Chapter 5 Alisha （Parker） Decker （Matt’s Daughter）
ALISHA (PARKER) DECKER (MATT’S DAUGHTER)
“Once we get the green light, we’ll head to Paula’s house in Key West and pick up the kids,” Alisha told Carrie and Matt. Her fingers tightened around the phone. “We’ll bring them straight back.”
Carrie sounded relieved. Matt did too, yet something threaded through his voice that didn’t match relief. It sounded like worry held underwater. Alisha heard it and let it pass. Questions could wait until she had Cody under her arm.
Carrie filled the silence. “We have one injured party here who needs a hospital. Oscar. He delivers mail on the island. We found him on the beach trying to find shelter when he had an accident.”
Alisha glanced at Trent. His eyes showed doubt, but he kept his face steady. “I’ll arrange a helicopter,” he said. “We can get him off the island.”
“We’ll be back as soon as we have the kids,” Alisha promised. “We’ll come with the helicopter if that’s what you arrange.”
They ended the call. The dial tone hummed for a breath before Trent lowered the receiver. He looked at her.
“Is it just me, or were our parents keeping things from us?” he asked.
“It was not just you,” Alisha said. The tightness in her chest eased a little simply because he had said it first.
Deputy Chief Whitaker appeared at the doorway with a small nod. “All clear,” she said. “You can pick up the children. Do you want an escort?”
Trent shook his head. “We’ll be fine.”
Minutes later, Alisha had her dry-cleaned clothes in a small bag, her headbandage tidy, and her hair twisted back.
They stepped into the night. The storm had thinned to a fine mist that glazed the streets.
Paula lived close to the building, so they walked.
The air smelled like wet limestone and sea.
“It has been quite the evening,” Trent said, his voice low as they moved past shuttered storefronts and flickering streetlights.
Alisha touched the tender spot at her hairline and winced. The memory of the blow flashed again. The shock. The helpless drop into the dark. She nodded once.
“Yes.” She didn’t trust her voice with more than that.
He kept to her pace. His presence steadied her, whether she liked it or not. She had not felt that safe since Tom. The thought startled her. She pushed it aside as they reached Paula’s gate.
Trent knocked. Footsteps hurried down a hall. The door opened to Paula’s quick smile, and then the house filled with sound. Maggie barreled down the hallway and launched herself at Trent. Cody followed and slammed into Alisha with a sob that turned into a laugh.
“Mom, are you okay?” Cody asked, hands on her cheeks as if to make sure she was real.
“I am okay,” she said. She kissed his forehead and held him hard. She felt his small heart thudding against her. “I’m so sorry, my baby.” She pushed him back a little to look at him. “Are you hurt?”
He shook his head. “No. Paula helped us.”
Maggie had already wrapped her arms around Trent’s neck. Her face lifted, and surprised delight lit her eyes. “Uncle Trent? What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming for another week.”
“I got off early,” he said, managing a smile for her.
Maggie shifted. Her head bumped his side. He winced so fast most people would have missed it. Alisha did not. She filed it away. He was not only in Florida early. He was injured.
Trent’s phone rang. He stepped aside and answered with an even voice. Paula ushered them in and offered coffee. Alisha was about to say yes when Trent ended his call and turned to Paula.
“It was nice to meet you,” he said. His tone was polite.
Something passed between them that felt practiced.
Alisha caught it, and her suspicion pricked again.
Did these two know each other? “We have to go. A helicopter will collect a young man, whom my mom said was injured on the island, and take him to the hospital. We have been invited to fly back to the island on that same bird.”
“Did you say Oscar?” Paula asked, her eyes bright with concern.
“Yes,” Trent said.
“I’m coming with you,” Paula said. “Let me get my purse.”
Alisha and Trent shared a look. Surprise, then acceptance. The children had already become excited at the mention of a helicopter ride. There would be no keeping them calm until they were on board.
