Guardian Ranger

by Cynthia Eden

  He took a step away from her. “I absolutely think Cale is alive.”

  Finally, she could pull in a deep breath.

  “I swear to you, I will find him.”

  She believed him. Veronica gave him a brief smile, then turned away. She didn’t want him to see the tears in her eyes. Tears brought on by the memory of her parents, by the violent death she’d witnessed so recently and by the hope that had her heart almost breaking.

  * * *

  GUNNER WATCHED AS the bodies were loaded into the back of the M.E.’s van. The M.E. had driven over from the county office as quickly as he could. Dr. Lawrence Tome had trembled when he touched the bodies with his gloved hands.

  Gravel crunched behind him, but Gunner didn’t turn at the sound. He stared as the van pulled away, his eyes narrowed. The firefighters were still on-scene—volunteers—lingering as they surveyed the area. An arson investigator would be called in, but at the slow rate that things seemed to run in Whiskey Ridge, Gunner wasn’t expecting any instant answers.

  “You could have been killed.” The low, angry and distinctly feminine voice was pitched to only reach his ears.

  From the corner of his eye, he saw Sydney Sloan cross her arms over her chest, one of her angrier stances. Her short blond hair blew lightly in the breeze, tousling around her face. Her light green gaze wasn’t on him. She was watching the firefighters. Or pretending to watch them.

  He knew the full focus of her attention was on him. “The fire started and I had to—”

  “I’m not talking about the fire. You ran at the shooter.”

  Ah, yes, she would have seen that. Especially since she’d been on surveillance duty.

  “You didn’t seek proper cover, Gunner. You didn’t follow protocol, you didn’t—”

  “I’m not in the mood for a lecture.” His words held a bite.

  She sucked in a tight breath. “With me, you never seem to be in the mood for anything.”

  Now, what did she mean by that?

  “You were gutted on the last case.”

  He winced at that, but yeah, it was the truth. He had the scars to prove it. So many scars.

  “Now you’re running headfirst at a killer? With no cover?” Her words held the snap of a whip. “Jasper was on the ground, covering the woman. He didn’t have your back. You didn’t wait for me or anyone else to come and help. You just...attacked.”

  Because he wasn’t the kind to sit back and wait.

  “If you’ve got some kind of death wish, you could be putting the whole team at risk.”

  The team. His team. The Shadow Agents who worked as a unit in the EOD. Sydney was part of his team. As was Jasper and their field leader, Logan Quinn. Jasper figured that Logan would be making an appearance soon, right after he finished his recon work in the area.

  This case was big. Very, very big. All-hands-on-deck big. The EOD had sent in their best unit in order to find Cale Lane, and the Shadow Agents weren’t going to stop until they brought the guy down.

  Shadow Agents. They’d earned that nickname after their first few missions. No one had even seen them move in for their attack. Move in like shadows. Make no sound. Attack. Leave without a trace. That was the way the team worked. Normally.

  This wasn’t a normal situation. This time, they were hunting a killer who’d targeted some of their own. Other EOD agents. They weren’t shadows this time. They were hunters who wanted their prey to be afraid.

  “So do you have a death wish?” Sydney pressed, and she turned that deep gaze of hers on him. As always, when he stared in her eyes, he felt as if someone had just punched him in the gut.

  Beautiful Sydney Sloan. Untouchable Sydney. Deadly Sydney.

  “Worried about me?” He forced a mocking tone into his voice.

  “Yes.”

  He wouldn’t let his expression change. He’d always had to keep his guard up with her. Off-limits. Sydney wasn’t for him. He knew that.

  He didn’t need his brother’s ghost to remind him. But when he looked at her, he could almost hear Slade’s voice. “I know you want her, man. I’ve seen the way you look at her. But she’s mine. She’s going to marry me.”

  Only Sydney hadn’t married Gunner’s brother. Because Slade Ortez had died in the jungle, and Gunner had been the man who pulled Sydney away from his body.

  Gunner rolled his shoulders and forced his gaze from hers. The sheriff was pacing around the scene, looking furious. He was justified. Someone had just blown up his station. Gunner was surprised he was keeping any level of cool.

