Guarding the Witness Read online

  “All I can tell you is that the U.S. Marshals Service is doing everything they can to locate Mrs. Perkins.”

  Left unsaid was “dead or alive.” She closed her eyes, weariness attacking her from all sides. Since coming to the cabin, she hadn’t slept more than a few hours here and there. The marshals had moved her from Anchorage because they’d worried the safe house had been compromised. If that place had been, why not this one?

  That question plagued her every waking moment. It was hard to rest when she didn’t know the people involved in her protection. When she did lie down, she’d managed to catch some sleep because she had her gun with her. She’d brought extra money, a switchblade and her gun without the marshals’ knowledge. In case something went down, she wanted to be prepared. That was the only way she would agree to all of this. She would see to her own protection. She didn’t trust anyone but herself to keep her alive.

  Not even God anymore. That thought crept into her mind and prodded her memories. She wouldn’t think about the reason she’d left the army, much to her brothers’ and father’s dismay. But how could she trust again when one of her team had sold her out? In the end it wasn’t the Lord who had saved her. She’d saved herself.

  That was when she’d vowed to protect others. She never wanted another to live in fear the way she had—scared she would go to prison for a crime she hadn’t committed.

  She turned toward the marshal, appreciating what her clients must have felt when she’d guarded them and told them what to do. “Promise me you’ll let me know if you all find Esther. She was my client. I feel responsible for her.”

  “You did everything you could. If you hadn’t been there, she would have been dead next to her husband.”

  “And now she may be dead, her body somewhere no one has found yet. May never find.”

  “Yes,” Deputy U.S. Marshal Brody Callahan said over the sound of the helicopter taking off.

  The blunt reality of what might have happened to Esther, and still could happen, hung in the air between Arianna and the marshal. She went back to drying the lunch dishes. Anything to keep her occupied. If this inactivity didn’t end soon, she might go running through the woods screaming.

  Mark Baylor, the oldest of the three marshals, with a touch of gray at his temples, strode to the door. “I’m gonna take a stroll around the perimeter.”

  Usually one marshal stayed outside while two were inside—often one of them taking his turn sleeping. That was the way it had been set up with Ted and his team.

  “Do you need any help?” The deep, husky voice of Brody Callahan, the marshal who seemed to be in charge, broke into her thoughts.

  “With cleaning up?” she asked, surprised by the question.

  “Yes.”

  She glanced back at him. Six inches taller than her five-feet-eleven frame, Brody carried himself with confidence, which in its own way did ease her anxiety about her situation. His figure, with not an ounce of fat on him and a broad, muscular chest, spoke of a man that kept himself in shape. “I’ve got it under control.” About the only thing in my life that is.

  “We equally share the duties while we’re here.”

  “That’s good to know. I don’t cook.”

  “You don’t?”

  She finished drying the last plate. “Never had a reason to learn. I went from living at home with my family to the army. Then when I started working for Guardians, Inc., I found myself on assignment most of the time with wealthy clients who had cooks.” She shrugged. “The short amount of time I was in Dallas I ate out or ate frozen dinners.”

  “That’s okay. I love to cook,” Kevin Laird, the youngest of the marshals, announced as he came into the living room.

  Brody chuckled. “That’s why I like to team up with Kevin when I can. He can make the most boring food taste decent.”

  “Good. I’m not averse to edible food.” Arianna moved out of the kitchen area, trying to decide what she should do next. Let’s see...maybe a crossword puzzle. Or better yet, solitaire. She still had at least fifty varieties to work her way through. The thought of more days like the past week heightened her boredom level to critical.

  She began to pace from one of the few windows, drapes pulled, to the hearth. It was empty and cold. They couldn’t have a fire even at night when it did get chilly since it indicated someone was at the place. She counted her steps, mentally mapping out an escape route if she needed it. Her thoughts were interrupted when Kevin spoke up from the kitchen.

  “This is a park ranger’s cabin. Where’s the guy that usually stays here?”

  “On an extended vacation.” Brody prowled the living room in a different direction from her.

  “Does he know we’re using it?” Arianna asked as she peeked out the window. The previous set of marshals had told her about the cabin, but only now had she started to wonder what the tenant had been told.

  “No, the cabin belongs to the park service. No one knows you’re here or that the U.S. Marshals Service is using it to protect a witness. A bogus agency has rented it while the park ranger is gone. They think we’re here on vacation.” Brody parted the drapes and looked out the only other window in the room.

  “When’s he due back?” Arianna spied a bull moose in the thick of the trees. Seeing the beautiful animals was the one thrill she got being where she was. She loved animals, but because of her job, she hadn’t been able to have any—not even a goldfish.

  “Not for two more weeks. Do you see it?” Brody’s gaze captured hers, nodding in the direction of the moose.

  “He’s beautiful. I wish I could go outside and take a picture. I took the Perkins assignment because it was in Alaska. After I finished guarding her, I was going to take a long overdue vacation and do some touring of the countryside up here. The most exciting thing that’s happened to me this week was the helicopter ride to this cabin. Breathtaking scenery.”

