Page 74 of Target Acquired
When she opened the door, he glowered at her. “You didn’t think to call and tell me that someone attacked you last night?”
“Good morning to you too.” She stepped back and he entered.
“Forget the good morning stuff. You got attacked last night.”
“I did.” She led him into the den and took a seat on the couch.
He dropped onto the opposite end, his scowl deepening by the second.
“I’m fine. I fought him off with the help of a neighbor’s yell.”
He closed his eyes for a second, rubbed a hand down his face, and let out a low breath like he was searching for patience. “All right. I get it. I’m glad you’re okay. Why wouldn’t you call me?”
She stood and paced to the mantel and back to the sofa. When she returned to the mantel, she spun. “I would have, but it shook me. Bad.” She pressed a palm to her temple. “I just wanted to process it. Butte was back so I felt like I could sleep. If you’d come over, it just would have added stress to the whole matter.” He flinched and she sighed. “And that didn’t come out right. You wouldn’t have added stress, but me having to talk about it and relive it and—”
She wouldn’t have slept much because he would have insisted on staying and she just couldn’t have dealt with his presence last night. But she wasn’t saying that.
“And what?”
“Nothing.” She waved a hand in dismissal. “Never mind. I’m just still . . . rattled, I guess.” She cleared her throat. “I . . . uh . . . left one detail out of the police report that I need to tell you.”
He frowned. “Okay.”
“He spoke to me before my neighbor scared him off. I asked him what he wanted, and he said, and I quote, ‘You gone. Quit the team or die.’”
Cole’s scowl fell away. He raised a brow and leaned back. “Whoa.”
“Yeah. So, who wants me off the team so bad that they’d threaten to kill me?” She pressed a hand to her side. Gently. “Attack me in a market? Break into my house and shoot at me?”
“I have someone in mind, but I . . . don’t want to admit it.”
She raised a brow at him. “Butler?”
He sighed. “Yeah.”
She nodded and pressed her fingers to her lips, thinking. “Then I want proof it’s him. Irrefutable proof.”
His eyes narrowed. “How do you propose to get that?”
“I don’t know. Follow him, I guess. I’ve still got a few days off, thanks to my attack, to figure this out. I’m going to use them for that.”
“What about your training for the triathlon?”
“Really?” She pointed to her side, then her head. “You think that’s even a priority right now?”
“No. Sorry. You’re right. But if it is Butler, I don’t want to see you get in over your head.” He hesitated. “I’ll help you.”
She raised a brow. “Why? I can handle him. I’ve handled him for the last six months.”
“No,” he said. “This is different. If he’s really able to bring himself to commit murder, then it’s not a fair fight. You need someone to watch your back.”
As much as she wanted to protest, the pain in her side and the ache in her head said that wasn’t the best option. “Okay. Fine.” She didn’t have the bandwidth to think through all the ramifications of spying on one of their own, but if he was a potential killer, then all the team rules and codes went out the window. “When do we start?”
He sighed and looked at his phone. “Today. He asked for the morning off. Said he had a family thing he needed to take care of.”
“What if he does?”
“What if he doesn’t?”