They moved quickly. The helicopter thumped over Key West and then skimmed the dark water.
The lights of the island came up like a small constellation.
Wind buffeted the cabin. Maggie squeezed Trent’s hand.
Cody pressed into Alisha’s side. She kept one arm around him and watched the pilot’s jaw as he guided them down.
They set down as close to Lori’s house as the pilot could manage.
The rotors slowed. The door slid open to the wet air, accompanied by the sharp scent of pine and salt.
Medics moved in a practiced flow across the lawn toward the porch.
The front door opened. Alisha saw her father first, strong and steady in the doorway.
Beside him stood Carrie, a man she did not know, and a younger man, one-legged and wearing a thick bandage around the other.
The medics swept past them and went to work. The children slipped free, ran for Carrie and Matt, and were gathered in with tears and laughter. Alisha followed with Trent beside her. She kept her eyes on what was going on around them and on him, both at once.
“Who are you really, Trent?” she asked under her breath. She stopped just short of Lori’s garden gate, and he stopped too. They stood a little apart from the reunion, as if they were only observers.
“I’m Trent Ryder,” he said. One eyebrow lifted. “Is your head injury flaring up?”
She ignored the comment about her head injury.
“I’m sure that is your name,” Alisha said.
She touched two fingers to his side, gentle but pointed.
He flinched but did not catch her hand as he worked through the pain in a way that only the trained eye would notice.
“I also know you did not just get off early. You’re hurt and were probably put on medical leave.
” Her eyes narrowed as she held his. “What I do not know is if you’re a good man or a bad one.
Because I’m more than sure you are lying about working for the FBI.
” She tilted her head. “That operations facility we were in last night was no FBI special operations building.”
His eyes widened. He drew a breath. Before he could speak, they were engulfed by their parents.
Children. Voices. And while this conversation was far from over between them, Alisha turned and smiled at her father as his strong arms grabbed her and pulled her to him. Relief tumbled over everything else.
Carrie could not stop the tears as Maggie threw herself into her arms. “Oh, sweetheart, are you okay?” Carrie asked, her voice shaking with love and fear and relief all at once.
“I’m okay,” Maggie said. She pulled back enough to show a brave smile. Words poured out of her about the mall and the purse and the man who fell, sentences stacking on one another. Carrie smoothed her hair and kissed her temple.
Out of the corner of her eye, Alisha saw Matt fold Cody into his chest as he kept an arm around Alisha.
She heard the breath Matt let out, low and rough, and the word thank you that left him as if it had been held for hours as Paula’s eyes locked with Matt’s.
She nodded before turning toward the stretcher that was being lifted to carry the young man.
Paula’s voice carried over to them. “Oscar.” She hurried forward, eyes sharp with worry. “What happened?” She reached his side and kissed his forehead, her hands moving over him like a quick scan for harm.
“I’m okay,” Oscar said with a half laugh that sounded more like a wince. “Really.”
Carrie and Matt watched, confusion pulling at their faces.
The medics rolled the stretcher. Oscar lifted a hand.
“Wait,” he said, and they paused. He turned to Paula first. “Carrie and Matt really looked after me.” He shifted his head toward them.
“Thank you. I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused. ”
“Oscar,” Paula said, exasperation and relief tangling in her voice. “What have you done now?”
“Nothing. I promise, Mom,” Oscar said.
The word landed, eliciting a gasp from Carrie and Matt as they gaped at mother and son. Alisha turned and frowned at them, wondering what that was all about.
Before she could say anything, she felt Trent at her shoulder, close enough that she could sense the heat of him through his shirt. She didn’t look at him. Alisha kept her eyes on the people she loved and on the woman who had saved them, who now stood with her son.
The medics moved again and guided the stretcher toward the helicopter.
Paula took Oscar’s hand and walked alongside him.
Her face was set with that look of a mother whose only concern at the moment was for the welfare of her child.
