The Military K-9 Unit Collection. Valerie Hansen

top of the stairs. Are you always so excitable?”

      “Only when somebody is threatening to kill me,” Zoe countered. She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to act as if I’m a hysterical female, okay? I’m actually very levelheaded and sensible. Most of the time. I’d have to be to have dealt with the significant others in my life.”

      “Your brother.”

      “And my late husband. But that’s a story for another time.” She stood still as evidence techs inspected her hands and stroked her skin with sterile cotton swabs. “I can’t imagine that there’s anything there.”

      “Maybe not,” Linc said. “But when there is even a remote chance of touch DNA, it makes sense to take samples.” He addressed the technician. “Check her clothing, too. She says she grappled with the prowler, so there may be something stuck to her body, as well.”

      “I wish you’d been this thorough in the warehouse,” Zoe drawled. “There had to be some kind of evidence there.”

      “Yeah. From any one of the hundred or so people who had passed through in the last few weeks,” Linc countered. “This is different. You and Freddy are the only ones living here. If anything from the attacker rubbed off on you, we’ll detect it.”

      “Who do you think it was?” she asked.

      “Well, I’m beginning to doubt it was your brother if that’s what you’re asking,” Linc said. “Knowing that he pulled a knife on you and you tackled him changes everything. If it had been Boyd, I imagine you’d have tried to talk him down.” It amused him to see her rolling those warm hazel eyes again, and he chuckled softly. “Hey, I just tell it like it is.”

      “No,” Zoe countered, “you tell it like you think it is. There’s a huge difference.”

      He decided to humor her now that the techs had stowed their samples and returned to the bedroom where the man had probably been hiding. “Okay. Here’s what I think happened. You hired Portia to babysit, and she invited a young man to keep her company. When he heard you come home, he probably thought you were alone and he hid. Then, when I checked the bedroom and rousted Portia, I failed to let Star search the rest of the room. That’s on me.”

      “You think he was here all that time?”

      “Yes, unless you left your back door open.”

      “Never. There’s a dead bolt and chain on it so Freddy won’t wander out on to the deck.”

      Linc shrugged and spread his hands. “There you have it. You probably scared that guy so badly he’ll never come around again.” To his relief, Zoe began to smile.

      “I sure hope so. He scared me plenty.”

      “Are you okay now?” Although he expected her to affirm her well-being, he hadn’t imagined she would be so candid.

      “Yes,” Zoe said, her smile softening. “I’m okay. You’re here.”

      She averted her gaze, but not before Linc noted the glistening of unshed tears and felt his gut clench in empathy.

       SIX

      “I don’t care what some anonymous blogger wrote. There’s no way Zoe Sullivan faked a prowler to try to distract us from the search for her brother,” Linc told Captain Justin Blackwood. “For one thing, I saw a guy fleeing.” They and others were gathered in the Security Forces headquarters for a meeting of the team assigned to bring down Boyd Sullivan. Besides the regular air force members, there was Oliver Davison of the FBI and Special Agent Ian Steffen from the Office of Special Investigations.

      Blackwood nodded. “All right. We’ll go with that conclusion. I’ve talked to my daughter about the incident, and she’s denied having anyone in the Sullivan apartment with her, but I’ve done enough interrogating to suspect she may be lying.” He shook his head slowly. “Makes me wish I hadn’t deployed so often when she was growing up. I hardly know her.”

      “We can’t go back,” Master Sergeant Westley James chimed in. “If we could, I’d save the lives of my two murdered team members.” He cleared his throat. “Of course, I did end up marrying Felicity after successfully protecting her, so some good did come out of the Sullivan incursion.”

      “True.” Blackwood addressed the group. “Any other leads on our escaped felon? I want to hear your ideas even if you don’t think they’re relevant.” He was quite serious when he added, “Remember, besides the murders, Boyd Sullivan’s the reason we’re still missing so many valuable K-9s.”

      Special Agent Davison spoke up. “Some of my people participated in a ground search for your dogs, as you know. Senior Airman Ava Esposito helped organize the grid and worked with her search-and-rescue K-9, Roscoe. One of the others said he was the survivor of a chopper crash.”

      Linc nodded. “Probably Senior Airman Isaac Goddard. He’s trying to bring a heroic German shepherd home from Afghanistan and adopt him, so I know he has a heart for dogs.”

      “Anything else?” Blackwood asked, scanning his team in the conference room.

      Linc cleared his throat. “Well, sir, it’s not directly related to the missing dogs, but there is something odd Sergeant Sullivan said recently. I checked her file again and didn’t find much about John Flint, her late husband. What’s the deal on him? Could he have had any connection to her brother?”

      Hesitating long enough to make Linc uneasy, the captain said, “Some of her personal information has been redacted. It’s my understanding it was done as a reward for actions she took on behalf of Homeland Security, but there’s no way I can access their sealed files. If you want to know more, I suggest you ask her directly.”

      “Do you think she’ll tell me?”

      “If you get closer to her, she might,” Sergeant James interjected. “I hear she’s already beginning to rely on you and Star. That’s good.”

      Uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking, Linc cleared his throat. “Are you ordering me to make this personal?”

      “I can’t do that, Sergeant. But I can tell you it’s important that we put an end to the Red Rose Killer’s actions both on and off the base. If Zoe Sullivan holds the key to doing that, I expect you to take every advantage offered, even if it means sacrificing some personal comfort.”

      “She seems good at heart,” Linc argued.

      “Then it won’t hurt you to befriend her, will it? I’ll make it easy for you. Except for required days off, she’ll be your only assignment. Make the most of it. Since you two already seem to have a slight bond, I’m going to rotate your relief so she concentrates more on you. The new duty schedule will be posted this afternoon.”

      “Yes, Master Sergeant. I’ll do my best.”

      And he would. Linc wasn’t thrilled with the suggestion that he pretend to become personally involved with Zoe and her son; he was simply resigned to the need for it. As assignments went, it wasn’t bad as long as he kept a tight grip on his feelings and guarded his heart well enough. He’d do it for the air force, for his country. The way he viewed it, he wouldn’t be doing anything wrong as long as he didn’t lead Zoe on or let her believe he was romantically interested in her.

      The trick was going to be convincing himself that subterfuge was a necessity and that he wasn’t becoming the kind of lowlife his father had been. He’d spent most of his adult life living down that odious man’s sins, and any inkling that his own honor might be at risk gave him a sense of foreboding. Linc knew he was as human as anyone, but he had long ago vowed that he would never display even the slightest hint of dishonesty. He would not follow in his thieving, lying father’s footsteps. Ever. Neither would his loyalty ever come into question. Not if maintaining it literally killed him.

      *