Shelter in a Soldier's Arms

Chapter One

There was trouble.

Jeffrey Ritter sensed it even before he spotted the flashing light on the security console mounted in his car. At five o’clock in the morning the offices of Ritter/Rankin Security should have been locked down and empty. According to the red flashing light, the building was neither.

Jeff touched several buttons on the console to confirm the information. The front and rear doors were locked, but inner doors were open. Lights were on as well, he noted as he drove into the parking lot and headed for a spot to the left of the double glass doors—glass that was deceptively clear but could in fact withstand severe artillery fire and a small bomb blast.

Trouble, he thought again as he put the car into Park and turned off the engine. He popped the trunk of his black BMW 740i and stepped out onto the damp pavement. Although it wasn’t raining, the air was heavy and wet, as if the Seattle skies were about to do their thing at any moment.

Jeff circled the vehicle and removed his personal firearm, which he checked and slipped into his specially designed holster. Next came the black stunner, designed to immobilize an attacker without permanent injury. He punched buttons on his beeper, setting it to standby so that a single touch would alert his partner and the authorities. He didn’t usually get the latter involved in his operations, but his office was in downtown Seattle. The local police wouldn’t appreciate a predawn shoot-out, and they would absolutely expect an explanation.

He turned his attention to the quiet building. Nothing looked out of place. But in his experience that was common. Danger rarely announced itself with a neon sign.

Jeff walked quickly and quietly, moving around the building to a side entrance without a lock. Only a small keypad allowed access. He tapped in the code and waited for the door to unlock. If someone was waiting in the small alcove, the door wouldn’t open. There was a slight snick as the locking mechanism released, and he entered the protective space tucked along the main corridor.

He was surrounded on three sides by glass coated to be a two-way mirror. Dropping into a crouch, he surveyed the length of the corridor. Nothing. From the corner of his eye he caught a flicker of movement in the east hallway. It was gone before he could register who or what it was. Damn.

Still crouching, Jeff pushed the concealed button to let himself out into the corridor. He hurried in the direction of the movement, keeping low, running soundlessly. As he rounded the corner, he reached for both the gun and the stunner—only to slam to a halt, as immobilized as if he’d just taken a jolt from his own weapon.

Breath left his lungs. Involuntary impulses forced him to his feet even as he slipped the weapons out of sight. He didn’t remember making a sound, yet he must have because the intruder turned and looked at him.

“You hafta be quiet ’cause Mommy’s sleeping.”

In less than a second he’d scanned the immediate area and absorbed all that he saw. No dangerous intruders, at least not in the traditional sense. Which was unfortunate. Jeff Ritter knew what to do when facing an insurrection, a terrorist hit squad or even a stubborn client. But he had absolutely no experience with children—especially little girls with big blue eyes.

She was small, barely coming to midthigh on him. Dark, shiny curls caught the overhead light. She wore pink kitten-motif pajamas and fluffy, cotton-candy-colored slippers. A stuffed white cat filled her arms.

He blinked, half wondering if she was an illusion. But she remained stubbornly real. As did the woman on the floor beside her.

Jeff took in the cart of cleaning supplies and the woman’s casual, worn clothes. Grown-ups he could handle, and he quickly cataloged her flushed face, closed eyes and the trace of sweat on her forehead. Even from several feet away he could sense her fever, brought on by illness. She’d probably sat down to rest and had slipped into semi-consciousness.

“Mommy works hard,” the little girl told him. “She’s real tired. I woke up a while ago and I was gonna talk to her ’bout why she was sleeping on the floor, but then I thought I’d be real quiet and let her sleep.”

Chubby cheeks tilted up as the young child smiled at him, as if expecting praise for her decision. Instead Jeff turned his pager from emergency stand-by to regular, then flicked on the safety on his gun and switched off the stunner. Then he crouched next to the woman.

“What’s your name?”

He was speaking to the adult, but the child answered instead.

