Assassin's Promise, The Red Team Series, Book 5 (26 page)

Greer shot out of bed, stumbling across the room, more asleep than awake. His heart was beating as if it had stopped for a time and was racing to catch up. His body itched with sweat and fear. He realized finally he’d been having this dream for a while now. It was her eyes he’d been seeing. Sally’s dead eyes.
 

He pulled his jeans on and grabbed a T-shirt on his way out of his room, but didn’t pull it on until he was in the elevator heading to the bunker.

His fast stride rapidly moved him out of the weapons room and into ops. The room’s fans and the quiet whirring sounds coming from the servers were a balm to his ravaged senses. He sat in one of the wheeled office chairs and leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees so he could hold his head.
 

Safe in the presence of comforting technology, he let his mind replay his dream.
 

Was Sally dead? Or was her death only imminent? Geez, was the ghost he’d been seeing Sally, too? She seemed scared of her parents in the dream, but hadn’t been in real life. The woodcutter had said she was an orphan. What was the truth? After talking to Doc Beck about the bench they left in payment for Sally’s care, and then seeing the homespun clothes they’d dressed Sally in, Greer hadn’t been surprised to see their black buggy ride off into the night, taking her back to the Friendship Community.
 

Fuck. That should have set off alarms right there. Forty miles separated Wolf Creek Bend from the Friendship Community. And while they did sometimes come into town—or traveled even farther down to Cheyenne—that long of a trip would have been spread over a few days when done by horse and buggy. They would have had to camp somewhere along the way, unless they had a place to change out horses…or someone had helped them, someone with a couple of trailers, one for the horse and one for the buggy.

For them to make it down so quickly, they had to have been told Sally failed in her mission to kill Kit. Sally hadn’t been alone the night she came into Winchester’s to kill Kit.
 

Greer felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see the girl of his nightmares standing right there, with real eyes now. She wasn’t a ghost. She was corporeal. Relief washed through him. She smiled at him, then walked away. He followed her into the hallway. She opened one of the heavy steel doors that led to the delivery tunnel.

He hollered at her to wait, but she didn’t. She stepped through the door and into the absolute darkness beyond.

Greer rushed after her, but before he could get to the door, someone slammed him back against the wall between the bunkroom and the kitchen.
 

“What the hell are you doing, bro?” Max frowned at him.

Greer blinked, surprised by Max’s sudden appearance. “It’s Sally. She’s here.”

“No one’s here but us.”

“No, she was here. She just went out—” He looked over Max’s shoulder to the steel doors, both of which were closed. “She went into the tunnel.”

“That door hasn’t been opened in a couple of days. Check the logs.” Max’s eyes narrowed. “You’re sleepwalking, Greer.”

Greer sighed and leaned his back against the wall. Hell. Maybe he was. Maybe he’d been asleep the whole night. Was he still asleep? It felt so real, all of it. Seeing Sally just now. His nightmare before. “How do I know I’m not still asleep?”

Max slapped the flat of his palm against Greer’s forehead, banging his head against the wall. “Feel that?”

“Ouch.”

“I’d pinch you, but you’re not my type.”

Greer shoved free of Max’s hold. Stepping away, he set his hands on his hips and lowered his head, forcing himself to take a few long breaths.
 

“C’mon. You need some joe.” Max went into the kitchen.
 

Greer followed him, taking the mug of black coffee he was handed. “When did you make this?”

“While you were snoring in ops. I walked right past you.”
 

“What are you doing down here?” Greer asked.

“I was curious. We have a visitor in the house. I don’t like anyone making midnight trips to the bunker.” They both sipped the coffee. “What the fuck’s going on, Greer?”

“Sally’s haunting me.”

“She the ghost you were talking about when we were in the WKB silo?”

Greer nodded. “Yeah, but I didn’t know it then. You saw her on the satellite feed the night we met with the woodcutter.”

“No. I saw a glitch.”

“Whatever. She was there. I’ve seen her several times. I was chasing her through the woods when I met Remi. She was on the roof at Remi’s hideaway. She was here tonight.”