  “Don’t even think about going outside to snap a picture.”

  She held up her hands, palms outward. “I thought you said I knew the drill and didn’t need to hear your spiel.”

  “I’ve changed my mind. You sound like a bored witness. That kind can do things to get themselves killed.”

  “I am bored. I don’t even have the luxury of a television set. Most of the time I don’t watch it, but I’m desperate. How in the world do you do this job after job?”

  “I’m on an assignment to keep you safe. I can’t let down my guard ever or allow for any distractions. You should know what that means.”

  His intense, dark brown eyes drilling into her exemplified strong will and fierce determination—traits she shared. He was a person she should be able to identify with if she stopped feeling sorry for herself—something she rarely did. But she hated change, and the changing of the guard not half an hour ago bothered her more than she’d realized. She now had to get to know her three new guards, and she still couldn’t shake the thought that her safe house in Anchorage might have been compromised. She’d feel better if two of the female bodyguards from Guardians, Inc. were here with her instead. She knew where they were coming from.

  “How about chess?” Kevin asked from the kitchen area, gesturing to the chess set perched on a shelf, while Brody crossed to the door.

  “I don’t play it. Where are you going?” she asked Brody as he opened the door.

  “Outside. I’m relieving Mark.”

  “But he just left.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Can I come with you?” the imp in her asked.

  He frowned and left, the door slamming shut.

  “Ms. Jackson, I can teach you to play chess. It’ll take your mind off what’s going on.” Kevin moved into the main part of the room.

  “Nothing is going on. That’s the problem.” She strode toward the table and took a chair. “Sure. I mi
ght as well learn.” She checked her watch. Noon. It was going to be another long day.

  * * *

  Finishing his last trip around the perimeter of the cabin, Brody took a deep breath of the fresh air, laced with the scent of earth and trees, then mounted the steps to the porch. When he reached the door to the ranger’s cabin, he panned the small clearing. Nearing midnight, it was still light outside. The temperature began to drop as the sun finally started its descent. When moving to Alaska, the only thing he really had to adjust to was the long daylight hours in summer and equally long nighttime ones in winter. At least in Anchorage where he was living it was farther south and the days and nights didn’t get as skewed as they did up here nearer the Arctic Circle.

  Inside the cabin, he left the shotgun by the door for Kevin, who was relieving him on patrol. He turned to find Arianna sitting on the couch, staring at him. Her gray eyes with a hint of blue reminded him of the lake he’d flown over this morning.

  “Did you see the mama bear that’s been hanging around the cabin lately?” she asked and went back to playing solitaire.

  “No. Where’s Kevin?”

  “Right here. Sorry. I figured I needed a jacket since the sun was going down.” Kevin picked up the shotgun and exited the cabin.

  “So it’s just you and me since Mark is taking his turn sleeping.”

  For a second he thought he saw a teasing gleam in her eyes before she averted her gaze to study the spread of cards on the coffee table in front of her. He sat in a chair across from her. “Have you won any games?”

  “Two probably out of fifty.” She raised her head. “Wanna play Scrabble?”

  “I’ve been warned about you and Scrabble.”

  “I took you for a man who likes a good challenge.” A full-fledged smile encompassed her whole face.

  “And baiting me guarantees you’ll have an opponent.”

  “Yep, kinda hard playing Scrabble with yourself. No challenge really.”

  “You’re on. Where’s the game?”

  Arianna gestured toward the bookcase behind him. “I think I’ll leave the ranger who lives here a thank-you note. I don’t know what I would have done without some of his games. I brought a deck of cards and some books, but I went through the books in the first four days and I’m sick of playing solitaire. Do you have any idea when I’ll get to testify and can move back to civilization?”

  “No. Rainwater’s attorney gets big bucks to delay the trial as long as he can.”

  “Because he’s got people out there looking for me.”

  “Yes, you know the score. If you testify, he’ll most likely go down for murder. Without finding the ledger Rainwater killed Perkins over, you’re the main witness in his trial. Without you, he’d probably get acquitted, if they even went ahead with the trial.”

  “Something very incriminating must be in the ledger Rainwater was looking for.”

  “Perkins kept the books for Rainwater. The public set has been sanitized not to include anything incriminating. We think Perkins kept a second ledger with all the dirt on the man. As you know, risky for Perkins to do, but it could be invaluable to us. Rainwater has gone to great lengths to find it.”

  “We can’t afford for people like him to win. I’m even more determined to testify.”

  “And he’s as determined to stop you.” Brody rose and retrieved the box with the Scrabble game in it, then laid the board and tiles out on the coffee table. When he sat again, he pulled his chair closer. “Ready to get trounced?”

  “Is that any way to speak to a poor defenseless witness?” Arianna said as she laid down seven tiles for a score of seventy-six points.

  He looked down at his letters and could only come up with a twelve-point word. Now he was beginning to understand what Ted meant. Forty minutes later it was confirmed. She was very good at Scrabble.

