Chapter Eleven
SEDONA GROWLED. “WHY can’t I remember?” This was ridiculous. She usually had excellent recall, so why couldn’t she remember what was nagging at her?
Cam and David exchanged grim glances but said nothing.
Oh, no. She wasn’t letting any explanation for the hole in her memory slip by without at least hearing it. “Let’s hear it, boys. You obviously have some idea why my memory is sketchy, so I want to know what you think.” She prayed what happened hadn’t damaged her brain.
David gave Cam a chin lift.
Cam grimaced.
Sedona narrowed her eyes. “Someone had better talk before I’m ticked off.” She was running out of patience and half terrified of the explanation.
“Look, whatever we tell you is purely speculation unless you remember significant details that discount our theory. There’s an easy, logical explanation for the gap in your memory.”
“Which is?”
He swallowed hard. “Ketamine.”
She stilled. “Isn’t that used on animals?”
“Yeah. People, too. When it’s used on people, Special K can cause significant memory loss.”
“How will I know if I was drugged?”
“The ER doctor sent a blood sample to the lab. Hopefully, that will give us the proof we need to confirm or deny the use of a drug to subdue you.”
Sedona thought about that for a few seconds. “How is the drug administered?”
“Capsule, IV, or a shot.”
A spark of memory flashed through her mind too fast to grasp and examine. One thing was clear, though. She remembered the pain in her neck. Her gaze locked with Cam’s. “Check my neck.”
Cam scowled as his gaze dropped to her neck. “I know about the bruises.”
“Bruises?” She frowned. “Why do I have bruises?” Another memory sparked.
Serpent was angry. His hard hands squeezed her neck.
She had thought he would kill her. “This isn’t about those.
When you mentioned someone possibly drugging me with Ketamine, a memory sparked of pain in my neck. I’m not even sure if it’s real.”
David went to his filing cabinet and opened the top drawer. A moment later, he pulled out a flashlight. “Which side?”
“Right.” Would the men find anything, or was she imagining the pain?
David stepped closer to Sedona. “I’ll hold the flashlight. You examine her neck.”
After a slight nod, Cam focused on Sedona. “May I touch your neck and face?”
Her eyes flooded with tears as she nodded. He was so careful with her. From seeing him in action for several weeks, she knew that was his norm with female victims or witnesses. Suspects were another matter. The interrogation room was the great equalizer.
“Are you sure, Sedona?” he whispered. “I’ll understand if you would rather no one touch you. I can work around it. I only want to give your neck support for a couple of minutes.”
She rested her hand over his heart. “It’s fine. I’m not in a panic. I won’t run.”
“I haven’t touched you yet.”
“Do it. You’ll see.” Would Cam take her word or assume she couldn’t handle it and come up with another solution?
After a moment spent looking into her eyes, Cam nodded slightly and slowly moved his left hand toward Sedona’s face until his hand settled on the left side of her neck. “Shine the light here,” he said to David.
The next several minutes were nerve-racking for Sedona, but not in the way Cam had expected.
Her problem was not that she didn’t want a man to touch her.
Nope, her problem was she wanted just one man to touch her, Cam Sims. She ought to tell him that soon.
Talk about putting yourself out there. Worth it, though.
Cam’s hold on her neck was gentle. No pressure, just warmth and comfort, and a light bright enough to illuminate an entire city. She squinted against the brightness.
“Close your eyes,” Cam said, although he didn’t take his attention from his task.
“Why is it so bright?”
“We use it on patrol. Lights up dark spaces, and in a pinch serves as a weapon.”
“A multiuse tool, huh?”
“Everything we carry can be a weapon if you know what to do with it.”
His thumb stroked her skin, causing her to shiver. Wow.
Cam froze. “Everything okay?”
She almost purred. “Oh, yes. Feels good.”
His gaze jumped to hers as David chuckled. “You’re quite a distraction. Close your eyes for me. David, move the light to the right.”
