“I’m here with you. That’s all I need to take care of. We’re off duty. They called Max because he’s the best and he’s here close. They would have probably called him in with the other EODs.”
“EODs?” Saylor asked. She knew she’d heard that before, but couldn’t remember now what those initials meant.
“Explosive ordinance disposal.”
“Hello?” a quiet voice said, peeking around the corner into the training space.
Hank jumped to his feet immediately and moved in front of Saylor, shielding her with his body. “Stretch out on the bleachers out of sight. Better yet, squeeze between the boards,” he hissed at her before shouting at the young blonde, “Show me your identification!”
Pausing as she slid down through the bleachers, Saylor watched the woman automatically raise her hands as if she were surrendering. “Sorry. I can leave.”
“Identification!” Hank bellowed, walking forward.
“I dropped my purse when they told us to run,” she said faintly. Saylor could hear the tremor in her voice like she was on the verge of crying. “I’m here working with the document management team. Wait. I have a visitor’s pass. It’s in my back pocket.”
She lowered one hand to reach for it, and Hank snapped, “Freeze.” Her arms shot up above her head as she shook with fright. He stalked forward and grabbed her elbow, spinning her around. He reached for a metal clip that dangled from her pocket and pulled out a white card emblazoned with Visitor.
“Who’s your contact on base?” Hank asked. His voice had lowered in intensity and volume.
“Commander Alan Buchanan.”
“What’s your name?”
“Sammie. Samantha Townsend,” she corrected herself.
“Sammie, do you consent for me to search you?” Hank asked.
“S-Sure.”
Saylor rose from her hiding spot as Hank ran his hands over her slight form. “You’re clean,” he said, stepping back. “I’m sorry if I scared you. When an alert goes out, everyone unknown is suspect.”
“It’s okay. I understand,” Sammie said in a quivering voice as she wrapped her arms around herself.
“Hey! You can wait with us,” Saylor invited. “Hank sounds mean, but he’s a good guy. I’m Saylor.”
“Hi, Saylor. Hi, Hank,” Sammie said softly.
Saylor noticed she moved slightly closer to Hank, as if needing the security of being close to the large man. He turned and pressed a hand to Sammie’s lower back, guiding her toward Saylor.
His sharp gaze landed on Saylor. “I told you to take cover.”
“I did. I just figured out Sammie was safe before you did,” Saylor answered, crossing her fingers that he wouldn’t tell Max. Inside she knew there was no chance he wouldn’t. Her butt was toast.
Maybe a distraction would make him forget. “Can we go where Da… Max is?”
“No way, Saylor. We’ll stay right here. Max will return as soon as he can.”
“Incoming, Murdock!”
Saylor recognized Jerico’s voice as he warned Hank he was entering. She turned to greet the team leader with relief and waved as four men jogged inside. The rest of the team had come to join them.
“They let you on base?” Hank asked.
“Jerico pulled rank and the rest of us glided in behind them,” Koa explained. His appreciation for Jerico’s leadership had grown quickly when the newest member of the team had joined months ago.
“He’s handy like that,” Hank acknowledged. “They called Max in to help.”
“Max will take care of whatever’s happening. Does he need backup?” Caden asked. His gaze passed Hank’s large frame. “Who’s that?”
