LITMIR.BIZ

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was, from the instant Ryker had reminded him there could be collateral damage, he’d been trapped.

      But trapped in what? He couldn’t spend the rest of his life in this small town waiting for the guy to find him. Yeah, he’d been blowing in the wind, and Dalton and Ryker had helped to give him a landing spot, but for how long? How long could he stand it? What if others in this town might now be at risk? Ryker had worried about it, justifiably.

      All he knew was he had to find a way to get on top of this, take charge again. Or get the hell out very soon.

      * * *

      After school and a meeting, Julie drove by the motel and saw that Trace’s car was gone. So he had taken off. That kind of saddened her. Someone new would have been nice to get to know.

      So she swung by Ryker’s place as the early winter night began to fall, saw that his car was gone but Marisa’s was there, and she decided to pop in. Maybe she could satisfy her curiosity about Trace a little more, then put it away.

      Marisa was awash in crying baby and dirty diapers and looking worn out. Julie stepped in immediately, taking the three-month-old into her arms. “Sit. Let me deal for a few, Marisa. What did the doc say?”

      “Just a cold.” Marisa smiled weakly, her lavender eyes showing little sparkle. “Why isn’t this in all the congratulatory cards?”

      “Because no one would ever have a kid if they knew,” Julie retorted. “Anything special you have to do?”

      “Suction out Jonni’s nose from time to time so she can keep nursing. Something for the fever. Believe it or not, she does sleep sometimes.”

      “Hah.” Julie’s laugh was mildly sarcastic. “Not enough from the looks of you. Where’s Ryker?”

      “He ran to the store. We’re about to burn through the last of the diapers.”

      Julie paced with the baby against her shoulder, hating to hear the little snuffles between cries. At least there was no coughing. “So what did you think of that friend of his?”

      “Friend?” Marisa’s brow creased. “Oh, he said someone stopped by last night. Did you meet him?”

      “Briefly. What was your impression?”

      “I didn’t even see him,” Marisa admitted. “Jonni fell asleep, so I did, too.”

      Well, so much for curiosity, Julie thought. “I guess he didn’t say much about the man?”

      “Just that he used to know him. Apparently he was in town for only one night.”

      Julie didn’t know whether Ryker had been withholding or if Marisa just wasn’t interested enough to be curious herself. Probably Marisa was just too dang tired. It didn’t matter anyway, since Trace had moved on.

      Disappointment filled her again, but even as it did she told herself not to be silly. What was disappointing? That a guy who’d barely left a footprint in town had already departed?

      Sheesh, was she getting desperate or something?

      But no, there’d been something in his brown eyes that had reached out to her. Those eyes had stuck with her. Then that crazy scene at the motel this morning.

      Was Ryker keeping secrets again? God, for Marisa’s sake, she hoped not. “Why don’t you grab a nap? Unless this kid is going to starve in the next hour, I can walk her and change her.”

      “She won’t starve. We just finished a feeding.”

      Julie eyed her. “And she’s still awake? Good heavens!”

      “Poor baby is miserable,” said her miserable mother. Marisa rose and touched Jonni’s forehead. “She’s a little cooler. An hour, no more, okay?”

      “An hour,” Julie agreed, although if she could get the baby to sleep longer she’d give Marisa more than that.

      Marisa disappeared into the bedroom and closed the door, a great sign, Julie thought. She was going to try to get some sleep, although how anyone could sleep with this racket escaped her. Babies seemed to have a volume out of all proportion to their small size.

      But as she paced from kitchen, through foyer to living room and back, eventually Jonni did fall asleep. Little twitches and occasional snuffles replaced the heart-rending cries.

      Eventually she heard the side door in the kitchen open. Probably Ryker. She stayed in the living room so that inadvertent sounds wouldn’t wake the baby. A minute later, Ryker appeared, his jacket unzipped.

      He smiled at her and the child. “Marisa?” he whispered.

      “Asleep, I hope.”

      “Think you can come into the kitchen and pace? I want to make some coffee.”

      “I’ll wait until you’ve started it. I gather peace is hard to come by right now.”

      He laughed silently. “Understatement.” He stepped closer. “You’re going to have to keep some secrets, though. Will you?”

      “Not from Marisa.”

      “Not from Marisa. Just from everyone else in town.”

      “That I can do. I’ve been practicing my skills almost since I learned to talk.”

      Rocking side to side to provide a soothing motion, she waited and enjoyed how good it felt to hold a sleeping infant. Baby smells, warmth, soft little noises and cute little movements. Heavenly.

      Ten minutes later, the baby still slept. Ryker returned with two mugs of coffee, followed by Trace.

      “My, my,” Julie murmured, her heart quickening. “Somebody’s got some explaining to do.”

       Chapter 3

      Trace left his jacket hanging open, set his coffee on a table, then eased into the gooseneck chair again. He stared at Julie and the infant and felt guilty as hell. This wasn’t right; nothing about this was right. Now they were dragging an innocent woman into the middle of this and he decided that the smartest move might be to catch a bus for Seattle in the morning.

      Then he remembered, yet again, Ryker’s warning about collateral damage. He wanted to pound his fist on something to express his frustration with the way this was going. Maybe he ought to just shoot himself before this went any further.

      But Gage’s words surfaced. The only thing that had kept Gage from cutting his own throat was a desire to catch the rat. Oh, he could so identify with that. Plus, he had a feeling that if he gave himself over to this guy, some people who had set him up might not learn a lesson: not to cut an operative loose and leave him to his fate. There were other people, people he worked with, respected and liked, who might suffer the same fate. Assuming, of course, that all of this was about an asset being after him, and he had no idea who that might be.

      Galled by it all, he sucked down more coffee and waited for Ryker. His hand burned like fire in a forge and felt as if a blacksmith were hammering it. Just a little longer, he promised himself. Then he could take a couple more of those pills. Right now he needed his wits, every last one of them.

      It was Julie who broke the silence, her voice quiet. Her question surprised him and made him wonder how much she had already been told and how much she had guessed.

      “So,” said Julie, “did Fiona see Trace arrive?”

      “Fiona?” Trace asked immediately.

      “Nosy neighbor,” Ryker answered. “No. It’s dark out there and that’s why I came by the side door. Trace had his head covered and ducked. If Fiona saw anything at all it was me pulling a week’s worth of diapers out of the SUV, and that pretty much occluded her view of the kitchen door.”

      “Okay. Well, I’ll be the first one she asks if she’s curious. What

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