Guardian Ranger (Shadow Agents #2)(26)

Were you here this morning? Were you watching us?

Jasper headed onto the porch. He kept his body in cover as much as he could as he headed around the area and into the outer buildings. The horses neighed when he got close to them, and they shifted toward him. Jasper gave them a quick pat, but kept moving. His gaze was on the floor, then the small set of stairs that led to the top of the stable.

He climbed the stairs. More hay. Only the hay was scattered near the window. As if someone had tried to clear a space in that area.

Carefully, Jasper moved toward the window. He glanced through it—and had a perfect view of the ranch house and the drive leading up to the home.

Hell.

Their watcher had been close, all right. Jasper couldn’t help wondering...just how long has someone been watching Veronica?

*

THE SHERIFF HAD arrived, racing up to the scene with his sirens blaring. Wyatt was in the house now with Veronica and Jimmy, and despite his search, Jasper hadn’t found any other signs of the watcher.

Making sure that he was a safe distance away from the house—the last thing Jasper wanted was to be overheard—he pulled out his phone and made a quick call to Logan. He briefed the team leader on the situation, a situation that had him clenching the phone in his fist, and then Jasper growled, “I don’t like this setup.”

Logan’s sigh carried easily over the phone. “I know you don’t, but what options do we have?”

He could think of a few, starting with... “I take Veronica out of here. I get her someplace safe.”

“You know her brother. Is there any place that guy wouldn’t be able to track?”

Hell, no. That was the problem. Cale was deadly. Fierce. A tracker who was almost as good as Gunner. But there was an important point Logan needed to get. “I don’t think this attack came from her brother,” Jasper said, voice tight. “He wouldn’t trash his own place. Wouldn’t slice his sister’s clothes and destroy the things that mattered most to her.” That wasn’t Cale.

“You sure about that?” Logan asked softly. “You know what the psych report said.”

The psych report. Right. The one that Uncle Sam kept shoving down their throats. When Cale had left the Rangers, the EOD had thought about recruiting him. Only a psych report had surfaced. One that said Cale’s tendency for extreme violence couldn’t be controlled. That Cale Lane was a menace to himself, and others.

That he had serious aggressive tendencies that could result in harm to even those close to him.

But on this point, Jasper didn’t think his instincts were wrong. “Cale wouldn’t have to search the house. If he’d hidden something there, he’d just slip in and get it, not leave that mess for his sister to find.” That would be the last thing he’d do. “No, it’s someone else.” Someone they hadn’t counted on. And if there were more players in the game... “I don’t think Cale was behind the attempted kidnapping.”

Silence from the other end of the phone.

“Cale wouldn’t need two men to force his sister in a car.” With her history, Jasper knew that Cale would never have been behind anyone forcing her off the road. “If he wanted to get Veronica alone, all he’d have to do would be to call her, and she’d go anyplace he told her to go.” Which was a scary proposition. “We’re still monitoring all her calls, right?” he couldn’t help asking.

“Yes, we are.”

Somewhat reassuring.

“Someone wanted to get control of Veronica for the same reason that we wanted to approach her.” Before he smashed the phone, he forced his fingers to ease their grip. “Someone else wants to use her against Cale.”

“The man probably has a whole lot of enemies.”

The kind who wouldn’t mind torturing an innocent woman to get what they wanted.

They want you, Cale.

“We need extra surveillance out here,” Jasper snapped. The idea of Veronica being watched by someone, of her being targeted, had rage twisting in his gut. “I want fingerprints taken from the house. I want to know just who the hell is playing with us.”

Who’d tried to hurt Veronica.

“A team is on the way now. They’ll search for prints, but do you know what was taken?”

Jasper glanced back at the house. “I’ll find out.” He paused. “If the intruder found what he wanted.” All those slashes and the destruction upstairs...maybe that had happened after the intruder didn’t find what he wanted. Whoever it was could have been furious. Enraged. So he took out that fury on Cale and Veronica. “I don’t like this,” Jasper gritted.

“I know.” Logan’s voice was softer, and Jasper knew that Logan really did understand. On their last big mission, the woman Logan loved—had loved, for years—had been put in a killer’s deadly path. She’d been bait, and the killer had come far too close to taking out both Juliana and Logan.

Logan’s gaze had been haunted for weeks after the attack. He’d realized just how close he’d come to losing his Juliana, and he’d been afraid.

If anyone could relate, it would be Logan. Sighing, Jasper said, “I don’t want her put at risk.”

“The ranch covers a huge area. Her nearest neighbor is over forty miles away.”

Yeah, and the ranch was overgrown, with extra buildings scattered around and far too many places for anyone to hide.