Valerie Hansen - Standing Guard

“Look, if you keep their threats to yourself, they win,” Thad said. “Think about it. The only control they have over you is by intimidation. I know you’re a strong woman. You’d have to be to have weathered the trials I’ve heard about.” He paused, intending to censor his next statement, then let it continue unedited. “I’m going to help you whether you like it or not. I feel as if we were meant to meet so I could. Does that make sense?”

“No.” Lindy’s tone was weak, her voice tremulous.

Releasing her and distancing himself, Thad smiled. “It doesn’t to me, either, but that’s how I feel.”

“You don’t want to get mixed up in my troubles.”

“It’s already too late. I promised God a long time ago that if He’d let me live, I’d do all I could to help the helpless for the rest of my life.”

He immediately raised his hands, palms out, as if surrendering. “Don’t get mad. I’m not calling you helpless. I’m just telling you the story the way it happened. My unit was pinned down by sniper fire and I’d taken a bullet in the shoulder. I figure, since I’m standing here having this conversation with you, I need to remember that promise. That’s all.”

“A bullet in the shoulder?” Lindy sighed deeply and released the breath with a visible shudder. “We’ve got more in common than I thought.”

Thad didn’t realize what she’d meant until she took off her jacket, pushed up the softer sleeve of the sweater beneath and revealed a scar that cut a shallow groove across her upper arm.

Thad had seen lots of worse injuries, yet his gut knotted. Someone had hurt this sweet, innocent woman in the past and those same people might now be planning to do her further harm. He was going to see that they—or anyone else—didn’t get away with it.

“What happened?” His voice was gentle even though his fists were clenched.

“The shot that passed through my husband grazed my arm. We were both protecting Danny. Ben died trying to keep us safe.”

“I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“Most people don’t know the whole story. They’re happy to blame Ben for everything and say he deserved whatever he got. It’s a lot more complicated than that.”

“The men who killed your husband—are they still after you?”

Lindy slowly shook her head. “They can’t be. Two died in the same gunfight and a third was arrested later. The problem is, I didn’t know for sure whether or not there were others who might have it in for us—until last night.”

“Are you positive the men who messed with your credit are from the same gang?”

“No. But I can’t afford to take the chance that they were lying when they threatened me. They mentioned Ben. That was enough.”

“And I suppose they also told you to avoid the police?”

“Yes. They said they’d be back and hurt Danny and me if I reported the break-in. What could I do? I have no way to fight them. I don’t even know who they are.”

Deep in thought, Thad scowled. “Why pick on you? And why now, after so much time has passed? What could they want? Was there a lot of cash in your accounts?”

“A couple thousand, and maybe another four if you add up all the unused credit I thought I had on the cards. It still isn’t much, even with what they managed to steal in cash advances.”

“Right. It doesn’t make sense to go to that trouble.”

Lindy huffed. “Well, at least we agree on something.”

“I have an idea.”

“If it has anything to do with calling the police, forget it.”

“Actually, no,” Thad said. “I still maintain that you’re making a big mistake but I think I see a way for you to get by while we figure this out.”

“We, Kemosabe?”

He was glad to see her starting to smile. His own grin spread as the plan came together in his mind. “See, that’s your problem. You’re going about this like a lone ranger when you need friends. How would you like a job?”

“You can’t afford me.”

“I can’t guarantee long-term employment, but as you can see, I have a desperate need for someone who can organize this office.” His arm passed over the clutter she had barely had time to touch, let alone sort properly. “First, we’ll set up a new bank account for you and tell whoever has been sending monthly checks to deposit them locally instead of in Atlanta.”

Hope shone in her eyes and her smile broadened.

“It’s not the perfect solution but it will allow you to live fairly normally until something else happens.”

The grin waned. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want you to have any more trouble but if they do try anything else, we’ll be waiting. Sign up for online banking and I can imbed an automatic notification trigger in your new accounts so we’ll know the second someone else tries to access them. Maybe that way they’ll tip us off.”

“Okay, then what?”

He was going to say that then they could contact the police but kept that to himself. One day at a time, Thad thought. One day, one problem, one solution at a time. Arranged properly, those sensible steps could lead to the answers Lindy needed.

And if they didn’t? If they didn’t, he’d simply keep her employed and figure out a way to pay her, even if her wages had to come out of his own pocket.

That notion made him smile. Since his new executive assistant was about to start handling the company books, he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. He was positive she’d pitch a royal fit if she learned she was being subsidized.

Sobering, Thad admitted to himself that wages were the least of his worries. Unless he could figure out how to guard Lindy and her son when they were at home, no amount of money was going to be enough to keep her from further harm.

The way he saw it, the first thing he had to do was convince her to let him guard them.

He chuckled softly. It would probably be easier to hire a backhoe to dig a moat around her house and fill it with hungry alligators than it would be to talk her into letting anybody look after her the way he wanted to.

FOUR

Lindy picked up her car, parted from Thad and drove directly to the school where she waited on the sidewalk outside Danny’s classroom. The bell rang and a hoard of laughing, chattering children dashed past. The moment her son spotted her, he grinned from ear to ear.

“Hi. Guess what? I got an A on my spelling test!”

“That’s wonderful, honey.” She relieved him of his heavy backpack and escorted him toward the parking lot. Her aim was to keep him safe without scaring him. Too bad she had no idea how to accomplish that goal.

“Whoa!” Danny skidded to a stop and pointed. “What happened to the car, Mom?”

“I had a little fender bender.”

“Looks like a fender smasher.”

Lindy ruffled his reddish hair and grinned. “It’s not as bad as it looks. And I have some good news. I found a job.”

The child’s eyes widened and he stared up at her. “Will I have to ride the school bus?”

“No. Nothing will change for you. My boss says I can leave work to pick you up just like I did today. As a matter of fact, I’m going to take you back to the office with me so you can meet him.”

Danny stood very still and stared at the toes of his sneakers as if they were suddenly the most interesting thing he’d ever seen. “I don’t wanna.”

“Well, you have to. You’ll be staying with me every afternoon and there’s no way you can avoid meeting Mr. Pearson. Besides, he’s a nice man. You’ll like him.”

“Uh-uh.”

Rather than continue to argue, Lindy shepherded her son the rest of the way to the car, made sure he was belted in safely and got behind the wheel. There were times when she saw the boy as an adult in a child’s body and other times, like now, when he looked and acted even younger than his seven-plus years. She supposed that was to be expected. Eldest and single children tended to be ultra-responsible while kids who had been traumatized sometimes regressed. With her son, elements of both influences seesawed back and forth. Right now, he was behaving like a toddler.