Page 5 of Blind Trust
“That’s not all that matters.” Nicolás’s hazel eyes held her. “We got lucky this time, but next time it could end differently.”
Lyla watched him walk away, hating that he had the ability to turn the successful ending to their assignment upside down, leaving her feeling inadequate. Just like the Nowak case a few months ago. Nicolás couldn’t—wouldn’t—trust her to do her job. A soft huff of annoyance escaped her lips. Of all the opinions that mattered to her—his was the one she cared about the most.
2
Squreaaak. Squreaaak. Squreaaak.
Nicolás Garcia shot up in his bed and nailed his elbow against the nightstand, sending a painful sensation through his arm. He ignored it, heart pumping as he homed in on the noise.
Squreaaak. Squreaaak.
He fell back against his pillow when he recognized the sound. There was nothing like waking up to a trash can scraping across the asphalt to start the day. Or the pain radiating from his funny bone. Nic yanked his pillow out from under his head and pressed it over his face. He squeezed his already closed eyes tighter as if that would somehow make the familiar scene unfolding outside his apartment go away.
Ugh. He tossed his pillow and rolled out of bed. Running a hand through his hair, he stared at the dark window. What was he doing out so early?
Squreaaak. Squreaaak.
Gracious. If Nic didn’t get out there soon, the whole building would be up. He flipped on a light and grabbed a sweatshirt and pulled it over his bare chest. It wouldn’t be enough to keep him warm in the chilly early morning temps that October had brought in, but it would have to do.
He slipped into a pair of boots, then opened the door and saw the hunched form of Louis Brandt in a tug-of-war match with his garbage can. Nic released a long exhale and jogged across the lawn.
“Mr. Brandt, I told you I would take your trash out for you.” He called out softly so as not to scare him. The last thing he wanted to do was give his elderly neighbor a heart attack. INFANTRYMANSURVIVESKOREANWAR, DIESTAKINGTRASHOUTwould make a horrible headline.
“Oh, thank you, Nic.” The old man let him take the trash can, then tugged on a plaid hat with ear flaps. Nic noticed he was wearing house slippers. “I didn’t want to disturb anyone.”
Not disturb anyone? Nic’s eyes flashed to their building where a few lights were already on. His neighbors had no doubt been woken up by the same noise that had jolted him from sleep.
Several of them had thanked him for intervening in Mr. Brandt’s trash day ritual. Nic was usually up before the man began his trek, but the familiar nightmare he’d been having for the last week had kept him tossing and turning all night. He’d finally managed to doze sometime around four and ignored his alarm when it went off this morning.
“It’s no bother.” Images from the nightmare flashed in his mind. Him standing in front of a window, fists pounding on the glass, screaming but there’s no sound, and he watches as Lyla faces off with the gun Castillo has aimed at her. His finger pulls back on the trigger, and then Nic wakes up. Even now, his heart pounded as if the dream were real. “I can take it out in the evenings if that works better for you.”
Nic shoved the images out of his mind and placed Mr. Brandt’s trash can next to a few others that had been set out the night before.
“Humph.” He waved a hand at Nic. “And give those rascally raccoons my personals to ferret through? No thanks.”
Nic glanced up at the inky sky still peppered with stars not ready to end their nightly watch. He took a calming breath. In the five years he’d lived here, he hadn’t once seen a rascally raccoon in their trash or ever caught sight of one in the wooded area that hedged their property in. Deer, squirrels, rabbits, yes. Raccoonsseemed to stay away, but there was no sense in pointing that out to Mr. Brandt, who at the moment eyed said property like he was expecting an assault by raccoon at any moment.
Nic looked down at Mr. Brandt’s leather house slippers and shivered. His own sockless toes were numb. “Don’t you have some winter boots?”
“Humph.” He scrunched his wrinkled face. “When I was stationed in Korea, we had winters so cold it would freeze your nose hair.” He started ambling back to their apartment building. “This is practically a tropical heat wave.”
Nic looked at the frost stiffening the blades of grass on the lawn they walked past.Yeah, right. Mr. Brandt was as tough as they came—the true epitome of a soldier, but also stubborn. Reminded him of someone else Nic knew. He walked Mr. Brandt to his door. “I’ll bring your trash can back up when I get home from work.”
Mr. Brandt did an about-face and eyed him. “You don’t need to be worrying about an old man like me.” His cloudy gaze sharpened. “Don’t you have a young woman you can pester?”
Nic smiled. “No, sir. No woman I can pester.” Lyla’s face flashed to mind. Except her. It seemed he was really good at driving her nuts even though it was never his intention.
“Well, get on it, son.” A whining noise came from behind the door. Mr. Brandt opened it, and his twelve-year-old lab, Biscuit, wandered out, sniffed Nic’s hand, and wagged his tail for a second before going to the grass to do his business. “Life is too short to spend it alone.”
Mr. Brandt’s statement followed Nic all the way to the Denny’s in Arlington, where he sat staring at the tenth verse of 1 Peter. He tried to focus on Chaplain Hahm’s voice, his words about the cost of being bold like Elijah, but all Nic could hear was his neighbor’s almost predictive declaration.
“Life is too short to spend it alone.”
It was like a warning. And if that wasn’t troubling enough, the image that followed was extra problematic. Lyla Fox.Why does mymind go there?Lyla definitely didn’t lack boldness, but he didn’t think it was the same kind Elijah had demonstrated. Rather, hers was a dangerous never-thinks-twice-going-to-get-herself-killed boldness that tormented Nic daily.
“You ready?”
The question came from his right, where Jack Hudson was sitting, watching him. Around them the table had begun to clear as the members of the men’s bimonthly Bible breakfast headed to work. Most branches of the military were represented, along with several local police and first responders.
