“I’ll
be all right. I can do this, Shane, you have to trust me.”
“I
do trust you…I just don’t want to see you get hurt any more than you already
have been…and it’s not like you’re going to bust a drug ring or something.
The Heltons are smooth, master manipulators. They can tell you the
sky is purple and by the time they’re done with you, you believe them.”
“I’m
not so easily manipulated these days. Trust me.”
He
kissed her brow again and pulled her back tightly into his arms.
“How
about we get dressed and I take you to dinner?” he suggested, dropping the
subject for now.
“That
sounds perfect...except you have no buttons left on this shirt,” she said,
holding the edges out to remind him she’d ripped them off.
“Got
one in the truck. Let’s go.”
Chapter Seven
Over
the next few weeks, Shane and Tessa continued to grow closer. Every day
they trained, planned and prepared for her eventual entry to the Naturalists’
compound. He’d gotten her to give up her extended stay suite and move
into his condo so that they were together every night. It was during the
first couple of days of staying with him that Shane discovered she was having
nightmares about the IED explosion. She fluffed it off, but he couldn’t
quite dismiss it. He was concerned about how subjecting her to the
Naturalists would affect her psyche down the road but the kicker was that he
couldn’t mention the nightmares to Bruce or Gibson because if they weren’t
sleeping together he’d never know about them.
He
had to admit she was good at what she did. She was an excellent shot,
excelled at hand-to-hand, and did an amazing job at softening the hard Cop’s
Eyes his men had questioned her on that first day. As D-Day approached,
though, he couldn’t help but wish that he could somehow convince her not to go.
The
Wednesday before they planned for Tessa to attend a Naturalists Revival, Shane
requested a meeting with Bruce and Gibson just before lunch. They met in
Bruce’s office, just the three of them.
“What’s
on your mind, Shane?” Bruce asked.
“Everything
is ready for Saturday night. There isn’t anything more we can do.
I’d like to take Tessa away until Saturday, just give us both a chance to
breathe…and to say good-bye.”
Gibson
shook his head. “That’s not a good idea. This assignment is unlike
anything Tessa’s ever done before. I need her fully focused and ready.”
“With
all due respect, sir, she’s as ready as she’s ever going to be. We’re
about to send her in under deep cover. Who knows how long it will be
before she can return to her own life. Give us this time.”
“I
agree with Shane,” Bruce said, “This case could take months. Let her have
this last bit of freedom.”
Gibson
stood and stared out Bruce’s window to the bullpen where Tessa sat with the
rest of the joint team going over the layout of the compound.
“That
girl is like a daughter to me,” Gibson confessed. “Do you have any idea
what she went through in Iraq?”
“I
know her convoy was hit by an IED. I know that her uterus was so damaged
by shrapnel that she was told she may never be able to have children…and I know
that the first thirteen years of her life were Hell on Earth because her father
beat her mother and constantly berated her. Don’t think for one minute
that I don’t know what Tessa has suffered through. Don’t think that it’s
not killing me to know we’re about to drop her right back in to that type of
environment. It is. I know what it will do to her, what it will
cost her…but I know that she
be all right. I can do this, Shane, you have to trust me.”
“I
do trust you…I just don’t want to see you get hurt any more than you already
have been…and it’s not like you’re going to bust a drug ring or something.
The Heltons are smooth, master manipulators. They can tell you the
sky is purple and by the time they’re done with you, you believe them.”
“I’m
not so easily manipulated these days. Trust me.”
He
kissed her brow again and pulled her back tightly into his arms.
“How
about we get dressed and I take you to dinner?” he suggested, dropping the
subject for now.
“That
sounds perfect...except you have no buttons left on this shirt,” she said,
holding the edges out to remind him she’d ripped them off.
“Got
one in the truck. Let’s go.”
Chapter Seven
Over
the next few weeks, Shane and Tessa continued to grow closer. Every day
they trained, planned and prepared for her eventual entry to the Naturalists’
compound. He’d gotten her to give up her extended stay suite and move
into his condo so that they were together every night. It was during the
first couple of days of staying with him that Shane discovered she was having
nightmares about the IED explosion. She fluffed it off, but he couldn’t
quite dismiss it. He was concerned about how subjecting her to the
Naturalists would affect her psyche down the road but the kicker was that he
couldn’t mention the nightmares to Bruce or Gibson because if they weren’t
sleeping together he’d never know about them.
He
had to admit she was good at what she did. She was an excellent shot,
excelled at hand-to-hand, and did an amazing job at softening the hard Cop’s
Eyes his men had questioned her on that first day. As D-Day approached,
though, he couldn’t help but wish that he could somehow convince her not to go.
The
Wednesday before they planned for Tessa to attend a Naturalists Revival, Shane
requested a meeting with Bruce and Gibson just before lunch. They met in
Bruce’s office, just the three of them.
“What’s
on your mind, Shane?” Bruce asked.
“Everything
is ready for Saturday night. There isn’t anything more we can do.
I’d like to take Tessa away until Saturday, just give us both a chance to
breathe…and to say good-bye.”
Gibson
shook his head. “That’s not a good idea. This assignment is unlike
anything Tessa’s ever done before. I need her fully focused and ready.”
“With
all due respect, sir, she’s as ready as she’s ever going to be. We’re
about to send her in under deep cover. Who knows how long it will be
before she can return to her own life. Give us this time.”
“I
agree with Shane,” Bruce said, “This case could take months. Let her have
this last bit of freedom.”
Gibson
stood and stared out Bruce’s window to the bullpen where Tessa sat with the
rest of the joint team going over the layout of the compound.
“That
girl is like a daughter to me,” Gibson confessed. “Do you have any idea
what she went through in Iraq?”
“I
know her convoy was hit by an IED. I know that her uterus was so damaged
by shrapnel that she was told she may never be able to have children…and I know
that the first thirteen years of her life were Hell on Earth because her father
beat her mother and constantly berated her. Don’t think for one minute
that I don’t know what Tessa has suffered through. Don’t think that it’s
not killing me to know we’re about to drop her right back in to that type of
environment. It is. I know what it will do to her, what it will
cost her…but I know that she
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