Carol Ericson - Bullseye - Seal

“It’s not like you were personally responsible for the deaths of my father and husband.” She rolled her shoulders. “Besides, I accepted you when you did tell me the truth, didn’t I? I mean, we’re sitting here sharing a beer.”

He held up one finger. “Ah, that’s because I saved you in the alley, and you were still shaken up. I’m not sure you would’ve been so...accepting otherwise.”

She screwed up her mouth and didn’t bother refuting him. The man in the alley had shaken her up and she hadn’t appreciated Josh’s intervention at the time. Now that she knew Ricky really was dead, she was grateful for his protection. This might be a new type of assignment for him, but he’d caught on quickly.

Digging her elbow into the table, she buried her chin in one palm. “How exactly did the Navy SEALs fit into the raid on my father’s place?”

“I can’t talk about that.”

“Okay, top secret.” She tapped her fingertips against her cheekbone. “What now?”

“Keep your eyes and ears open, and be careful. I’ll be here to look out for you until we can figure out why your father’s associates are trying to contact you.”

“If they tell me anything, I’ll be sure to pass it along to you.”

His dark eyes narrowed. “Tell you anything? Why and how would they have the opportunity to tell you anything?”

As she studied his glittering eyes, a chill touched her spine. In that instant she had an odd sense that she was staring into Ricky’s eyes again. Josh’s expression contained that same single-minded ferocity that Ricky had, but surely, Josh had a passion for good and justice, not evil and greed.

“I mean, if they text me again or, God forbid, call me since they seem to have my cell phone number.”

Josh leveled a finger at her. “You’re not going to run off and meet anyone again, are you?”

“No. I just thought...” She glanced down and studied her fingernails as she trailed off.

“Ricky’s dead, Gina.”

“I know.” A single tear puddled in her right eye. Ricky had died a long time ago.

Josh slouched back in his chair and downed the rest of his beer. “Are you ready?”

She tapped her phone to wake it up, and the numbers of the clock glowed in the dark bar. “My mom’s going to think I had one hot date.”

“If you want her to think that, you need to take a couple of deep breaths. Your face looks—” he touched a finger to her cheek “—tight.”

His fingertip seemed to scorch her, to brand her. She sucked in a breath, and then shook her head. He was right. The events of the evening had taken their toll on her. The fear still had her senses buzzing.

“With any luck, my mother will be sound asleep and not lying in wait to ask nosy questions.”

“Did your mother have any contact with your father after the divorce?”

“Divorce?” She dropped her phone into her purse. “Your sources aren’t very well-informed. My mother and father never divorced, but they had very little contact after the separation.”

“Did they separate after she discovered his business, or did she know his line of work before they married?”

“Top secret.” Her lips formed a thin line, and she dragged her finger across the seam. If Josh, and the US government, didn’t know the details of her parents’ lives, she sure wasn’t going to inform them.

She still had to protect her mom.

Clasping her purse to her body, she pushed up from the chair. “I’m ready to go.”

Josh hopped up beside her and placed his hand at the small of her back to guide her out of the still-crowded bar. They spilled onto the sidewalk, joining the rest of the late-night revelers, stragglers from spring breaks across the country and snowbirds escaping the last ravages of winter in the Northeast.

A few steps later, and a popping noise had the press of people scattering and yelping in confusion.

Gina tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and stumbled off the curb. The cars in the street honked, as people surged into the road from the sidewalk to escape the firecrackers.

As Gina stood on her tiptoes to find Josh, she noticed from the corner of her eye a car peel away from the curb where it had been illegally parked. She turned toward the white sedan, and the back door flew open. A man lurched into the street and made a beeline for her.

Taking a step backward, Gina bumped into someone who wouldn’t budge. She put a hand out. “Excuse me.”

“Stop pushing, lady. Somebody’s gonna get hurt.”

“Yeah, me.” She twisted her head back around, and the man from the car was an arm’s length away.

Gina shifted sideways, but the man anticipated the move.

His fat fingers clamped around her upper arm and he almost lifted her from her feet as he dragged her toward the sedan.

She dug her heels into the asphalt. She was no match for him, but Josh was.

“Josh! Josh!”

As they got to the open door of the car, Gina grabbed onto the door frame. The big man peeled her fingers from the metal and twisted them back. She screamed amid another flurry of pops.

It was the driver of the car who’d been tossing firecrackers out the window.

Her abductor gave her a hard push from behind, and she fell face forward across the leather seats.

The man from the front seat growled, “Welcome back, Mrs. Rojas.”

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