Now the man was really unsettled. He swallowed. “She had a fall,” he said quickly. “She has a few bruises. It ain’t my fault!”

“Clara!” Tank called shortly.

The door opened. Little Clara, nervous and shivering, came into view. There were bruises on her face.

“Come here to me,” Tank said softly. “It’s all right,” he added when she looked with evident fear at her ex-husband. “Come on. He isn’t going to touch you!” He glared at the man as he said it, and his expression was dangerous.

Clara ran down the steps, almost stumbling. Tank put his arm around her. “You okay?” he asked softly.

She sobbed. “I am now, thanks.”

He hugged her and then let her go. He pushed the speed dial on the phone. “Cody?” he asked when his friend answered. “We’ve got a little situation here, and I need some help.”

“Hey, there’s no need for that!” the man on the porch yelled. “No need at all!”

Rourke walked up on the porch. He stood beside the man and looked down at Clara. “Did he strike you, Mrs. Baker? Please don’t be afraid to answer me. He will not touch you again. You have my word on it.”

Clara drew in a shattered breath. “Yes. He beat me up because I asked him to leave,” she said in a defeated tone.

“That’s a damned lie!” the man yelled. “She fell! You tell him you fell, Clara, or you’ll regret it!”

“Terroristic threats and acts,” Rourke said quietly. “Assault and battery. My, my, you are going to be in trouble.”

“Like hell I am,” the man said nervously and tried to make a run for it. Rourke had him on the floor in a heartbeat, and cuffed.

“You carry handcuffs around with you?” Carson asked in a shocked tone.

“Hey, you never know when they might come in handy,” Rourke told him. “No, actually, I bought them a week ago, with other...intentions in mind.”

“You let me go! I want to go!” the man groaned. “It wasn’t even my idea to come back here, but I’ve got an outstanding warrant in San Diego and he threatened to go to my parole officer!”

“He, who?” Rourke asked, jerking him to his feet.

The man hesitated. He actually looked afraid.

Tank joined Rourke on the porch. “Who?”

“Don’t know his name,” Baker said miserably. “He wore a suit. Said he was a fed and he could lock me up for ten years. He said to come here and say the house was mine. Don’t know why. He paid for the plane ticket. Listen, I don’t want no more trouble! I just want to go home!”

“Not just yet,” Tank told him acidly. “First there’s a little matter of assault and battery and some missing paperwork.”

“Damned paperwork’s under the mattress in the spare bedroom,” he grumbled. “And I’m sorry I hit her, but she told me to get out.” His face flamed. “Ain’t no woman alive talking to me like that on my own place!”

“It’s not your place,” Merissa said with cold pride. She was shaking but her voice was almost steady. “It’s ours. And it will suit us both very well if we never have to see you again.”

“You won’t,” Tank assured her. He looked at the man with icy eyes. “He’s going to jail for a long, long time.”

“He’ll get me a lawyer,” Baker told him. “He’ll pay for it. He’ll say those women lied.”

“You want to take a look at Clara’s face and run that line by me again?” Tank demanded.

“Well, I ain’t going to jail!”

He broke away from the men and took off out the back of the cabin.

“Carson, you’re quicker than I am,” Rourke began.

Just as Carson started to the side of the cabin, there was a loud report.

Tank swore once, violently. “Stay with Clara and Merissa,” he told Rourke. He and Carson ran around to the back of the cabin. Just down the trail there was a crumpled body.

Carson went down on one knee. He felt for a pulse he knew he wouldn’t find and got to his feet again. “Better call the coroner,” he told Tank, and deliberately stood in front of him. “Judging from the size of the exit wound, it was a high caliber rifle. Get out of here, quick!” he added. “Go! He isn’t after me!”

Tank went around the side of the house and up onto the porch. “We’d better get inside,” he said.

“Bill?” Clara asked worriedly.

“Dead,” Tank said bluntly. “I’m sorry.”

Clara wept quietly. “I’m sorry he’s dead, but only because he was once my husband. He was the most cruel human being I’ve ever known.”

“I can understand why,” Tank said, looking at her ravaged, bruised face. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.” He put an arm around Merissa, who was shaking, and held her close. He pulled Clara to his other side. “It’s going to be all right,” he said softly. “Nobody’s hurting my girls on my watch.”

They both sobbed. He just held them closer.

* * *

THE SHERIFF CAME first, followed by EMTs, and a deputy stood watch over the remains until the coroner was able to get there.

