Guardian of Justice by Carol Steward Page A

have brothers down the block who dropped everything to make sure you’re okay. They want you to be okay, just as much as you do—just as much as I do.”
    Kira started walking again, not wanting to face any of this. Surely if she went far enough, it wouldn’t find her. Unfortunately, Dallas wasn’t going to let it go. “Things like this don’t happen to my brothers. They won’t understand, especially when they find out what a pansy I am.” Kira picked up the pace until she rounded the bend and once again saw her brothers and dad pacing in front of her condo. She slowed down, torn between facing them and listening to Dallas’s soft, firm voice like a shadow behind her, making her face reality.
    “A pansy wouldn’t have kept fighting for survival, searching for a way to save herself. She wouldn’t have jumped right back into her job to protect two victimized children from that man,” Dallas argued. “None of us knows how we’ll handle a situation until we’re thrown into it.”
    She was weary from thinking of this, running over it night and day for a week. “I thought I knew, though. I should have been prepared. I’ve lived on both sides of this incident, and I was still caught off guard.”
    “Every day God opens our eyes to learning something new. No matter how much training we go through, something is going to catch us off guard eventually. I ran away from law enforcement, didn’t believe I’d ever be able to wear a uniform again. I’m a much better officer than I was before my incident. Maybe seeing how a victim’s life is affected will help you and your brothers in some way, too.”
    She couldn’t stop the tears. “I’ve always been a nuisance to them, from day one. They brought me home right before Garrett’s birthday, and instead of getting a puppy, he got a little sister. You can imagine how thrilled he was with that.”
    Dallas laughed, a soft, unassuming chuckle that warmed her through. “I wouldn’t worry about Garrett. It didn’t seem to warp him too much. He seems to have some pretty protective genes in him.”
    Kira groaned, wiping the tears away. “They all do. I’ll never live alone again after this.”
    “For a while, that may be a good thing. Which reminds me, you have a statement to give.” He paused. “How do you want to deal with that? Ignoring it is not an option.”
    She shook her head.
    “Just one warning. I’m not leaving tonight without it. I could make you come to the station with me, write it all out. I take the official copy, and you live with them hounding you forever about what really happened.”
    She winced. That was the coward’s way out, and if she didn’t tell her brothers now, they’d think it was much worse than it really was. “No, I’ll tell them.” She looked down the block at her family. “See, I’m fine.”
    “Good. Let me get my recorder, if you don’t mind. It’ll save you having to write it all out.”
    She nodded.
    “The other thing we’ll need to do is talk to the police here, work with them on who could have broken into your place. We both have a pretty good idea who did it, and I think you need to talk to your supervisor, maybe pair up with someone for a while, at least until we catch Mickey.”
    When Dallas returned, Kira had everyone gathered on the back porch, away from curious neighbors. She took that difficult journey into the shadows, comforted by the occasional question from Dallas that kept her going. Only once did Garrett try to interrupt. Dallas held his hand out, silencing him instantly.
    Dallas asked her a few questions to fill in the gaps in his report. Then Kira faced the questions from the local police about her town house.
    The officer handling the investigation asked for the name of the man who had attacked the car. “Mickey Zelanski,” Dallas responded.
    “Why would he want anything in my house?” Kira still didn’t understand.
    “You’re the only person who can identify him. His girlfriend is in jail, the