. Leland only saw him for a few moments. He ducked out right away and took off. Thus I’m trying to figure out if he has siblings because that resemblance has to come from somewhere.”

“And we still haven’t gotten through to the adoption agency?” Anderson asked.

“No, they aren’t being cooperative. We’ll probably need some sort of official clearance to get in there.”

Anderson asked, “And did you ask the sheriff?”

“I did. He told me that he would consider the request, but he was already a little pissy because I was asking if they were letting Tim out. Then, by the time Leland went down there with even more questions about their policies, we were probably getting on the sheriff’s case to the extent that we may now get warnings to stay out of their business.” Then he laughed. “Yet we’ve never listened to warnings like that before, so it sure as hell isn’t something we’ll listen to now.”

“No, of course not,” Anderson stated. “If they know something, and they aren’t sharing, then we need to find it out ourselves. Anyway, I just wanted to fill you in. Leland’s coming back to the ward in a little bit, and then I’ll come home.”

“Did she wake up?” Sammy asked, leaning closer to the phone.

“She woke up briefly, saw me, smiled, and went back under again,” he shared quietly. “So, it’s a yes, but it’s also a no. And it’s so frustrating because I’m just sitting here, hoping she wakes up, and, every time she does, it seems like there’s just not enough of her awake yet. I don’t want to push it—”

“Yet you want to push it really badly,” Sammy interjected. “I get that, but it’s all about her healing first.”

“I know that,” he muttered, his frustration evident in his tone. “Which is why I’m sitting here, just waiting.”

When Burton hung up the phone, he turned to her and smiled. “Anderson’s doing everything he can to hold back.”

“I know that,” she said, then patted his hand. “And it’s hard. I get it. It’s very hard. He’s got his sister right there, in touching distance, yet he can’t quite access her. I’m surprised at how close they are.”

“Meaning you aren’t close to your family?”

“No, never was,” she admitted. “Not like that. I don’t know what it would have been like if I’d had a sister. I could hope for something like what he has, yet I’m not at all sure that something like that is even possible,” she shared, laughing.

He looked at her and nodded. “It’s very possible.”

“But you don’t have it.”

He shook his head and chuckled. “Nope, I sure don’t. My immediate family was not impressed when I chose the military, but I think they’ve come around, … more or less.”

She shook her head. “The more or less part is what bothers me because that’s not quite enough to really make me change my mind about them.” When he looked at her in surprise, she shrugged. “They should have accepted what you wanted, when you wanted, and just … been there for you.”

One of the gentlest smiles she’d ever seen slipped across his face, and he nodded. “You know, it’s almost like you’re being protective.”

She frowned. “I’m not saying that I’m upset at them,” she clarified, “but it would be hard for me not to tell them how I feel about not supporting you in the decision that you made.”

“Yet I did make that decision,” he noted, “and now they are supportive, so it’s all good. People have to come around to who they are in their own time.”

“Absolutely,” she agreed, then groaned. “Besides, it has nothing to do with me anyway.”

He chuckled. “Seems maybe it does have something to do with you.” He looked around the room, with just the two of them here, the babies asleep. “You know …”

“No,” she declared immediately.

He waggled his eyebrows.

She shook her head.

“Nobody would know,” he said.

“They would know,” she snapped, frowning. “At least I would know.”

“Of course you would know,” he teased playfully. “You would be an active participant.” And then he grinned and said, “We still have time.”

“What? A quick roll in the hay, and then what?” she scoffed.

“And then we can sit and cuddle on the couch?” he offered.

“They’ll still know.”

“Does that bother you?” he asked, after a moment.

She frowned, thought about it, and then shook her head. “No, it doesn’t bother me, but, if anything were to happen to the babies, I couldn’t bear it.”

“You think we’re not going to hear them with the monitors and with the lungs on those three? Besides, they’re asleep.”

She stared at him. “You sound like every father trying to coax the mother back into the bedroom.”

He burst out laughing. “All those fathers now have my sympathy.”

She stared at him, then suddenly a twinkle appeared, and she whispered, “Race ya!” With that, she took off up to her bedroom as fast as she could, with a soft shout from him as he raced behind.

Chapter 16

‡‡

Sammy bolted into her designated bedroom, actually the master bedroom, still giggling but quietly, as she realized they might wake up the babies. She was already half undressed by the time she reached the en suite bathroom, where she shut the door in his face and called out, “I’ll be out in a minute.”

She used the facilities and scrubbed her face, her heart was slamming against her chest. She wondered how she’d gone from zero to one hundred so quickly, but maybe it had something to do with being tired of worrying, tired of everything being put on hold until later, tired of life not giving her that little bit of relaxation she so desperately needed right now. Above all, tired of overthinking everything.

Was this just stress relief? She frowned.

Maybe, but she truly liked this guy. Maybe more than just liked him. Yet it was so fast, wasn’t it? She had never done something like this before, at least not for that reason, but she was still all in. As she opened the door, she entered her bedroom. She stood in the doorway, just in her underwear and skimpy bra.

Burton sat on the side of the bed, putting down his phone. “Phone’s on Silent.”

“We probably should not put it on Silent,” she muttered quietly.

He turned to her, his eyes widening as he saw her, and he nodded. “It’s a habit,” he replied, as he immediately picked it back up and put the sound back on.

“I didn’t even realize you guys had the babies on monitors.”

“Of course,” he whispered, a playful smile on his lips. “That’s just the kind of equipment we automatically need on any op. We do that without even thinking about it.”

“Well, I’m glad because it didn’t even occur to me,” she admitted. “But, of course, you guys got that handled.”

He heard something odd in her tone. He got up, walked over, pulled her into his arms, and whispered, “We don’t have to do anything. If you want, we can just hold each other in bed.”

She smiled. “That’s tempting too, but how about we do that afterward? I’m not sure why, but I need this.”

“Good enough,” he murmured, “as long as there’s no analysis afterward that makes you upset or uncomfortable.”

“Nope,” she stated, “that’s not me. Maybe it’s the stress of everything. I don’t really know, and I’m not too worried about analyzing it.” She slipped her arms up around his neck and smiled at him. “Unless, of course, you don’t want to.”

He bumped her gently with his hips, and she felt absolutely everything through his thin boxers. She smiled. “I guess that answers that question, doesn’t it?”

“Of course it does, and you know damn well I’m more than interested,” he murmured gently, as he nuzzled her cheek and then slid down to nip at her ear and along her jawline.

She chuckled. “I guess that’s just my insecurity talking.”

He leaned back to see her face. “You have absolutely no reason to feel insecure about anything right now.”

