"Brock?"

Abner Brockman, Brock to anyone who knew him, gave a start and opened his eyes, barely able to turn his head as he lay in the hospital bed. His eyes focused on his friend and partner, Cade Candlewood.

"I got here as soon as I heard," Cade told him, hiding his shock. Brock was bandaged from head to foot with tubes sticking everywhere. "Shotz, Brockman. If I had thought Marlett would –"

"Wasn't ... Marlett," Brock whispered painfully.

Cade stared at his partner. "Wasn't –?"

Brock closed his eyes and swallowed. His hand slowly made its way up and under his pillow. He brought out a half sheet of paper, and after a quick glance at it, handed it toward his partner. "Woke ... this morning ... with that ... in my hand," he told him.

Cade's eyes skimmed the note, and then with a "Dear God!" he read it again.

Hello Brockman-

Feelin bad? Saw your partner's car blow up last night. Too bad he didn't live through it. Heard he was a close personal friend of yours. Rough losing a close personal friend, isn't it? I should know. You killed mine.

Tit for Tat, Brockman

"Must ... have thought Erickson ... was you," Brock said.

"Any ideas?" Guilt was choking Cade. If he hadn't gone ... If it hadn't had been for his grandmother's funeral ...

"No," Brock whispered. "I've been ... racking my brain." Brock raised his eyes to his friend. "You might ... want to lay low ... for a while."

"Does the chief know?"

Brock managed to shake his head, "Hasn't ... been in yet. Cade ..."

"I'll see that he knows, and I'll take care," he assured his partner.

Brock closed his eyes in relief.

Guilt again shot through Cade as he watched the pain flit across his partner's face. Brockman was more than a partner, more than a friend to him. They were comrades; closer than most brothers. Too close for him to have let this happen to him. He cursed silently and stared down at the note in his hand.

Who?

The why was self-explanatory; revenge. Cade glanced around the room, looking for the telephone. There wasn't one. That would have to be remedied. Now.

"Brock?"

"Yes?" He didn't bother to open his eyes.

"I'm going down the hall to find a phone. I'll see that one is put in here today."

Brock barely nodded his head and Cade strode purposely out of the room. The telephone he found immediately at the nurse's station and pulling rank, used it to call in to their chief, explaining the note and his gut feeling that this wasn't going to be the end of it. Brock's room would be secured.

He hung up the phone and smiled devastatingly at the nurse behind the desk. "We need a phone put in Room 308 immediately," he told her. "We're also going to need –"

"Mister?" he was interrupted as a younger nurse grasped his arm and shook it.

He whipped around, staring at the frightened, upset young woman. "What is it?"

"Your friend," she cried, "In room 308. He's says he needs you now. He's quite agitated. He –"

But Cade was already running, the nurse running after him.

"I'm sorry! All I did was deliver a letter! If I knew it would upset him like this ..."

"Brock?"

Cade was in the room and by his bed in seconds. His heart caught in his throat. Brock lay clutching another note in his clenched fist, stringing curse after curse. The look on his face was a mixture of anger and terror ... and of total helplessness.

"Brock!" Cade called again, more forcefully.

The curses cut off and Brock focused on him. "Susie," he choked out. "He's after Susie!"

"Susannah?" Cade whispered. He grabbed the note from Brock's hand and read:

Are you hurting, Brockman? I sincerely hope so. I did my best to make you as uncomfortable as possible short of killing you. But I don't want to kill you. Yet. I want you to feel as helpless as I did when you made it impossible for me to protect my sister. You heard they terrorized her in that prison, didn't you? Tortured her? Raped her time after time?

Tit for Tat, Brockman Terror -- Torture -- Rape bye bye

"Cade!"

"Where's Susannah living?" Cade interrupted tightly. "Brock!" he demanded, "Where did Susie move to?" God in Heaven! He'd tear the man limb to limb himself if he touched Susannah!

"Trendex," Brock managed, shutting his eyes, "221 Trendex. In ... Langley."

Cade was out of the door and down the hall before Brock realized he was gone. His first call was to the Langley police. Assured that they would put Brock's sister under protective custody immediately, he made his second call to the airport. The third was again to their chief.

"I leave in forty minutes," he told Brock coming back into the room. "Don't worry. Susannah should be in protective custody by now. I'll call as soon as I have her."

Susannah Brockman gave herself one last critical look in the mirror mounted near her front door. Golden brown eyes stared back at her. Her rich, brown hair tumbled just past the shoulders of her trim, 5'4" frame in soft waves. She readjusted her bangs.

"Come on, Susannah!"

Susannah grinned as she grabbed her purse and headed out the door. She pulled her door shut and locked it then carried her duffle bag down to her friend's car. Becky Weaver already had her trunk open. They plopped in the duffle bag then climbed into the car. Susannah glancing back, waved goodbye at her neighbor who was just picking up her newspaper. "See you in three weeks!" she called out.

Diana Heber grinned and waved them off.

Susannah turned back to her friend. "My phone died a terrible death this morning. Got yours?"

"Yes. What happened to yours?"

"Who knows? It simply won't turn on. Think Gloria will be ready?" she asked as she slipped on her seatbelt.

"Not likely," Becky returned with a slight giggle as she pulled out of Susannah's drive. The girls, Gloria included, were heading out of state. Gloria's family was having a family reunion and both Becky and Susannah had agreed to drive her home, taking a traveling vacation as they did so.

They would be gone three weeks; three glorious weeks of vacation. They planned to take their time driving Gloria home for her family reunion, exploring the countryside as they went then doing more exploring as they drove back home to Langley after it was over.

Susannah had welcomed the vacation. She had thought fleetingly of visiting her brother but had dismissed it just as quickly when Becky and Gloria had suggested this traveling vacation.

It would have done little good to visit her brother anyway. He was on a hard case at the moment, one that would take up most of his time; time he wouldn't have to visit with her.

Besides, spending time with Brock would also have meant spending time with Cade, something she didn't want to do.

She flushed with the thought of Cade Candlewood; of how she had embarrassed herself thoroughly, throwing herself into his arms and practically begging him to make love to her. She had been barely eighteen at the time, and deeply in love with Cade.

Cade, already twenty-three then, had refused her point blank. His rejection had been brutal and painful, and had hurt terribly. And she had never forgiven him for that in the passing years.

Not that she was vocal about it. Cade Candlewood was her brother's closest friend and it would hurt him to know that there was a rift between her and Cade. So she avoided her brother's best friend whenever it was...