Page 11 of The Hero She Loves
She nodded. “Can you track him? We tried a dog, but with no luck.”
“I can try. Or I can at least get an idea of where he’s headed.” Park sipped his beer. He barely tasted it. “He has to be stopped.”
“We can both agree on that.”
He turned her way and eyed her. “How did you end up a marshal?”
“I always wanted to catch the bad guy. As a kid, I chased the boys in the playground, not to kiss them, but to bend their arm behind their back and arrest them. Sometimes, they cried.”
Park smiled.Shit. It had been a long time since he’d done that.
“You look surprised you did that,” she said. “Not much to smile at lately?”
An itchy feeling made him hunch his shoulders. “Something like that. So, playing marshal in the playground was your inspiration?”
Her smile died away. “No. My father committed a terrible crime and was arrested.” She looked back at her drink. “The day he went to prison, I vowed I’d be on the right side of the law and help put people like him away.”
Shit. Park knew he’d stepped somewhere very personal for her. He wondered what her father had done.
“Why did you join the military?” she asked.
“My dad was in the Army.”
“So you followed in his footsteps?”
“I never knew him. He and my mother were killed in a car accident when I was a toddler.”
Her expression changed. “I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. I ended up in foster care. No complaints. I had some good homes, and got adopted by a good family when I was twelve. I guess joining the Army was my way of honoring him.”
“And then Ghost Ops.”
“And then Ghost Ops. Which you know more about than most people.”
“I have clearance. I needed intel so I could understand Olson.”
“I’m not sure we want to fully understand Olson.”
She sipped her wine. “Agreed, but to find him, we need any advantage.” She paused. “You miss Ghost Ops?”
“No.”
She cocked her head. “Are you going to handle being back in the field?”
He took a long sip of his beer. “Yes.”
“I need more than that, Parker. I’m guessing from your…scars, that your military career didn’t end the way you hoped.”
He locked his gaze on hers. “You aren’t shy about asking any questions, are you?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “No. Being shy doesn’t help me catch the bad guys.”
“No one’s just outright asked me about my scars.” He paused, a part of him not wanting to share anything. “Why did your father go to prison?”
Something flashed in her eyes. “He murdered innocent people.”
Shit. That was heavier than he’d guessed. “My Ghost Ops career ended with three weeks of captivity. The Taliban aren’t the best hosts.”