Sheriff Cody Banks was furious when he saw Clara’s face. “Any man who would do that to a woman should be shot,” he muttered furiously.

“That’s why I phoned you,” Tank said. “I meant to have him arrested for it. But he ran, and someone took him out. The same someone,” he added heavily, “that I think is after me.”

“You want to run that by me again?” Cody asked.

Tank nodded. “You can come to supper. We’ll tell you everything we know.” He indicated his two male companions. “There’s a lot going on.”

“I wouldn’t mind supper,” Cody replied with a grin. “I’m so tired of burnt eggs and half-cooked bacon.”

“You’re not married?” Rourke asked.

Cody shook his head sadly. “You know that new strain of flu that’s going around, the deadly one? She was a doctor. She was treating a patient in a hospital down in Boulder. She died.”

“I’m sorry,” Rourke said softly.

“Me, too,” Cody replied. “It was over a year ago, but it takes some getting used to. We’d only been married two years.”

Tank looked at Merissa and imagined how he would have felt in Cody’s position. It was devastating.

“What about Clara and Merissa?” he asked the room at large. “Are they going to be safe here?”

“You want a gut reply, no,” Rourke said abruptly. “If he’s brazen enough to kill one of his own accomplices, he’ll kill anybody. He brought Clara’s husband back here for some reason that we don’t know. But it means he’s targeted them. Maybe he knew the man’s past and hoped he’d kill them.” He shook his head. “Whatever the reason, they’re in as much danger as you are.”

“They can come and live at the ranch,” Tank said. “We’ve got three spare bedrooms. It’s a huge place.”

“It’s such an imposition,” Clara protested.

“Yes,” Merissa added worriedly.

Tank just smiled. “Lots of room and good company. You can play with Mallory’s baby, too,” he added.

Clara and Merissa just melted. “Their little boy?” Merissa asked, and her eyes lit up. “I love babies.”

Tank looked absolutely smitten. He sighed and smiled to himself.

“Babies!” Carson’s face was harder than stone. He turned on his heel and walked away. It was such an odd reaction that Tank and Rourke exchanged curious looks.

“Well, if you want my vote,” Cody added, “I think it’s a good idea to get the women out of here. This place is too isolated for comfort.”

“I don’t know,” Merissa said after a minute. “I mean, we’ve been here all this time alone and he hasn’t tried anything. He’s bugged the phones, but he didn’t try to hurt us.”

“That’s true,” Clara said. She sighed. “I just don’t understand what he wants from us.”

“To torture him, of course,” Rourke said, jerking his head toward Tank. “To make him nervous, unsettle him, keep him off his guard. Maybe keep him from remembering something the enemy doesn’t want remembered.”

“Enemy.” Cody chuckled. “War term.”

Rourke shrugged. “I’ve spent my life fighting small wars all over the world, in and out of the military. Force of habit.”

“Then if he’s just trying to unsettle us, it won’t matter if we stay here,” Merissa said softly. She looked up at Tank worriedly. “I’m sorry, it’s a generous offer, really it is. But I’m uneasy around other people. I just don’t...socialize all that much. And if I’m upset, I can’t work.”

Tank was disappointed. And worried. “You’d have a room all to yourself.”

She nodded. “Yes, but you have a big family. They’re very nice,” she added, holding up a hand. “But I’m a solitary person.” She looked very worried. “I’m odd, you know. I don’t fit in with other people.”

“You fit in with me,” he pointed out and he smiled.

She smiled back. “Of course. But...”

“Don’t force her,” Clara said softly. “We’ve both had too much of that in our lives, both physical and verbal.”

“Okay,” Tank said at once. “I won’t.” He looked at Merissa with a speaking expression. “But I’m going to worry.”

Merissa smiled. “We’ll be okay.”

“Yes, they will,” Carson said quietly, returning to the porch. “I’m moving in here.”

“What?” three voices said in unison.

Carson glared at the two men. “Rourke can’t stay here and watch you, too,” he told Tank. “Besides, how do you think the rogue agent knew about her husband?” He indicated Clara.

“He bugged the phones,” Tank said. “But we found all the bugs, right?” he asked Rourke, who’d done the sweep.

“We were talking about Bill before you found them,” Clara confessed sadly. “Including where he worked. I’m sorry. It was my fault.”

Tank put an arm around her. “Nothing is your fault,” he said gently. “The man was an animal. The world is better off without him. I’m just sorry about the way it went down.”

“Me, too,” Clara said. “Shot down like an animal...and just before Christmas.” Her eyes teared up.