The Protector (13 page)

“Stacy! You know you are nuts. One minute you are mad at me for bringing home some strange man and the next you are commenting on how hot he is. You are giving me whiplash!”

“Don’t Stacy me? If you don’t see it then you are blind lady. He’s hot!”

“You’re married,” I half yelled half whispered back to her. My townhome wasn’t that big and I was pretty sure our conversation carried upstairs and Jack could hear every little bit of it.

My friend looked at me in disgust. “Your point Alison? I am married, I love my husband dearly. I just merely think the man upstairs is good looking. Kind of dreamy and mysterious if you ask me.  He reminds me a double 007 type of guy. Like he should be working for MI-6 or the CIA.”

I had to stifle back a laugh as the words came out of her mouth. Little did she know how right on her observation of him was.

“What is Eric going to say about this?” Suddenly, the smile that was on my face disappeared. 

“Eric?” I repeated his name not sure what to think. I hadn’t really thought about what he would say because I had no plans to tell him some strange guy was staying with me. I looked at Stacy an
d hesitated before I responded.

“Does it matter?”

“I don’t know you tell me.”  Curiosity filled her eyes as I knew what she was bantering back and forth in that brain of her.  She really didn’t care for the guy and reminded me often, more often than I cared for, that I didn’t belong with someone like him.

“He’s up in Oregon, I don’t have a ring on my finger nor am I married to him.  What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Anyway, what do you care? You can’t stand the man.”

“True!” She thought for a moment before she continued. “I don’t think he is right for you. But I also know you and I don’t want you doing something stupid that’s all.”

“I am an adult Stacy.”  I left her mind to wander.  I knew there was nothing going on between the man upstairs and I.  He was doing his job, protecting me and once his job was done we would both go on with our lives. 

“I know,” she replied quietly. The smirk on her face did not disappear. “I’m just saying, watch yourself. His Irish charm could land you in a situation you don’t want to be in.”

Our conversation shifted gears after that as we talked about Tom.  I was curious if she had ever noticed anything strange about him.  I tried to frame it in a manner that kept our conversation light. She didn’t catch on.  Jack came back downstairs about ten minutes later and went back into my office to clean up.

It was getting late and I began to yawn hoping desperately Stacy would take the hint and after
a while
she did. 

“Will I see you tomorrow,” she asked getting up and grabbing her purse from the coffee table.

“Of course.”  Nothing was going to stop me from going to my friend and colleague’s funeral.  Not even Jack.

“Good night and be careful? Do you still have the baseball bat under your bed?’ I knew what she was alluding to but I ignored her. And she only grinned.

“Goodnight Stacy,” I said shutting the door in her face. I heard her heels click and the door to her car slam shut.  I locked the door and turned to find Jack standing incredibly close to me.

“Your office is tidy, as is your bedroom,” He said quietly without the accent.

“Thank you.” I walked around him and took a seat back on the couch. I brought my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I wanted desperately to turn on some music or have some noise in the house. But I didn’t.   Jack stood by the door and stared at me.  I ignored it at first but after a few minutes, I couldn’t understand his intense gaze at me. 

“What?” I finally asked in frustration. “You’re staring at me? Why?” 

“Amazed that is all,” he responded with a smirk on his face.

“Amazed at what?” There was confusion in my voice.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile. “You handled that well. Most people in your situation would have caved and said something to their friends.” His eyes almost sparkled as he said this. I didn’t quite understand why but he continued to stare at me.

“You find that amazing? That I can play along with it?  I don’t have a choice do I?  I don’t want to put her and Ted in any danger. So I have no choice but to go along with the story. And by the way, where the hell did you get such a perfect Irish accent?” I had hoped turning the tables on him and asking him a question about his acting abilities would get him to alter his gaze on me. But it didn’t.

He continued to stare at me with this intense look in his eyes. “Not important.  Are you hungry?”

I realized that neither one of us had eaten since Mrs. Walker’s breakfast earlier in the morning. And I hadn’t even finished the toast she had set in front of me. Suddenly I was famished.  “Yes. But I am afraid I don’t have much here. I kind of let the food supply dwindle when I knew I was leaving out of town.”

I rose from the couch and headed over to the kitchen knowing full well, there wasn’t much of anything in my fridge or pantry. I did manage to find a loaf of bread and cheese, which was better than the Oriental Noodle packages that I knew were sitting somewhere in the back of my pantry.  I had eaten so much of the stuff when I was in college, the thought now made me ill.

We dined on grilled cheese sandwiches and beer that night. We made small talk. Jack asked me a few questions about my life and my childhood, and every time I asked something about him. He would quickly change the subject. It was frustrating and an hour later I had had enough.

I pushed myself off my couch, where we had eaten and walked to put my dish into the sink.  “The guest room is ready.  The sheets are clean and it’s a fairly comfortable bed.” He had carried my luggage upstairs earlier in the evening but he had left his duffel bag downstairs by the bottom step, out of the way.

“If its ok with you, I will sleep on the couch,” he answered back from where he sat on the couch.

“Suit yourself, but the bed is probably a lot more comfortable.”

“I just think it would be wise to be closer to the door in case anything happens.”  He moved from the couch and put his dish in the sink next to mine. As he did so, his hand touched mine and I shivered as that electric shock pulsed through every vein in my body. I had come to the conclusion I was nuts.  I immediately looked at his face to see if he had the same reaction as I did. But he only looked away and quickly put his hand in the pocket of his faded jeans.

I didn’t argue with him and quickly jogged upstairs to get some spare blankets and pillows for him.  As I came back down with my arms full of blankets and pillows, he was sitting on the couch with his computer turned on.

