“I called him,” Darcy said. “When I found you, I panicked. He told me to call 911 and get someone to help you, and he’d be here as quick as he could. He was here in seven minutes.” She swallowed. “Thank God. I was scared to death.”
“So was I,” Jock said curtly. “That seven minutes was too damn long. You have to go to the hospital and be checked out.”
Cara shook her head. “I’ll make a police report and have them check to see how he got into our suite. I won’t go to the hospital.”
Jock stared at her in frustration, his fists clenched, and turned on his heel. “When the EMTs come, have them check her out as much as possible, Darcy. I’m going to do some checking around the residence myself.”
Darcy nodded. “I can handle it from here. I just have to be pointed in the right direction. I’ll make certain those EMT guys will give her a going-over that will make her wish she’d chosen the ER.” She smiled at Cara. “Sorry. I told you I hold on to friends when I find them. I can’t afford to let you do anything to sabotage me.”
“Whatever.” Cara wearily closed her eyes again. “I just want this to be over.”
“Oh, it’s over as far as you’re concerned,” Jock said curtly as he headed for the door. “For me, it’s just begun.”
*
Jock didn’t return for over three hours. In that time, Cara had undergone one of the most rigorous and thorough checkups to which she’d ever been subjected. Darcy had been gorgeous, tearful, and helpless, and the EMTs had fallen all over themselves to turn those tears into smiles. After they had left, Cara had a visit from a police detective who had taken her statement; and then the building supervisor had come to express her concern and assure her that nothing like this had ever taken place at any of the academy’s residence facilities before and would never happen again.
Darcy had stood beside Cara, letting her answer the police queries but after ten minutes had sent them on their way, the supervisor had received only five minutes before she’d been whisked out of the suite. Then she’d helped Cara undress and get to bed after tidying up the chaos in the bedroom. She gave Cara the painkiller the EMT had given her to soothe her throat and made her a cup of tea and honey.
“Wasn’t I magnificent?” Darcy smiled triumphantly at Cara as she plopped down on her own bed. “Though I have to admit I had to be, to make up for falling apart when I found you looking like a broken doll sprawled on the floor.” She sipped her own tea. “No one ever expects me to rise to the occasion, so I really had to work at it.”
“You were wonderful,” Cara said in perfect truth. It was hard for her to swallow, but the hot tea felt amazingly healing. “Thank you.”
Darcy nodded. “You know, I like gratitude. I don’t believe I’ve ever earned it before and it’s … refreshing.”
“Happy to oblige.” She reached up and rubbed her temple. “And you shouldn’t have felt guilty about relying on Jock for help. He knows about things like this…”
“I gathered that when he showed up like Han Solo ready to cut down Darth Vader.”
“Wasn’t that Luke?”
“I always liked Han Solo better. Anyway, your Jock was electrifying.”
Cara nodded jerkily. “He always is.”
Darcy’s gaze was narrowing on her face. “But you don’t like it?”
“Not for me.” She could see that Darcy’s curiosity was aroused, but she wasn’t about to explain that she couldn’t bear the thought of Jock’s being pulled back into the lethal whirlpool that had almost destroyed him all those years ago. She had been fighting his protective instinct since she’d first met him, and one of her nightmares was to be responsible for having that happen. “I should be fighting my own battles.”
“Well, from what I saw when Jock left here, he may not be seeing it that way.” She finished her tea and stood up. “Finish that tea. Maybe you can grab a quick nap before Jock shows up to check to see if I’ve done my duty.”
“You’ve done it.” Jock was standing in the doorway. “But you can go the extra mile if you’ll search through the rest of the suite and make certain that nothing has been taken.” He strode forward. “And then start packing up a suitcase for Cara.”
“What?” Cara straightened in bed. “Why the hell should she do that?”
“You’re going to visit Eve, remember?”
“I was intending to pack myself tomorrow.”
“You’ll be on a plane tomorrow.” He glanced at Darcy. “The extra mile?”
She nodded as she headed for the door. “I earn points and avoid being involved in the storm I see on the horizon. I can live with that.”
Cara was scarcely aware Darcy had left the room. She was staring at Jock. “I won’t leave tomorrow. I have a class. I’m scheduled to leave the day after tomorrow.”
“Not any longer. You’re out of here.” His lips were tight. “I’d send you out tonight, but you’d probably balk because you’d think Eve would worry if she knew why you were coming early.”
“Yes, I would,” she said. “It was a robbery, Jock.”
“The hell it was. There are five suites on this floor. Why was yours the only one that was targeted?”
“Maybe someone heard about my violin. I had it with me, or he might have meant to take it.”
“And then ran out without taking it?”
“I knocked over the lamp and it broke. The noise might—”
“Stop arguing!” His gray eyes were glittering in his taut face. “It’s all too pat. There’s a doorman downstairs, but he saw nothing because the entry was made through the basement. The door to the street was jimmied open, and the alarm was disconnected. This place has decent security facilities, and that alarm system wasn’t easy to take down. But it was disarmed, and the exit stairwell was used to come to this floor. Not to any of the other four floors in this building. This floor. Then the door to your suite was unlocked, the furniture and drawers made to appear that they’d been ransacked. Then the door was locked from the inside, and he stood there waiting.” He took a step closer. “Are you getting the picture?”
She was getting the picture, and it was chilling. A man there in the dark, waiting for someone to unlock that door and come in, so he could attack.
“I see that you are,” Jock said. “Well, so did I. I don’t know why you weren’t hurt more than you were. Maybe you’re right, and that lamp’s breaking startled him enough to panic him. Or maybe it was only meant as a warning so that he could prove to Kaskov he could kill you at any time.” He repeated through set teeth, his eyes blazing. “Any time, Cara. That time could have been tonight.”
She couldn’t look away from him. His intensity was overpowering. But no more than the scenario he had crafted for her in those incisive words. “I may have been targeted. But it doesn’t have to be because of Kaskov’s enemies. It could still be a robbery that was blown.”
“Kaskov.”
She nodded slowly. “Or because of Kaskov.” She swallowed. “I’ll have to consider that as an option. But now that I’m aware that it might be a possibility, I can take precautions and I—”
“I’ve been taking precautions for years, and this still happened. Stanton was prepared for an attack from the outside, not this. It was too bold, too direct.”
That strong hand reaching out, biting into her throat and jerking her into the darkness.
“Yes, it … was bold.”
“And Stanton didn’t stop it. I didn’t stop it. I swore you’d never be in danger again, and I didn’t stop it.”
“How many times have I told you that you’re not responsible for me?” She tried to smile. “I can see why you might have felt like that when I was younger. Everyone always feels as if they have to take care of kids. But I’m eighteen, and I have to take care of myself these days.”
“Oh, do you? Think again, Cara.” He lifted her chin, his gaze on the deep, mottled bruises on her throat. “He knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted to hurt you. And if he’d dug his thumb just a little to the left, he could have killed you. Do you think I’d allow him to get near you again?”