Dawn Patrol - Don Winslow [81]
“Warm is good,” Tammy says. She takes a blue hooded La Jolla Surf Systems sweatshirt and a pair of black sweatpants and goes into the bathroom. Boone and Petra hear the shower running.
“God, that sounds good,” Petra says.
“Yeah, it does.”
“I still have salt water running from my nose,” she says. “I must look a fright.”
“You look nice,” Boone says, meaning it. “Listen … you did good out there. In the water. I mean, you were great. You didn’t panic.”
“Thanks,” she says.
Boone says, “Would you like some tea?”
“That would be lovely.”
“I have herbal or Earl Grey.”
“Earl Grey is perfect.”
“Just plain, right?” Boone asks. “No milk or sugar.”
“Actually, lots of both, please,” she says. “Perhaps it’s the near-death experience, but I feel greedy.”
“Nothing like almost dying to let you know how good life is,” Boone says.
Yeah. How good life is, with her full lips and warm neck and sea gray eyes there for the reaching out and her looking in his eyes, her mouth already tasting his, and then the pot whistles like an alarm and their lips don’t touch.
“Life imitating bad art,” she says.
“Yeah.” Boone pours the water into a mug and hands it to her.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“How about you?” she asks.
“I’ll make some coffee.”
Tammy comes out of the bedroom.
It’s the first time Boone has really seen her.
She’s tall. Not Sunny tall, but tall, with long, lean legs. Her face has clean, strong, natural lines and her eyes, although they look smaller without makeup, are still catlike. But it’s a different breed of cat—wild, feral, but somehow calm. She’s a striking woman, and it’s easy to see why Mick Penner and Teddy fell hard for her. She sits down on the small couch in the middle of the living room and puts her feet up on the coffee table.
Boone says, “Have something hot to drink first. Warm you up inside.”
“Go change,” Petra says. “I can take care of her.”
“She can take care of herself,” Tammy says, getting up. She goes into the kitchen, chooses the herbal tea, and makes a cup. “Go get some dry clothes on, Tarzan. I’ll make the coffee.”
Boone goes into his room to change.
“I need to talk with Teddy,” Tammy says.
Petra’s gobsmacked. Certainly Tammy realizes that Teddy revealed her hiding place to Dan Silver—in fact, served her up on a plate to save himself. She says, “I’m sure Dr. Cole is fine.”
After all, he did what Dan wanted.
“I want to talk with him.”
“Let’s check with Boone about that,” Petra says.
“You’re going to do him,” Tammy says to Petra.
“I beg your pardon.”
“If I wasn’t here? You’d jump him in the shower.”
“We have a professional relationship.”
“Uh-huh.”
“He’s a barbarian.”
“Whatever.”
Whatever, Petra thinks. But is it possible? Am I really feeling something for Daniels? Is it some sort of animal attraction, or perhaps just a residue of the gratitude I’m feeling for him for not letting me die on the beach? Of course, he put me on the beach in the first place. The incompetent boob.
But he was pretty damn competent when the bullets were flying, wasn’t he? He was pretty damn competent in the freezing water in the dark, wasn’t he?
Boone comes back into the room.
“I’ll think I’ll have that shower,” she says.
“Yeah, get warm,” Boone says.
She takes some clothes from the stack and goes into the bathroom.
76
First words out of Tammy’s mouth?
“I want to talk to Teddy.”
“Your boyfriend is a pedophile,” Boone says. He tells her about what he saw at the motel up near the strawberry fields. Her face doesn’t register any of the possible reactions—shock, anger, indignation, disgust, betrayal …
“I want to talk to Teddy,” she says. “I need to talk to Teddy.”
Boone sighs and runs it down for her. First, they don’t know where Teddy is. Second, Teddy already gave her up once; if she calls him now, he’ll give her up again. Third, at least for a little while, Dan and the rest of the world have good reason to believe that she’s dead, and if she talks to Teddy, they’ll have good