Riptide

said again, and she was smiling. "Oh God,
    Adam, no!"
    "What is it?"
    "Your arm." She dropped her Coonan back into her jacket
    pocket and grabbed his hand. "Don't move. Look, this splinter of
    wood is stuck in you like a knife. Come back to the house and let
    me get it out. Oh God, does it hurt really bad?"
    He looked down at the shard of wood sticking like a crude knife
    out of his upper arm. He hadn't even felt it. "It didn't hurt before
    I knew about it. Now it hurts like the very devil. Well, shit."
    Thirty minutes later, they were arguing. "No, I'm not going to a
    doctor. The first thing the doctor would do is call Sheriff Gaffney.
    You don't want that, Becca. I'm fine. You've disinfected me and
    bandaged me up. You did a great job. No problem. Let it go. You
    even pushed three aspirin down my gullet. Now, how about a big
    jigger of brandy and I'll be ready to sing opera."
    She thought of Sheriff Gaffney coming here and asking questions
    about a guy who shot at them. "My my, who'd want to do that,
    folks?"

She gave him another aspirin for good measure, and since she
    had no brandy, she gave him a diet Dr Pepper.
    "Close," he said and downed a huge drink.
    They both froze when there was a knock on the front door.
    Then they heard the front door slam open, voices low and muffled.
    Becca grabbed her Coonan and crept toward the kitchen door.
    "Stay put, Adam. I don't want you to get hurt again."
    "Becca, I'll be all right. Just hold it a second." Adam was right on
    her heels, his voice low, his hand on her gun arm.
    "Who is it?" he called out.
    A man yelled out, "You guys all right? This door looks like an
    army tried to shoot its way in."
    "I don't know who it is," Adam said. "Do you recognize his
    voice?"
    She shook her head.
    "Who the hell is out there? What are your damned names? Tell
    me or I'll blow your heads off. We're a bit on the cautious side
    here."
    "I'm Savich."
    "I'm Sherlock. Thomas sent us. Said we needed to meet Adam
    and Becca, talk to them, get all the facts straight and together. Then
    maybe we can nail this stalker."
    "I told him not to," Adam said and slipped his gun back onto the
    kitchen table and walked out into the hallway. A big man stood
    there, a 9mm SIG pistol held snug in his hand. A woman stood just
    behind him, as if shoved there for protection. She stepped around
    the man and said, "Don't be alarmed. We're the good guys. As Dillon
    said,Thomas sent us. I'm Sherlock and this is my husband, Dillon
    Savich. We're FBI."
    It was the man Thomas wanted to save his daughter's butt. His

friend's son, the computer hotshot at the Bureau. Adam didn't like
    it, any of it. He stood there frowning at the two of them. A man
    brought his wife to a possible dangerous situation? What kind of an
    idiot was he?
    Becca stepped forward. "You've got a neat name, Sherlock.
    You're Mr. Savich? Hello. Now, I don't know who this Thomas is,
    but he's probably Adam's boss, only Adam refuses to tell me anything
    about who hired him and why. I'm Becca Matlock. The man
    who's been stalking me and shot the governor, he was just here. He
    called me and then he tried to kill us. I hit him, I know it. Adam
    found some blood, but he's gone, covered his trail, and I had to
    bandage Adam up and so--"
    "Now we understand everything," Sherlock said and smiled at
    the young woman facing her. Sherlock thought she was pretty, but
    she looked like she'd been ground under for a long time now. She'd
    been pushed over the line. She said to the big man, Adam, who was
    standing beside Becca, "Dillon here is great with wounds. Do you
    want to have him look at your arm?"
    Adam was pissed and he felt like a jerk for feeling pissed. If the
    guy really was a genius with computer tracking programs, or whatever
    it was he did, maybe it could help. He shook his head. "No,
    I'm fine. I hope to heaven the sheriff doesn't show up here, what
    with all that gunfire."
    "This place is set way back from its neighbors," Savich said.
    "And all those thick trees, it's doubtful anyone heard the shots unless
    he was real close."
    Becca blinked up at him, then said, "I hope you're right. This is
    Adam Carruthers. He's here as my cousin. He's here to help clean
    up this mess, and to protect me. As I said, I guess he works for this
    Thomas character. I told the guy down the street that he's gay because
    I'm afraid he's jealous of Adam, but he's really not."

Sherlock said, "He's really not jealous?"
    "No, Adam really isn't gay."
    Savich, that big guy