Tied Up in Knots (Marshals 3)

“Hey, girl,” a beautiful woman said as she reached Stacy, leaning in to give her a hug. “How are you?”

She was the kind of woman you watched walk by on the street: brilliant smile that made her dimples pop, big sepia eyes framed in long thick lashes, and gorgeous smooth brown skin with golden bronze undertones. I would bet the reason for the size of the rock on her finger was her husband wanting to send a clear, concise message to any would-be suitors before he was forced to kill them with his pinky. The man was a Green Beret, after all.

“I’m good,” Stacy replied before squeezing my bicep tight. “Zahra, this is Miro, Ian’s guy.”

Zahra’s whole face lit up. “Oh, it’s so good to finally meet you,” she said warmly, like she meant every word, walking around Stacy to give me a hug. It was nice. She wasn’t one of those hover huggers where you barely felt it. Instead, she grabbed and squeezed. I was a fan already.

When she pulled back, she was beaming at me. “It’s so great to put a face to the name. I’m Danny O’Reilly’s wife.”

“Ian hasn’t introduced him to any of the guys, so he has no idea who our hubbies are,” Stacy explained.

“Ah, sounds like them,” Zahra said, and then she noticed the two women behind us. “Hi there, can I help you?”

“Oh” came a gasp, and I finally had a reason to turn when Stacy did as well. “I’m sorry for staring. I’m Paul’s wife, Chloe Jermaine.”

Zahra’s scowl was instant. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I mean,” Zahra began, her voice going cold, “why are you here?”

“To pick up Paul.”

“And why would Paul be here?” Zahra clipped the words, and the change from how sweet she’d been with me, how warm, to frigid ice queen, was odd.

“Because he’s a member of the team, of course.”

“Did your husband tell you to pick him up here?”

“No, but I checked his e-mail, and the time and date were in there,” she told Zahra, who made a tsking noise.

“That’s probably Danny’s bad. He didn’t take you off the list, and I bet you didn’t get put on it, did you, Miro?”

“No,” I answered, even though she didn’t turn and look at me, too focused on Chloe and her friend.

“Well, I’ll make sure he fixes that,” Zahra promised as she pointed at Chloe. “And I’ll make sure he takes you off immediately.”

“I don’t understand what’s going—”

“What’s going on,” Stacy began coolly, “is that your husband, Paul, is no longer a member of this unit. How do you not know that? We all know that.”

And when she said “we all,” she gestured at the ten or so other women now milling close to us.

“I think you’re mistak—”

“Listen,” Zahra said acidly, “if your husband told you he was going on a mission, he lied, so you best sort that out when you find him. But I can assure you that he will not be coming though that security point with the rest of our boys.”

“I… he—”

Zahra advanced on Chloe. “As you know, my husband commands this unit, and he told me he transferred yours out after the last time he nearly got him and the others killed. Not only did Ian Doyle have to save my husband in a firefight that your husband caused, Danny was hurt enough that Ian had to carry him out,” she said, then taking a deep breath. “So don’t tell me that he’s still a part of this team, because the hell he is!”

As certain as I was that none of that should have been shared, I was just as sure that Zahra O’Reilly was overwrought. Her husband had confided to her that because of the actions of one man, he was nearly killed, and because of the actions of another, he was still alive. All of that information was there, in her head, in her heart, running around, and seeing the wife of the guy responsible for her husband’s brush with death tipped her over the edge.

She broke down then, the tears simmering right there below the surface.

Stacy was quick; I was quicker. Before she reached her, I had Zahra in my arms, wrapped up and held tight.

She cried into my chest as Stacy rubbed her back, and then Stacy turned to Chloe.

“It’s not your fault. She knows it, I know it. No one’s blaming you, but you’re here, and that’s reminding us all that our husbands and fathers and sons and boyfriends could be coming home in body bags if it weren’t for the quick action of certain members of the team when your husband’s actions put them all in jeopardy.”

Chloe stood there, not sure what to do, but her friend, the one who was after my man, grabbed her arm and pulled her away from us.