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Cross That Line

Page 70

by Barbara Freethy

"You should. I've saved your ass more times than I can count."

"There's food in the kitchen," Tyler added as Rachel came back. "I'll check in with you later. If you remember anything else that might help me, Jack, have Evan call me or write it down."

He ushered Rachel through the kitchen and into the garage. As he drove away from the house, Rachel let out a small sigh. "Happy to be away from Jack?" he asked.

"Yes. And you must be relieved that Evan is with him now."

"I am. Now I can concentrate on the investigation." He rolled up to a stop sign, keeping an eye out for anyone possibly watching the house.

Rachel noticed and checked her side-view mirror. "Do you think they're safe there?"

"Yes. I just want to be as certain as I can be. What does your schedule look like today?"

"I have three patients this morning. I'm done at one o'clock. I rescheduled the afternoon and tomorrow morning. I want to make sure I'm available to help you."

"There will be a lot of people getting involved in this case, Rachel. My team, probably CIA, maybe National Security. I can't promise I can keep you in the loop the way you'd like."

"You need me, Tyler. I'm working at East River. I have access to people you don't."

"People who might be working against you," he reminded her. "I don't want you asking questions at work. I don't want you to make yourself more of a target. You need to act like you're done with everything."

"I'll be cautious. You know that's my middle name," she said lightly.

He gave her a smile. "I'm not sure that's as true as I once thought it was. At any rate, let's take things one step at a time. I'll pick you up at one, and we'll try to talk to Megan at the café. If we can't get to her there, then we'll go to her house later. If you can get Mr. Kimoko's address and phone number, we can also try to contact him."

"I'll look for others who might have also been good candidates for Waverly. I still can't believe that email."

"Don't ask anyone about that. You can't give anything away, Rachel. No one needs to know that we know about the emails."

"I understand. I'm aware of the stakes."

"Jack told me he met a Marine at Waverly, Brett Young. He was apparently also in the program. Was he one of yours?"

"No, I don't recognize that name."

"Well, I suspect they've been getting patients from other doctors besides you." He paused. "When we stop at your apartment, I also need you to pack a bag with whatever you need for the next few days."

She gave him a startled look. "Where are we going to stay? In the safe house?"

"Not there. Maybe my place or somewhere else."

"I'll be fine in my apartment, won't I?"

He could see the question in her eyes, and as much as he wanted to make her feel safe, he also needed to be honest. "I don't know, Rachel. Until I do know, we're sticking together." As she put her hand to her neck, he knew she was reliving Jack's attack. "How are you feeling?"

"There's a little pain, but, overall, I'm fine. I'll get over it," she said, trying to sound like it didn't matter, but he knew it did.

"It's okay if that takes time. I've had my life pass before me on a few occasions, and it shakes you up."

"It definitely did that," she murmured, turning her head to meet his gaze. "I need another self-defense class."

"I can give you tips, but I'm hoping you won't need to defend yourself against anything like that again. When I saw you fighting for your life, with his hands on your neck…" He drew in a breath, realizing he hadn't really allowed himself to go there. He'd been too focused on getting both Jack and Rachel to a better, more stable place.

"I know," she said when he didn't finish his sentence. "It was bad…for all of us. But I want to put it behind me. Focus on making sure the people behind this scheme are caught and can't hurt anyone ever again. It hurts me to my core to know that there are doctors and nurses engaged in this kind of evil behavior. Doctors take an oath to do no harm. I hate what they did to Jack, and I'm sure he wasn't the only one. They have to be punished."

"They will be," he promised. This case had become even more personal, not just because of Jack, but also because if circumstances had been slightly different, if he hadn't managed to get past some of his own PTSD triggers, he could have been one of those men.

After dropping Rachel off at the hospital, Tyler joined his team in the office conference room. After briefing them on what he'd learned from Jack about Waverly's scheme of extracting classified information from veterans under their care, they'd gotten organized, dividing up the workload.