Page 8 of Lone Star Witness

Which, of course, she was.

But as if she were a desirable woman. Which she wasn’t. Well, she didn’t want to be anyway.

“Rosa,” he muttered as if reminding himself of what they had to do. “Then, I find Smith and kick his ass.”

“Are you capable of that?” Marise blurted. “I mean, because you’re all banged up.”

He flashed her a smirky smile. “I’m always capable of some ass-kicking,” he said and tapped his finger on her nose. “Lead the way to the colonel.”

She did, but it was only on the walk to the residents’ quarters that she realized that Rosa might be asleep. She wouldn’t like waking him, but then they had to know what was going on.

“How good is the security system here?” he asked as they threaded through the corridor and passed the duty nurse’s station where the night nurse, Stu Barker, was working on the computer.

Stu and she exchanged a nod, and Slade and she proceeded to the elevator. Normally, she took the stairs, but Marise thought Slade’s aching body might appreciate the reprieve.

“The security system is good but not great,” she admitted, pressing the button to the third floor. “While I was waiting for you, I made some calls about having it upgraded. Not a fast process since it’ll need to be approved and funded.”

“I can arrange for something temporary,” he offered. “More full-proof cams and some sensors that’ll go off if an intruder makes it past the primary system. When is your shift over?” he added.

“I don’t actually have a shift. I work as needed.”

“Which is often and all the time,” he remarked.

Marise made a sound of agreement. “Pretty much. But I’m off for the next two days. Twice a month, the founder of the facility, Sarah Eccleston, likes to come in and work a weekend. She’s a nurse.” And that was a reminder to let Sarah know about the incidents with Smith.

They stepped off the elevator, immediately facing the door for 301, Rosa’s room. Which wasn’t closed.

That put Marise on full alert.

Most residents, including Rosa, shut their doors at night. Sometimes, they even locked them if they didn’t require nightly doses of medication from a nurse. Which Rosa didn’t.

Slade must have been alarmed, too, because he stepped in front of her, and using his uninjured forearm, he eased open the door.

The room was pitch black, thanks to the curtains being closed, but there was enough light from the corridor that Marise could see the bed was empty. She didn’t call out to the colonel. She just stood there a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.

Slade’s eyes must have adjusted before hers because he took one step inside the room. Just one.

Before the man came charging at him.

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Chapter Three

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Slade caught the blur of motion before the blur—a man—rammed into him. For the second time tonight, Slade felt that sharp slam of pain shoot through too many parts of his body. Specifically his ribs that had already been aching like a bad tooth.

In a flash, his mood went from worry over Rosa to white-hot anger. Anger that canceled the pain and gave him a much needed jolt of adrenaline. He caught onto the charging man who’d basically rammed his head into Slade’s chest, and he slung the idiot hard against the wall.

Through the clarity of the adrenaline and the anger, Slade expected to see the asshole who’d been calling himself Jack Smith. He sure as hell hadn’t expected for his attacker to be Colonel Rosa.

Rosa staggered, falling back onto a chair. He took out a lamp and a table of paperbacks along the way, and the items clattered and crashed to the floor.

“Colonel,” Slade managed to say, and he got a hit of another emotion. A sickening dread that he’d just hurt his former commander. He was about to start issuing a whole lot of apologies.

When Rosa bolted from the chair and charged at him again.

Rosa would have rammed into him again if Slade hadn’t wrapped his arms around him to stop him. Still, the impact hurt like the devil since the colonel wasn’t exactly staying still. He was fighting like a wildcat to get free.

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