Dangerous Memories (4 page)

“Come on, Jo, what do you expect? That letter
was the first time your father had spoken about you to the Service in almost ten years. No one had any idea why he’d sent it. No one at the Service or the DoJ had any idea your dad was looking into the case himself.”

“No one?” she asked, her voice quivered with doubt and humiliation—maybe because she’d been excluded.

“Not even me.” He stayed his ground, ready to yank her away from the
door if she tried to run. He wouldn’t blame her. She was hurting. He understood how much. “If I had known I would have stopped him. He knew that.”

“He gave up everything. Lost everything...”

“Not everything, Jo.” As gently as possible, he turned her around and brought her close to his chest. He should never think twice about bringing her closer to him, but that wasn’t their life. They
were friends. More of a relationship wasn’t possible.

“Stop.” She pushed him away.

He released his hold. One he had no right to.

“You can’t keep doing that. I can’t depend on anyone but myself.” Her knuckles turned white grabbing the small sink counter. “You taught me that two years ago.”

“I know.” It didn’t matter what he’d wanted or didn’t want. “You were the daughter of
a witness. Period.”

“I can’t trust you to tell me everything. If you think it’s for my better good, you’ll...”

“You’re right about that. I will protect you at all costs.”

She hit the counter, tears overflowing from her eyes. “As soon as we get off this train, I want you to leave me alone.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“I’ll hire a private detective to find out about my family.
Hire my own bodyguards.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t have enough money to fight the ‘powerful’ enemy your Dad refers to.”

She looked lost and frustrated, using her sleeve to swipe at her cheeks. “I’m serious about you leaving me alone.” Her eyes darted first to her clothes, then shoes, where she’d stuck her phone and small wallet she’d had in her jacket.

But the battery was
in his duffel.

“Don’t even think about leaving. You can’t do this on your own. That’s why your father sent me. I mean it, Jo.” The room was small. He only lifted an arm and touched her shoulder. “You need my help and I’m giving it. No strings attached.”

“You made that very clear two years ago.”

* * *

H
OW
HAD
HE
gotten himself into this mess? No partner. No backup. No information.

Levi splashed some water on his face and scrubbed it dry with a towel. No use looking in the mirror, the compartment was too dark. Couldn’t talk to himself or exercise, he’d wake Jolene.

Think.

He was tired of thinking. He’d done nothing but think since the letters had arrived. He’d been certain her private letter would sort things out. Point the finger at someone, somewhere to start
an investigation.

Nothing. Joseph had lost his life. Jolene had been shot at, might still be compromised. And he’d probably lose his job and the ability to investigate further.

How was he supposed to keep her safe if she refused to remember? That was all they had, their only chance. Return to the scene of the crime, where the murders had taken place and pray the images became clear in
her mind.

In fact, Joseph had been certain the visit would trigger her memories. Levi could see now that many of their conversations over the past six months had been feeding him information he could use to help Jo through this threat.

He’d find out nine hours from now. But he couldn’t do anything at the moment. Not this tired.

They’d passed through Little Rock and his witness hadn’t
tried to leave. She’d promised, but he hadn’t trusted her. Something about her acceptance of his assistance bothered him, put his senses on high alert.

Stop thinking.

It was time to grab some shuteye. He checked the locked door one last time and shifted the outside window curtains so just a sliver of moonbeam lit the bed. With his holster on his hip, he turned in the chair until he found
a halfway decent position. Better to doze uncomfortably than fall into a dead state of exhaustion.

Besides, he wasn’t squeezing his torso onto the smaller upper berth and wasn’t waking Jo to move her back to it. His eyes had barely shut when something pushed his brain into gear.

A small foot peeked out from under the covers. Jolene’s back was to him. No way to tell if she was awake or
still in slumber land. He kept his lids slightly parted to see what she’d do.

Did she really think she could get away from him on a train? Where would she hide?

The compartment lock turned.

Key.

Not Jo. Not the steward.

He wanted to let whoever threatened inside, catch them, eliminate the danger.

Not alone. He had to protect Jo who was vulnerable in that bunk. He
shouldn’t have put the vest away with his gear.