“It’s not insecurity about that. I think it’s just this whole situation,” she murmured. “I mean, if we were living in our own place, or if you had a place, and I was there with you, it would be a completely different story. Yet I’m here in somebody else’s house, and that just feels off.”

“Ah.” He nodded in understanding. “I get that and understand it completely. I can appreciate what you’re saying. I also appreciate that, for the moment at least, we are exactly where we need to be, and that’s for those babies in the nursery beside us. Speaking of which, I don’t really want to be making any babies at this point.”

She looked at him in surprise, and then her grin flashed. “Well, at least you had the decency to ask.”

“Of course,” he replied, “but you haven’t answered.”

“I’m on the pill,” she shared, tapping him on the lips. “So, we’re safe.”

He grinned. “In that case—” He waggled his eyebrows, and, in a sudden move, scooped her up. She squealed with laughter, yet as soon as he frowned at her, she muted it down, her eyes widening in horror.

He chuckled gently. “We are definitely going to have to contain those squeals.”

“I wouldn’t have thought I was that noisy,” she muttered, “but I can’t say I’ve ever been picked up and carried to bed.”

“How about tossed on your bed?” he asked, as he gently dropped her.

She realized he’d already pulled back the blankets and top sheet. “It is a new experience all around,” she whispered. She opened her arms wide, and, as he lay down, half on top, half beside her, she smiled. “And, of course, you’re trying to be a gentleman and not put all your weight on me.”

“Well, I’m not exactly a small man,” he explained quietly. “I’m a good couple hundred pounds.”

She laughed. “I know. I can see that. My work involves assessing human bodies, and yours is definitely a lovely specimen.” She slipped her hands across his huge back and chest and added, “I can’t imagine the type of work you’ve done to get these muscles.”

“Just life,” he replied. “Life that you don’t even think about. It comes because of the physical work.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” She chuckled and then slipped her hands gently under the band of his boxers to slide ever-so-slightly lower. She immediately gripped his muscled cheeks and dug her nails in gently, then slid her hands down as far as she could before coming back up again.

“You want to play, do you? I can play too.” And, with that, his hands started to explore.

Her eyes widened as she felt the calluses on his fingers as they slid across her smooth skin. Yet, instead of being rough, it was almost … She couldn’t even figure out how to describe it, but it caused her to twist with every stroke. “Oh my,” she gasped.

He murmured, “Oh my is right. Very sensitive, aren’t we?”

“I think it’s your hands.”

“Are they rough?” he asked, stopping.

“No, not rough,” she murmured, twisting beneath him, “but don’t stop.”

He chuckled. “Oh, I don’t plan on it.” He gently slid down to suckle one nipple, her body arching gently beneath him with his ministrations. He moved from one to the other, his hands stroking her carefully from head to toe and back again as if loving her reactions underneath him.

“My God,” she muttered.

“You said it had been a few years.”

“Yes, it has been, but I would have felt this way regardless,” she shared, writhing under his hands. “This is unbelievable.”

“Good,” he murmured, as he gently came back up to suckle her breast again.

She gasped as the movements tugged deep inside her, and her whole body clenched in anticipation. She moaned as her body responded in many ways, and she arched beneath him. He let her orgasm pass gently as he immediately worked to bring her back up again. She was almost blind as the movements of his hands and lips drove her once again up that mountain. When she was right at the edge, she whispered, “Please, just come with me.”

He immediately slid over the top of her and into position. Then, on her next shudder, he slid deep inside. She gasped, her thighs opening wide to wrap up and around him as she stilled from the onslaught.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice deep, guttural.

She nodded. “I’m okay,” she whispered, “but you still need to move.” With that she dug her nails in to urge him along.

He gave a soft shout and immediately plunged deep, then deeper, until she was crying out once again as she went over the edge. She heard him follow her, his own climax deep and guttural upon her, but then she didn’t think of anything else as she just relaxed in a floating haze of joy.

When she could, she pulled up against his chest and murmured, “Are the babies okay?”

He reached over, grabbed his phone, checked on them, and whispered, “Yes, they’re fine. They’re all fine.”

“Oh good. Does that mean I can go to sleep?”

His light laughter came against her ear, and he whispered, “Sleep well.”

She added, “Feel free to wake me up if you want to repeat that.” With that, she closed her eyes and drifted off.

Burton napped gently beside her, holding the woman who had suddenly become so precious in his life. He had only known her for several days, but here she was, exactly where he wanted her.

The trouble was, he wanted her to stay here forever, at least until they had time enough to realize that this was what they really wanted. He knew in his heart of hearts that this was well worth pursuing, but he needed her to be on the same page, and he couldn’t guarantee that. She had to do that. Still, as she cuddled up next to him, he just held her as close as he could, whispering gently against her ear that this was special and that they had something real and wonderful to work with.

She just had to give him a chance. When she fell silent again, he just cuddled her and then reached for his phone and checked on the babies. They had been quiet, so he was okay with that, as long as nothing was going on.

In the monitor, everything appeared fine. A text message came from Anderson saying that he was staying a little longer, and he and Leland would be home soon. It’s almost like the men knew, but then, of course, they did know.

They’d been friends for a long time, each one intuitively understanding when relationships were important. And the fact that Anderson had found Pamela, and now Burton had found Sammy, was also pretty unbelievable. Yet, in many ways, typical of the two of them. He just wanted it to be real for him and Sammy.

And then he had to wonder how it would work out for Leland. That guy was a whole different case. Hearing an odd sound, he turned his head ever-so-slightly to the side, trying to discern what was disturbing him.

Then he shifted, got up, and quickly dressed, prepared to go downstairs and take a look. When she moved, murmuring at him, he whispered, “It’s okay. I’m just going to check downstairs.”

She shifted, rolled over, and he pulled the covers up over her, hoping she could sleep through whatever this was.

He suspected it was something outside, but he couldn’t take the chance. Dressed, he walked downstairs and realized that the front door was ever-so-slightly open. Now that was a whole different story.

He’d come down the stairs, not very silently, then stepped around, checked out the living room, moved on to the kitchen, and then to the playroom, formerly Talia’s home office. Shaking his head, he headed upstairs to the nursery. As he stepped inside the babies’ room to check on them, he felt the muzzle of the gun come up behind him, directly at the base of his spine. He froze.

The voice behind him was dark, deep, and sarcastic, whispering, “Good choice. Now, the next decision you make will be the difference for you and all these babies. Make the right one, and you guys get to live. Make the wrong one, and I’ll make sure that not a one of you is alive to regret it.”

Chapter 17

‡‡

Sammy woke with a start, wondering what was wrong, immediately sat up, realizing that Burton had gotten up. As she glanced around the room, just barely enough light confirmed that his clothes weren’t lying on the floor where she’d last seen them.