“I’m Maggie. Do you work here? It’s nice. One of the big rooms is my favorite. It’s got really, really big windows and you can see forever, clear up to the sky. Sometimes when I wakes up, I count the stars. I can count to a hundred and sometimes I can count higher. Wanna hear?”

“Not right now.”

Jeff ignored the ongoing chatter. Instead he reached for the woman’s forehead and at the same time he touched the inside of her wrist to check her pulse. Her heart rate was steady and strong, but she definitely had a fever. He reached to lift an eyelid to examine her pupil reaction when she awakened. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him, her expression telling him he was about as welcome as the plague.

A man! Ashley Churchill’s first thought was that Damian had come back to haunt her. Her second was that while the cold-looking man in front of her might be second cousin to the devil, he wasn’t her ex-husband.

Her head felt as if it weighed three tons, and she couldn’t seem to focus on anything but gray eyes and a face completely devoid of emotion. Then she blinked and brain cells began firing, albeit slowly. She was sitting in a hallway that looked vaguely familiar. Ritter/Rankin Security, she thought hazily. She was working, or at least she was supposed to be.

“I was so tired,” she murmured, trying to sound more coherent than she felt. “I sat down to rest. I guess I fell asleep.” She blinked again, then wished she hadn’t as she recognized the man crouched in front of her. He’d passed her in the hall when she first interviewed for the job. The office manager had identified him as Jeffrey Ritter, partner, professional security expert extraordinaire, ex-soldier.

Her boss.

“Mommy, you’re awake!”

The familiar voice normally made her heart leap with gladness, but now Ashley felt only horror. Maggie was up? What time…? She glanced at her watch and groaned when she saw 5:10 a.m. glowing in the light of the hall. She was supposed to have finished her cleaning by two, and she always met the deadline. She remembered something about security systems reactivating after she’d left.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ritter,” she said, forcing herself to scramble to her feet and ignoring the weakness that filled her when she did. “I don’t usually sleep on the job. Maggie had the flu last week and I think I caught her bug.” In fact, she was sure of it. Not that the stern, unsmiling man standing in front of her would care one way or the other.

He turned his attention from her to her daughter. Ashley winced, knowing it looked bad. No one had ever explicitly said she couldn’t bring her daughter to work, but then no doubt no one had thought they would have to. Four-year-olds didn’t belong in the workplace.

“Mommy says preschool is a germ mag-mag-maggot?” Her rosebud mouth couldn’t quite get around the word.

“Magnet,” Ashley offered automatically. She smoothed her hands against her jeans and offered her hand to the man who was very likely going to fire her. “Mr. Ritter, I’m Ashley Churchill. Obviously I clean the office. Usually I’m out by two.”

“I sleep while Mommy works,” Maggie put in helpfully. “Mommy makes me a really nice bed with my favorite kitten sheets. She sings to me and I close my eyes.” She lowered her voice and took a step toward the man. “I’m s’posed to go right to sleep but sometimes I peek and look at the stars.”

Ashley swallowed against the lump of fear in her throat. “Yes, well, it’s not as bad as it seems,” she said lamely, knowing it was actually worse. She felt slightly less perky than a fur ball and she was going to lose her job. Talk about a lousy start to her day. At least things could only get better from here.

“Your things are in my office?”

Jeff Ritter spoke for the first time. His voice was low and perfectly modulated. She had no clue what he was thinking, which made her assume the worst.

“Ah, yes.”

“Where do the cleaning supplies go?” he asked.

“There’s a closet at the end of the hall. I’d nearly finished. I still have to take care of Mr. Rankin’s office. Everything else is done.”

He took her elbow and led her down the hall. His touch was steel. Not especially rough or firm, but she knew that if she tried to escape he could snap her in half. Like a toothpick.

A charming visual, she thought with a sigh. Her daughter could collect the splintered shards of what used to be her mother and keep them in a little box. She could bring her out at show-and-tell when she went to school and—

Ashley shook her head. She was sicker than she’d thought. Her mind was wandering and she would give almost anything to be in her bed and have this all be a horrible dream. But it wasn’t. As they stepped into Jeff’s office, the proof of her audacious behavior lay scattered all around.