He shot across the room as soundlessly as he could, pulled Jo on top of him on the floor, covering her mouth as she woke. As best as his six-two form could manage, he rolled her beneath him to protect from an assault.

He recognized the momentary panic in her eyes that quickly subsided, shifting to question.

Shh. He mouthed the age-old
sign to be quiet and braced for an attack.

Where was the shot?

The door had slid inches, but no one entered.

He lowered his mouth to her ear. “I’m going to move toward the berths and you’re going into the shower.”

She nodded and they repositioned. He quickly got to his back with his gun pointed toward the door.

Nothing.

“Could it have been someone who had the wrong
compartment?” she whispered a minute later.

“Door was locked.”

She stared through the three-inch opening. “What does this mean?”

“Whoever’s trying to kill you...is on this train.”

Chapter Four

Jolene crouched on the floor of the shower watching Levi’s arm muscles lock into place. He was on his back near the bunk, chin on his chest, gun pointed toward the passageway door, steady as a rock, barely breathing.

Ridiculous to think he was sexy, but that was the word.

She tugged her clothes off the shower nozzle and into her arms. She looked up in time
to catch her protector move his head from side to side. No? Well, they’d at least be in her possession if they moved.

He mouthed at her to stay quiet. She interpreted his head motion and backed into the four-foot rectangle called a bathroom. They waited silently in the dark, out of each other’s sight, for what seemed hours. Reality was only minutes. She counted her heartbeats so she wouldn’t
talk.

Levi finally moved. She heard him perfectly through the wall only as thick as an office partition. The compartment door slid shut, the lock turned, switches flipped back and forth.

“No lights. The call button doesn’t work,” he said in a deep, low voice.

“Aren’t you going after them?” she asked in the lowest whisper she could manage.

“And get shot when I head down the
stairwell?”

“Aren’t there two ways down from this level?” she asked and scooted forward until she could see him.

“We don’t know how many threats there are.” He kicked away his duffel that blocked the shower door, put his back to the wall, gun toward the threat.

“There’s got to be some way around them.” She was thinking aloud. Brainstorming. Trying at least.

“Like how? You want
me to go out a window that probably doesn’t open, pull myself on top of a moving train at full-speed, climb down between the passenger cars and fight an unknown assassin bold enough to attack us in our compartment?”

“Sounds reasonable. Men do it all the time in the movies.”

“Right. I’m not stupid, Jo. And I won’t risk your life by leaving you alone.”

“I was kidding.” She stood,
straightening her cramped legs, hoping Mr. Sexy would let her leave the increasingly smaller shower area. One shake of his head nixed that idea. It wasn’t ideal and completely embarrassing, but she sat on the toilet seat, wrapping the towel over her thighs. At least it was dark.

“The attack is so farfetched it doesn’t make sense. What did they want to accomplish?” He shoved his gun into its
holster and pushed the steward call button again. “They must want to lure me away from the room or they would have shot us dead through the door. I won’t make it that easy for them. Bottom line—I’m not leaving your side.”

“Then what do we do?”

“You’re staying in the shower ’til we get to Dallas.”

She hadn’t been serious last night when she’d thought she’d hide in this part of the
room the entire trip. “Now, you’re the one kidding.”

“No, Jo, I’m not.”

His voice had a perfect calm to it, the one she recognized as a U.S. Marshal taking command. Finding out his occupation explained so much about his actions, the way he spoke, stood, seemed to have eyes that watched everything. Including her.

A look she recognized and had interpreted as interest when she’d lived
at home. She’d resented his arbitrary dismissal of their attraction two years ago. In spite of their current circumstances, she still wondered what it would have been like.

Oh, bother! None of it would matter if they didn’t get out of their train compartment alive.

“Why wouldn’t they just shoot us?” she asked to get her mind back on the situation.

“Killing a Marshal on a train would
draw a lot of attention.”

“And they don’t want attention,” she added. “You said no one knew your connection to my dad, but, Levi, how would they know you’re a marshal?”

“Dammit,” he whispered angrily into the darkness. “We’ve been compromised.” He stood, looking taller than ever backlit from the small amount of moonlight.

The door slammed in her face. She swallowed a split second
of panic at the dark, but she closed her eyes and imagined her college dorm room where she’d gotten dressed without waking her roommates lots of mornings.

