Page 5 of True Valor
When she didn’t say more, he moved away.
“I’ll be in the living room if you needme.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”Nic backed out of the room,pulling the door shut behind him.
“Nic.Could you just leave the dooropen?”
Nic smiled and complied.Then he walked tothe couch and flipped on the TV.The sound blared, making even himjump before he could find the mute button on the remote.
“Sorry,” he hollered in the general directionof the bedroom.
He could hear her laugh in reply.“Noworries, mate.”
Nic laughed.With her use of the Aussiephrase, Brandon Kirke’s face flashed through his head.Kirke wasformer Australian Special Forces and came to Yosemite every summerto play with the SAR boys.Nic had picked up some Aussie phrasesfrom him.Where had Julie picked up hers?A friend?A husband?
He’d stripped to his boxers and shrugged, notwanting to go into the bedroom to grab sweats.He spread out theblanket and pillow he’d retrieved before Julie went to bed andcurled up on the couch, his legs too long to stretch them out.
While he stared at the ceiling, his mindraced.The girl in his bed—there was a strange thought—hadamnesia.
Amnesia.Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Or, maybe she was faking.Why would she dothat?What god-awful thing had happened to her to leave her lostand alone?For an instant, horrible images of violence and rapechased each other around his brain.
With a whispered curse, he turned up thevolume on the TV, then flipped through the channels trying to findsomething…anything to make him drowsy.To give him something elseto think about.
Who the hell was this girl?
Chapter Two
“Another fine fix you’ve gotten yourselfinto.”Nic stood at the window watching the snow come down yetagain.Perfect conditions for the slopes, damn it.He glanced athis watch.0310.He picked up the phone.Cruz would just have toget up a bit early.
Eric Cruz’s sleepy, irritated voice answeredafter the first ring.“Cruz.”
“Hollywood, Nic.Get your sorry butt out ofbed, splash some cold water on your face.I’ll hold.I’m in deepkimchi.”
“Did you get yourself arrested orsomething?”
“No, dumbass, I didn’t.I’ll call you back infive.”
The second conversation went a little betterthan the first.Aside from the biting remarks, made when Nic toldhim that Julie was asleep in his bed, Cruz said what Nic expectedhim to say.Thank God.
“First thing in the morning, take this Julieperson to the nearest police station and let the authorities handleit.”
Joey had always been the levelheaded memberof the three amigos, but Cruz had his moments.Let the expertshandle it, then Nic could get back to skiing.
With a sigh of relief, Nic hung up the phone.Cruz was absolutely right.Nic wasn’t a cop.And, for that matter,he was on leave.The skiing would be perfect tomorrow.She couldgive him that pitiful, panicked look all she wanted to.He wasdoing the right thing.
Pulling the phone book from the desk drawer,Nic looked up the address of the police department.On the hotelscratch pad, he scribbled P.D.along with the street address.Withthe plan formulated in his brain, Nic curled up again on the couch,turned off the TV, and slept.
The bright sunlight peeked around the edgesof the curtains.Nic ran his fingers through his hair, stretchedhis legs, and looking at his watch, proceeded to swing his feet tothe floor.When they came down on a lump, instead of the thickcarpet of the floor, he pulled them back up and looked down.There,up against the front of the couch was Julie, her hair spread on thepillow, the blanket from the bed pulled up around her ears.Shedidn’t move, even though he’d almost stepped on her.
Holy mother of…was she dead?He peered at herclosely.Once he verified that she was, in fact, breathing, hethrew the blanket off his legs, and carefully stepped over hersleeping form.He reached for his jeans, and pulled them on as hehopped to the kitchen to put on some coffee.Again he checked hiswatch, having been interrupted from the information he sought.Tenafter eleven.
Crap.Half the day was gone.
He flipped the switch to the coffee maker andmade his way to the bathroom.When he came out, Julie was up,sitting on the couch, still wrapped in the blanket.
