Guardian Ranger (Shadow Agents #2)(45)

“I know,” Veronica said. “You always protected me.” A pause. “This time, I’ll protect you.” Her head turned and her gaze found Jasper’s. “Why doesn’t my brother have a lawyer? None of this is legal. You can’t—”

Cale laughed. “This isn’t on the books. This case will never be. They’ll just toss me in a cage somewhere and let the world forget all about me.”

Her face paled. “The hell they will. You aren’t doing this to him. Cale is innocent!” She stood abruptly, sending her chair crashing to the floor. “I’m going to prove it.”

Not what Jasper had hoped to hear. In fact, those words could put Veronica right in the middle of a very deadly mission.

*

CALE LANE HAD to die. There was no option. But then, Cale had been marked for death from the beginning. He just hadn’t realized it.

He was in there with the EOD agents—cuffed, locked up, trapped.

Maybe he should just go in right now and kill him. He could say that Cale broke free...that the man came at him... The agents would probably buy his story.

But would Veronica? She was the problem.

Killing her hadn’t been part of his plan. He’d wanted to keep her out of the game, but she was too protective of Cale. Too determined to find the “real” killer.

She didn’t realize just how close the killer was to her. Maybe it’s time for me to get closer.

He’d seen the way the agent, Jasper, looked at Veronica. The guy wanted her. Maybe Veronica could be used against him. She could sure be used against Cale; he already knew that.

The question was...just how did he want this game to end?

With Veronica alive or dead?





Chapter Ten

Veronica frowned down at the computer screen, even as her heart beat in excitement. She’d pulled out the flash drive she’d taken from Reed Montgomery’s place. Searched through all the files, and she’d found proof that her brother had been telling the truth about his mission to the Caribbean.

At least, she thought she might have proof. She’d found a notation for “Striker” heading to Jamaica the week her brother had vanished. The same week that Marcus Holloway had been killed. Jasper had told her that Holloway had been in Jamestown, Tennessee, when he was murdered, and, sure enough, she’d found a notation in the “Chances” file for a job in Tennessee that same week. Only instead of “Striker” being listed on that mission, Reed had typed in “Striker Two” as the code name. “Striker Two” was also the code name used for the mission to West Virginia and the mission to Phoenix.

Veronica thought that Reed had been differentiating between two separate mercenaries. Striker, her brother, and whoever Striker Two was. Because the Striker Two notations hadn’t started to appear until the last six months. Someone else had been using that name, she was sure of it.

Someone who was trying to frame my brother? And had Reed been in on that framing? It looked as though he had.

She grabbed the phone. Started to call Jasper, then realized she didn’t have the number for the EOD headquarters in town. So she called Wyatt instead. The sheriff would be with the agents. He could help her.

Wyatt’s phone was answered on the second ring, only it wasn’t Wyatt doing the answering. “Sheriff Halliday,” a rough voice said, breaking up a bit.

She frowned. “Jimmy? Jimmy, is that you? This is Veronica Lane.”

“It’s me,” he said at once, voice clearer, more alert. “Something wrong, Ms. Veronica?”

Yes. Everything. “I need to talk to the sheriff.”

“He’s back there with them agents talking to...” Jimmy cleared his throat. “He’s talking to your brother. I think they’re interrogating him.” Dropping his voice, he said, “I heard ’em talking. They’re gonna charge Cale with all them murders.”

“Tell them to stop!” The words burst from her. “I’ve got proof—” Maybe, please, let it be some proof. “I’ve got proof to back up Cale’s story about being in the Caribbean! Files I took off Reed Montgomery’s computer. I just... I need to talk to Wyatt or Jasper. Someone there. I can prove Cale’s innocence.”

“You got real proof?” Jimmy’s voice cracked with excitement.

“Yes.” She wouldn’t tell him that it wasn’t one hundred percent. That it was just a few notations in a file, but...it was something. Bread crumbs that could lead them in the right direction. To the real killer. “I think Reed Montgomery was murdered because he could back up Cale’s story about being out of the country. I think he knew the real killer’s identity.”

Lightning flashed, illuminating her living room. The storms weren’t over. Another day, that was what the weather forecaster had promised. Another day.

“Is Jasper there?” Veronica asked. She could talk to him and—

“I don’t know where he is, but, Ms. Veronica, I’ll go get the sheriff. I’ll tell him what you found. We’ll clear Cale.”

Jimmy had always seemed to look up to her brother. When he’d been younger, Jimmy had often come to the ranch, dogging Cale’s footsteps, asking to hear stories about Cale’s time in the army. Jimmy was a good guy, and he knew Cale for the real person that he was.