So she did. She quickly pulled on her slacks. All the while hearing several savory curse words through the door. He wasn’t pleased. Assuming the coast was still clear, she stuck her head around the small dividing wall. “Mind telling me
what’s going on?”

She sat in the chair. A look from him and she moved to the floor in front of the bathroom.

He moved to the door, pistol barrel pulling the curtain. Angrier than she’d ever seen him. A smidgen of light from the hallway caressed his frowning face, furrowed with thought and concern for her safety. She knew him or at least a part of him.

“Compromised? You could begin
there,” she said.

“When they killed your father, they must have waited for his body to be claimed. I identified myself as a marshal. They’ve known who I was all along. I led them straight to you.”

“Oh.” Fear clogged her throat. There really was no going back. No return to the life she’d had in Georgia as a nonessential assistant, searching websites. No return to her father’s home under
the protection of Levi.

“I can only assume they waited until they thought we were both asleep,” he said.

She was in over her head and completely defenseless, with the exception of Levi. A secret weapon she didn’t know about herself until a few hours ago. Having him close was a line of security she needed, but was also comforted by.

“Good thing you weren’t asleep.”

He raised
an eyebrow. Instead of the smile that normally accompanied one of her wrong conclusions, his lips flattened. “They must have heard me drag you to the floor and changed their minds.”

“Then we’re very lucky.” She did feel fortunate. She couldn’t have been facing this alone, but Levi was there and determined to protect her.

“How do you figure that? We still don’t know who
they
are and we’re
stuck on a dang train.”

“That’s right.” The fear had eased. She had a secret weapon—Levi. “We don’t know who they are, but at least we know they’re here.”

* * *

F
ROM
THE
ONE
spot on the floor Levi let her occupy, Jolene watched him poised on the bottom berth. Whoever chased them would have to be a fool to face Levi now that he was prepared for their return.

She on the other
hand, needed to stand and stretch, but the only place he allowed her to do so was inside the shower. Looking at the drain in the floor had gotten old—fast. She sat on a pillow ready to dive into the stall if there was another incident. He stared at the locked door, barely moving, acknowledging her ideas for leaving, but not divulging much about his plans.

No matter what scenario she’d thought
up, he reasonably explained why they should stay where they were. He kept his back to the window, gun at the tip of his fingers, looking completely cool and comfortable.

Only one thing made her more frustrated. Come to think about it, she could blame Levi for that one, too.

“This is ridiculous.” She’d mumbled on purpose. She admitted the desire to irritate him just a tad and mumbling
had always irritated him.

“You say that a lot.”

“Well, that’s the way I feel. We can’t just sit here and wait any longer.”

He didn’t bother to answer. She knew that look of “why not?” He’d been throwing it in her direction for the past hour.

“What if
they
come back?” she asked for the tenth time.

His finger tapped his gun.

Growing up she’d seen guns with other marshals
and didn’t feel anxious when Levi handled his. If he fired, she hoped he hit his target and no stray bullets went through the walls.

“And then what, Levi? There’s nowhere to hide. No bathtub or wall thick enough to stop their bullets. I feel like a cornered mouse in a deathtrap.”

“We’ve discussed that we can’t predict what they’ll do or where they’ll strike. Isn’t it safer to just stay
here?”

“I’ve been talking and you don’t like any of my ideas, especially the version of just calling your boss. So why don’t
you
answer your question this time? If you were the bad guys, why try to get into our room an hour ago?”

She watched his eyes narrow, how his fingers stroked the stubble on his chin, then switched to a brief scratch. His brown eyes were a rich deep chocolate, reminding
her how hungry she was. Not only for food, but also for the closeness they’d shared. She missed that.

Does he realize that his fingers are a gentle caress every time he even casually touches me?

He swung his legs over the edge of the berth and faced her. “Make the hits while everyone’s asleep, return to my seat, stay put, exit next stop. Our dead bodies aren’t discovered until it’s time
to debark in Dallas.”

“And when that didn’t work, what would your next move be?” she asked.

“I’d wait until we were closer to a town, where the train slows, make the hit, then jump.”