One of the plush leather sofas had been made up into a bed. There were a half-dozen stuffed animals scattered across the kitten sheets. A juice box and crumbs were testament to a late-night snack, while a baby monitor held the place of honor in the center of the large glass coffee table she’d pushed away from the sofa.

He released her and crossed to the table. When he picked up the monitor, Ashley reached into her pocket and removed the small receiver.

“It’s so I can hear her,” she said, probably unnecessarily. The man was a security expert. He would have access to listening devices she could only imagine. “I don’t bring Maggie to work with me on a whim, Mr. Ritter. I go to college during the day, which is why I work the hours I do. I can’t afford to pay someone to spend the night. A sitter would take most of my paycheck and I need that for rent, food and tuition.”

She briefly closed her eyes as the room began to spin. He wouldn’t care, she thought glumly. He was going to fire her. She would lose both her paycheck and her health insurance. Still, she wouldn’t go without a fight.

“She’s never been any trouble. It’s been nearly a year and no one has ever found out.” She winced at how that sounded. “I’m not saying that to excuse my behavior, just to point out that she’s not really a problem.” She’s not a reason to fire me. Except she didn’t say that.

Maggie moved to her side and took her hand. “Don’t worry, Mommy. The nice man likes us.”

Oh, yeah, Ashley thought. Maybe served up for breakfast, but not any other way. There was something scary about the man in front of her. Something she couldn’t exactly put her finger on. A stillness, maybe? Or maybe it was his eyes—so cold. He studied her like a predator assessing a potential victim.

Jeff Ritter was tall, maybe six-two or three. His tailored suit looked expensive and well cut, but it couldn’t conceal the power of his body. He was a honed fighting machine. Maybe a killing one.

He was blond, with eyes the color of slate. In another life he could have been described as handsome, but not in this one. There was too much wariness in his stance, too much danger.

Because of the hours she worked, she didn’t have contact with very many people in the office. Once every three weeks she checked in with the office manager. Instructions were left on the bulletin board in the supply closet, her paychecks were mailed to her house. But she’d read articles about the security firm. There had been several write-ups when a computer expert’s son had been kidnapped and held for ransom. Jeff had been the one to track down the criminals. He’d brought them back, more dead than alive. The boy had been fine.

A shiver rippled through her. It had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with the fever heating her system. Her stomach lurched and she knew if she’d eaten dinner, she would have just shared it with the world.

Jeff gave her a quick once-over then moved to the sofa. “You’re ready to pass out on your feet. You need to be home and in bed.”

Before she could protest, he’d gathered the sheets and stuffed them into the tote on the floor by the sofa. Maggie joined in the game, collecting her stuffed animals. While she carefully threw out the empty juice container, Jeff put the baby monitor into the bag.

“Anything else?” he asked.

Just her final paycheck, she thought grimly. But that would be sent to her.

“Nothing. Thank you, Mr. Ritter. You’ve been very kind.”

She didn’t know what else to say. Would he respond to begging? Based on the chill in his gray eyes, she didn’t think so.

He didn’t acknowledge her words. Instead he turned and headed for the front of the building.

“My car’s out back,” she called after him, then had to lean against the door frame to gather her strength. She needed to sleep. Unfortunately Maggie wasn’t going to go down for more than a couple of hours. Maybe that would be enough to get Ashley on her feet enough to get through the day. Or maybe—

“You’re too ill to drive,” Jeff said flatly. He’d paused at the turn in the corridor. “I’ll take you home. Your car will be returned to you later in the day.”

She was too weak to argue, which meant he was right about her being in no shape to drive. Slowly she staggered after him. Maggie held her hand.

“Snowball says she wants to sleep with you when we get home,” Maggie said sleepily as they walked through the building. “She’s magic and she’ll make you feel better.”

Ashley knew that her daughter wouldn’t give up her favorite toy lightly. Touched by the gesture, she smiled at her child. “I think you’re the magic one.”

