Page 25 of Under Fire

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Locke opened it and a woman walked in. Striker thought she was a very attractive woman. Locke made the introductions. “Karl, Striker, this is former FBI Agent Hollis Calloway. She will be assisting me on this case.”

Striker fought back a smile. Hmm…She would be assisting him all right. He had noticed the way Locke had looked at the woman when she walked in. He was watching the way he was looking at her now. Maybe he had spoken too soon about Locke not having a woman. He had a feeling that was about to change if it hadn’t already.

***

“I think that went well,” Hollis said, as they pulled out of the driveway of the house on the secluded street.

“I believe it did, too,” was Locke’s response.

It was close to two in the morning, and she had to admit it had been an eventful day, and that in the end everything had gone well. Karl and Nyla were back together, sharing the same space and breathing the same air, and to the couple, that was what mattered. There was no doubt in her mind they were very much in love.

After leaving Lenny’s fish camp, Hollis figured that earlier ordeal with the house had Nyla nervous. On top of that, they hadn’t told her where they were taking her, and she hadn’t asked. She obviously believed they would keep her safe.

To keep her calm, during the drive from the fish camp to where Karl was, Hollis asked how she and Karl had met, and she seemed to enjoy telling them how he had captured her heart. Hollis had no doubt Nyla loved Karl, and after meeting him and seeing his attentiveness to Nyla, it was clear just how much he loved her, too. Even when everyone had been sitting at the table, and Locke had covered with Striker and Karl what had gone on, namely, the parts the news people didn’t know yet, the couple had held hands and would lovingly look into each other’s eyes.

Hollis felt they had been through a lot, and before things were over, they’d go through more. She felt good that she was part of the team that would prove Karl’s innocence. As far as she was concerned, Karl and Nyla deserved happiness and a chance to live a good life.

She then thought of her own life. Had it gone completely wrong, or was it just right? At least the way she preferred it to be. Long ago she had accepted that her marriage to Ryan had been a mistake from the beginning. There had been no love, just a partnership. He respected her work at the Bureau, and she did the same for him.

He had remarried and had a son. According to the mutual friends they once shared, he was happy, and she was happy for him. Some things just weren’t meant to be. She thought about her career with the FBI. What did she have to show for her dedicated years of service to them? They had kicked her to the curb the first chance they got.

Then there was no steady man in her life, which is what, for years, she had convinced herself was something she hadn’t wanted anyway. So why had seeing how much in love Nyla and Karl were, the shared bond and deep connection she saw in them tonight, triggered a longing that for years she hadn’t wanted?

“You’re quiet,” Locke murmured, breaking into the stillness of the car’s interior.

They were on a two-lane road with no street lights. During daylight, the area had been scenic, with beautiful marshes, greenery, and tall trees. Then there were the wildflowers that dominated the sides of the roadway. Now all she saw was darkness. It would be another fifteen minutes before they reached the highway. Earlier, she had asked Locke how he had found a place so secluded in this area. He’d told her it was one of the network’s safe houses that was protected from attack by drones.

“I was just thinking about Karl and Nyla. They deserve to be together. They love each other very much.”

“You sound like a die-hard romantic.”

“I never thought that I was, but seeing them together makes me believe there is hope in the world.”

“For you? I recall you saying your first marriage didn’t end well.”

“It didn’t. I’m one of those women who don’t always believe in second chances when it comes to love.”

“That’s a hard way to look at things, Hollis.”

She was surprised he would say that. “I take it that no woman has ever broken your heart, Locke.”

***

Locke thought that although he had loved Sophie, he had ended their relationship not with a broken heart, but with a battered spirit. “You’re right. No woman has ever broken my heart.”

“What about back in high school?” she asked.

“I had a steady girl during my senior year, but we both knew that when we graduated and left Atlanta ─ she was headed to a college in Florida and I to one in Virginia ─ that things would end. Being together forever wasn’t in our plan. We figured we would meet other people and wanted the freedom of doing so.”

“That was a mature way to look at it.”

“We thought so. Besides, I knew the only reason Carla dated me was that I was Terrence’s best friend. At the time, he was the most popular guy at school, and she thought that connection was important.”

“Terrence?”

“Yes, Terrence Jeffries.”

“The Holy Terror?”