She crept out of bed, quickly dressed, and hurried into the hallway, the stairs right in front of her. She listened carefully, thought she heard voices, then realized Leland and Anderson had probably come home. She pondered whether to go downstairs versus crawling back into bed.

She cast one longing look back at the bed and then realized she really needed to know for sure. After all, maybe something was going on with the babies and Burton needed a hand. Or maybe … who knew. From the second-floor landing, she could see the front door but not much more into the rooms themselves on the first floor. So, Sammy wasn’t quite sure why, but caution, an abnormal caution, had her softly and slowly walking down the stairs to the first floor.

The door was slightly ajar. With her heart slamming she cautiously searched the house.

Still, she found nothing disturbing in the living room, nothing in the kitchen, nothing in the playroom. Then fear struck her as she just as softly went back upstairs and walked into the Lisas’ room and froze. She stared at the stranger holding a gun on Burton.

Burton smiled at her, but a warning was in his gaze.

She turned to the gunman. “What’s going on?” she asked quietly.

The gunman glared at her and shook his head. When he spoke, his voice was deep, rich, and full of venom. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know,” she snapped, trying hard to not scream. “You’re in the nursery with three babies, holding a gun on Burton. What the hell is this all about?” She glanced at the babies, and then, realizing that she couldn’t see if they were okay or not, she walked closer.

The gunman tried to step in front of her, and she glared at him. “I’m going to check on the babies to make sure you haven’t hurt them.”

“I haven’t hurt them,” he declared immediately.

“You say that, but you’re the one standing here holding a gun,” she snapped. “So, I don’t believe you.”

His eyes widened. “Most people would not ignore someone with a gun,” he noted.

“I’m not most people, and you are starting to piss me off,” she declared, glaring at him. “I was enjoying a really deep sleep, something that hasn’t been possible for a while since you started this situation. And now you’re just really aggravating me. Step out of my way.”

His eyes widened. “I didn’t start anything,” he said.

“Sure, you did,” she argued, her tone sarcastic. “Somebody beat up that poor mother, putting us into this position right now, and you’re the one creeping around her house with a gun.”

“I didn’t beat anybody up,” he declared.

She stopped to really look at him and asked, “You’re Tim, aren’t you?”

He immediately shook his head. “No, but he has some explaining to do.”

“Yeah, he does. I’m not sure who you are then, if you’re not Tim.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does because you look just like him.”

He stared at her and asked, “You’ve seen him?”

“I’ve seen pictures of him. Burton has a picture.”

The gunman turned to Burton, who nodded and slowly pulled his cell phone from his pocket. The gunman waited, almost with an air of expectancy. Burton pulled up the photo of Tim and held it out for the gunman to see. He stared at it and nodded. “We are a pretty close facsimile but not that close.”

“Yes, you are. You look exactly like him,” Sammy exclaimed. “As in definitely siblings and potentially twins.”

The gunman snorted. “No, not twins. Siblings, maybe, but not a sibling I particularly care to worry about. That one’s quite troublesome,” he shared.

She glared at him. “I can definitely tell you that, holding a gun on us, including three babies, doesn’t make you the better person in this case.”

“How are these babies even connected to you?” he asked.

She stared at him in surprise and explained, “I’m a nurse, and these babies are partially in my care.” He looked at her, then at Burton.

She nodded. “Do you even know who these children are?”

“Yeah, Tim’s kids.”

“So why are you here, and why are you holding a gun on them?”

“I’m not holding a gun on them,” he argued, clearly frustrated. “I came here to see if they were really here and to see if they were okay.”

“And why do you care?” she asked, staring at him in astonishment. “Because that makes no sense. As far as we’re aware, you’re part of the whole problem.”

“Well, I’m not,” he snapped. “Yet my brother would say that, no doubt.”

“So, you do know Tim.”

He snorted. “Of course I do.”

“You made it sound like you didn’t. You wanted to see his picture after all.”

“I just wanted to confirm we were all talking about the same person,” he explained, with a shrug, “because my brother is a slimy piece of shit.”

She stared at him for a long moment. “So, why does Tim say he doesn’t have a brother?”

“That would be what he would say, isn’t it? Look. You guys are not parties to this entire thing, and I get that. And, in a way, you’re probably a whole lot better off not knowing what’s going on. But that brother of mine is involved in some pretty-ugly stuff.”

Burton interjected, “Seems you are involved yourself.”

“I was, … but I got out. My brother chose to stay in.”

Burton let out his breath. “So, you know what he’s into?”

“I know a lot of it. I also heard some disturbing news about his kids.”

“In what way?”

He shrugged. “As in potentially being used as hostages to get him to do something.”

Burton asked him, “You are aware of what happened to their mother, right?”

He scrunched his face. “I heard something, but I’m not sure I can believe what I heard.”

“She was beaten up,” Sammy declared, “beaten very badly. They kicked her so hard they broke her pelvis. And that’s just one of her many injuries. All because of Tim.”

“What do you mean because of him?” he asked, his voice rising.

“It’s all his damn fault. He wouldn’t give them some information or whatever it was that he was withholding. So, they beat her, and he let them. She is just now coming out of a coma.”

He stopped and asked, “Do you think Tim really knew something and had the information or whatever they wanted?”

Something was off in his tone. Burton gave her a warning look, and she shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s in jail. You are free to go talk to him.”

“I know he’s in jail,” he muttered, as he stared off in the distance. “And honestly, he should probably stay there.”

“If his involvement in his wife’s beating is correct, I’m inclined to agree,” she shared, “but I’m not the judge and jury here.”

“I am though,” Tim’s brother declared, glaring at her, “because he’s pulled all kinds of stuff in my life. And now he’s put a price on my head.”

Burton asked him, “What are you talking about?”

“Tim lied and said that he gave me a bunch of information, but I don’t have it. I don’t know what he’s even talking about. However, he used it to get himself out of trouble in the moment, and I really don’t appreciate it.”

“That’s essentially what he’s done with Talia too,” Burton noted, as he kept a watchful gaze on the gun. “That’s why she was beaten up, that she had the information—or something along that line. And they put her in the hospital over it.”

“Exactly. And they won’t stop until they get what they want. And I can’t let them catch me because I don’t have what they want either,” Tim’s brother told them. “Right now I’m ducking and dodging out of my brother’s way.”

“But he’s locked up.”

At that, he snorted. “He’s locked up some of the time. If you think that he’s always in jail, you’re a fool.”

Burton studied him. “We wondered if he was getting out.”

“Yeah, he’s getting out all right.”

“Was it you trying to see his wife at the hospital?”

“I went there once, yeah.”

Burton asked, alarm in his tone, “Just once?”