Max set his mug down on the counter and folded his arms. “Okay. Whether it’s your own brain trying to get a message to you or her ghost is actually talking to you, I’ll play along. What does she want from you?”

“I think she’s dead.”

“And how does this help us?”

He shook his head, shoving his fingers through his hair. “There’s something we’re not seeing.”

Max gave a humorless chuckle. “There’s a whole lot we’re not seeing.”

Greer started to pace the small area of the bunker’s kitchen. “The woodcutter said she was doing her tithe when she came to kill Kit.” He looked at Max. “The people who took her out of the hospital weren’t her parents.”

“Sorry, G. I don’t see her as a threat. She isn’t where our focus needs to be.”

“Except that every time shit’s going down, she pops in.” He looked at Max. “She has a message. An important one. I have to find out what it is.”

* * *

Greer came up the stairs through the secret access in the den. He could smell the delicious breakfast Kathy was making. He sniffed the air, catching a hint of cinnamon and coffee. His stomach growled. He almost made a detour to get the first taste of whatever that was, but he didn’t. He desperately needed a shower to wash away the strange night he’d spent.
 

He walked down the main hall on his way to the stairs in the south bedroom wing. Remi was coming down. She paused on the bottom step. Even a step up, she was a little shorter than him.
 

She looked so alive. Her eyes were bright, not hollows of searing light. Her skin was flushed. Her hair was shiny and loose. She smelled sweet, like an apple tree. Like springtime. Like life. She stepped down. He made a little room for her. They turned at the base of the stairs, still facing each other, only inches apart.
 

She reached up to touch his face. She left her hand there as she looked into his eyes. “Did you sleep well?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Not your fault.”

“We might have both slept better had we been together.”

“Mm-hmm.” His left hand reached for her hand as his right hand captured her jaw and neck. He stroked her skin softly with his thumb. “Do you keep your promises, Remi?”

She nodded. “I try to. I’ve learned not to make ones I can’t keep.”

“I promised Sally I would keep her safe, but I didn’t. She haunts me now.”

“Is that who you’ve been seeing? She’s Sally?”

“I think so.”

“You think she’s still alive?”

“No.”

“Then let’s find out what happened to her, give her justice, at least.”

“It’s gonna get bloody,” he warned.

Remi gave a nervous laugh as she looked up at him with her dark green eyes. “Are you afraid, Greer?”

His gaze moved back and forth between her eyes. “Afraid of the bad guys? No. Afraid I’ll never know what happened to Sally? Yes. Afraid of ghosts? Hell yes.” He released her and started up the steps.

“Greer,” she said when he was halfway up the stairs, “I believe you’ll keep your promise to me.”

He studied her over his shoulder, then pivoted and headed back down the steps. Without a word, he caught her face in his hands and crushed his mouth to hers. Her hands moved up his arms to hook over his shoulders. She opened to him, held herself against him.

Her touch chased the shadows away. He pulled back to look at her. He’d said he wouldn’t rush her, but giving her the space she needed to make up her mind about them was a whole lot harder than he’d expected.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Mandy was in the living room with Ivy later that morning, waiting for the latest prospective teacher to arrive for an interview. Max phoned her.
 

“Wynn Ratcliff’s here. Eddie’s on her way with Tank. Let her check the teach out before she brings her inside.”

“Is that really necessary?” Mandy asked.

“It’s not optional. You want Rocco to come up?”

“No. Let us chat with her first. If she’s a good candidate, I’ll call him up to talk to her.”

“Copy that. Selena will be with you for the visit.”

“Thanks, Max.”

“Yep. Hope she’s the one.”

“Me too!”
 

The search for a live-in tutor/nanny had been more difficult than Mandy would have expected. Rocco was offering an amount considerably higher than the going salary for a public school teacher in rural Wyoming. They should have had an adequate pool of applicants to choose from. Over a hundred had applied, but only eight were worth interviewing. The first seven, while highly qualified on paper, had been absolute no-gos. The skill sets for a teacher and that of a nanny didn’t seem to exist in a single individual. Mandy had begun to think they might have to hire two people for the different roles she and Rocco wanted to fill.

