“And what’s so funny about group sex?” Carson asked haughtily as he rejoined them. “Honest to God, you people!” He hesitated for effect. “Haven’t you ever seen an anaconda mating ball on those National Geographic specials?”
They burst out laughing.
He handed Tank a cup of coffee and looked regretfully at Merissa as he dropped into a chair on the other side of the bed. “Sorry, but they really would throw me out on my ear if I brought you a cup.”
“I know. It’s okay,” she said, smiling at him.
Tank sat down in his own chair, but his eyes never left Merissa.
“Heard anything from the sheriff?” Carson asked.
Tank shook his head. “No, but he’ll let us know if he finds anything. Shame about that woman,” he added darkly. “I expect with a little incentive, she might have given something away.”
“Or not,” Carson added. “Men like that don’t choose partners for their loose tongues.” He crossed his long, muscular legs. “However, a little background check might turn up something.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Tank smiled at Carson, because he knew what the man was doing. He suspected there was a bug in the hospital room. He was upping the ante, giving the shadowy assassin something more to worry about.
“Unless she was working for the government in deep cover, she isn’t invisible. Someone will have known her. Your friend the sheriff will run her through the NCIC database and see what shows. I’m betting she’s got a rap sheet. Not too long, maybe. But there’ll be something there.”
“Enough, I hope,” Tank added deliberately, “to give our shadowy friend a lot of worries. I wish him as many as he’s given me lately.”
“I expect when he hears what the Texas authorities are researching, he’ll need to change his underwear,” Carson said deliberately, and stared at Tank, to warn him not to speak.
“You think so?” was all Tank asked. He sipped coffee. “This isn’t bad, for coffee out of a machine.”
“Philistine,” Carson scoffed. “This is real, honest-to-goodness coffee from a real coffeemaker.”
“How did you get that?” Tank asked, surprised.
Carson leaned toward him. “There’s this really pretty nurse. I just smiled and mentioned how much I hated coffee out of those damned machines.” He held up his cup and grinned from ear to ear.
Tank couldn’t resist laughing, too. Merissa just shook her head.
TANK HAD TO go back to the ranch to shower and shave and check in with Cody Banks. He didn’t want to talk to the sheriff in Merissa’s hospital room, in case, as he suspected, the room was bugged.
He leaned over her and kissed her tenderly. “I don’t care if he brings you a steak and a bouquet of flowers, he’s off-limits. Got it?” he teased, nodding toward Carson.
She grinned back. “Got it.”
He chuckled. He kissed her again and glanced at Carson. “You got it, too?”
“Absolutely,” Carson mused. “She’s safe with me.”
“I’ll be back in the morning, first thing, to wish you a Merry Christmas,” he told her. “Have a good night.”
“You, too,” she replied huskily.
He left, but reluctantly.
Carson followed him just outside the room.
“Why did you say that about Texas?” Tank asked Carson. “It’s a fair bet he heard you.”
“He’s pulling our chains, I’m pulling his chain,” Carson replied coldly. “He’s had a plan go wrong. Now he knows we’re looking in another direction for something about him. His girlfriend is dead. He’s got to be feeling the pressure. If he makes a mistake, we’ll get him.”
Tank relaxed a little. “You know, you’re sort of diabolical.”
Carson assumed a surprised expression. “Who, me? I have wings. You can’t see them, but they’re there.”
“Angelic, you ain’t,” Tank said.
Carson made a face. “I know. But as far as she’s concerned—” he jerked his head toward the hospital bed inside the room “—I am. You’re one lucky man.”
Tank flushed. “I know it.”
“I’ll keep her safe. Nobody’s getting past me this time,” he added.
“If you need help, call.”
Carson nodded. “Tell Rourke what I said in the room. He’ll take it from there.”
“I’m telling Cody, too.”
“The more the merrier.” He smiled enigmatically. “Isn’t it fun, putting a burr under the saddle of a murderer like this guy?”
“You know, it actually is. I just hope we can catch him before he comes after her again,” he voiced his fear. “He meant her to die this time. And there are poisons we couldn’t detect.”
“I am now your new food taster,” Carson said. “I’d prefer to test steaks, but I’ll do gelatin in a pinch. She’ll be fine.”
“Watch your own back, too,” Tank said.
“Always.”
HE CALLED CODY and met him in a grocery store parking lot.
“I don’t even trust my own damned phone anymore,” Tank said. “I think everything’s bugged.”
“It might be. No cause to apologize for being careful. What’s up?”
“Carson mentioned in the hospital room that we were looking toward Texas for answers in this case. His idea is that the man’s plan to kill Merissa flubbed, so that’s put him off his stride. Now, he knows we suspect a Texas connection, although he can’t know just how much we’ve already found out. That’s going to panic him.”
Cody nodded. “Not a bad strategy, so long as everyone’s properly guarded. It could go down hard, if he loses himself in revenge.”
“I know,” Tank said heavily. “I don’t want her hurt. I don’t want anybody hurt.”
“Neither do I.” Cody was pensive. “What if it turns his attention back to Texas and he leaves town, though? It does lessen our hopes of capturing him.”
“It also lessens Merissa Baker’s chances of meeting a sudden and terrible death,” Tank added grimly.
Cody relented. “Yes. It does. My idea would be to alert the authorities in Texas and mention this to them.”
“That’s a very good idea. I’ll do it as soon as I get home.”
“If I can help, in any way...”
“You’re already helping, as a lawman and a friend,” Tank said, clapping the other man on the shoulder. “Thanks.”
“Hey, you’re my buddy,” he teased.
“And I’m yours. You can have anything on the place except Diamond Bob.”
Diamond Bob was the famous herd sire who had his own air-conditioned, heated barn.
“Aww, darn,” Cody said, snapping his fingers. “And I do love a good steak...”
“You bite your tongue,” Tank retorted.
“Just kidding.” Cody laughed. “Drive safely.”
“I always do. See you later.”
TANK CALLED HAYES Carson in Texas and told him what was going on. Hayes approved.
“It just might do the trick,” he told Tank. “If this is the same guy who tried to have both of us hit, and who