“Yes, just once, but she was unconscious. Somebody was sitting out front, as if on guard. I realized that she had somebody who would look after her, which meant she was in better shape than I was.”

Sammy frowned. “I’m not so sure that you were as worried about her condition as much as you were worried about yourself.”

“I did want to know if she had the information that Tim said I supposedly had.”

“And what information did he say you had?” Burton asked.

“Something to do with lists of people who worked in the organization. More than that, it was also bank accounts and whatnot.” He snorted. “In case you don’t know, my dearly beloved brother has a photographic memory. Still, he tends to write everything down afterward. It’s almost like he needs a … brain dump. So, when he realizes he knows something, then he writes it down and promptly just puts it out of his mind.”

“So, Tim could have helped Talia if he had really wanted to? Is that what you’re saying?” Sammy asked.

“Absolutely he could have. But that would imply that he gave a shit. And believe me that he doesn’t give a shit about anybody but himself.”

“We found out Tim had a girlfriend down the street,” Burton shared. “So, we already know that he doesn’t give two hoots about his wife.”

Tim’s brother frowned at him and shook his head. “Well, if that doesn’t beat all.”

Burton shook his head. “Tim’s girlfriend is not my worry. Keeping these babies safe and getting Talia healed and back home again is our focus.”

The gunman nodded. “But I need that information in order to get my own neck free and clear of this mess.”

“So, ask your brother for it.”

“There’s no love lost between the two of us, in case you didn’t get that message,” Tim’s brother shared calmly. “The two of us aren’t exactly bosom buddies. He was adopted by a family who apparently treated him quite well, whereas I had much less of that good childhood he enjoyed. I was also not adopted until I was fourteen. At that point in time, it was all about money and not even money for me because the foster couple got more money if I stayed as a foster child. It had something to do with family responsibility and the grandfather wanting to make sure they did right by me in the will. Anyway, once I was adopted, the grandfather died a little bit later. The foster couple got what they considered their due inheritance.”

“And you?” Sammy asked.

“I was basically kicked out,” he told them, with a shrug. “So, don’t go talking to me about family loyalty or any of that bullshit.”

“Of course not,” Burton agreed, with a nod. “But my concern isn’t you, and it certainly isn’t Tim. It’s all about these children and Talia.”

“And what’s her relationship to you?”

“My best friend’s sister. What’s your name?”

“I’m not going to tell you just like that.” Then his eyebrows shot up suddenly, and he did a double-take. “Does that mean … Anderson’s here?”

Burton asked, “Do you know him?”

“No, but I know of him. Timothy doesn’t like him one bit. He’s more or less afraid of him.”

“Good, he should be. And, yes, he’s here too. He’s currently at the hospital with Talia, I believe. Or he could be talking to your brother because he’s been checking in with the sheriff’s office here too.”

“Tim told me that he hadn’t seen Anderson.” He stared at Burton, his gaze hard. “Now I don’t know who to believe.”

“Well, if you don’t know who to believe, then there’s no point in you even being here,” Sammy snapped. “Because you have absolutely no interest in what we have to say. If you can believe that piece of shit Timothy over us, then I don’t have anything to say to you anyway.”

She walked over to the babies, stared down at them, and, with a smile, gently rearranged the blankets, then turned to him. “You can leave anytime now,” she snapped.

He stared at her and asked, “And if I don’t want to?”

“Then you’ll have a big problem,” she declared, her tone calm but her anger simmered underneath. “You’re after something we don’t have. These children need a good night’s sleep or none of us will get any sleep. And you’re barking up the wrong tree. If you’ve got an argument with your brother, go deal with him. We don’t know anything about these people.”

“What about Roger Colbert?” he asked. “Does that name mean anything to you?”

“Only that it’s come up in terms of investigating what’s going on,” Burton replied. “Do you know him?”

“Yeah, and he’s a mean son of a bitch. Yet everybody loves him. He’s like some cult leader. But he’s bad news from start to finish. When he gets his claws into you, you can bet it’ll be ugly.”

“That’s what we figured happened with Tim.”

“Yeah, well, Tim always likes to say that he’s a victim, but he’s not. He probably hooked up with Colbert on his own,” he suggested. “So, keep that in mind. I came to search the house, but it doesn’t appear to be much chance of that happening, is there?”

Burton immediately shook his head. “Not unless you’re planning on killing six people.”

The gunman winced. “I really wasn’t hoping to up my kill count like that. Although I always could be tempted.”

“No, you couldn’t,” she stated. “You’re lying. You already would have killed all of us if you didn’t give a shit, yet you haven’t. You’re after something. So, I don’t know that I can trust a word that comes out of your mouth. For all I know, you’re after the information Tim has, just so you can use it yourself.”

“Oh, please,” he replied sarcastically. He stared at her for a long moment. “What would you do with it?”

She shrugged. “Give it to the sheriff.”

“Yeah, well, the sheriff and the mayor here are in Colbert’s pockets. So, before you go handing out evidence to anyone on the job around here, keep that in mind.”

“Right,” she muttered. “That’s always fun, isn’t it?”

“They’re not all bad, but, for the most part, money talks. Plus, Colbert has stuff on a lot of people in town here. Not just the sheriff’s office but most of the lawyers and anybody with power,” he clarified. “That’s just how he rolls. It’s the only system he knows that works.”

“Of course,” she muttered. “Yet it doesn’t always work for everybody all the time.”

He turned to her and snarled. “Don’t be naïve. It absolutely works for everybody all the time. That’s why it works.”

She glared at him and shook her head. “No. Colbert’s system doesn’t always work for everybody all the time,” Sammy argued. “Otherwise these thugs wouldn’t have beat up Talia.”

“They are thugs,” he repeated, throwing her own words back at her. “Beating up people is what they do. And Tim lying is what he does. First, it was Talia with the info. Now it’s me with the material, but I don’t have it,” he snapped.

Just enough fear filled his tone that she believed him. “If you don’t have it, and Talia doesn’t have it, I don’t know who does.”

“I do,” Burton replied quietly. They turned to him, and he shrugged. “There’s only one logical answer. It’s Tim. He’s got it. For all we know, he’s got it hidden somewhere. Or it’s sitting in his brain. And he won’t tell us where because he’s buying time, pointing the finger at everyone else.”

Just then one of the babies started fussing. Burton instinctively turned, as did Sammy. Then hearing a noise, they turned to see the gunman bolting down the stairs and out the front door. It happened just that fast. Burton raced out behind Tim’s brother.

Sammy called at him, “Don’t go after him!”

“I’m not,” he muttered, as he came back in. “He’s gone anyway.”

“No vehicle?”

“Not here. So, he probably walked down here and then left on foot.”

“Did we really go upstairs and leave the front door unlocked?”

