The Protector (42 page)

“Oh, Winston.”
She hugged him fiercely, grateful that he’d come out unscathed.
  

Finally, Ike pulled the dog down. He briskly rubbed his ears. “You bit that bad guy, didn’t you? Good boy.”

The memory of Winston’s loyalty thawed the last trace of shock that kept
Eryn
composed. As she burst into tears, Ike hauled her to his chest and held her tightly.
 

The clatter of an approaching helicopter forced her to collect herself.

“Hostage Rescue,” Ike shouted, searching the sky.
 

Worry punctured
Eryn’s
newfound contentment. “What happens now, Ike?” She kept her arms locked around him.
 

“Guess it’s up to them,” he said.
 

“They’re not going to charge you, are they?”

He shrugged. “I’m not worried.”

Just then, a familiar, black helicopter skimmed over the treetops, disturbing the fragile canopy.

It’s over,
Eryn
realized. The nightmare that had begun with her failed abduction was finally over. And yet, everything felt so unsettled. What was to come of her and Ike now that she no longer needed his protection? As she met his inscrutable gaze, she begged him, “Stay with me.”

The kiss he placed on the top of her head was her only reassurance. But she would take what she could get right now.

The sound of a car alarm startled
Eryn
awake. Snatching her head off Ike’s chest, she found herself slumped against him, in the back seat of the Taurus while Jackson parked on a one-way street in downtown Washington, D.C. Winston, sitting shot gun, had steamed up the passenger window.
  

“We’re here,” Ike murmured, looking ruefully at the wet spot on his T-shirt.

“Sorry.” But her chagrin was forgotten as she recognized where she was. The Washington Field Office lorded over the corner of 4th and G Streets. They weren’t that far from her townhouse in Georgetown.

She wondered if, once the debriefing was over, she would get to return to her old life. Was there any guarantee that one of the so-called students viewing her execution wouldn’t pick up where the terrorist had left off? Moreover, her old life seemed so far removed from the highs and lows of the past month, she wondered how she was supposed to go back, like nothing had happened.

Jackson cracked the windows for Winston. “We’ll only be a short while,” he promised.
 

Clinging to Ike with one hand, to her purse which
Ringo
had retrieved from the RV with the other, she crossed the busy street, hopeful of getting answers.

Forty five minutes later, Director
Blooomberg’s
phone rang, interrupting the debriefing.

Eryn
met Ike’s protective gaze and managed a weak smile. Bloomberg had insisted she give a detailed recounting of the events, forcing her to relive every second of the worst day of her life. What she really wanted was to put the nightmare behind her and concentrate on the future—a future for her and Ike.

“Go ahead and send him up,” Bloomberg said.
 
“Your father’s here,” he announced, looking suddenly perturbed. She was reminded that Bloomberg had resisted her father’s attempts to remove her from FBI protection early on.

“He is?”
Eryn
glanced at Ike, whose face was suddenly devoid of expression.

Bloomberg pushed away from his desk, seemingly eager to wrap things up. “Miss McClellan, on behalf of the Bureau, please
accept
our apologies.” He rounded his desk to extend her a hand. “We’ll soon know exactly how this happened, and we’ll take every conceivable step to ensure it won’t happen again,” he said sincerely. With scant nod at Ike, he dropped her hand and headed for the door.
 
Pulling it open, he startled back at the sight of General McClellan, his hand raised, about to knock.
 

“Daddy!”
Eryn
dashed across the room to throw herself at her father. His thick arms crushed her close, squeezing the air right out of her.

“Sweetheart.”

Ike intercepted Stanley McClellan’s wet gaze as it cleared the top of
Eryn’s
head. The feelings reflected in the man’s blue eyes were a mirror image of his own unwieldy emotions.
 

“Ike.” Gratitude softened the Commander’s blunt features as he extended a hand to him. “How the hell are you, son?”

Joining them, Ike found himself hauled into a big group hug. He was glad his teammates weren’t around to witness this, but, damn, it felt good to know he’d earned Stanley’s forgiveness.

Eryn
drew back, her eyes watering, her nose bright pink. “You came home, Daddy!” she marveled.
 

“Course I came home. Would’ve been here weeks ago if the damn insurgents would take a vacation.” His astute gaze swung between them. “So, how’s my soldier been treating you, sugar?” he asked his daughter.

The blush that suffused her face made Ike want to melt into the carpet. She couldn’t have made it any more obvious just how he’d been
treating
her.

“Fine,” she said brightly. “He taught me to shoot and to defend myself.”

Her father chuckled as he took in Ike’s discomfiture. “I expected nothing less,” he assured him.

Ike breathed a silent sigh of relief.
 

At last, the Commander took note of the two FBI men watching their happy reunion. His embrace eased. “Well, Alan,” he said, sending Bloomberg a cool nod. “I hear you lost a good man over this case.”