The second Sedona obeyed the order, she knew it was a mistake. No visual stimulation meant all other senses were heightened, including feeling Cam’s touch against her skin. She felt when Cam discovered something.
His muscles stiffened. “David, look at this.”
After a period of silence, the sheriff sighed. “I agree.”
Sedona turned her head to look up at Cam. “What is it?”
“Signs of an injection. You were right. Someone drugged you.”
Relief that she hadn’t imagined the pain of the needle entering her muscle caused Sedona’s knees to weaken.
Cam caught her and pulled her against him. “Hey, are you all right?”
She nodded. “Just relieved I didn’t imagine the shot.”
David said, “Until the hospital lab processes your blood sample, we won’t know what the kidnappers pumped into your system.”
“How long will that take?”
“Don’t know.” He circled his desk to sit in his office chair. “I’ll call and give them a push.”
David pulled out his phone and tapped out the number. In seconds, he was talking to one of the lab techs. A minute later, he ended the call. “They’ll have the results in an hour. We would have already had them, but the tech originally assigned to the case had to leave because of a sick child.”
The block of ice in her stomach melted. “Good. Thanks for checking on it.”
“Sure.” The sheriff shifted his attention to Cam. “You’re off duty until I tell you otherwise.”
Cam said nothing for several long seconds. “Why, sir?”
“You look like a man who never leaves a job undone. Am I correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
He gave a slight nod. “Then you won’t be able to concentrate on your patrol duties if you’re separated from Sedona. Am I correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“So, how do you want to handle this?”
“I’ll protect Sedona until the person behind the kidnapping is in jail.”
David studied his face a moment, then said, “Agreed as long as you have backup and are available for Search and Rescue operations should we have need of you.”
“Copy that, sir.”
Sedona frowned. “Wait a minute. Why do you want him available for SAR operations?”
Amusement filled his eyes. “You don’t know?”
Her cheeks burned. What secret had Cam been keeping? “Obviously not. What have I missed?”
“Your boyfriend is an expert tracker.”
Her head whipped toward Cam. “No kidding?”
He held up his hand. “Truth.”
“Where did you learn to do that?”
“My grandfather taught me. The Army did the rest.”
“Is that how you found me so quickly? You tracked me?”
“In a way.” He shrugged. “A tech at Fortress Security tracked your phone and sent me the information.”
Once again, she acknowledged how fortunate she was. If the men had realized she still had her phone, they might have confiscated it. That would have meant a long, chilly night spent in a tree, praying the kidnappers would give up. “I’m glad you found me.”
He relaxed. “So am I, Tiger.”
His reaction puzzled Sedona. Cam acted as if he feared she would reject him. Why? She’d have to think about it. He must have had a reason.
“Back to my original question,” David said. “You plan to set yourself up as Sedona’s bodyguard. You know you can’t be distracted, and buddy, the lady definitely distracts you.”
Cam inclined his head. “I can’t deny it.”
“Knowing you, you have a plan. So let’s hear it. How do you plan to handle Sedona’s security?
“Draft help from men that I trust with my life.”
The sheriff frowned. “Who are we talking about?”
“Dario Lawson, Rhys Maldonado, Spencer Alford, and Isaac Barker. They were part of my military unit. I trust them to watch my six and Sedona’s.”
“If I run a background check on them, what will I find?”
“The same as mine.”
“Lots of reports of your exploits with ninety-nine percent of it redacted?”
Cam shrugged. “Same as all you Montgomerys.”
“You’re not wrong. If your team agrees to come, where are you taking Sedona?”
“An old Army buddy of mine has a friend with a really pleasant cabin, a three-story structure.”
“No.”
Both men turned to stare at her. “No?” Cam threaded his fingers through hers and motioned toward one of the visitor chairs.
When she settled into one, he took the other.
“You’ve already been kidnapped, Sedona. Even though we caught the three men, they weren’t the brains behind the plan.