Maggie giggled, her curls dancing. “I’m just little, Mommy. There’s no place for the magic to go. If I was bigger, there could be some.”

Ashley was too tired to point out that Snowball was smaller still. But then, favorite toys were always special in ways that grown-ups didn’t understand.

They stepped out into the misting morning to find Jeff holding open the rear door of an impressive black sedan. Ashley didn’t have to see the BMW emblem on the hood to know that the car was expensive. Very expensive. If she could make even close to what this car cost, all her troubles would be solved.

She hesitated before sliding across the soft, gray leather. It was cool and smooth and soft. Whatever you do, don’t throw up, she told herself firmly.

It took only a few seconds to secure her daughter and herself in safety belts. With her arm around Maggie, Ashley leaned back and closed her eyes. Just a few more minutes, she told herself. Fifteen at most. Then she would be home and crawling into her own bed.

“I need your address.”

The voice came out of the blackness. Ashley had to rouse herself to speak and even then it was difficult to form words. She started to give him directions, as well, but Jeff informed her he knew the area. She didn’t doubt him. He was the kind of man who knew just about everything.

The soft hum of the engine lulled her into that half-awake, half-asleep place. She could have stayed there forever. The early hour caught up with Maggie who snuggled against her and relaxed. Right up until the car came to a stop and she felt more than heard Jeff turn toward her.

“There seems to be a problem.”

Ashley forced her eyes open, then wished she hadn’t. So much for her day not getting worse.

They were stopped close to her four-story apartment building. Normally there was plenty of room to park right in front of the building, but not this morning. Today, red fire trucks and police cars had pulled into the driveway. Flashing lights twinkled in the light rainfall. Stunned, Ashley stared in disbelief at the river of water flowing down the main steps. Her neighbors were huddled together on the sidewalk.

No, she thought, feeling herself tremble with shock and disbelief. This couldn’t be happening. Not today.

She fumbled with Maggie’s seat belt, then her own. After opening the rear door, she stepped out, pulling her daughter with her. She was careful to hold Maggie in her arms. The girl’s slippers wouldn’t provide any protection against the water flowing everywhere.

“Mommy, what happened?” Maggie asked.

“I don’t know.”

Mrs. Gunther, the retired, blue-haired woman who managed the aging apartment building, spotted her and hurried over.

“Ashley, you’re not going to believe it. The main water pipe broke about an hour ago. It’s a mess. From what I’ve learned, it will take a week to repair the damage. They’ll escort you inside to get whatever you can carry out, then we have to make other arrangements until the pipe is repaired.”

Jeff watched the last trace of color drain from the woman’s face. Defeat clouded her eyes, making her tremble. Or maybe it was the fever.

“I don’t have anywhere to go,” she whispered.

The old lady patted her arm. “I’m in the same situation, dear. Not to worry. They’re opening a shelter. We’ll be fine there.”

Maggie, the moppet with dark curls and a far-too-trusting smile, looked at her mother. “What’s a shelter, Mommy? Do they got kittens there? Real ones?”

“I—I don’t know.”

Ashley shifted her daughter’s weight, then stared at the gushing building. “I need to get my textbooks and notes. Clothes for us, some toys.”

“They’ll escort you in,” the old woman said. “I’ll watch Maggie while you’re there.”

Suddenly Ashley seemed to remember him. She turned and blinked. “Oh, Mr. Ritter. Thanks for the ride. I, um, guess I need to get my things out of your trunk.”

She moved to the rear of the vehicle and waited until he’d popped open the trunk. When she swung the tote bag onto her shoulder, she had to take a quick step to steady herself.

“Are you going to be all right?”

The question surprised them both. Jeff hadn’t planned to ask it. He told himself that her situation wasn’t his problem. The woman would be fine in a shelter. His gaze drifted to the little girl all in pink. He was less sure about her doing well under those circumstances.

“We’ll be great.” Ashley gave him a false smile. “You’ve been too kind already.”