“We did,” Bloomberg acknowledged, holding himself stiffly.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Stanley murmured. “Probably should have left it to my soldier,” he added, clapping Ike on the back.

Bloomberg flicked Ike a disdainful look and said nothing.
 

“Well, enough red tape. My daughter needs to see a doctor.” He started to draw
Eryn
with him as he made to leave, but then he swung back abruptly. “Oh, I believe you have her dog in your car,” he said to Jackson.

Smiling, Jackson held up his car keys and jiggled them. Glancing at Bloomberg for permission, he followed them out the door.
  

“I have a driver waiting outside,” Ike overheard Stanley divulge as he escorted
Eryn
toward the elevator.
 

“Where did you fly in? How’d you find me?”

“Quantico.
Got there right as the Hostage Rescue Team landed with a dead terrorist aboard.
Special Agent
Ringo
told me where to look for you. He filled me in on what happened.” Pausing at the elevator, he pulled
Eryn
into another fervent embrace, hiding his face in her hair.

Watching them, Ike felt his confidence waver. There wasn’t any question he was capable of loving
Eryn
the way her father did, completely and wholly. He might not have been shown much affection as a child, but he knew how to love. Once his commitment to the Teams was over, he knew he could give
Eryn
all the stability she deserved.

But it would take time for him to make peace with the past. He couldn’t fulfill her needs when he was far across the ocean picking off terrorists so that she never had to look over her shoulder in fear again. Nor could he expect a woman so accustomed to love to go without for months on end. She’d already given more of herself to him than he deserved. Asking her to wait for him would be too much.
 

Hell, he’d served his purpose. It was over between them. His heart went leaden at the thought.

With red-rimmed eyes, Stanley looked up and intercepted Ike’s pained regard. “You did
good
, Ike,” he told him hoarsely. “You did real
good
.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“No need for the sir,” Stanley needled. “You’re a civilian now, right?”

Ike narrowed his eyes at him.
 

“Unless, of course, you’ve realized you want back in,” Stanley tacked on, raising his eyebrows.
 

With a sharply drawn breath,
Eryn
withdrew from her father’s embrace to witness his reply.
 

Ike couldn’t bring himself to look at her. Stanley had put him directly on the spot, the sonofabitch.

And yet he’d made up his mind, already, so what was the point of concealing his decision? The sooner
Eryn
knew the truth, the sooner she could return to the life she used to lead. Abandoning Team Five last year had made him a deserter and a traitor to the memory of his fallen comrades. If he didn’t go back, he would always be the selfish bastard Cougar thought him to be. There was only one way to redeem
himself
.

“I want back in, sir,” he acknowledged quietly.
   

Chapter Twenty

Eryn
attempted to cheer herself. Here she was, eating Thai takeout in her townhouse in Georgetown with the two men she loved most in the world. The luxuries of home surrounded her. But Ike’s shocking announcement that he wanted back into the military had stolen her contentment.

Pushing aside her cup of
tom yum,
she asked her father, “When do you have to go back?” The thought of both men leaving at once threatened to plunge her into despair.
      

“I’m not,” he answered unexpectedly. “I’ve resigned my command, honey.”
  

Eryn
stared at him.
“You what?”
 

“I’ll be working at the Pentagon,” he added, “advising the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I hope you don’t mind if I stay here while I look for my own place?”
 

She glanced at Ike and found him stirring his
pad
thai
.
“Of course not.”
At least she wasn’t going to be utterly abandoned. “I hope you didn’t do it just for me, Daddy.”

“No, no.” He twirled his own noodles. “I’ve given thirty years to the Marines; that’s long enough.
Time to enjoy my daughter and my
granddog
.”

Her gaze shifted to Ike, who wouldn’t look at her. If only he felt the way her father did.
 

“You realize there’s going to be a period of readjustment,” her father added, gently.

Thinking of the confidence it would take to walk alone again in public places,
Eryn
swallowed hard. She had hoped Ike would be the one to see her through the days and weeks following her ordeal. But with her father here to do it, there was nothing to keep him from rejoining the war effort right away.
 

She reached for the empty food cartons, using them as an excuse to leave the table. “I’ll be right back,” she said, fleeing to the kitchen to compose
herself
.

Once through the swinging door, she dropped the cartons into the trash and fanned her flushed face with her hands, hoping to dry the tears that threatened. She had promised she wouldn’t cling to Ike when the time came to go their separate ways, but...

Her gaze came to rest on the brightly painted ceramics on the shelves that lined her galley-style kitchen. It was suddenly clear to her why her mother had chosen to live in Jordan when she could have gotten better medical treatment in the States. The thought of an ocean separating her from her husband had been too much for her, especially when she knew their time together was dwindling.