“And me. Your daughter took care of me too,” Bryce said. They had, in fact, saved each other from certain death. He had no idea how much Sierra had shared with her father about what really happened. Bryce suspected she would have kept most of it from John, choosing to spare him the pain of knowing what his daughter had gone through.
“You want to see Samson?” she asked.
“You know I do.”
“Come on back.” She led him through the door past an employee area where boxes of toys were waiting to be stocked. Then through another door into a kitchen where Samson popped up to greet them. “We have an apartment at the back of the store. It takes up two floors. It’s enough for the three of us. Me, Dad and Samson.” She rubbed Samson’s head.
Wagging his tail, he barked and lumbered over to Bryce. “Wow, he’s gained some more weight.”
“It takes about three years for them to be full grown, and he’s about four now. He could still get bigger, but I train him often and keep him in good shape.”
“I’d say that I named him appropriately.”
“Well, I kind of liked your initial suggestion of ‘Tiny’ for a name, but I think you’re right. Samson suits him.”
Bryce leaned toward Samson and ran his hands around the dog’s ear and enormous head. “Hey, buddy. How’re you doing? Did you miss me?”
He received a wad of drool across his face and shirt. Bryce smiled to hide his inward cringe.
“You’re the one who got him for me.” Sierra’s tone told him she was thinking about the reasons why.
“You said you wanted something big.” He pet Samson, then glanced up.
She crossed her arms and gave him a pointed look. “Why are you really here, Bryce?”
His stomach sank as he noticed something in her eyes. “You already know.”
“You’re here because Raul and Damien escaped prison.”
He nodded. Should he tell her that his thoughts went immediately to her when he heard the news? “I wanted to make sure you were okay. Did Captain Stephens call you?”
“I called him.” She gestured for Bryce to have a seat at the kitchen table. She grabbed mugs and poured coffee without asking. Sugar and nondairy creamer were already on the table.
“Why did you call him?”
Sierra took a seat and then placed her elbows on the table. She pressed her face into her hands. “A plane crashed yesterday.”
“Oh, no.”
“Samson and I found the crash site. The state is working to recover the bodies. One died before I arrived. One survived only minutes after I reached the plane. But before he died—” horror crept into her eyes “—Damien tried to kill me. He shot at me. I dodged that attempt, but then…then he told me that Raul was coming for me.”
“Oh, Sierra… I don’t know what to say.” He’d heard about the escaped convicts on the news like everyone else in Boulder and immediately contacted his old boss and BPD captain for the details.
“That’s not all.” Her voice cracked and, though she tried to appear unaffected, he didn’t miss the shudder that ran over her. “I saw footprints in the snow from a third person—someone who escaped the plane alive. Then I saw him, Bryce. I saw Raul. He was on the edge of the tree line. He just stood there watching. If the sheriff and SAR team hadn’t caught up to me, I don’t know if Raul would have come back to the plane and tried to kill me.”
She rubbed her arms and stared out the window to the woods. “As soon as I saw him, I tried to point him out to the sheriff, but Raul had disappeared. It was snowing hard so you could barely see anything. I wanted to go after him, but the sheriff wouldn’t let me. If the sheriff hadn’t seen the tracks in the snow before they were buried, I’m not sure he would have believed me about the presence of another man—and I’m still not sure he believes it was Raul.”
“Why not?”
“He might have thought I was seeing things. I failed to hide how shaken I was at seeing Damien.”
“What did the sheriff do? I hope he took action.”
“He sent a couple of deputies to search the area, but the storm and nightfall forced them to return before they found anything. They did retrieve the body of the unidentified deceased man though. My understanding is that a team will try to retrieve Damien’s body today. I hear they suspect the other man worked for the brothers on the outside and helped with their prison escape. I guess Raul and Damien escaped prison and thought they’d get revenge before they disappeared forever. But Raul… He’s out there somewhere, Bryce.”
And Sierra was terrified. She wouldn’t say the words, but Bryce could see the truth she tried hard to hide. She was tough and trained to protect others as well as herself, but anytime you became a target, even as a member of law enforcement, there was nothing wrong with a little healthy fear.
It was all Bryce could do to remain in his seat and not rush to her. Take her in his arms. He’d missed her since she’d walked out of his life. He’d been such a fool to let her so easily slip away.
“Sierra. I’m so sorry.”
“You didn’t have to come all this way to tell me that,” she said. “You could have called.”
He continued to pet Samson, rubbing his neck and behind his ears. “I don’t have your number anymore.” She’d changed her number—and she hadn’t given him the new one. And besides, he’d wanted to do much more than say he was sorry.
“Fair enough, but you knew where to find me. You could have called the toy store.”
Bryce cleared his throat. “I did call.” And left a message that it was important and to please call him back.
“Oh. Okay. I didn’t get that message. It’s just Dad, me and Jane, our part-time help, working the store. Whoever took the call must have forgotten.” She shrugged.
When she’d first seen him, she’d hugged him as if glad to see an old friend—glad and yet edgy. Now she seemed downright irritated, like she didn’t want him here at all. He partly understood. He was a reminder about what happened. But then, Samson served as a daily reminder too, since the dog’s sole reason for being in her life was a result of the attack in Boulder.
As a detective with the Boulder Police Department, Sierra had been instrumental in putting notorious killer Damien Novack in prison. Damien had headed up an arms and drug trafficking organization and had committed numerous heinous crimes and murders. After Damien’s conviction, his brother, Raul, had come to extact revenge on Sierra, and attacked her in her home. Bryce had barely made it in time to save her. Raul had tried to kill him as well, but Sierra had saved him too.
Bryce wasn’t sure either of them had ever quite gotten over that violent night.
“Doesn’t matter.” He could shrug too. “I’m here now.”
“And so you are.” She arched a brow again.
He resisted the need to shift away from her piercing gaze. Was he prepared to stay even if she didn’t want his help? He wasn’t entirely sure how to take her reaction to his presence, but the fear in her blue eyes over the news of Raul remained.
And Bryce knew then that he would remain too—until the threat on her life was eliminated.
Sierra rose from the table and moved to dump her drink so she could hide her trembling hands. She was still working to get over what had happened yesterday—the