“Okay! Enough already! The guilt is so heavy, I’ll be on my knees begging for forgiveness with one more ‘to be’.” She giggled at her gramp’s cheeky grin, his obvious enjoyment of her teasing. It was this way between them every time they were together. Truth is, she loved spending time with her old gramps and having to stop their original plans was killing her.
But taking on witness protection meant cutting ties with everyone in her circle until they captured the killer. Seeing as Gramps was the main person for her, the only one who meant anything in her life, protecting him meant discontinuing all communication for the immediate future.
And cutting off her arm might be less painful, especially when John Madison didn’t intend to be left out. The wily old bugger could be as sniveling as any teenager begging to go tothe partyof the year where all the popular kids would be hanging out.
He didn’t take no easily, didn’t like having his plans messed with and wasn’t willing to be agreeable.
“There’s got to be a way we can be in communication. What about those burner phones you see them using on all the cop shows. We can get a couple of those so I can talk to you.”
“It’s against the rules, Gramps.” The guilt doubled when she saw the regret in his eyes, and knew he’d started to sense the danger. “You know I wouldn’t have taken on this assignment lightly. Trust me, okay? I’ll be safe; it’ll be like I’m taking a vacation, only I won’t be alone. And if there’s any way I can contact you, I will.”
He put his gnarled, working-man’s hands on both sides of her face to lift her eyes his way. “I can’t lose you, girl.”
“Just for a short while, Gramps. But I’ll be back, and then we’ll take that vacation you’ve been looking forward to so much.”
“You’re sure I can’t tag along this time?”
“No way. You’re too precious to take any risks with.”
“Risks?”
Fu-ck!