“Then we should change that plan by getting out of this room.” She wasn’t a claustrophobic person. Not normally anyway, but she’d be better not being in a six-by-six foot room for a while. “We need
to think of something they won’t expect.”

“And not get killed in the process.” He half grinned. “One thing’s for certain, when our steward comes around we’re getting out of this ‘deathtrap’ of a room.” His eyes twinkled, repeating her description.

“The call button still doesn’t work.”

“He’s already been tipped to show up at five-thirty.” He glanced at his watch. “Fifteen minutes.
We’re getting off in Texarkana.”

“Levi Cooper, you knew what you were going to do all along.”

“And if I did?”

“I can handle the truth, you know.”

“Never doubted you could,” he said, holstering his gun.

Remembering how he’d kissed her goodbye didn’t help calm her scorching insides.

If he’d revealed he was a marshal four years ago, perhaps the thought of becoming involved
wouldn’t have entered her head. His simple “we can’t do this” hadn’t stopped her from thinking about him or wondering what she’d done wrong.

Good grief, she could admit that he was just plain handsome, but not the guy for her. She was tired of sharing only half-truths and being unable to say she didn’t like roller coasters or speed boats or even watching race cars. She couldn’t answer why
because it led to the life of a woman who never grew past the age of five.

A woman whose headstone she’d come face-to-face with the day before.

The most appealing part of this very moment was honesty. Being with Levi meant no secrets, no more lies about herself.

And yet, she knew he still held something back. She’d gained a lot of perspective since leaving her father’s watchful,
concerned eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me your plan?”

He stood, stretched, shrugged. Stepped across the room to offer her a hand to help her stand. She took it, stayed where she was, waiting for him to answer.

“Your other choice was to have me distract you with a kiss. This has been the longest conversation we’ve had without disagreeing in two years. You’ve been full of ideas and
finally came around to the one I liked. If I had to improvise, then we’d have to go through everything again. Anyway, you respond better if it’s your idea.”

He didn’t slow down at her shocked reaction to his suggested kiss idea. A kiss? He’d thought about kissing her?

“I cannot believe you just said that.”

He tugged her to her feet with his firm grasp on her hand. He didn’t stop
there and circled her with an embrace. She was ready for this. Ready to feel his firm lips on hers again. To see if it was everything she remembered.

“You said you could take the truth,” he said in a voice full with desire.

“If we’re being so truthful... Why did you kiss me at the airport before I left for Georgia? You’d said there was no way—”

Levi brought a finger to her lips,
then he swirled it to her chin, tilting her face until their eyes met. “I kissed you because I couldn’t
not
kiss you.”

She remembered the firmness of his lips, the perfection of that one kiss. Or had she distorted the memory?

“And now? Are you going to
not
do it again?”

The time for talking ended and it didn’t matter if Levi wanted to kiss her.
She
wanted to kiss him. She rose onto
her toes, taking advantage of the small space and the exposed skin at his neck. His hands dropped away, quickly encircling her waist and back. He held her to his chest, barely letting her feet touch the floor.

They leaned together, meeting in the middle of the short space between them. Everything was the same. Her memory hadn’t exaggerated the thrill of his mouth on hers at all. Waves of
tingles took her to a place she didn’t want to leave.

His hands skated under her loose T-shirt. When they connected with her skin, his light touch explored while he held her against his rock-hard body. He slowly released her until her feet were on the floor. She enjoyed the firmness of the muscles in his arms she’d admired all day, wanting to discover more.

Wanting to discover more of
his kisses.

A soft tap on the compartment window broke them apart.

“That would be Max and Dave, the stewards. You up for this?” he asked calmly.

Her insides were jumping, having nothing to do with the motion of the train speeding across the Arkansas tracks. He looked composed, but she placed a hand over his heart and felt it racing as fast as her own. Their eyes connected and she
received his smile telling her she knew the real answer, no matter what he might say or do.

“Yes. Don’t trust anyone and be ready for anything.” She remembered that. The phrase had been drilled into her brain her entire life by her father. “You set this up before we left St. Louis?”

He nodded.

“You also reserved this compartment before—”

“Yeah, I did. Just in case. Before the
train pulled out, I found long-term Amtrak employees. Two men I would recognize when they showed up. No chance of someone who might conveniently be replaced at the last minute.”