The woman they were meeting today, Wynn Ratcliff, was the eighth candidate so far. Her application had come in after the initial batch, but she was highly qualified. She’d graduated a year earlier from the University of Wyoming with a degree in elementary education. Since then, she’d only been working as a substitute teacher—something concerning to Ivy. That might work in their favor; if they liked her, she would be available quickly.

Selena went to the door as Eden brought the teacher inside. Tank seemed absolutely uninterested in her, which was a good thing. Mandy and Ivy stood up.

“Ladies, Ms. Ratcliff is here for her interview,” Selena said as she brought the young woman into the living room.

“Wynn’s fine,” she said.

Mandy liked her instantly. She was tall—same height as Selena but with a zaftig build, soft and feminine. She had long brown hair, an oval face, blue-brown eyes that smiled when she smiled. Mandy hoped she sailed through the interview; she was certain Zavi would love her.
 

Mandy handled the introductions. Kathy brought in a tray of coffee, ice water, and cookies. They made small talk for a bit, then covered most of the interview questions she and Ivy had compiled.
 

“One last question, Wynn,” Ivy said. “Can you tell us why you’re subbing and not working a full-time position?”

“My grandmother had a stroke toward the end of my last semester. She was in intensive care when I graduated. She’s just recently been moved to a long-term care facility. She seems to be responding well to treatment and rehab. I did receive several great job offers, but they were all out of state. I just couldn’t bring myself to be very far from her. She raised me. We’re the only family we have. Also, subbing allows me adequate time to work on my masters in gifted education. That’s why your position here sounded so interesting.” She sipped her coffee. “Can you tell me about the students I’ll have?”

Mandy nodded. “Zavi is four. He’s a linguistic savant, like his father. His dad will handle teaching him languages. We’re looking for someone who can keep up with him, present him with intellectual challenges, keep him from getting bored. Ideally, we’d like someone who’s comfortable being both nanny and tutor.”

“I feel I’m equipped for that challenge. Is he the only student?” Wynn asked.

“There’s also my daughter, Casey, who’s twelve. She goes to the local public school. You won’t be tutoring her, unless she needs help with homework, and her dad and I aren’t around. For the most part, you’ll only be teaching Zavi, with some babysitting duties for both kids within your forty hours a week.”

 
Wynn nodded and sent another nervous glance toward Selena—and her gun. “If you don’t mind my asking, can you tell me what it is that you do here?” she asked Mandy. “I’m not used to armed guards.”

“Zavi’s dad works for a private company that provides security services, which is run out of the house here. I’m a physical therapist. I’m working on establishing a hippotherapy center.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s an approach to physical and emotional therapy centered around horses—riding them, caring for them, sometimes just being near them. Every client has different needs and uses different types of interactions with horses.”

Wynn smiled at Mandy. “That’s wonderful. I had no idea there was such a thing.”

Mandy nodded. “Ivy runs the diner in town. And you met Eden. She and her husband own this house. She’s a dog trainer.”
 

“There are a few more of us,” Ivy added. “Fiona is a student at CSU. Hope’s a mechanic…”

“So there are several families living here?”

“Right,” Ivy said.
 

“What are the position’s hours?” Wynn asked.

“Eight to five, Monday through Friday,” Mandy said. “You’ll have weekends off.”

“It’s a long drive up here from Cheyenne. Do you know what the rental market is like here in Wolf Creek Bend?”

“No need to rent,” Mandy said. “Your position comes with room and board. We eat together. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style, but dinner is a sit-down meal. There’s also a small kitchen in the apartment we have for you, so you could have some privacy if you wanted to make your own meals.” Mandy looked at Ivy. “Let’s show her the apartment.”

“Good idea. If you’ll follow us, we’ll just go upstairs. The apartment is over the garage.”

“Zavi’s up that way with Casey.” Mandy picked up her phone. “I’m going to have Rocco meet us up there.”

They went upstairs and down the hallway. At the bedroom wing, they turned right to go down the hallway that led to the apartment. It was a modest space. The kitchen, dining room, and living room were all in one large area. A short hallway led to a bathroom, laundry room, and bedroom.