Page 29 of Fury

“These things just happen sometimes, you know?”

“Not this time, Hol.” He worked to keep his tone even. “Think about it: your parents. The lab. The break-in here.” He came to his feet. “Ian Fleming said, ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence.’”

Hollyn stopped pacing, eyes wide, arms wrapped around her middle. “And three?—you mentioned three.”

He held her gaze. “Enemy action.” He exhaled heavily. “I do think we’re beyond coincidence here, Hollyn. It’s connected—your parents’ murder?—”

“Murder?”

“—the lab break-in, the break-in last night. To me, the pattern suggests someone close to the victim is responsible.”

She spun on her heel. “The victim—you mean my dad!”

“Ansel, yes. I think he knew who killed him. The pattern suggests?—”

“But not always. Right?”

Come on, Hollyn.Her piqued voice and frantic expression told him even she didn’t believe what she was desperate for him to agree with.

“Right?” she asked with more force.

“Not always, but?—”

“Then”—she flared her nostrils beneath the way she exclaimed that one word—“until we have some kind of hard evidence, I’m not going to be suspicious of the people closest to me.” She touched her temples. “I just . . . can’t. I can’t live that way.”

Davis frowned. Sighed. She was waist-deep in denial. “Fine.”

Hollyn was going to continue to see the good in people. That’s just who she was. Who she’d always been. He, on the other hand, had been around the block too many times and knew few people were really good. In fact, he recalled a Bible verse that said no one was good but God. That was a rule by which he approached life and ops.

Was that callous? Maybe. But he’d been tasked with ending too many snakes in this world to think differently.

Wouldn’t stop her, though. If she was willing to stake her trust in them, so be it.

As far as he was concerned, the list of suspects numbered two, and he wouldn’t stop till he narrowed it down to one.

6

ABU DHABI, UAE

Davis wokeup in a foul mood the next morning. Arguing with Hollyn had always grated on him. Looked like that hadn’t changed after years apart. Usually, he could keep things from getting to him, but for some reason, the aftermath of yesterday was messing with his head the second his eyes opened. It wasn’t like he enjoyed saying her friends were suspects, but when the obvious was staring you down, it was moronic to look away.

Add that garbage to a shoulder he’d definitely slept on wrong, and he was about ready to punch something. Sitting on the side of the bed, he rubbed his deltoid. Gritted his teeth.

Was this thing ever going to heal? According to the docs, he shouldn’t be in this much pain anymore.

“So much for that,” he murmured to himself. Grabbed some meds from the nightstand and downed them dry. If his current luck held, things weren’t going to get better.

The smell of fresh coffee filled the room. His stomach growled.

At the door, Fury stood ready. Tail wagging, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. A very familiar look filled the shepherd’s amber eyes. This guy didn’t have the intensity of the Mals some of Davis’s buddies worked with, but his drive was much higher than a non-working-line GSD nevertheless.

Always liked to be moving and was choosy with the people he liked.

“I’m coming.” Davis shoved off the bed. He grabbed a T-shirt. Threaded his arms in and tugged it down before he strode out to the living room with Fury.

The RMWD trotted over to the couch where Hollyn was reading a book. Rested his head on her lap.

Well, call him a liar, then. Never, in all the years he’d worked with the lug, had Fury been one for just sitting down. Especially not with a civvy. But there was no denying the dog had a thing for Hollyn.

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