It was his cue to leave. Normally he would have melted into the crowd and been gone before anyone knew he was even there. Instead he lingered.

“You can’t take her there,” he said, his voice low and urgent. “It’s not right.”

“She’ll be fine,” Ashley assured him. “We’ll be fine together.”

He told himself to step back, to not get involved. He told himself— “I’ll pay for a hotel room if you’d like.”

Her eyes were an odd hazel color. Neither blue nor green. Not brown. Some swirling combination of all the colors.

“You’ve been very kind already. Goodbye, Mr. Ritter.”

She dismissed him. He accepted her decision, but before she took a step away, he slipped one of his business cards into her jacket pocket. It was an impulsive act, so unlike him. Later he would try to figure out why he’d bothered. Then he did what he was good at. He blended in, moving toward his car. In a matter of seconds, he was gone.

“You plan on joining the conversation anytime soon?”

Jeff looked at his friend and partner, Zane Rankin, and shrugged. “I’m here.”

“Physically. But you keep drifting off. Not like you at all.”

Jeff returned his attention to the plans on the table without acknowledging the truth of Zane’s words. Jeff was having trouble concentrating on the work at hand. He knew the cause—he couldn’t get the woman and her child out of his head and he didn’t know why.

Was it their circumstances? Yet he’d seen hundreds in worse trouble. Compared to a war-torn village with its winter food stores destroyed, Ashley Churchill’s plight was insignificant. Was it the child? The girl? Maggie’s bright smile, her foolish trust, her pink pajamas and stuffed, white cat were so far from his world as to belong to a distant universe.

Did it matter why they haunted him? Better the living than the dead who were his usual companions.

There were no answers to any of the questions, so he dismissed them and returned his attention to the diagram of a luxury villa overlooking the Mediterranean. The private residence was to host a secret gathering of several international business executives who were responsible for the manufacture of some of the world’s most deadly weapons. The threat of industrial espionage, terrorist attack or kidnapping would be high. He and Zane were to provide the security. Step one: learn the weaknesses of the location.

Jeff pointed with his pen. “All this has to go,” he said, indicating a lush tropical garden creeping down a hill.

“Agreed. We’ll use the latest class-ten sensors, hiding them on what’s left.”

The new high-tech sensors could be programmed to ignore the movement of the security team, yet pick up the wanderings of a field mouse at fifty yards.

“What about—”

The buzz of his intercom interrupted him. Jeff frowned. His assistant, Brenda, knew better than to bother him and Zane while they were involved in tactical planning. She would only do so if there was an emergency.

“Yes,” he said, as he tapped a button on his phone.

“Jeff, I know you’re busy but you have a call from a downtown shelter. About a Ms. Churchill and her daughter. I didn’t know…” His normally take-charge assistant sounded fairly flustered. “Is she a friend of yours? Or should I take a message?”

All of his senses went on alert. “Put the call through,” he instructed.

There was a moment of silence, followed by Brenda’s voice politely saying, “Mr. Ritter is on the phone now.”

“This is Jeff Ritter. How can I help you?”

“Oh, Mr. Ritter. Hi. I’m Julie, a volunteer at the shelter. Ashley and Maggie Churchill are here. The problem is Ashley is very sick. Too sick to stay, but she’s refusing to go to a hospital. As she only seems to have the flu, I can’t blame her. But we don’t have the facilities to take care of her. We found your card in her jacket pocket and I was wondering if you’re a friend of the family.”

Jeff knew what she was asking. Would he take responsibility? He reminded himself that Ashley Churchill had already refused his offer to pay for a hotel. Then he remembered the defeat in her eyes when she’d seen the ruin that was her home. She was sick, she had a child and nowhere to go.

It wasn’t his problem, he reminded himself. He didn’t get involved. Not ever. According to his ex-wife he had the compassion of the devil himself and a heart made of stone. Telling the shelter volunteer he wasn’t anything to the Churchill females was the only thing that made sense.

“Yes, I’m a friend of the family,” he said instead. “I’ll be right there to pick them both up. They can stay with me.”