Page 20 of Fast Justice

“Yeah, I know.” His words were going to haunt her. It seemed that while she’d been chasing down her goal of becoming a lawyer and being hired as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, she’d stopped living somewhere along the way.

Facing the mess on her desk after her brother left and shut the door behind him, that truth hit home harder than ever. A sinking feeling took hold in her gut and it was impossible to shake it off.

No, Rowan. You deliberately chose this. Just like you chose to walk away from what you might have had with Malcolm.

Regret settled heavy in her stomach, a hard lump she could no longer ignore. Yup, she’d made a big mistake with him. The question was, did she have the guts to try and fix it?

At least the food and pain relievers had made her feel better physically. Ready to put in another few hours, she sat at her desk and opened the file she’d been working on before Kevin showed up.

A loud boom from outside ripped through the quiet and shook the room, making her jolt.

“What the hell?” Heart hammering, she spun around in her chair to look out the window. What she saw made her heart lurch into her throat.

Down in the parking lot out front of the building, her rental car was on fire. And Kevin was lying crumpled on the sidewalk nearby it.

“Kevin,no!” Guilt and apprehension all but choked her. She shot to her feet, grabbing her cell phone to dial 911 as she raced for the door.

Chapter Seven

“Malcolm,” Pops said on the other end of the phone, a warm smile in his deep voice. “Good to hear your voice, son. Wait, it’s Tuesday. You got the day off?”

“No, I’m on a special assignment right now for my commander, but I had some downtime and thought I’d call home to check on you guys.” He leaned against the safehouse condo kitchen counter, gazing out at the city view beyond the living room window. Lockhart was down in the lobby checking with the building’s security team, and Oceane and Anya were settling into the bedrooms.

“Gram and I are both fine. What assignment are you on?”

“Protective detail,” was all he said, because he couldn’t say more.

“So you’re bored to tears then, and decided to call to kill some time.”

Mal grinned at Pops’s dry humor. “At least I called.” He and Lockhart were basically glorified babysitters for Oceane and her mother in this high-security condo not far from the capital. Out the eleventh-floor window on the east side of the unit, Mal could see the distinctive white dome of the capital building in the distance.

“True, and we’ll take what we can get. When are you coming home for a visit next?”

Always the same question. “Hopefully a short one at the end of summer. Might be a bit later than that, before we deploy to Afghanistan this fall.”

Pops grunted. “They keep you busy down there, that’s for certain.”

“They sure do.” Except right now this assignment was making him nuts. It gave him way too much time to sit around and think about things he ought not to. Meaning, Rowan. “How’s your blood pressure been lately?”

“Good.”

“Pops. How is it?”

“It’s fine,” Pops growled in annoyance. “Gram makes me check it three times a day. She knows way more about all my bodily functions than any wife ever should.”

“Because she loves you and wants to keep you around as long as possible.”

Another grunt. “You know, before I met her I asked God for a strong, loving woman. And lord have mercy, that woman isstrong.”

Mal laughed. “She had to be, to hold her own with you.” His grandparents were both strict but fair, and they’d provided Mal with a stable, loving home after losing his mother.

Pops was the disciplinarian. Mal had been expected to keep a tight routine while he lived with them, with bible reading in the morning before breakfast, grace before every meal, bible study after dinner, and prayers every night before bedtime. Church every Sunday without fail, staying to help with Sunday school and to serve and clean up the parish luncheon.

He’d hated Sundays with a passion back then, but in hindsight those community hours and scripture had helped forge the core of the man he was today. Pops had been the one to drive Mal with his schoolwork. He demanded respect and integrity, but he’d also given it back in return.

He’d also been the one to encourage Mal to join the military after high school, find a purpose and an outlet for the youthful energy and anger still burning inside him after his mother died so young. Without Pops there to push and guide him, Mal’s life might have turned out very differently.

“Just goes to show you, son. When you ask God for something, be careful what you wish for.”

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