Cradle Files

With water snaking down his body, Sergeant Garrett O'Malley headed toward the laundry room in search of a clean towel -- something he wished he'd donebeforehis shower. He only made it a step outside the steamy bathroom when he realized he wasn't alone.There was a shadowy figure standing at the other end of the dark hall.Adrenaline knifed through him, and his heartbeat went into overdrive. He made a split-second assessment to make sure it wasn't a family member. It wasn't. And he automatically reached for his weapon, which obviously wasn't there, since he didn't have on a stitch of clothes.He cursed.Because that's when he noticed the intruder was armed."Don't move," she said in a hoarse whisper.She.It was definitely a female. Garrett didn't hear enough of her voice, though, to recognize it. It was the same for the woman herself. She stayed in the darkness, her face and body hidden.Well, if this was a robbery, she'd picked a good time for it. He was not only towelless, he was totally unprepared. Garrett's mind raced with questions. What did she want, and how the devil had she gotten in?And did she have plans to kill him?His cop's brain immediately went to work, and within seconds he decided this wasn't a good time for an all-out fight.Not with her pointing that gun straight at him.If he couldn't talk her into surrendering her weapon, his best move would be to make a dive for his bedroom -- where he'd left his loaded 9 mm, standard issue Glock on his dresser. Thankfully, his bedroom and that Glock were only about eight feet away, and the door was wide open.Of course, being buck naked didn't help. And the dive onto the hardwood floor would hurt like crazy, but it was better than getting shot. He'd been there, done that, not once but twice, and he didn't want to repeat the ordeal anytime soon."Who are you, and why are you here?" Garrett demanded while he calculated the best moment to disarm her or to begin that dive. If he could somehow distract her, that would help.But he immediately rethought the idea. Since she'd broken into the home of a cop and was holding him at gunpoint, she probably wasn't the distractible type.Ifshe knew he was a cop, that was. Maybe this was a random burglary. That didn't make the situation any less dangerous. In fact, the stakes might escalate if she discovered who he really was. She might try to kill him just so she could eliminate a witness.She stepped closer, toward the milky-yellow light that spilled out from the bathroom. Her cautious footsteps barely made a sound. But her breathing sure did. It was coming out in rough, hurried gusts. "I need to talk to you," she said.Garrett froze and put his Glock-retrieving plan on hold. Now he recognized that voice, and it set off all kinds of alarms in his head.Not good alarms, either. "Lexie?" he asked. "Is that you?" She froze. For a few moments. And then she inched closer still. She stared at him and squinted, as if trying to peer through the darkness for a good look. Garrett did the same.Yep. It was Lexie Rayburn all right, though he'd never seen her wear her hair that long or in that particular style. Her straight rust-colored locks fell choppy, loose and disheveled onto her shoulders.The last time he'd seen her, she'd been cursing a blue streak and had thrown her panties at him.Well, maybe notathim, exactly, but in his general direction.He was lucky she hadn't thrown something heavier and more lethal.That throwing incident was... When? A few months shy of a year ago, when Lexie had walked out of his life. But she hadn't justwalked out.She'd left him with a lot of questions, no answers, and she'd put his badge on the line. Since his badge was the most important thing in his life, that had not sat well with him.It still didn't.Garrett's jaw tightened. She moved even closer, and he got a better look at her gun.An RG .22, commonly referred to as a SatuFossen, Delores is the author of 'Cradle Files', published 2006 under ISBN 9780373229321 and ISBN 0373229321.