Guarding the Witness. Margaret Daley

you having problems sleeping?”

      “Yes. Wouldn’t you if you were in my position, with all that’s been going on?”

      “We’re guarding you. You don’t have to be alert and on the job.”

      “Actually the quiet is too quiet. I’m glad to hear an occasional animal call in the night.”

      “I grew up in New York City. The first few years after I left I had the hardest time with the silence at nighttime. Until I was assigned to L.A., I was located in smaller cities. Now when I get it, I love it. My house is outside Anchorage where it’s—”

      A blast from a shotgun exploded in the air.

      As Arianna dove over the back of the sofa with a wall of the cabin behind her, Brody moved toward the door. Another gunshot sound reverberated through the quiet.

      Mark rushed down the hallway, weapon drawn. “What’s going on?”

      “Stay with Ms. Jackson. I’ll go check.”

      Suddenly there was a rattling on the window on the left side of the room as if someone or something was tearing at the screen. Brody moved toward it. A roar split the air as he opened the blinds to find a grizzly bear attacking the window. The screen hung in metal shreds from its frame. The huge animal batted it away, only a pane of glass now between him and the bear.

      “Stay put, Arianna.” Brody signaled for Mark to keep an eye on the window where the bear was.

      Where is Kevin? His heart pounding, Brody charged toward the exit, knowing his Glock might not be enough to stop a bear coming at him or Kevin. In the gray light of an Alaskan night this far north, he saw his partner backing around the corner of the cabin while squeezing off another shot into the air.

      “I’m behind you, Kevin,” Brody said as he approached him.

      The tense set to his partner’s body relaxed. “She’s leaving. Finally. When I was making my rounds, two cubs came out of the woods close to where I was. Mama bear followed not five seconds later. I tried not to show any fear and backed away. She came toward me—not charging, but making sure she was between her cubs and me. When I fired my first warning shot in the air, both of the cubs ran into the woods. She didn’t.”

      Kevin kept his gaze fixed on the departing bear while Brody watched the front of the cabin. When the threat disappeared into the woods, they both headed for the porch.

      “Good thing she doesn’t know how to open doors or windows. It took three shots to scare her off,” Kevin said, then positioned himself by the steps.

      “She’s establishing her territory. Next time stay closer to the cabin and don’t play around with a grizzly sow and her cubs. They are very protective of their babies.”

      “Believe me I’ll stay glued to this place. I don’t want to tangle with one of them.”

      “I’ll be turning in soon. Mark will be on duty in the cabin. I’ll relieve you in five hours.” When Brody reentered the cabin, Arianna stood behind the couch. “What part of get down do you not understand?”

      “The last order you gave me was stay put.” She pointed to the floor. “I stayed put. Besides, Mark was here.”

      Brody shook his head. “I guess I’ll have to spell it out for you next time.”

      “There’s gonna be a next time with that bear?”

      “If she’s hungry enough or we threaten her cubs. Obviously she didn’t like Kevin near her cubs or shooting his gun—even in the air.”

      “Oh, good. If she comes back to us, I’ll get to take a photo.”

      “Photo? Of a bear charging you?”

      “No. Don’t you remember you’ve ordered me to stay in the cabin? I’ll be watching from the window. No charging bear will be coming at me. Now that’s not to say she won’t come after you or your partners...”

      He chuckled. “I’ll make sure I’m not your model for that picture.”

      Mark laughed, too. “I’m going back to bed for the little time I have left. I’ll leave you two to hash things out.”

      As Mark left, Arianna said, “When I finished a job in Africa, I went on a photo safari. One of the rare vacations I gave myself. After this job I was going to take a second vacation and see some of the wildlife. I don’t think that’s going to work out unless I can get the wildlife to come to me.”

      “Give me the camera. I’ll take a picture for you.”

      “Not the same thing. Besides, the bear is long gone by now. At least I hope so.” Another yawn escaped Arianna. “That’s my cue to say good-night.”

      “Good night. Mark will be back in here—” he checked his watch “—in an hour.”

      “Sleep tight then.”

      “Don’t you mean sleep light? After all, I am guarding you.”

      “Every bodyguard has to grab some good sleep if he or she is going to do a good job. And believe me, I want you to do a good job protecting me.”

      He studied her body language as she said those words. “I think you believe what you said, but you also believe you can take care of yourself.”

      She smirked. “I’m gonna have to work on fooling you better.”

      “No one, not even myself, is invincible. We all need help from time to time.”

      “And who do you turn to?”

      “God and my partner on the job. In that order.”

      Her eyes widened for a second before she rotated toward the hallway and headed toward her bedroom.

      Brody watched her leave, flashes of his own experience questioning God’s intention going through his mind. He’d been the lead marshal on an assignment in Los Angeles. The witness he’d been guarding ended up being gunned down on the way to the courthouse because the cell phone in his pocket was used to track his movements.

      Brody shook the memory from his mind. That was the past. He couldn’t change it, but he could learn from it. Now Brody needed to be the sharpest marshal he could be. He wasn’t going to lose another witness on his team.

      When Mark relieved him later, Brody strode toward his bedroom. His glance strayed toward Arianna’s closed door. She was an interesting woman whose life would never be the same. How would he deal with giving up all he knew and starting over?

      * * *

      Her earlier adrenaline rush finally subsiding, Arianna removed her Glock from under the mattress and put it on the bedside table within easy reach. That was the only way she would be able to get any kind of sleep. When she lay down and closed her eyes, the image of Brody Callahan, laughing at some of the words she came up with, popped onto the screen of her mind. Though she’d won the Scrabble match, he hadn’t gone down without a fight, challenging a few of the words she’d used that he didn’t know. But mostly she remembered his good nature at losing to her.

      Sleep faded the picture of her and Brody facing each other over the Scrabble board and whisked her into a dream world that evolved into a nightmare she hadn’t had in a year—one where she was shoved into a prison cell. As she swept around to rush out, the bars slammed shut, the sound clanging through her mind.

      The noise jerked her awake. Her eyelids flew open. Silence greeted her and calmed her racing heart.

      Until she heard a muffled thud—as though a silencer had been fired.

      TWO

      The distinctive sound of a gun with a silencer discharging nearby yanked Brody from sleep. As he rolled out of bed, he grabbed his Glock from his bedside table. Kevin and Mark didn’t have silencers on their weapons,