“No, I suspect he got the key off his brother. Now, whether his brother knows about it or not, I don’t know.”

“So, what we really have here is brother against brother?”

“What we really have is one asshole trying to save his own ass and throwing everybody else under the bus in the process. Now everybody is just trying to stay alive,” he said calmly. “This definitely ups the ante.”

“Ups the ante and makes it even more complicated.”

“Not really. He mentioned that Tim has a photographic memory, but I’m not so sure that he does. I think that maybe he’s got people believing he does.”

“In that case he should have been able to give out whatever information he needed to. Maybe these guys don’t even know he has that. He could have given them whatever information was needed and wanted quite easily.”

“Yeah, he sure could have,” Burton agreed. “That he didn’t means he doesn’t want that information to be released.”

“Just means he’s an asshole,” she muttered, as she rubbed a Lisa’s back. When the second one started to whimper, Burton immediately joined her and imitated her gestures.

After a few minutes, both babies settled. She took a breath and stepped back. “Now what?”

He smiled at her. “I’ve already sent out an alert to Leland, Anderson, and Levi,” he told her. “What’s next is we stay close. I’ll go check to ensure everything is locked down tight.”

“It won’t matter if he’s got keys.”

“No, it won’t. And I don’t know for sure that he won’t come back and search for whatever he thinks is here.”

“So now there could be more USBs?” She frowned at him.

Burton sighed. “In that case, we need to find them.”

Sammy asked him, “If it were you, where would you hide them?”

He looked at her and said, “Just like at your house, I think it could be in the damn attic here. I don’t remember if anybody’s checked it. I’m not sure where the attic is here in Talia’s house. If they did search her attic, they didn’t find anything. I heard nothing about it.”

Sammy nodded. “I suggest we go look ourselves.”

With that decided, he grabbed a few tools, finding a ladder in Talia’s shed. Then they headed upstairs to locate the attic entrance.

After breaking through the paint sealing the attic entrance, Burton then had to chisel it open from there. Her attic was also found in the master bedroom of Talia’s home, just like in Sammy’s apartment, but glued as well as painted over. Burton stuck his head through the opening, then turned and looked around. Behind him, a small box just sat there.

As he stretched forward, trying to grab it, he felt the ladder under him shift. Regaining his balance, he pulled himself up partway and snagged the box. With the box in his hand, he made his way down and held it up, smiling. “Eureka,” he said. “Something was really up there. I wasn’t exactly thinking somebody would go to this level.”

She pointed out, “When you’ve tried everything, then you have to look at what is still left.”

He stepped off the ladder, walked over to the bed, and opened the box. Then he whistled.

“What is it?”

“This is what they’re looking for,” he exclaimed, as he held up multiple USB keys and multiple little notebooks.

“Good God. People will kill for this,” she muttered.

“You’re right,” said a man from the doorway. “I knew, if you had enough motivation, you would find it.”

She stared at the gunman who had just been in the house. “And he’s back again,” she grumbled, with a headshake.

“Oh, I’m back again all right,” Tim’s brother said, with a snicker. “Pass that over.”

Sammy shook her head. “Not if we can’t get any guarantees of our survival,” she told him. “You can have it all, but that won’t help us.”

“No, it won’t help you. However, if I shoot you right now,” he threatened, waving the gun, “it won’t help those babies either.”

“Which is exactly how Talia got into trouble in the first place,” Sammy exclaimed. “You are just the same, … just like your brother.”

“I don’t really give a shit,” he snapped, his anger flaring. “My brother threw me to the wolves, and I have to make sure I get out of this alive.”

“Right, that you get out of this alive,” Burton added. “And to hell with anybody else.”

Tim’s brother snarled. “This is much bigger than just Colbert, and these people are not someone to play with.”

“We all know they’re not someone to play with,” she spat. “I’ve been nursing Talia at the hospital, while these guys guard her from the monsters who did this to her.”

“I get that, and I feel for her, but I am not so stupid as to not save myself. She was just a warning. My brother didn’t give a shit. At least not really, though I don’t think he thought they would actually go that far. But seeing the damage that they did to her, Tim wasn’t about to fess up and to give them anything.”

“Not if it was his ticket out of here. But he wouldn’t take you with him either? Is that the problem?” she asked, staring at him.

When Sammy caught a sliver of the front door opening ever-so-slightly wider behind their gunman, she struggled to keep her gaze on the gunman as he was busy spouting off about his brother.

“No, he wasn’t taking me with him,” he snapped. “He was just getting himself out of here. He wants to start fresh, to get over all this, and to find another way to make a living.”

“What about that business of his?”

“That business was entirely connected to Colbert. And the rest of that nightmare Tim got involved in had nothing to do with moving goods, except for the goods that they wanted him to move.”

“So, he’s as guilty as anybody?” she asked.

“He’s been running drugs for a long time. And Talia, as far as I know, she’s got nothing to do with it and never did. Yet, when it came down to him versus his wife, he threw her to the wolves very, very quickly.”

“You were there?” she cried out. “You saw it?”

He turned to her and nodded. “I was there,” he confirmed. “Believe me that it’s not something I ever want to remember.”

“Well, she’s alive, no thanks to you,” she declared, staring at him in fury.

“No thanks to me,” he agreed. “But also no thanks to her damn husband. He could have easily given up everything and let her be, to give her peace. But, no, he wouldn’t do that,” he told her bitterly. “He also wouldn’t do anything that saved my sorry ass. So, now I have everything I need to save my life by getting out of here before they find me.”

“And what about her life?” Sammy asked.

“They won’t come back after her,” he muttered, with a careless wave of the gun. “They’ve already done the damage.”

“But she’s alive, and she’ll make it home again,” Sammy argued, her tone sharp. “So, what’s to stop them from coming back here and looking for this?”

“They’ve already been through the house, after they beat her,” he announced. “Once again, you just don’t know, do you? Even Tim’s been through the house multiple times.”

“That’s not true. Are you saying Tim didn’t hide this?”

“That’s the problem, sweetheart. You still don’t get it, do you?”

“What don’t I get?” Sammy snapped.

“We’re pretty sure Talia hid all this,” Tim’s brother replied. “Not that she would have known necessarily what was on it. But Tim and Talia had quite the fight. Something to do with him having an affair. I think it broke her heart, and she just wasn’t up for giving him the box. He told her it was important, and he needed it. She was just like, whatever, and I don’t know for sure what happened next, but you can guess how that went. You’re getting only part of what my lovely brother was letting us have.”

“I don’t think I can trust anything you’ve said either,” Burton interjected.

“What do you mean? She probably had this box, and she probably put it up there. She did a hell of a job,” he noted, frowning.

