“Mr. Martinez, your daughter will be safer here.” Command naturally hardened Jonas’s tone.
“She’s going with me.” Ray was at the point of belligerence.
Liza had to agree with Jonas for a change. If Gideon Cross was indeed in Window Rock and asking about her and Claire, then at least for the moment, the hotel was the safest place.
Liza turned to her father.
Her parents were silent, her father’s gaze apologetic while Ray and Maria Martinez stood stiff, unemotional.
“You could let her stay tonight,” she whispered to the Nation’s president. “Give the Breeds a chance to catch this Gideon Cross rather than giving him a chance to strike out at her.”
A heavy frown filled Ray’s expression then. “I didn’t ask for your advice.”
Liza knew that tone well. Ray was furious at the situation, and she feared that he would blame Claire, just as he did when she and Claire were children.
She turned back to her friend.
Claire was shaking her head, silently pleading with Liza not to begin a confrontation that would only result in additional trouble for her.
“I’ve had enough.” Liza sighed wearily as she turned to Stygian, refusing to glance again at her father or Claire’s. “I’m tired. I want to go to bed.”
“We have two suites reserved here for you,” Jonas informed her as he stepped forward once again. “Claire will be across the hall from you with Ashley and Emma Truing, if she decides to stay. Rule, Mordecai and Dog’s team will have the rooms on each side of the two of you. You’ll be protected.”
“From what?” Liza snorted, shaking her head. “You know, Director Wyatt, you have to figure out why we’re in danger before you can eliminate the danger. Good luck with that one, by the way. Because I’ll be damned if I can figure it out.”
She moved for the door, aware, surprisingly, of Claire moving behind her, silent, too damned silent, refusing to bid her parents farewell.
“Liza.” It was her father who stepped forward before she could leave the room.
As he’d done when she was a child, he stood before her, staring down at her, his expression filled with guilt. “I’ll fix it, baby girl,” he promised.
How many times had he promised her that? He would fix it. And he always had before.
She was terribly afraid there was no fixing this one.
“I know you’ll try, Dad.” She nodded, her chest tight with the knowledge that he couldn’t fix the danger she was in, no matter how much he wanted to.
“I won’t let them hurt you,” he promised her, and in his eyes she saw his determination to ensure her safety.
“Tell me,” she demanded hoarsely. “Did you see Amber?”
From her peripheral vision she saw Rachel’s gaze jerk to her as Jonas’s eyes narrowed on her.
Regret and guilt flickered in his expression as he looked away from her.
“I bet Jonas swore he would never let anyone or anything hurt Amber again after he got her away from Brandenmore.” Tears burned her eyes as one slipped her control and eased down her cheek. “And now, she’s still suffering because of something he can’t control. Something he’s being given no help, or even the slightest honesty to combat.”
Audi’s jaw clenched spasmodically as his gaze swung back to her. “I don’t have what he’s here for,” he bit out angrily.
“Then it won’t hurt you to see the child none of us can help, will it? To understand, Dad, rather than meeting him in antagonism. The Navajo made the Breeds a vow. That vow was to extend to them all that was needed to aid their battle for freedom, safety and welfare that they could provide. There was no addendum that excluded anything, at any time. It was all they could do, when they could do it. And perhaps that’s something both you and Ray are forgetting.”
When her father said nothing more, Liza could only shake her head. Turning and walking to the door, she paused as Stygian opened it and stepped out ahead of her. She turned back to Claire’s parents slowly. “I used to think you were so funny and so kind, Ray. Claire used to laugh all the time, and she knew how to have fun. And you knew how to be a father, but now, you just want to push her and the danger she’s in aside. I guess politics really doesn’t know any other loyalty or love besides itself.”
Ray only glared back at her.
“Liza, that’s not true,” Maria Martinez protested softly. “It’s not politics.”
“Then perhaps you should explain to Claire one of these days exactly what it is, Mari. Because right now, I can’t think of any other reason for the two of you to turn your backs on her,” Liza suggested bitterly. “And that’s exactly how it feels to her I bet. As though the two people who should be willing to fight for her, to protect her, act as though they don’t even know her.”