Someone is out to hurt you, and I refuse to let that happen. ”
“I’m staying here. I have responsibilities at school, and I’m still cleaning out that monstrosity of a house, and one of my half-sisters is supposed to arrive at the end of the week. I don’t want her to see the house looking like someone from The Hoarders lived in there.”
“There are such things as substitutes, you know,” David snapped. “What’s more important, Sedona? Showing up at school where you will draw danger to your kids or protecting them by staying away?”
“That’s not fair.” How did she balance the conflicting needs of her life?
Those children needed her, but David was right.
If she did her job, the children might pay the price, like Julio did.
Why would anyone throw an innocent child into a lion’s enclosure just to get at her?
Made little sense. What if the man who sent the three kidnappers after her hired more thugs to grab her?
What if this time Cam interfered with their plans?
Tears burned in her eyes. He could die because there was no doubt in her mind that Cam would do his best to stop these men, but he would likely be outnumbered just like she was with the three kidnappers.
Cam’s brows knitted. “Hey, what’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”
Sedona shook her head and swiped at her eyes. “No, Cam. It’s me.”
“Tell me. Please.”
“You’re planning to stay with me full-time, right?”
“You bet.” He stilled. “Unless you don’t want me.”
Oh, no. He wasn’t going there. She wouldn’t let him. If only he knew the truth. “I’ll always want you. What worries me is that the mastermind understands you will stand between me and danger.”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m afraid he’ll devise a plan to trap or kill you in order to get me.”
His lips curved. “I’m counting on it.”
She stared. “Are you nuts?”
“Jury’s still out on that.”
The sheriff cleared his throat. “You know what he was in the military, right, Sedona?”
She caught that tone, the one that said she’d missed something important and David was reluctant to tell her the truth.
She’d heard that same tone of voice when the rest of the Montgomery brothers were worried about their wives being upset.
All right, worrying about how their wives took some upsetting piece of news earned them brownie points in her mind.
But treating her as though she were a dunce? Nope, not happening.
Sedona raised her chin to look David square in the eyes. “I know he was Special Forces. More specifically, he was Delta Force, the Cowboys of the Army.”
“Do you know what that means?”
“He’ll find a way to reach his objective and complete the mission. The mission is all. No backing down, no giving up. Just do it.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll stop before I sound even more like a shoe commercial.”
Both men laughed. Cam squeezed her fingers with his. “Here’s what you need to remember. If they come to me, we’re on my turf with my rules. If I go after them, they have the advantage. Their rules, their location, their game. I’d rather they came to me.”
She thought for a moment about what he said. “You’re setting a trap for them.”
He winked. “Very good. I knew I had chosen a smart woman.”
“This smart woman took too long to figure out that you were setting yourself up to control the game. You’ll play the victim, then turn the tables on them.”
“Excellent.” Cam beamed.
“I don’t like it.”
David whistled. “Hate to stop a good fight, but I still have questions, and no one is leaving until those questions are answered.”
Sedona grimaced. “Really? Come on, David. Have some pity on me. My head hurts, and I want to go home, even if I have to wade through all the junk Grandfather left me.”
“Nope. I’m all out of pity today.”
Great. Not. She wasn’t joking about the headache. Not only that, but her cheek throbbed like mad and her face felt funny. If she had to guess, Sedona would say that her face was swelling and turning colors like her neck.
Cam kept his hold on her hand as he sat down to face his boss. “What questions, sir?”
“Not you, Sims. I have questions for your lady.”
Of course he did. “What do you want to know?”
“An onlooker recorded the whole incident with the lion enclosure.”
She stared. “You’re kidding.”
“Afraid not. He was recording the lions for his son, who is crazy about the big cats.”
“Wow. Lucky me.” Oh, man. She swallowed hard. “What do you want to know?”
“I saw what you did.” David rose, placed his hands on the desk and leaned toward her. “You knew exactly what to do against a deadly predator. So, tell me, Sedona, how did you know what to do to save yourself, your boyfriend, and your student?”