Burton shook his head. “Which means she’s not the one who put it up there because she would not have been so focused on saving her sorry husband’s ass that she would have hid this from those very men beating her to death.”

“I, but—” he stammered, disbelief in his expression. “What are you getting at?”

Burton snapped, “The attic access was glued shut. That door up there wasn’t just painted over, it was glued. Glued shut.”

The gunman stared at him.

Burton slowly nodded.

“So, what are you saying?” Tim’s brother asked.

“What I’m saying is your asshole brother hid this in the attic,” Burton snapped. “So, any protestations he made otherwise were just BS.”

The fury started to build in Tim’s brother, and he nodded. “That slimy little motherfu—piece of—”

“Yep, absolutely, every name you want to call him, that’s who he is,” Burton agreed. “But, as far as I know, he’s in jail right now. So, I’m not sure what you’re planning on doing, but, if you’re trying to get back at him, it’s not a good time to run away with this box.”

“I’ll just leave him to rot in the prison that he’s made on his own,” he snapped, “because the bosses will never let Tim live once they find out I have this material.”

“I don’t give a crap what you do with your life,” Sammy declared, stepping forward, “but I do care what happens to Talia, those babies, and the babies’ caretakers. So, if you take that material, we have nothing.”

He looked at her and shrugged. “You never did have anything, and, if you think I’m giving this up, you’re wrong,” he snapped.

At that, another voice entered the fray, as Anderson walked in through the master bedroom door. “You’re not taking that material anywhere,” he snapped.

The gunman turned, firing at the enemy. Only Anderson was no longer there. Suddenly she was tugged backward by Burton, while Anderson was on top of the gunman, who was fighting now, desperately screaming that they couldn’t take it away from him. He needed it. He needed his life back.

When he finally calmed down, and it was safe for her to raise her head, Anderson had him pinned, and even now was restraining him with zip straps.

The gunman was almost in tears. “Stop. You need to stop. Don’t you understand? They’ll kill me.”

Anderson snapped, “I hear you. I also heard you say that you were in the same damn room as my sister when she was getting beaten.”

“I couldn’t help her,” he swore. “My brother set up the scenario for them to do it to her. So, what was I supposed to do? … As far as I knew, she had the stuff they wanted. I didn’t know it was Tim the whole time.”

“But you wondered, didn’t you?” Anderson asked, glaring at him. “You wondered if it was safe to trust him.”

“Yeah, I wondered,” he snapped. “That’s the thing about Tim. He always has everybody on his good side, so nobody ever suspects him. Yet, at the end of the day, it’s almost always him.”

“So, you do know him rather well then, … perhaps too well?”

“Yeah, I know him a little too well,” he muttered. “He won’t tell the truth no matter what. He’s biding his time and hoping that everybody else gets caught. Then it’ll have nothing to do with him.”

“That’s why we need this information,” Anderson stated.

“You can have these,” Burton stated, holding up the USBs they had just found. “First, we have to check out the gunman’s story to confirm that you are who you say you are and that you don’t have anything to do with this mess. Plus, we’ll copy each and every one of these.”

Tim’s brother eyed the USBs and nodded. “Probably a good idea. I don’t know if I’ll get out of this alive, but, if I don’t, that asshole brother of mine doesn’t either.”

Burton, standing beside Sammy, made a few phone calls.

The gunman stared at him. “I don’t understand. What are we doing?”

“I’m calling Leland and then Levi.”

“Friends of yours?” the gunman asked.

“Yeah, good friends. We’ll be taking a different route than maybe these other guys would like.”

“What does that mean?” Sammy asked in surprise. “We’ll give this information to Levi? And do nothing else?”

“I wouldn’t call that nothing. We’re making a copy for ourselves,” he added. “So, let’s head down to the office so I can do that.”

“Men are already on the way to pick up our gun-toting intruder,” Anderson stated. “This is now a federal case. If this guy decides to cooperate, he will probably get out of this alive. Maybe if he were to just run, he might also get out of this on his own,” he pointed out, glancing back at their prisoner. “Yet, for the moment, this is way-too-much information for only him to have.”

She stared at him. “Is it even safe to let this guy go? I’m still very concerned about the babies.”

“I know,” Anderson replied. “And I really appreciate that. But this case is so much bigger now.”

She groaned. “How can it get much bigger?”

“Because it’s not just Colbert. A pretty decent market is out there—drugs, trafficking, gangs, mules, users, whatever you want to call it,” he explained, with a wave of his hand. “And we don’t take that lightly.”

“I understand that we can’t let this case go,” she replied, shaking her head. “As a nurse, I deal with the aftereffects of drugs all the time, yet there’s got to be more to this than I am seeing.”

“Exactly,” Anderson said, with a nod. “So, if we have a chance to actually stop a trafficking ring, we need to. I believe some national or international players are involved here as well. So, if we can do more in the process of our investigation …”

She frowned, her gaze going from Burton to Anderson and then back. “And we’re thinking it’s got something to do with Roger Colbert and his bosses?”

“And a character known as Dingo, who has all kinds of hands in gang business. But Colbert does take the cake, especially here locally.” Burton eyed Anderson.

“I suspect Tim’s supposed brother is just, once again, small fry,” Anderson added. “Yet he’s not our problem.”

She sat down, her mind going crazy, thoughts racing as Tim’s brother sat with his hands zip-tied behind his back. He was soon identified as Ronald Barr. Within thirty minutes, somebody was at the door, and their prisoner was taken away, along with the original material they had found.

But not before Burton and Anderson had made copies of absolutely everything and had passed that on to Levi in digital form as well.

Sammy asked, “You really trust this Levi? Because he’s not only taken your prisoner but he also has all the information you just found.”

Burton smiled. “One thing you learn in the military is, when you have people who can help, you have to trust them. And Levi? Yeah, we totally trust him. He’s a military man too, and we’ve dealt with him for many years,” he stated. “I know you don’t know him, and you don’t understand this whole scenario, but I think we finally might be about to get this sorted.”

“I don’t know about sorted,” she muttered.

Anderson walked back into the room, tired but happy. “Ronald went out calm, quiet, and no longer shrieking, seemingly understanding that things had taken a completely different turn. I reminded him that, if he cooperated, he would be in a much better position over this whole thing—meaning that he could put away his brother for a long time on this one. He seemed to think that was an absolutely perfect ending to something he had nothing to do with.”

“You’re not saying you trust Tim’s brother now, are you?” she asked Anderson curiously.

“Hell no, but, on this topic, I probably do. Whether he ever had anything to do with Tim’s drug business or not, I don’t know. Yet it seems he may be in the clear.”

Burton nodded. “He was trying to clear his name. Now, that doesn’t mean that we won’t find out even more to come that we still don’t know about.”

