Guardian Ranger (Shadow Agents #2)(37)
Author: Cynthia Eden

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.

Yes, yes, they’d clear Cale. The nightmare would be over.

She hung up the phone and headed back for her desk. She pulled the flash drive away from the computer and tucked it in her pocket. She could stay at her house and wait for Jasper or the sheriff, or she could go to them. Force them to see the proof that she had.

The lightning flashed again, and every light in her house went dark.

I’m coming, Cale. Fumbling, she found a pair of car keys. The keys were for the old sports car Cale kept covered in the garage. The car hadn’t been used in over a year, but it was her only option at the moment. Cale and his cars…her brother had always been obsessed with them, and he’d made sure to share his expertise with her, too.

Then she rushed out of the house. The rain hadn’t started, but the wind was already strong. She wouldn’t think about the rough roads or the wind that could push the car too hard.

She’d just think of Cale. This time, she’d protect her brother.

* * *

CALE WAS GIVING them nothing. Figured. A ranger like him, Jasper knew exactly what sort of training the guy had been through over the years.

A few tough questions weren’t going to rattle him. Not after he’d survived torture.

Yeah, Cale, I still remember Syria. Some things could never be forgotten.

Back then, Cale had been one of the good guys. What the hell had happened to him?

Jasper glanced back down the hallway toward Cale’s holding room. Once, he never would have said that Cale would snap and start killing innocents.

“The story checked out,” Sydney said as she walked out of the surveillance room. She had a fistful of papers. “Just got the fax on Dr. Paul Lyland. The guy did lose his license about eleven months ago.”

Jasper ran a hand through his hair. “So the shrink’s profile was bull?”