Page 28 of Caught in the Crossfire

Trent walked in, hair still glistening from a shower. He was dressed in the typical Fortress uniform of black cargo pants and black t-shirt. “All quiet?” he asked Mason.

“The only movement I saw was a white cat out hunting.”

“Snowball.” Grace grabbed more mugs from the cabinet. “He loves to hunt at night.”

“You’re off duty, Mase.” Trent clapped him on the shoulder.

He turned away from his watch position. “I’ll let you know if I can’t line up the glass replacement today.”

Mason walked into the living room in time to see Nicole lower the foot rest of the recliner. He kissed her. “How do you feel?”

“Not bad considering a hard object collided with my head yesterday. No nausea this morning and my headache is manageable. I need to go home to get ready for work and so does Dawn.”

The other groomer swung her feet to the floor in front of the couch and sat up. “Any chance you can drop us off before you head to work?”

“I’ll take you ladies to your vehicles.” Linc walked into the living room. “Josh checked them an hour ago. They’re clean.”

Nicole frowned. “Why would someone…” Her voice trailed off as she understood the implication of Linc’s statement. “The killer might have circled back and either planted a bomb or tampered with something.”

Linc nodded.

“How would the killer reach the vehicles with the police at Riva’s place overnight?”

“I could do it. Bravo and Durango could slip in and rig the vehicles. It’s not as hard as you think. Just takes a bit of luck and stealth.”

“Comforting thought.” Dawn grimaced. “Now I’ll be paranoid every time I start up my truck.”

“Caution is always wise,” Trent said as he walked into the room with mugs of coffee for Mason and Linc. “Plan’s the same?”

Linc glanced at Mason, eyebrow raised in silent question.

Mason nodded. He didn’t like handing off responsibility for Nicole’s safety to someone else, but he didn’t have much choice.

His bride-to-be frowned. “What plan?”

“Linc will stay at Pet Palace until I’m off work at 3:00. I’ll take over guard duty so he can teach a night class for the instructor covering Linc’s day classes.”

“I’m bringing lunch.” Trent smiled. “A food delivery from That’s A Wrap is acceptable for lunch?”

Nicole and Dawn looked at each other. “Babysitters.” Nicole sounded disgusted. “That’s not necessary, you know.”

Mason wrapped his hand around hers. “While you’re capable of defending yourself, that doesn’t mean you have to shoulder the burden alone.” Not while he drew breath. He wanted to shield her from danger.

Dawn smiled. “Nice dodge, Mason.”

“Effective, too.” Nicole narrowed her eyes at him. “I’ll let you get by with it this time.”

He’d take that for a start and come up with other angles to protect her as long as the threat to her life remained. “Are you hungry?”

“A little. Not much is open this early, though.”

“I can stop at Delaney’s, Perk, or the bakery for to-go breakfast for the four of us. Your choice.”

Nicole looked at her friend. “Perk?”

“Fine with me. Linc?”

“Any of those options work for me.”

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