“I’m not that much of a fool.” Anderson chuckled. “But it’s quite possible that Ronald was a victim in this instance, just as much as everybody else.”

“So, why take him away in handcuffs then?” Sammy asked.

“He did break into the house with a gun and threaten people,” Anderson pointed out. “That’s still quite an offense.”

“Right,” she whispered, as the shock from first seeing him returned. “I hadn’t considered that.”

“That’s because you’re worn out.”

“Are we safe yet?” she asked.

“I would like to say yes, but we’re not,” Anderson replied.

She nodded, turned to Burton. “I don’t know about you, but I need sleep, and I do have to work tomorrow.”

“Right. And we have shift change coming up. I’ll go to the hospital to relieve Leland,” he noted.

“Will you be okay here?”

“I’ll be okay.” She walked over and gave him a big kiss. “Make sure you come to the right bed when you get home.”

He laughed. “I would love to, but chances are it’ll be morning.”

“Right, as long as I can get to work on time, I guess that’s what matters.” She groaned. “In that case, I’ll bring you coffee, but not until I’m on shift.”

He was still laughing as she smiled at Anderson and said, “Thanks for saving us.”

“Not a problem. Sorry it’s been such a hairy night for you.”

“Yeah, well, the good news is that the Lisas made it through it all. They’re still sleeping, though I don’t know how that is even possible, but it’s a good thing.” Sammy then announced, “I’m going back to bed.” And, with that, she headed to the stairs. She heard the men talking behind her, but she didn’t care. She did have a full day tomorrow, and things were starting to look up in many ways.

Anderson called out to her. She looked over the stair railing, as he came up to her. “You’re doing great, you know?”

“I’m doing great?” she asked, one eyebrow raised. “What? Are you my cheerleader now?”

“No, I really appreciate who you are, what you’ve been through, and how you’re handling it all,” Anderson explained. “And so does Burton.”

She smiled. “I’m not running away. I promise.”

“I know you’re not,” he declared, with a knowing grin. “As long as Burton is here, you’re here. You’ll stick with him, won’t you?” He stared at her, as if looking for confirmation.

Burton joined Anderson, and she teasingly said, “At least for a little while.”

“Oh, great,” Burton muttered, rolling his eyes. “No pressure.”

She laughed. “No, no pressure. Just remember which bedroom to come to when you get home.”

“Oh, I hear you.” Burton was all smiles. “I promise. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but it’ll probably be quite a few hours. Leland’s been out all day and never did get a nap, so I need to give him a solid break too.”

“Good enough.” As Sammy climbed up the stairs and went to bed, she smiled as she realized that at least this stage was over.

In the early hours of the morning, she felt the bed creak, and warm arms wrapped around her. She smiled and asked, “You finally got home, did you?”

“I absolutely did,” he murmured gently. “Now go back to sleep.”

She closed her eyes and gently drifted off in Burton’s arms, hoping for a much better day tomorrow.

Maybe she had muttered something out loud, but she wasn’t sure. Yet he whispered, “Absolutely. Not just a better day tomorrow, but a much better future, … for both of us.”

“Both of us,” she whispered and drifted off, a smile on her face.

Epilogue

‡‡

Leland walked into the sheriff’s department several days later, looking for Katie. He’d seen her a couple times already. He didn’t really have an excuse this time as to why he wanted to see her, except for the fact that he could use a little bit of information. He just didn’t want her to get in trouble for him being around.

As he walked in, she looked up and smiled.

“Hey,” he greeted her.

She got up and came around her desk to talk to him. “Hey, yourself. What’s going on in your world?”

He smiled. “Isn’t that my line?”

“No, I don’t think so,” she replied, grinning, “but you can bet that everybody here has been talking a lot about you guys.”

“And you?” he asked, teasing her.

“Nah, just you and the merry band of misfits you gathered.”

“I hope it’s all good.”

“Can’t say all of it is,” she quipped, with a smile. “Yet, so far, you’ve stayed out of trouble, so I haven’t had too many warnings in my direction.” When a frown formed on his face, she nodded. “You thought you were flying under the radar?”

“You tell me.”

“Of course your repeated presence has been noted,” she shared. “I’m a trained officer, and you may be doing your own thing, but there are always limits.”

“I don’t want to do anything to get you into trouble.”

“Good,” she stated, that smile still on her face. “So far, we’re doing well then.”

He snorted. “If you say so. It’s kind of a nutty mess going on right now.”

“It sure is. Apparently the FBI is involved, and that was news to me. They came in to talk to Tim today.” When he looked at her in surprise, she nodded. “I figured you knew all about it.”

“I don’t usually know all about anything,” he stated, shaking his head. “We’re just trying to keep people alive while chaos reigns around us.”

“Yeah, and I’m not against that at all,” she added, “but I have been warned.”

“I thought you said it’s not an issue.”

“May not be an issue, but, like I told you, it’s been noted.”

“I’m sorry,” he muttered.

She laughed. “That’s okay. I don’t want to get into trouble, but I also haven’t done anything wrong. So, if people have a problem with me, they need to speak up.”

“So, you’re being watched.”

“Yeah, I am,” she confirmed, with a wry look in his direction. “So, tell me why you’re here, and your visit will seem to be a little more formal and official.”

“And what if I just want to take you out for coffee?”

Her eyebrows shot up, and she nodded. “Then you better do it outside of work.”

“Good enough,” he noted. “How about a coffee break? Would that get you in trouble?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’m entitled to have a cup of coffee.” Then she frowned and looked around. “How about now?”

“Sure. You got time for it?”

“Sure, I was on duty early this morning.” Even at that, she yawned and groaned. “So, I’m due for a coffee break anyway.”

“Can you actually leave the station?”

She nodded. “I can. Again, not so sure what anybody is likely to say, but, at the moment, I’m not really too bothered.”

“So definitely problems?”

“Some,” she declared cheerfully. Then she motioned at the door behind him.

They walked out, and he was very aware of the searching gazes.

“I know,” she muttered, trying to ignore the curious eyes. “Lately it feels like every step I take is under constant watch.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “That’s a shitty way to live.”

“And work,” she clarified. “But I also know that you seem to be involved in something, and I don’t really understand what it is, but I would like to.” He stared at her for a long moment. She nodded, sighing. “You’re not going to tell me that, are you?”

“I can’t tell you very much.”

She groaned. “Can you at least tell me that what you’re doing is legal and legit and make me feel better about it?”

“It’s 100 percent legal and legit, and I am working now on behalf of a military security group, which is all aboveboard. Due to the involvement of people whom we all care about, they were asked to help out in this situation.”

“Military group?” she repeated.

