your protection detail. Wanna tell me to go to hell?”
The way he asked the question and arched one eyebrow drew a reluctant laugh from her. “No, but I do want breakfast.”
“And the sheriff wants to meet you. So if you want to climb in, we’ll do the diner first.”
So much for a low profile, she thought, scanning the highway as her nerves started to jump. Why had the sheriff been dragged in on this? Why did they feel she needed protection?
All of a sudden a lot of questions hammered at her. “Sheriff first,” she said decisively.
“You got it.”
* * *
Appearing more rested, and dressed in that quietly elegant pantsuit, Erin looked as if she ought to be strolling the streets of a much bigger, classier burg than this one, Lance thought as he drove them toward the sheriff’s offices. Kinda pretty, too, now that her brown eyes didn’t appear quite as sunken. But no one would mistake her yet for being in perfect health. She did resemble a Fed now, though.
“You’re looking a whole lot better this morning,” he said.
“Fourteen hours of sleep will do that.”
“Fourteen?” He whistled. “My dogs wouldn’t let me get away with that.”
A quiet laugh reached him. “How many do you have?”
“Two. One’s an English mastiff, the other a short-haired Saint Bernard. When they jump on the bed, I don’t have much of a choice.”
“I guess not. There wouldn’t be any room left.”
“And to think I considered getting an Irish wolfhound once upon a time.”
“Uh... I’ve only seen one in my life but they’re huge, aren’t they?”
“Practically need a stable for one. My guys are good dogs, by the way, so if you ever come by my place, you don’t need to be nervous. They’d give away the store, not guard it. Of course, the mastiff might not let you leave after you robbed me blind.”
That drew a genuine laugh from her, a nice sound that he was glad to hear. “I think I’d like to meet them,” she said.
“That can be arranged.”
At least she was no longer looking haunted and indecisive as she had been while standing outside her room. There was an instant change, though, when they pulled up at the sheriff’s offices, across the street from the courthouse square. Maybe she was expecting memories to be brought up, things she didn’t want to talk about.
Well, he couldn’t do anything about that. The sheriff was a good man, but she’d have to find that out on her own.
It hurt to watch her get out of his car, but he didn’t try to help. He sensed a huge independence in this woman and figured he wouldn’t be wise to offend it any more than he already had. She had clearly not been thrilled to find out the Bureau had requested protection.
When she walked into the front office, he watched heads turn. A woman dressed like this would get attention anywhere in this town, but everything about her suggested that she was federal. Even so, as lovely as she was, she’d draw male attention anywhere.
Elderly Velma, at the dispatcher’s desk, quickly stubbed out her illicit cigarette. A first. Lance could have laughed.
“Agent Sanders for the sheriff,” Lance announced.
“He’s waiting,” Velma answered in her smoke-roughened voice. “Coffee?”
“No, thanks,” Lance said swiftly. Velma’s coffee was legendarily bad. He gestured to the hallway leading to the back offices and let Erin precede him. He could almost feel the air going out of the front office as deputies relaxed.
Interesting effect, he thought as he rapped two knuckles on Gage’s closed door.
“Come,” Gage called.
Gage Dalton, a dark-eyed man with dark hair dashed with gray and a face marred by a burn scar on one side, rose with a wince. As Lance made the introductions, he shook Erin’s hand. “Have a seat, Agent. Thanks for stopping by.”
“I had a choice?” she asked wryly as she eased herself into a wooden chair. Once certain she was settled, Lance sat nearby. “Did Tom bother to tell you why he’s so all-fired worried about me?”
“Actually yes. You got a call just before you were attacked. The guy knows who you are. He may be afraid that you could identify him. Your ASAC said he knows the risk is small, but it’s not one he wants to take.” Then he changed direction, surprising Lance. “A bomb got me, too,” he said, touching the scar on his face.
Erin had survived a bombing? Lance looked at her, shocked. Her face seemed to have frozen.
“I was DEA,” Gage continued. “It was a car bomb. Unfortunately my family was in the vehicle and I had run back into the house to get a diaper bag. I survived, they didn’t.”
Erin paled and whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
“A long time ago. We can make peace with almost anything, it seems. But I want you to understand why this department isn’t going to take the Bureau’s request lightly. I once ignored an instinct that my family was in danger, to my everlasting sorrow. Your office has a feeling and I’m not going to ignore it. Lance has volunteered for protection duty, and we can get another few on board before the day is out. Good ones. Men with the kind of experience that often took them to undisclosed locations overseas. That protection will continue until you decide to leave. All I ask is that you put up with it. We’ll be as unobtrusive as possible.”
“Isn’t this overkill?” Erin asked after a moment. “No one knows where I am.”
“Supposedly no one knew where I lived either. But the Bureau knows, and apparently someone had loose enough lips to let it be known you were working the case against the bomber.”
She drew an audible breath. “They told you that? They believe it was someone on the inside?”
“Yes. Which gives me cause for concern. How many people at your field office now know where you are?”
Lance felt his gut tighten. He’d never imagined this. Never.
“I’ll leave right away, then,” Erin said immediately.
“If you want, you can. But I suggest you hang around here for at least a few days. Take a breather and know we’ll be watching out for you. Looks to me like you need rest more than anything else right now.”
She looked down at her hands, resting on her lap. “I don’t get why they told you all this.”
“I do,” Gage answered. “They apparently feel that if anyone knows where you are, the wrong person might know. And moving on won’t necessarily help.”
At that she raised her head. “Why not?”
“Because from here there are only a few directions to go. Because your whereabouts have been known to the Bureau since midafternoon yesterday. That’s a long time if someone is hunting you.”
“You’re telling me I drove myself into a kill box.”
Lance drew a sharp breath. When he’d helped Erin, he’d never anticipated the possibility that he could be causing her bigger problems. Nor, apparently, had she.
“Well...” Gage drawled the word slowly. “Truth is, Agent, that there are a whole lot of little bottlenecks in these mountains. Any one of them could have been a bad place to stop if you let someone know where you were. Lance here verified your ID, normal precaution. Then I guess from what he said that you talked to a friend and told her exactly where you are.”
Erin didn’t respond for several long seconds. “In short, I was an idiot.”
“Didn’t say that,” Gage