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Rex flashed a knowing smile but didn’t comment. Doc knew what he was thinking. So many of their teammates had gotten married since the beginning of the year, Rex figured he was next in line to take the plunge.

But there was no way that was happening. Even if he was attracted to the woman he’d come to know over the past two days, she may not be the real Fiona Murphy. A person’s background was a big part of what made them who they were.

His past, losing his parents and then the disastrous exfiltration from Afghanistan, had made him the isolated and introverted man he was today.

Who knew what Fiona would be like when her memory returned?

Scrubbing his hands over his face, he realized he was teetering on the brink of falling in love with a fantasy woman. Talk about being an idiot.

No wonder Rex was secretly laughing at him. Well, maybe not laughing, but thinking he needed his head examined.

When he glanced out the window again, he frowned and tapped Rex’s arm. Keeping his voice low so he didn’t wake Fiona, he whispered, “Do you see something off the road roughly a half mile up ahead?”

Rex slowed down and peered through the darkness. “Not really.”

Had it been his imagination? Doc didn’t think so. “To the right . . . there.” He caught a glimpse of light reflected off what appeared to be a taillight. “I think that’s a vehicle.”

Rex tapped the brake and brought the SUV over onto the right shoulder of the road. He kept going, though, until they were close enough to see better. The vehicle was dark in color, but now that the headlights were pointing straight at it, there was no mistaking the SUV.

Rex stopped the car and shifted into park. “The front end looks like it’s smashed up against the trunk of a tree.”

Doc’s pulse jumped. A wrecked car this close to the river?

“What’s smashed against a tree?” Fiona sat up, blinking owlishly. Then her gaze widened as she took in the sight through the windshield. “Is that my car?”

He and Doc both turned to look at her. “You tell us,” Doc said. “Do you remember crashing your car?”

Fiona didn’t answer. She unlatched her seatbelt and pushed her door open. Before he or Rex could move, she was sprinting toward the mostly crushed vehicle.

He quickly jumped out to follow her, hoping and praying she was right. That this was her car and that seeing it would bring back her memory about what had happened to send her running through the woods and into the river.

13

Fiona’s heart pounded in her chest as she put her hand on hood of the wrecked car.

Her car. This was her car!

She remembered driving down the road and hearing a gunshot ring out. Seconds later, she’d crashed into the tree. She remembered striking her head on the window just as the airbag deployed, smacking her hard in the face. Tears had blurred her vision, but the danger was impossible to ignore.

Now she peered into the car, seeing the deflated airbag and shattered windshield. Along with the open passenger-side door. Her memories from that point on were blurry. Panicked and scared to death, she’d crawled over the center console to escape. Then she’d thrashed wildly through the woods as if a pack of wolves were nipping at her heels.

Run! Run! Run!

How far was the river from her wrecked car? She had no idea, but it had seemed several miles at the time. She didn’t really remember jumping into the water, but that must have been what she’d done. She hadn’t fallen off a boat.

No, she was convinced she’d used the river to escape the gunmen. And to her surprise, the maneuver had worked. She’d managed to stay in the river long enough to crawl out and make her way to Doc’s cabin. Where he’d gone a step further in saving her life. Not just once but several times over the past forty-eight hours. She owed Doc a debt she could never repay.

But who had been in the car behind her? Who had fired the gun, causing her to crash, then had chased her through the woods?

Why couldn’t she remember everything?

“Fiona?” Doc wrapped his arm around her shoulders. It was only then that she realized she was shaking. “Is this your car?”

“Yes.” She pushed the word through her tight throat. She leaned against Doc, grateful for his support. “I remember hearing a gunshot, then losing control of my car and crashing into the tree. I hit my head, then the airbag exploded in my face.”

“I see a blown right rear tire,” Rex said from the other side of the wreck. He held a flashlight in one hand and was scanning that side of her car with the beam of light. Even with the headlights from his vehicle illuminating the area around them, it wasn’t easy to see every detail. “Impossible to say if it was pierced by a bullet.”

“Do you see any other bullet holes in the vehicle?” Doc asked, tightening his grip around her. “I’m sure the gunman fired than once.”