Eagle Warrior

“I need to get Lisa back.” Was that her voice? It didn’t even sound like hers.

“I’ll have one of my officers fetch her,” said Jack.

“No!” Morgan headed out the door at a run and Ray caught her easily. He didn’t grab her or try to stop her, just jogged along beside her across the dirt and gravel that separated her door from the Herons’.

She burst through the back door to find Guy Heron alone in the kitchen with Lisa. He had a hold of each of her daughter’s shoulders. Every hair on Morgan’s neck lifted. At seeing Morgan, his expression changed from eagerness to guilt. His gaze flashed from her to Ray Strong, now standing behind her. Now she saw fear.

“Oh, hey,” said Guy. “Everything all right?”

Morgan glanced to Lisa. Her daughter looked frightened and she did not need to call to her. Morgan just lifted a hand and Lisa ran to her mother. Their hands clasped and Morgan drew herself up as she tugged Lisa behind her.

“We were just talking about what happened tonight. Just your dad’s room, huh?” Guy’s voice held a note of force levity but the room had gone deadly quiet.

“Take Lisa home,” said Ray.

Morgan turned to go and then paused as she recalled the man Ray had beaten in her house. She’d seen him dragged out by two officers. His face had been swollen, raw and bloody. Morgan glanced at Mr. Heron. The man had been interrogating her daughter. Morgan knew it and so did Mr. Strong. The fury and fear mingled into a hard lump in Morgan’s stomach. Then she looked at Ray Strong, who had dipped his chin and fixed his gaze on Guy in a way that seemed like anticipation. The muscles at his neck bunched in coiled potential energy.

He tore his gaze from Guy to meet hers.

“You’re hired, Mr. Strong.”

Chapter Six (#ue6e9b461-5dbd-5709-89ac-2ad1430d0b42)

Ray returned to Morgan’s kitchen to find Jack alone at the dinette taking notes on a notepad.

Ray’s head swiveled. “Where’s the girl?”

“Bedroom. Morgan’s with her. Lisa was crying.”

Ray’s fists clenched and he considered taking Lisa’s distress out on Mr. Heron.

“Everything okay?” asked Jack, lifting his chin in the direction of the neighbor.

“He’s not bleeding, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Ray briefly related the high points of his chat with her dorky, slimy neighbor.

“He knows from the girl that Karl had money. Not how much. But he’s already put two and two together.”

Ray hoped he had reached an understanding with Guy Heron. But in his experience, the one thing that trumped fear was greed.

“We’re done here,” said Jack. “You’ll be staying in her father’s room.”

Appropriate, he thought because her father and he shared certain things. They were both Turquoise Guardians, Apache men and they both had a tendency to break the law. The downside of the room choice was that Karl had a big bed and it was right across the hall from the tempting Morgan Hooke.

“You staying while I get my kit?” asked Ray.

Jack nodded and laced the fingers of his massive hands on the dining room table.

“Be back as quick as I can.”

* * *

RAY MOVED QUICKLY, scouting once around the perimeter before returning to Felix Potts’s home to retrieve his belongings. He returned from Potts’s house and moved his truck, parking prominently in the driveway beside Jack’s tribal police SUV. Then he pulled his olive green gunnysack over one shoulder and lifted his small duffel, which held mostly weapons.

When he reached the kitchen stoop he was greeted by a gray cat that meowed loudly. Then it stood and rubbed against his leg.

“You live here, too?” he asked.

He rapped on the door and let himself in. The cat scooted past him.

He found Jack leaning with his back to the sink beside Morgan who stood at the stove. The aroma of tomato soup and cooking macaroni greeted him. Morgan stopped stirring the contents of one pot and held the dripping spoon poised over it as she watched him drop his things beside the door, wipe his feet and step into the space. Maybe he should have knocked.

Jack pushed off the sink, which was good because Ray thought there was only one reason to stand that close to a woman. Jack was single. So was Morgan. It shouldn’t have mattered because Morgan was a job and a burden, yet her boyish looks had unexpectedly hit him down low and deep. So it did matter.

He glared at Jack, who lifted his brows in surprise and moved out of the kitchen.

“Need any help?” asked Jack.

Ray shook his head.

“I’ll check in tomorrow. Let you know what else we get from the bank manager.”

Since Jack wasn’t allowed to use his fists with the same liberty as Ray, he doubted he’d get much. Little dweebs like that always lawyered up.

Jack called a farewell to Lisa and then to Morgan.

“You’re in good hands, Morgan. I’d trust Ray Strong with my life. You can do the same.”

She thanked Jack with a sincerity that made Ray scowl all over again. He could see them together—naked. Ray rubbed his eyes. Jack shook his hand and headed out into the night. Ray locked the door behind him and found satisfaction in the click.

The cat rubbed against his leg and meowed loudly again.

“What?” Ray asked it. “If you want food you’re at the wrong human.”

“Cookie!” Morgan ran to the feline and lifted the boneless ball of fluff. “Where did you find her? Lisa will be so happy.”

In Ray’s experience cats never needed finding. Morgan squeezed the cat, which now hung over her shoulder, its green eyes watching Ray. Morgan carried the cat to Lisa’s room and was met with squeals of delight from the interior. When Morgan came back, her smile eased away at the sight of him still in her kitchen.

“How’s your girl?” asked Ray.

“Better now that she has Cookie.” Her smile was so sweet and so compelling, Ray took a step toward her before he realized he had moved.

“Detective Bear Den said that you would work for room and board as a favor to my father.” He’d work for nothing, but staying on site would make it much easier to guard Lisa and Morgan.

Morgan poured the macaroni into a colander in the sink, sending steam billowing upward.

If Morgan Hooke knew the location of the two hundred thousand dollars, would she be eating condensed soup for dinner?