He jumped up and met me at the bottom of the stairs and took the blankets from my arms. “Thank you. I hope you don’t mind, I noticed you had a wireless router, I need to get online.”

“Do you want my password?”

Jack shook his head. “No, was pretty easy to figure out.”

I wasn’t shocked by his revelation as his shock factor was fading slowly.  I turned to walk back upstairs but stopped at the base of the stairs, “Um, I do want to go to the funeral tomorrow. You are more than welcome to join us if you would like. I just wasn’t sure if you were serious earlier about going.”

Jack had thrown the blankets onto the couch and returned to the computer. “I was serious. He was a friend too.”  He returned his focus to the computer in front of him and said nothing else. I shook my head and turned to walk upstairs. But stopped halfway and turned back around.

10
Coffee Break

“How long is this going to last Jack? I gave you the processor, can’t this just end here and now?”

I didn’t look up from the computer and I didn’t hesitate in my response, “No. Unfortunately, they are still looking for it and they want it. I will not hand it over to them until I know you are safe.  Their only option right now is to steal it, which puts you in more danger.”  I wanted to be honest with her about that.  Conway and Seth had made little progress in finding out who was after the processor. The only thing they had done was calm the Israeli’s nerves.  It had been decided that once we knew who had caused this whole mess, we would give them the processor. Until then, it remained in my hands. And until I knew Alison was completely safe, she was stuck with me whether she liked it or not.

“Great. So what happens next?” There was exasperation in her voice. I knew she was annoyed with the situation and exhausted. She had given me the processor and in her eyes it was all over.

This time I looked up from the computer screen to answer her question. She was sitting on the bottom step of the stairs her chin in her hands.  “We think that they will eventually contact you and offer you a hell of a lot of money for the processor. When they do, we will find out who it is. In the mean time you are stuck with me. I’m sorry.” 

She looked amazingly beautiful sitting there in the soft light.  She leaned against the light oak railing of the staircase and took in my words.  Her eyebrows came closer together as she contemplated them.  

“We could do this another way?” I wanted to challenge her thought process. I wanted her to know that there were other options and I was pretty sure they were options she wouldn’t consider.

             
Alison’s head shot up and she looked at me with question. “How?”

“We could stick you in witness protection program until we catch these guys. And there is no promise you could come back to your old life. You would have to give up everything.”  I knew she wouldn’t like this scenario at all and watched as horror once again came across her face.

She stood up from where she sat and walked over to where I was. “That isn’t an option and you know it. How could you even suggest that? My family, my job, my friends.” She rambled on for a few minutes and I let her vent her frustration and anger at me.  I stood up and looked down and saw the fear she carried and I could feel its intensity radiate off her body like heat. She was scared and unsure of what was going on. And she was stuck with me, a man she hardly knew, to protect her.

She didn’t have tears in her eyes as she looked up at me. I was so close I wanted to hold her.  I had been taught over the years to keep my distance from the subjects I was watching or protecting. But I had thrown all this training out the window as I got to know her.  She pulled me in and my mind wrapped around everything that was her.  I didn’t think this made me weak, as Seth did. I thought her presence made me stronger and more willing to do what it took to protect her.  I couldn’t read her mind, but was beginning to feel a connection to her thoughts and her actions. This was something I had never felt before with anyone. As I looked deeper into her eyes, I had to distance myself.

“Well then, you are stuck with me aren’t you?” My voice was hard and cold in response to her.  No matter how I felt about her, Seth was right about one thing, I needed to distance my feelings for her and not let her see what she did to me. She tilted her head and looked at me in bewilderment. She sucked in air and blew it out. 

I knew this was the end of our conversation. She turned and stormed out of the room up the stairs. I did what was right and I knew it, I just hated it. I wanted to desperately follow behind her and tell her I was sorry but I couldn’t and I wouldn’t.

I tossed and turned all night on her couch and finally gave up on trying to sleep. I wandered through her kitchen looking for coffee and filters. It was interesting what you could discover about a person by glancing in their kitchen or bathroom cabinets. She wasn’t a neat freak, but everything had a place.  As I looked in her freezer, out of pure curiosity, I saw she had quite a stash of Hostess cupcakes. I smiled at this and filed it away for future reference. I was a firm believer that most women had a chocolate obsession, and I had just discovered hers.

I made a fresh pot of coffee and walked outside into her backyard as the sun came up over the Sandia Mountains. Clouds had moved in during the night and there was a pink tint to them as the sun came up from behind them. 

I heard the door open and saw Alison walk out carrying two cups of coffee in her hands. She handed one to me.  She wore grey pajama bottoms and a long sleeve white shirt.  Her hair was down around her shoulders.  She was almost as breathtaking as the sunrise I had been watching. We stood there in silence for a few minutes and watched the sky grow lighter and lighter.

“Probably one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen,” I commented taking a sip of the coffee she gave me. It was strong and potent, just how I liked it.  I looked over at her cup and it was black like mine.  Nothing was there to dilute it.

“And you’ve been all over the world?” she took a sip of her coffee and tried desperately not to look up at me. I wished at that moment she would have. I wanted to see the intensity in her eyes.

I nodded my head.  “Azores.”

She turned and looked at me with confusion, “Azores?”

“They have the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets. You should go sometime.”

She nodded her head. “So I’ve heard.”  She remained quiet after that.
             

             
I could tell she was still upset from our conversation last night, and I didn’t want to rehash that but I needed to talk to her about the processor she had handed me last night.