  “What do you do? Study the dictionary like Ted threatened?”

  “No. Don’t have to. I have a photographic memory, and I enjoy reading a lot. Once I see something, I remember it.”

  “So that’s how you could give such a detailed description of what went down the day Thomas Perkins was murdered.”

  “The gift has helped me in my job. When I go on a new assignment, I case the house or wherever I’m staying with the client so I can pull up the layout in a hurry in my mind. It has helped me on more than one occasion, especially in the dark.” She gathered up the tiles and began putting them into the box.

  “I do something similar although I don’t have a photographic memory.”

  One corner of her mouth lifted. “I consider it one of the weapons in my arsenal.”

  He laughed, folding the game board and laying it on top of the tiles. “That’s an interesting way to put it.”

  Arianna yawned. “I’d better call it a night and try to sleep.”

  “Are you having problems sleeping?”

  “Yes. Wouldn’t you if you were in my position, with all that’s been going on?”

  “We’re guarding you. You don’t have to be alert and on the job.”

  “Actually the quiet is too quiet. I’m glad to hear an occasional animal call in the night.”

  “I grew up in New York City. The first few years after I left I had the hardest time with the silence at nighttime. Until I was assigned to L.A., I was located in smaller cities. Now when I get it, I love it. My house is outside Anchorage where it’s—”

  A blast from a shotgun exploded in the air.

  As Arianna dove over the back of the sofa with a wall of the cabin behind her, Brody moved toward the door. Another gunshot sound reverberated through the quiet.

  Mark rushed down the hallway, weapon drawn. “What’s going on?”

  “Stay with Ms. Jackson. I’ll go check.”

  Suddenly there was a rattling on the window on the left side of the room as if someone or something was tearing at the screen. Brody moved toward it. A roar split the air as he opened the blinds to find a grizzly bear attacking the window. The screen hung in metal shreds from its frame. The huge animal batted it away, only a pane of glass now between him and the bear.

  “Stay put, Arianna.” Brody signaled for Mark to keep an eye on the window where the bear was.

  Where is Kevin? His heart pounding, Brody charged toward the exit, knowing his Glock might not be enough to stop a bear coming at him or Kevin. In the gray light of an Alaskan night this far north, he saw his partner backing around the corner of the cabin while squeezing off another shot into the air.

  “I’m behind you, Kevin,” Brody said as he approached him.

  The tense set to his partner’s body relaxed. “She’s leaving. Finally. When I was making my rounds, two cubs came out of the woods close to where I was. Mama bear followed not five seconds later. I tried not to show any fear and backed away. She came toward me—not charging, but making sure she was between her cubs and me. When I fired my first warning shot in the air, both of the cubs ran into the woods. She didn’t.”

  Kevin kept his gaze fixed on the departing bear while Brody watched the front of the cabin. When the threat disappeared into the woods, they both headed for the porch.

  “Good thing she doesn’t know how to open doors or windows. It took three shots to scare her off,” Kevin said, then positioned himself by the steps.

  “She’s establishing her territory. Next time stay closer to the cabin and don’t play around with a grizzly sow and her cubs. They are very protective of their babies.”

  “Believe me I’ll stay glued to this place. I don’t want to tangle with one of them.”

  “I’ll be turning in soon. Mark will be on duty in the cabin. I’ll relieve you in five hours.” When Brody reentered the cabin, Arianna stood behind the couch. “What part of get down do you not understand?”

  “The last ord
er you gave me was stay put.” She pointed to the floor. “I stayed put. Besides, Mark was here.”

  Brody shook his head. “I guess I’ll have to spell it out for you next time.”

  “There’s gonna be a next time with that bear?”

  “If she’s hungry enough or we threaten her cubs. Obviously she didn’t like Kevin near her cubs or shooting his gun—even in the air.”

  “Oh, good. If she comes back to us, I’ll get to take a photo.”

  “Photo? Of a bear charging you?”

  “No. Don’t you remember you’ve ordered me to stay in the cabin? I’ll be watching from the window. No charging bear will be coming at me. Now that’s not to say she won’t come after you or your partners...”

  He chuckled. “I’ll make sure I’m not your model for that picture.”

  Mark laughed, too. “I’m going back to bed for the little time I have left. I’ll leave you two to hash things out.”

  As Mark left, Arianna said, “When I finished a job in Africa, I went on a photo safari. One of the rare vacations I gave myself. After this job I was going to take a second vacation and see some of the wildlife. I don’t think that’s going to work out unless I can get the wildlife to come to me.”

  “Give me the camera. I’ll take a picture for you.”

  “Not the same thing. Besides, the bear is long gone by now. At least I hope so.” Another yawn escaped Arianna. “That’s my cue to say good-night.”

  “Good night. Mark will be back in here—” he checked his watch “—in an hour.”

  “Sleep tight then.”

  “Don’t you mean sleep light? After all, I am guarding you.”

  “Every bodyguard has to grab some good sleep if he or she is going to do a good job. And believe me, I want you to do a good job protecting me.”