Page 45 of Building Courage

She remained silent for a moment. “I don’t have reservations about Tucker. The first time we met was in the park on that shoot I did last month with the kids. Natalie told him to come meet me at the park. Instead of walking up to me, he sat on one of the park benches while I worked, then called me on the phone, told me who he was, and who had sent him.

“Natalie hadn’t warned me he was coming. I called her and reamed her out for springing him on me. She assured me he was a stand-up guy, which I took with a grain of salt. He didn’t speak so highly about her. In fact, he told me to watch my back with her.”

“Sounds like he’s a good judge of character,” Jess murmured.

“After we met about the scuba lessons, he carried my gear to the car, helped me load it, and waited until I pulled away before he did. He has kind of old-school manners. Talks about his grandmother a lot. She raised him with his dad.”

“What does he do for a living?”

Tucker was so careful about his privacy. “He’s in the Navy.”

Jess patted the space over her heart. “I love a guy in uniform.”

“I’ve never seen him in his, but I’ve seen a lot of memorabilia in his house, commendations for his diving, that sort of thing. And all his diving gear. It feels strange to talk about him.”

“I talk about Oliver all the time,” Jess said, “He’s an important part of my life.”

“I never talked about Chad to anyone until I filed a restraining order against him.” The words just seemed to come of their own accord. “I was embarrassed that I’d been so stupid to get involved with him.”

Once again, Jess laid a hand on her arm. “You couldn’t have known he was a creep, Brynn.”

The gesture of support had Brynn’s throat tightening. When she had her emotions under control, she said, “Tucker’s not anything like him.”

“I’m sure he’s not. You know what to look for now.”

Jess’s words propped up her confidence. She did know what to look for. Even when Tucker was angry, he was controlled. And he hadn’t shown any jealousy when she’d mentioned Martin. He had a healthy ego and confidence. He’d have to have both to do the job he’d chosen.

A figure suddenly appeared at the driver’s side door, and both women started. It was Ahmad. Brynn turned the key so she could roll down the window.

“I found this necklace at the table you were sitting at, Ms. Barrington. Would it be yours?”

Brynn studied the chain and the medallion. “No, it isn’t mine. It may belong to one of the models. If one of them calls me, I’ll give them the number for the vessel to call.”

“Also,” he paused a moment, “if you could tell Petty Officer Giles that I would like to speak to him, I would appreciate it. Thank you.” He turned and walked away.

Surprise, then fear sent a jolt of adrenaline through her, and her heart began to race.

“How did he know you knew, Tucker?” Jess asked.

“I don’t know.”

A familiar, hyperaware feeling, as though eyes were focused on her, sent chills up the back of her neck. The feeling was similar to when Chad had been stalking her.

Her heart racing, Brynn put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking space.

Chapter 14

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Tucker pressed his back against the wall, ejected the magazine from the M4 rifle, checked the load, and then shoved the mag back in with smooth precision. He’d done at least hundreds of live round Close Quarter Battle drills, so this was a no-brainer, but he still felt the spike in adrenaline as he waited for the direction to enter through his earbud.

“Go.”

Snugging the M4 rifle in against his shoulder, he eased around the edge of the open door and entered a hallway constructed of cinderblocks but cushioned with a layer of material designed to absorb both sound and the bullets. At the end of the hall, a hardboard tango popped up from behind a cabinet. He squeezed the trigger, and rounds dotted the character’s head and chest. The threat neutralized, he entered the doorway to the left. Another hardboard form came up from behind a sofa, a hostage held in front of them. He took the headshot, leaving the hostage unscathed, then swept from left to right, searching for more targets. Seeing none, he progressed out of the room into the hallway again. A door on the right stood open; Tucker pivoted around the doorway and into the room, scanning for more targets. An armed man in a mask popped up from behind the table. He aimed shots at the head and heart. With the room clear, he stepped back out and moved on down the hallway to the next two rooms. His attention was laser-focused because he imagined every target as Chad Gillespie in a bid to leach some of his anger and maintain his concentration.

He cleared the next two rooms in record time. The next one, he had to exit through. It had storage shelves on each side where the tangos could pop up at any time or location along the walls. A hardboard figure swung up on the left, and he leveled rounds into the head. When the next came up on the right, he did the same with a double-tap to the heart and head. One last target popped up near the door, an unarmed hostage, and he held his fire.

A technician sat at the back door with a computer, where he’d watched the entire exercise. “Good time and shot placement, Gilly,” he commented.

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