Ahern was less amiable. “I already told you guys, over and over, I ain’t seen Boyd since he begged me to come visit him in prison. It wasn’t my idea in the first place, but we’d been buddies before, so I gave in and went.”
Linc chose to refrain from mentioning that Ahern and Boyd Sullivan appeared to be more cohorts than everyday friends. If Sullivan hadn’t been drummed out of the service early, there was a good chance Ahern would have been sucked further in and have taken the fall for some of their hijinks. The problem was, and always had been, a lack of concrete proof.
“You haven’t been contacted by Boyd?” Linc asked him.
“Nope. I know rumor has him here on the base but if he is, I sure ain’t running into him.” He pointedly stared at Zoe. “What about her? She’s his kin.” His brow furrowed deeper and his eyes narrowed. “Is she blaming me? Is that it?”
“No. Not at all.” Linc struck a casual pose. “What about you, Orleck? Would you know Boyd Sullivan if you saw him?”
“I might. I did see his picture in the base newspaper and on TV. Why? Did he go and kill somebody else?”
“Not lately. Not that I know of,” Linc replied. He purposely changed the subject. “So, how do you like being a mechanic?”
“I like it fine.” His gaze kept slipping over to Zoe, and his grin was so friendly Linc was disappointed. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have suspected the washed-out pilot had a thing for his former instructor.
“You aren’t sorry you didn’t get to fly?”
Orleck shrugged. “Sure, from time to time. But I get to go along on plenty of test flights and that gives me my thrills. Keeping these birds in the air is what I do best.” Once again, his pleasant expression rested on Zoe. “I actually owe it all to you, Sarge. You helped me find a good fit. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she said.
“Well, then...” Linc hitched up his utility belt and holster out of habit and gave each man a nod. “We’ll be going. You know who to call if you catch sight of Sullivan.”
Ahern chuckled. “Believe me, if I find any red roses lying around, you’re the first guys I’m gonna call.”
As Linc turned to go, he placed his hand lightly on Zoe’s back for moral support and guidance. Yes, she was perfectly capable of walking beside him without interference. And yes, he could have stopped himself. But there had been something in the manner of both men, not to mention those watching from afar, that made him want to publicly declare that she was with him. Not just there, but with him.
They were almost outside before she spoke. “I can’t imagine Orleck being behind the attacks on me. Can you? He seems perfectly happy here.”
Linc agreed. “What about Ahern?”
“Why would he want to harass me? Because he was a friend of my brother’s?”
“It makes a little sense.”
Brushing back flyaway strands of her long hair, Zoe faced him. “I don’t see it. I think we were grasping at straws coming here in the first place.”
“You’re probably right.”
“So, what’s next?”
“You hungry?”
She laughed lightly. “Why are you always trying to feed me?”
“It’s a Southern custom. We like to eat.”
“I thought I detected a Texas twang, but I figured it was because you’d been stationed here long enough to pick it up.”
“Nope. Born and raised. Remember the Alamo and all that.”
“I get it. Okay, country boy, you can feed me. And this time let’s eat at a table with chairs and napkins and plenty of sweet tea.”
“Sounds like you’ve acclimated well, too.”
When Zoe looked into his eyes, Linc saw more than he wanted to see. Although she managed a wan smile, there was a telltale glistening of unshed tears pooling in her hazel eyes. “Until my brother escaped and came here, I’d planned to make Texas my permanent home, even after I retired. Now who knows?”
Something inside him urged Linc to open his arms to her and she stepped into his embrace as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It never occurred to him to try to hide their closeness, nor was he embarrassed by it. She needed comforting that he needed to provide. It was that simple. And that complicated.
Closing his eyes, Linc rested his chin on the top of her head and felt her flyaway hair tickling his nose. Thoughts raced through his mind. How could he fix this for her? How could he make it right and continue to protect her? Suppose he was reassigned? Then what?
With great effort, Linc managed to set her away. Grasping her shoulders, he spoke quietly, privately. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. It’s inappropriate.”
Zoe sniffled. “Maybe. But it sure felt good.”
That was the crux of the problem. “What I mean is, if word gets back to headquarters that you and I are getting too friendly, there’s a good chance I may be relieved of this duty.”
Remembering what his master sergeant had suggested gave him some solace, but Linc doubted Sergeant James had meant for him to go this far. Nor had he intended to. Genuine fondness for Zoe had grown so easily it had blindsided him.
She took a step away. Then another. “I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered. “Just tell me how to act and I’ll be glad to comply.” A tiny smile quirked at one corner of her mouth. “Under most circumstances.”
Linc stood tall, almost at attention. “As soon as Star is released for duty, I think things will smooth out for us. If you need comforting, then you can get it from her.”
“I thought Captain Roark said she’d bite my nose off.”
“That may be a slight exaggeration. As long as I tell her it’s okay, she’ll be fine, same as she was with Freddy.”
Sobering and staring off into the distance as if visualizing her darling little boy, Zoe said, “It’s him I’m most worried about.”
“I thought you believed God was taking care of everything.”
“I did, and I do. But I also believe He expects us to use the wits and weapons He’s provided for us. Just because I know how to fly doesn’t mean I’d carelessly go up without a parachute. That would be reckless.”
“What about when you’re on the ground?” Linc asked, eager for her answer.
He never expected her to look him straight in the eye and say, “When I’m down here, you’re my parachute, Sergeant Colson. You and Star. I don’t want to go anywhere without you until we figure out who is trying to destroy me.”
The food at Carmen’s was pleasing as usual, and so was the ambience. Linc reported their location and plans, then settled back to enjoy his meal.
She called me her parachute. He couldn’t get that image out of his mind. A parachute slowed a jumper’s descent, settled him gently on the ground and could be used again and again. But there was more to it than that, wasn’t there? Zoe was counting on him to be her safety net, her ever-present, reliable guarantee that when all this was over, she’d survive the same way a parachute kept a jumper alive. Did she realize that the person in the harness had to know when to deploy an emergency chute? How to tuck and roll when making a hard landing? What to do if coming down in enemy territory?
Linc doubted she had made that detailed a