That’s when Alisha realized she had yet to thank Paula for what she’d done.
“Paula, wait,” Alisha said, and the woman turned, giving Alisha a curious look.
Alisha rushed forward and hugged Paula. “Thank you. Thank you for saving Cody and Maggie. I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t been at the right place at the right time.”
Paula’s eyes softened as she used her free arm to hug Alisha back. “I’m just glad I got there in time,” she said, her words sending alarm bells ringing in Alisha’s head, but she shook them away as she straightened and looked at Oscar. “I hope you get better soon.”
“Thanks,” Oscar said. “I hope so too. I need this leg to surf and skate.”
“You won’t be doing any of that for a while,” Trent’s voice sent a shiver down Alisha’s spine as he stepped up beside her. “Alisha, do you mind if I have a word with Paula and Oscar… alone?”
Alisha’s brows rose. “Sure,” she said, forcing a smile. “Thank you again, Paula.” With that, Alisha walked back toward Lori’s garden gate, where her father stood holding Cody on his hip with Carrie, who was holding Maggie in front of her, watching them.
As she made her way toward them, Alisha’s thoughts dipped for a breath to Tom.
To a year of uniforms and folded flags and how silence can be so loud.
She was still married to the world on paper.
She told people that truth because it felt like armor.
She could feel the weight of the chain under her collarbone, where she wore all three rings.
They steadied her and kept Tom close to her heart.
A hand brushed her elbow. She turned, surprised that she was already at the gate, and found Carrie smiling warmly at her. “Thank you,” Carrie whispered. “For bringing Maggie home.”
Alisha nodded. The words stuck in her throat.
She did not say that she had been terrified.
She did not say that she had seen Trent move through the storm like he had done it before and had felt safe for the first time in years.
She only squeezed Carrie’s hand and let her go.
“I should be apologizing.” Her voice stuck in her throat. “I was the one who lost them.”
“Don’t put that on yourself.” Carrie’s eyes were warm, and her voice brooked no argument. “None of what happened was your fault.”
“No, it was not,” Matt agreed with Carrie.
Her eyes met her father’s, and she gave him a small smile before turning toward Trent.
He stood a few yards away, his dark head bent close to Paula’s as the medics strapped Oscar down.
Alisha couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the sight unsettled her.
Whatever words passed between them, Paula’s face was intent, and Trent’s was unreadable.
That unreadability was what gnawed at her and intrigued the heck out of her.
“What are Trent and Paula talking about?” Carrie asked softly, as though she too felt the shift in the air.
“I’m not sure,” Alisha replied. The honesty was easier than admitting the truth: she had been inventing explanations for Trent all day.
Explanations that made him sound like a man who belonged here.
A man she could trust. The realization startled her.
She had no right to be defending him, and yet she had.
And the strangest part—she had done it instinctively, the same way she had once explained Tom to her mother after that first meeting years ago. It’s strange, Mom, but I feel like I’ve known him my whole life.
Her mother’s smile had been gentle, knowing. That’s love at first sight, sweetheart. The soul knows when it’s found the one.
The echo of that memory cut sharply now, a betrayal of everything she had built since Tom’s death. Love at first sight? That was foolish. Dangerous. And Trent Ryder was dangerous. He wasn’t just hiding secrets. He was his secrets.
Yet her heart didn’t listen. It flipped when he turned back toward them, and the traitorous beat thrilled through her even as her mind warned her she was standing on the edge of something she might not come back from.
He grinned, masking the shadows in his eyes, and Carrie pulled him into her arms with relief that was pure and real.
Alisha watched the exchange, her chest tightening.
She could see the good son, the devoted agent, the steady presence her father admired.
But she had also seen the flinch at his ribs, the quiet familiarity with Paula, and the calculated way he had steered them all night.
And in that moment, Alisha knew two things for certain.
She was already in trouble where Trent Ryder was concerned.
And whatever storm had brought them together was only just the beginning.