Free On Her Six (Under Covers) by Christina Elle Page B

her foot. “Did we get anything on GPS yet?”
    Rose sobered and shook her head. “He hasn’t gone anywhere.”
    “I haven’t gotten anything on audio, either,” Celia added, holding the headphones firmly in place over her ears. “He hasn’t made a sound since last night.”
    “He’s in there.” Sam tapped the TV screen. “I saw him go inside after doing yard work. We just have to wait. He’ll make a move, and we’ll get him.”
    Thirty silent minutes passed, and no one caught sight or sound of the target.
    Having left her post for a brief bathroom and pastry break, Maybel sat behind the video camera and asked, “How’d everything go with the exam, Sam? You never said.”
    Kudos to Maybel for asking with a bright face and positive tone, but the cautious looks the women exchanged told Sam they had already figured out the answer. Hell, if Sam had passed the police entrance exam, she would have jumped up and down and screamed for the entire world to hear. Everyone would have known immediately. Not days later.
    Sam’s lips tightened into a thin line, and she shifted her eyes in Maybel’s direction. She shook her head once.
    “Aww, honey, I’m sorry.”
    “The same part givin’ you trouble?” Estelle asked.
    Sam’s lips remained thinned and she nodded.
    “Don’t give up.” Estelle placed a hand on Sam’s shoulder and squeezed. “Until they tell you otherwise, you drag your butt back there and try again. And again, if that’s what it takes.”
    “That’s right,” Maybel chimed in. “Make them turn you away.”
    Celia nodded, her head bouncing, causing a hair pin to drop out of her bun.
    Rose approached with open arms. Hugging, she whispered in Sam’s ear, “I’m sorry, sweets. I know how important it is to you to follow in your dad and pop pop’s footsteps.” She smoothed a hand down Sam’s shoulder-length blond hair. “I hate seeing you hurt.”
    “So do the rest of us,” Maybel added, rubbing Sam’s back.
    Sam attempted a smile but released a choked sound instead. It’s all she wanted. To carry out the Harper family legacy. To serve and protect as an officer with Baltimore City Police. To do her father honor by being loyal to the badge, just as he was, proving to her coworkers that the Harpers were trustworthy.
    “That’s how I feel about all of you. I need to keep you safe. Now that Dad’s”—she swallowed hard—“now that he’s gone, it’s my responsibility to protect you. I have to find a way to pass that test.” She took a ragged breath. “If something happened to any of you—”
    “Nothing’s going to happen to us,” Rose replied. “We may be old, but we’re not helpless. We can take care of ourselves.”
    Estelle crossed her arms over her full chest, causing her cleavage to poke farther out of the top of her low-cut shirt. “Damn right.”
    “I didn’t mean to imply—”
    “Yes, you did,” Rose said through a grin, “but at least your motives were noble. You worry. It’s understandable. There are bad people who do bad things that you can’t control. What you can do is love those around you and spend as much time together before the end. It’s anybody’s guess when that will be. You can’t stop it, but there are things you can do to lessen the pain.”
    Sam hugged her grandmother again, squeezing hard. “God, if anything happened—if I lost you too—” Her heart constricted to the point of being painful. First Dad. If she lost Grandma Rose, too… Suddenly the small bedroom seemed even smaller. The air in the room thickened, making it hard to pull a breath.
    “I’m not going anywhere, sweets. Not when I have you and this bunch of crackpots to look after.”
    “Hey!”
    “Who you callin’ crackpot?”
    “I take offense to that!”
    The tension evaporated, and the room filled with its usual laughter.
    Rose peered through her bifocals at the clock on a nearby table. Estelle, Celia, and Maybel followed suit. “Sweets,” Grandma Rose said,