Page 17 of Silos and Sabotage

Gage pointed at the pizza box lying closed on the silver roller cart beside the bed. “Are you hungry?”

“I’m always hungry.” Johnny swaggered farther into the room, looking like G.I. Joe in his all-black Lonestar uniform. He had way more gadgets than necessary jammed into his cargo vest and pants. It was as if he was going out of his way to look tough. Either that, or he was trying to impress Ella.

It didn’t make Gage feel any better that Johnny looked a good five years younger than him. Maybe more. He also didn’t like the curious once-over Johnny gave Ella while she was sleeping. He liked the low whistle Johnny let out afterward even less.

He wracked his brain, trying to remember what he knew about the guy’s background. Unless he was getting him mixed up with someone else, Johnny had been a bull rider when he’d landed on the radar of the original owners, Josh Hawling and Decker Kingston. Josh and Deck had recently added retired Sheriff Gil Remington to their partnership, along with the town attorney, Dave Phillips, who also happened to be Gil’s best friend. He’d become the fourth and final partner in The Tetrad, as the four friends liked to call themselves.

“No wonder you took first shift.” Johnny sounded envious as he took an oversized bite of the two slices of pizza he’d smashed together like a sandwich. Whatever he said next was too muffled to understand.

“Ella and I go way back,” Gage announced vaguely. He didn’t care that he was stretching the truth a little. He just wanted the guy’s eyeballs off of her.

Johnny waved a finger between Gage and Ella. “So, you and she?—”

“Go way back,” Gage repeated testily.

Johnny took another bite that was even bigger than the last one. Then he pivoted toward the door. “I see.” He seemed to enjoy speaking with food in his mouth.

Gage tried to take comfort in the fact that the muscle-bound former bull rider sounded like he had more brawn than brains. Since Ella had mentioned going to college, maybe she’d find his poor table manners off putting.

Johnny poked his head around the door a half hour later without bothering to knock. “You going home anytime soon?” His question was accompanied by another curious glance toward the sleeping woman on the bed.

“Nope.” Gage settled deeper in his chair, wishing he had something to prop his feet on. It was going to be a long night.

“Visiting hours are almost over,” Johnny pointed out.

Gage was well aware of the posted schedule for guests, but he was more than a guest. “I’m staying until they kick me out.” To emphasize his point, he pulled off his boots and propped his sock feet on the edge of Ella’s bed.

“Suit yourself.” Johnny shrugged and backed into the hallway to resume his vigil.

Chapter 4: Back from the Dead

Two days later

Ella stood in front of the mirror in the hospital bathroom, feeling like she’d been handed a get-out-of-jail-free card.I’m blowing this popsicle stand.She grimaced at her reflection in the mirror, hating how gaunt and pale she looked in the clean red-and-white plaid shirt and black yoga pants Gage had scrounged up for her. She tried not to think about the horrific red sores peppering her shoulders, buttocks, and the backs of her feet and legs.

Wherever she’d spent the last five years, she certainly hadn’t been running marathons. Thankfully, the sores were healing. It would take time, but her doctor was hopeful that she hadn’t suffered any permanent skin damage. That in itself felt like another miracle.

Five whole years!It was an awfully long span of time to be missing from a person’s memories. Though her recollections were crystal clear about her life leading up to that point, the five years themselves remained hazy. It felt like she was looking at them through a camera lens that refused to come into focus. It was so frustrating.

The doctor on duty had just this morning explained that the holes in her memories were a coping mechanism. It was her mind’s way of shielding her from the pain of whatever trauma she’d endured. He’d further advised her to be patient until her memories returned. He’d also warned her that they might not come back at all.

Though Ella hadn’t shared the sordid details with him about the homicide she’d witnessed, she knew exactly what trauma he was referring to. She’d discussed it at length already with both Gage and Sheriff Luke Hawling. She had a sneaking suspicion they’d be discussing it again soon.

But she’d lived to tell the tale. That was the most important takeaway. She was alive, had a new prescription for her anti-rejection meds in hand, and was back to plotting how she was going to seek justice for her father. Like Gage, she was appalled that the Corpus Christi police hadn’t made more progress on his case yet. It sounded like they’d long since stashed his file in their drawer of cold cases.

Locating Gage Dream Boat Hefner was the first step in her plan to warm up her father’s homicide case. She was still wrapping her brain around the fact that she’d actually found Gage. Though her memories surrounding her journey to Heart Lake were still murky, the details were coming back in bits and pieces.

At some point in time —it could’ve been weeks or even months ago — she’d exited the place she’d been staying in and walked to the bank to withdraw every penny of her account in cash. Then she’d hitchhiked her way out of the city on the passenger seat of a dump truck. Somewhere along the way, she’d gotten her hands on a copy of a map depicting all the major cities and highways in Texas. That had really helped. She’d used it to track Gage Hefner from his last duty station to the town he’d retired in.

And here I am.

Waiting for the hunkiest guy on the planet to come give her a ride.

The photos her dad had shown her from Gage’s Ranger School graduation ceremony hadn’t come close to doing him justice. He was a melt-your-heart-to-a-puddle kind of guy. She couldn’t believe he was still single.

Non-biological brother, my hide!She might be missing a bunch of her memories, but she hadn’t been born yesterday. She’d seen the way he’d looked at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. Just remembering his unguarded expression when he thought she was sleeping this morning made her heart race like a whole herd of wild horses.

He saw her as a woman. Not one in the sister department, either, for which she was wildly grateful. It was his silent male admiration that had given her the boost she needed to scrape her sore, tired body out of bed and face what came next.

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