Free Shadow Soldier by Dana Marton Page A

“We’re going home, babies,” she whispered to the finches bickering on the coffee table, oblivious to the sudden end of danger. If there were any ruffled feathers among the three of them, they were definitely hers.
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    A LEX PARKED on the other side of the street for a while. Nothing suspicious. He scrolled through the fields on his cell phone. Spike had set the security after he’d left Nicola’s house. Didn’t look like there had been a breach.
    He pushed a button, and the garage door opened.
    â€œHow did you do that?” Nicola stared at his phone.
    He grinned at her astonishment and slipped into his pocket the special-edition cell phone that had saved his life on more than one occasion. He pulled into the driveway, then into the garage next to Nicola’s car.
    â€œHow did my car get back?”
    â€œSpike.” He closed the garage door.
    â€œMay I take the vest off?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œYour windows aren’t bulletproof.” He got out with his gun drawn. “You stay behind me.”
    â€œI hate being a prisoner in my own home. Hated it as a child, did whatever I could to get away from it as an adult. Doesn’t look like it worked, does it? All I wanted was some freedom.”
    â€œI understand.” And he did. For him it was second nature to be always looking over his shoulder. But Nicola was a civilian; she wasn’t used to this. Nor should she have to be.
    â€œWhat about the Tweedles?” She hesitated to follow him.
    â€œLet’s check the house first.” It didn’t seem smart to bring noisy birds along while they tried to sneak around. He didn’t expect any surprises in there, but he wasn’t about to take any chances.
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œYou have to admit it’s strange that someone who values freedom as much as you do would keep caged birds as pets. Kind of symbolic, don’t you think?”
    She gave him a funny look. “For your information, they were a gift. And they like their cage.”
    He crooked his eyebrow.
    â€œThat’s what they’re familiar with. They wouldn’t know what to do outside. Probably couldn’t even find food. I am not being mean to them.”
    â€œI didn’t say you were.” He lifted his finger tohis lips to signal to her to be quiet as he opened the door that connected the garage with the house.
    He wasn’t satisfied until he checked everything from basement to attic. Then he set out to double the sensors, and let her get on with whatever it was she wanted to do, while he kept an eye on her. Despite frustration over his baby-sitting assignment being extended, watching Nicola Barrington move around the house was by far the most enjoyable task he’d had lately. After Yemen, maybe fate figured it owed him a good turn. He wasn’t going to question it.
    She was incredibly feminine. Not in the sense of femininely fragile, but head-to-toe real woman. He couldn’t be near her and not be aware of her, aware that he was a man. She was a contradiction—all soft curves on the outside, but on the inside the kind of quiet strength rare even among men. At every turn she had stepped up to the plate. She’d had the presence of mind to get into his car and away from the terrorists, held the wheel while he stopped them from following, defended herself against Spike. Her life had been taken apart then put back together again in the last twenty-four hours and her eyes never teared.
    Alex watched as she brought the finches in from the attached garage—he had allowed her free movement as long as she didn’t go outside. As soon as she set the cage on its stand and pulled the cover up, the birds began to chirp and fly around, which prettysoon escalated into another fight over the nest. She appeased them with some seeds, then walked out to the kitchen, her movements as graceful as a dancer’s. Another thing he liked about