Shirlee McCoy - Out of Time

But she wanted to shatter.

Wanted to fall into a heap of blubbering fear and let Levi handle the intruder.

“Susie. Suze. You tell him to let me go. You tell him he’s got no right to treat me like this.” The slurred words, the voice, they were familiar. The alcohol. The sweat. The stumbling, fumbling steps.

Mitch.

She should have known.

She hadn’t.

Fear had clouded her judgment, had almost made her pull a weapon she didn’t need.

The knowledge was a heavy weight as she crouched next to Mitch and signaled for Levi to let him go.

“You can let him up.” Susannah’s voice seeped through the haze of Levi’s rage as he leaned over her attacker. The acrid scent of alcohol and sweat drifted up from the prone man, mixing with the softer, subtler scent of Susannah’s perfume.

Susannah Jorgenson.

He still couldn’t quite believe the stunningly beautiful Alamo Ranger he was going to be working with for the next nine days was the knobby-kneed tomboy who’d followed him around when he was a kid.

“He’s trespassing on private property.” And he’d knocked Susannah to the ground.

“Trespassing? You know I wouldn’t do something like that, Susannah.” The words were slurred, the man obviously drunk as a skunk.

“You are trespassing, Mitch. And you know it.” Susannah nudged Levi’s arm away, then helped the man turn over and sit up. Deep wrinkles and hollow cheeks told the story of too much excess. Threadbare clothes and duct-taped shoes told the story of something else. Desperation. Helplessness.

Levi knew the feeling of both those things.

Had known them since the day five months ago when his former captain, Gregory Pike, had been shot and killed in his own home.

“I fell asleep. You know how that happens with me sometimes.”

“You didn’t fall asleep. You passed out, and I told you that the next time you passed out on the compound I was going to call the police and have them take you away and dry you out.”

“Now, you wouldn’t do that to me, would you, girl?” The man ambled to his feet, his movements slow and ungainly.

“I should. I really should.” Susannah reached out and grabbed the guy’s arm, holding him steady when it looked like he might tip over.

“Fell asleep is all. Woke up and thought I’d better get out of here before I got myself into trouble. Tripped and fell into the door. Knocked the lid off a trash can near the barracks. Sorry about that.”

“Passing out, falling asleep, neither of them are things I want you doing here. Especially not after hours. Now, where were you? I checked this compound twice in the past couple of hours, and I didn’t see you.”

“Behind the barracks.”

“You weren’t there when we closed.”

“Don’t know about that, doll. I came right in the gate. Just like I always do.”

“Which gate?” She took Mitch by the arm, leading him back toward the chapel.

“Houston Street. Came in near the museum. Couldn’t get inside the building, though.”

“Because we’re closed.”

“Then why’s the gate open?” Mitch’s words were barely intelligible, and Levi was surprised he was still on his feet.

“That’s a good question.” Susannah led Mitch through the chapel, ushered him to the doors, barely meeting Levi’s eyes. He could sense her tension, see the frown line between her brows.

She’d said she’d locked up, checked to make sure no one was there. Now they were escorting a drunk off the premises. That didn’t bode well for the overall security of the compound, but Levi wouldn’t say that. He’d tour the area with Susannah, make a thorough assessment of its strengths and weaknesses and come up with a plan of action that would satisfy the Alamo Planning Committee and the members of Texas Rangers Company D.

“Do you want me to call you a cab? Have it take you to the mission for the night?” Susannah asked as she stepped outside the chapel with Mitch.

“I got a place to stay, doll. Don’t you worry.” The guy stumbled away. Susannah watched him go, the seconds stretching into a minute before she finally turned to face Levi.

“I need to go check that gate. You can stay in the chapel if you’d like. Look over the plans we’ve put together for March 6.” She looked drawn, her face leached of color, fear seeming to hover just beneath the surface of her eyes.

Was she afraid of Mitch?

Of Levi?

Of the fact that there’d been a trespasser on the compound while she was in charge?

“We haven’t finished the tour, so I guess I’ll come along. I wanted to see the garden where the ceremony will take place. I also need a count of gates and entrance points.”

“There are six gates plus the entrance to the chapel.” Moonlight fell across her face, highlighting deep hollows beneath her cheeks. She was thinner than Levi remembered, her face leaner, her shoulders narrow. Not delicate, but not the tough tomboy who’d played street hockey with the neighborhood boys.

“We’ll need a plan to make sure they’re secure on the day of the event.”

“Already taken care of. We’ll have a Ranger assigned to each gate.” She turned and led Levi back through the chapel and out into the compound, her silence so different from the Susannah he remembered that Levi couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

What had happened to the excitable little girl? The adolescent who’d poured her heart out to Levi as they’d sat on her parents’ porch swing?

She’d disappeared. Left a quiet, somber woman in her place.

A quiet, somber, beautiful woman in her place.

But, then, he’d always suspected that she’d grow into a beauty.

He didn’t try to fill the silence, just kept his peace as they walked toward a long, low building.

“This is the long barracks. It houses our museum. The gate Mitch was talking about is just to the east of it. I locked it after we closed for the day, so there’s no way it could be open. Mitch tends to drink too much, and then he gets confu…” Her voice trailed off as the gate came into view.

“It’s open.” Levi took the last few steps to the gate, scanning the street beyond. A few cars drove by and voices carried on the cold air.

“I closed the gate as soon as the last visitor left. Made sure it was locked.” Susannah flashed a light on the lock and examined it.

“Has it been tampered with?”

“Not that I can see.”

“Is it possible you forgot to lock it?”

“I’ve been doing this for four years, Levi. I didn’t forget.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe another security officer—”

“We don’t work that way. If another Ranger had been here, I’d have known it.” She stepped through the gate, looking up and down the street as if she expected to see someone standing there with a key.

“If you locked it, someone unlocked it.”

“Or the lock is faulty.” She closed the gate, locked it and then tried to pull it open again. It held tight.

“Looks like that’s not the case.” He gave it another tug for good measure.

“I need to call my boss. Let him know what’s going on.”

“We should get a team to scour the compound. Make sure whoever opened the gate isn’t still hanging around. Check to see if he left anything behind.”

“Right.” She pulled out her cell phone, speaking quietly as she hurried along the path that led to the chapel.

He followed more slowly, scanning the foliage and the deep shadows they created. It would be easy enough for someone to hide there. Easy at night, but easy during the day, too. He’d have security teams run sweeps of the grounds before and during the ceremony to make sure the compound was empty. Hopefully, it would be enough to keep their VIP guests safe.