He nodded. “They also help out in private cases. And, in this case, it’s about friends.”

“You’re talking about the case Anderson was working on. Who was it again?”

“Talia, his sister.”

She frowned. “I think that was Samuel’s case.”

“Yes, and Samuel Colt has been botching it since it started.”

She stiffened. “If you’re right, … and that’s a big if, then that’s bad news.”

“It is bad news,” he stated, as they walked side by side. “All kinds of people are involved, making the bad news worse.”

She nodded. “I hear you, and there’s definitely been some talk about it, but I’m not in on all the details.”

“Good. Hopefully the lack of talk will keep people safe.”

She nodded. “Not sure it’ll keep me safe though,” she muttered.

He turned to face her.

She shrugged. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be fired.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Five years now,” she stated. “I had four years in New York, and that was enough of that. So, I came out here, thinking a change of pace would be good. But maybe it’s too much of a change of pace, as they say. I’m finding problems where there weren’t any.”

“Ah, in other words, you’re finding crimes, and they don’t like the extra work.”

“Something like that,” she said, with a smile. “I’m not sure where it’ll end right now. I’m not worrying about it. If it’s time for a change, then it’s time for a change.”

“Maybe you should move up in this organization instead of down.”

She frowned at him. “Not too many places to move up to.”

“You could always be the next sheriff.”

“I could be,” she conceded and then laughed. “I would be good at it—”

“But the sheriff is crooked,” he stated immediately.

She shook her head. “I wasn’t going to say that.”

“No, but you know it to be true.”

She hesitated. “No, I don’t know it. Yet I’ve been a little suspicious about enough things for quite some time.”

“And that suspicion,” he pointed out, “is what’ll get you fired.”

“Maybe, but what does that mean? Am I supposed to just turn a blind eye?”

“No,” he declared, “absolutely not. But maybe it means something completely different. I don’t know what, particularly for you. I just want to ensure you stay safe in this world that’s gone pretty wild.”

“You think it’s connected to Talia?”

“Yep, I sure do. But I also don’t know if there aren’t some other connections that I haven’t seen yet.”

“There absolutely are,” she declared, with a wry look.

“Yeah, and that worries me. You need to stay safe. No one sees everything all the time.”

“We also need to go get coffee,” she reminded him. “Otherwise it seems I’m here having a private conversation, and that will look suspicious as hell as far as they’re concerned.”

“Let’s go.” As they crossed the street to the small café, he heard an engine roar.

Maybe it was instincts. Maybe just everything was so fired up right now. But he immediately grabbed her and pulled her out of the way, just as a vehicle careened past them at an absolutely mad speed, narrowly missing them before ripping down the street and out of sight.

He helped her back up to her feet, looked her over, and asked, “You okay?”

She looked a bit dazed but recovered quickly. “Yeah, I am fine.”

“So, will you take my advice now?”

She stared at the vehicle, then back at him, brushing off her clothing, even as somebody from the sheriff’s department raced out, calling to her.

“Katie, are you okay?”

She nodded at her fellow officer. “I’m fine, Steve. No worries.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, brushing down her pants.

“Did you see the driver?” Leland asked Katie as they stepped up onto the sidewalk.

Once there, she took a deep breath and nodded. “That was Joel.”

“Joel,” he repeated. “As in Joel … Colbert?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “As in Joel Colbert.” She looked at him and shook her head. “Roger Colbert’s son.”

His face tightened.

Steve edged closer and suggested to Katie, “Maybe you need to go inside and sit down.”

“I was going to buy her a cup of coffee,” Leland told Steve. “She probably just needs to chill for a minute.”

Steve muttered, “Yeah, you’re not kidding.”

Leland gently hooked his arm in hers and walked toward the café.

“I’ll head back to the office,” called out Steve. Facing Leland, he added, “I don’t know if that was intended for her or for you, but that kid is nothing to make light of.”

“No, neither is his father,” Leland responded to Steve. “In case you haven’t got the memo.”

He flushed. “The problem is, he’s got a lot of influence in this town. And the kid runs right up the same alley as his dad.”

“Good to know,” Leland said, “but what I really want to know if he’s also the one who ran his boots straight into a friend of mine.”

Steve stared at him and asked, “Who’s that?”

Katie answered, “Talia. … He’s asking about Talia.”

This concludes Book 2 of Special Operations Sitter: Burton.

Read about Leland: Special Operations Sitter, Book 3

Special Operations Sitter:
Leland
(Book 3)

NOTE: This is a four-part series where many answers are revealed only in the final installment.

Deputy Kate Lancaster thought surviving a small town full of secrets would be challenging enough—until a messy attack on Talia sends Kate chasing a culprit determined to keep everyone guessing. With little backup, limited support, and a steadily tangle of half-truths, Kate leans on her instincts just to stay ahead of the chaos.

Then she meets Leland Donato, annoyingly charming and stubbornly loyal, and suddenly Kate has one more distraction to manage. As the investigation on Talia’s attack leads to misplaced evidence, quiet corruption, and land a few powerful people are desperate to protect, the tension between Kate and Leland feels a lot less professional. With Talia slowly recovering and the triplets keeping everyone on their toes, Kate and Leland try to solve the mystery without completely losing their composure.

When Kate is named acting sheriff, the pressure shoots up—and so does the undeniable spark between duty and desire. In a town where everyone has at least one secret tucked away, falling in love may be even messier, more surprising, and a whole lot harder to predict than the truth.

Find Leland here!

To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.

Author’s Note

Thank you for reading Burton: Special Operations Sitter, Book 2! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.

Dear reader,

I love to hear from readers, and you can contact me at my website: www.dalemayer.com or at my Facebook author page. To be informed of new releases and special offers, sign up for my newsletter or follow me on BookBub. And if you are interested in joining Dale Mayer’s Reader Group, here is the Facebook sign up page.

Cheers,

Dale Mayer

About the Author

Dale Mayer is a USA Today best-selling author, best known for her SEALs military romances, her Psychic Visions series, and her Lovely Lethal Garden cozy series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Broken But … Mending, Hathaway House series). Her thrillers will keep you guessing (Kate Morgan, By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life, a stand-alone novella; and the Broken Protocols series, starring Charming Marvin, the cat).

Dale honors the stories that come to her—and some of them are crazy, break all the rules and cross multiple genres!

To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields, with books available on résumé writing, companion gardening, and the US mortgage system. All her books are available in print and ebook format.

Connect with Dale Mayer Online

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BURTON: SPECIAL OPERATIONS SITTER, BOOK 2

Beverly Dale Mayer

Valley Publishing Ltd.

Copyright © 2026 Beverly Dale Mayer

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN-13: 978-1-834088-99-0

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