A woman wearing an Army desert sand uniform leaned over her and smoothed the hair back from her forehead. “Hey, I’m Specialist Johnson. We’re here to help you. Can you tell me your name?”
She thought and she thought. Name. I have to have a name. I know my name, it’s right on the tip of my tongue. What is my name?
“Ma’am, can you tell me your name?” Johnson said.
Tears welled in her eyes and slipped down her cheeks. “I don’t…know.”
The dog whined, snuck up close to her and pressed his snout to her face.
“Oh, sweetie,” Johnson said. “Don’t worry. You’ll remember. The main thing is to get you somewhere safe so you can heal.”
“Come on,” the man said. “Let’s get her on the stretcher and into the chopper.”
Men lifted her and laid her on a stretcher. She fought until they strapped her down. The dog tried to jump on the stretcher with her.
“It must be hers. Take it with you,” a man said.
The woman named Johnson scooped the dog up into her arms and carried it with her as they loaded her onto the helicopter.
Then someone stuck a needle into her arm. Sunlight dimmed and darkness overtook her. As consciousness faded to black, her name came to her, and she whispered, “JoJo.”
Chapter 1
“Could you hand me that crescent wrench so I can tighten this bolt?” Josephine Angelica Barrera-Ramirez, or JoJo, held out one hand while holding parts together with the other.
Gunny rattled around in the toolbox and then slapped a crescent wrench into her open palm. “I can’t believe you got this old clunker running.”
JoJo took the wrench and fitted it to the bolt. “A little elbow grease and some new parts are usually all it takes.”
“When I was on active duty, they didn’t have females in the motor pool.” The retired Marine gunnery sergeant, Dan Tate, shook his head.
JoJo tightened the bolt, and then stood and straightened with a grin. “Well, maybe they should have. You would’ve been better off.”
Gunny chuckled. “You could be right there. I don’t think there’s anything you can’t fix.”
JoJo hadn’t met a machine she couldn’t fiddle with and make run. Machines were easy.
People…were a different story.
She’d never really been good at relationships, even before she’d gone into the Army, and in the Army… Well, that’s why she was going to a therapist. Thankfully, she was going to one Gunny had recommended. It helped to have another female she hadn’t known before the Army to talk to. Sure, RJ, Gunny’s daughter, would gladly let JoJo have a shoulder to lean or cry on, but some things were just too personal and too raw to share with her best friend. Although Emily, her therapist, was becoming more like a friend every day.
Still, they hadn’t had a breakthrough in the past six months. Emily said that she might never overcome the amnesia brought on by the attack. She said that her mind was protecting her by keeping that door closed.
The problem was that JoJo couldn’t get closure on the whole incident because she didn’t know who had done it and why. And whoever had raped, beaten her and buried her out in the desert was still loose. As long as he was free, JoJo couldn’t be free of the nightmares or being afraid of the dark. Until they put that man behind bars, she wouldn’t be able to move on. In the meantime, she’d remain an emotional mess. Which bugged the crap out of her.
JoJo liked to think she was pretty tough, but that incident had destroyed her confidence in her ability to defend herself. Yes, Army basic training had taught her the basics of hand-to-hand combat, but a five-foot-nothing female who weighed maybe ninety-nine pounds soaking wet didn’t stand a chance against a man who weighed over two hundred pounds. She still didn’t like being alone with men.
With Gunny being the exception. As teenagers she and RJ had been the best of friends. She’d spent much of her time at RJ and Gunny’s place when they’d lived in Colorado Springs. Gunny was like a second father to her. She and RJ had signed up for the Army on the same day, hoping for the buddy program. But that wasn’t to be. RJ had been denied entry, based on medical reasons. JoJo had gone into the Army alone.
After tightening the bolt, JoJo straightened and climbed up into the seat of the old tractor. When she turned the key, the engine rumbled, coughed and finally sprang to life.
Gunny hooted and yelled, “Hallelujah!”
JoJo smiled. It always felt good to do something for Gunny. He’d done so much for her. He and RJ had taken her in when she’d gotten out of the Army. Gunny had given her a job and paid her a living wage, even when he really couldn’t afford to. He’d even paid for her lessons in Krav Maga, an Israeli-style self-defense course, to help rebuild her confidence when she’d had none after leaving the Army. And he’d introduced her to Emily.
“Think you could look at that snowblower next?” Gunny asked.
“If I have time,” she said. “I have to be at Gunny’s Watering Hole in an hour.” JoJo engaged the parking brake, left the tractor running and climbed down. She faced Gunny and grinned. “Expecting snow?”
“We’re in the Rockies. You never know when it’s gonna snow. It could snow in the middle of July. And we’re getting close to the fall season. If you’re worried about the Watering Hole,” Gunny said, “I know the boss. I’m sure he’ll cut you some slack over a couple of minutes.” He winked.
JoJo’s lips twisted. “The boss might excuse me a few minutes, but his daughter RJ isn’t due back from picking up supplies in Colorado Springs for another hour and a half.”
“I’m sure I could get Jake or Max to help me with the lunch crowd.”
“I don’t like to rely on the Brotherhood Protectors to wait tables at the bar. I’m