  Sydney kept staring at him. Waiting. He could see her from the corner of his eye. The woman never gave up. Not on anything.

  Or anyone.

  “I don’t have a death wish,” Gunner told her quietly because it was obvious she wasn’t going to let this drop. “So don’t go running to Logan telling him I’m dangerous.”

  “That’s not what I meant—”

  He knew that. Sydney cared—that was the problem for them both. He tried to distract her, saying, “I didn’t even realize you had surveillance set up last night.” Now he felt as though he could glance back at her. “Tell me you caught sight of our killer.” An image of Cale would cement the case against him.

  She shook her head. “I’d just installed one camera. Thought it might be good to keep eyes on the station. I’d made it back to base and was testing the equipment when I saw—well, the flames were pretty hard to miss.” Her voice dropped. “I saw the men fall, then I saw you take off. I knew I couldn’t get to you fast enough.”

  “I can handle myself.” She should know that.

  “Can you?”

  Before he could respond to what Gunner was sure had to be a deliberate taunt, the sheriff glanced his way. Then Wyatt began to march toward him.

  “Wyatt Halliday,” Sydney murmured. “Divorced, age thirty-four. Did a brief tour in the army, got a BA in criminal justice from Texas A&M. Got shot in Dallas, almost died tracking a perp, and then the guy came out here. Guess he was looking for some peace and quiet.”

  Peace and quiet weren’t on the day’s agenda.

  Wyatt huffed as he approached. “You.” He jabbed a finger at Gunner. “We need to talk.”

  Gunner shrugged. Then he inclined his head toward Sydney. “This is Special Agent Sydney Sloan.” That was her title at the EOD. He hadn’t exactly lied to the sheriff just now. He was just letting him believe Sydney was a special agent with the FBI.

  Wyatt hesitated. His gaze darted to Sydney. Lingered just a little too long for Gunner’s comfort.

  “You wanted to talk?” Gunner snapped, trying to draw Wyatt’s attention away from Sydney.

  Wyatt jerked his gaze back to Gunner. “I want to know what’s going on. I got a friend at the bureau. I called him. He said there weren’t any missing persons’ cases that fit this attack profile, that he didn’t know of a suspected perp who—”

  Gunner raised his hand. “I’m not in town to investigate kidnappings. That was a cover I needed to give until we could get my team better established in Whiskey Ridge.” Just like his cover with the FBI. But Sydney would have put safeguards in place for the FBI bit. If anyone investigated, if the sheriff got too curious, he’d find that there was a record for a Special Agent Gunner Ortez and a record for Special Agent Sydney Sloan.

  Sydney was always good at creating the covers.

  “Then just why are you in town?” Wyatt pushed. “And why is my station destroyed?”

  How much should he reveal? How much did the sheriff already know? It was hard to get a good read on the man.

  “It’s about Cale Lane, isn’t it?” Wyatt dropped his voice and edged closer. “Veronica was right. Something has happened to him.”

  Not to him so much. With the sheriff’s question, Gunner knew how to play the case now. “We are in town following up on Cale’s disappearance.”

  Wyatt grunted. “I knew Veronica wouldn’t give up. She called you in, didn’t she?”

  “Yes,” Sydney
said. “She got our attention.”

  Well, Gunner knew that the lady had certainly gotten Jasper’s attention.

  Wyatt glanced over his shoulder at the charred remains of his station. “What Cale does, it’s dangerous. He knows the risks that he takes, but I don’t think Veronica ever really understood just how deadly his job could be.”

  Gunner frowned as he got what Wyatt was saying and what he wasn’t saying. “He asked you to cover for him.” A hunch.

  Wyatt gave a grim nod and cut his eyes back to Gunner. “Said he’d be gone longer this time. That the money—it was enough for him to get out of the business.”

  The sheriff hadn’t cared that Cale was a hired gun?

  “Don’t look that way,” Wyatt said, voice fierce. “He was working for Uncle Sam. Same as you. Same as me...back before the shooting.”

  Wyatt had done mercenary work, too?

  “Cale said he’d be gone longer, that the case was big. I thought he was just still working the job. I didn’t realize—” He broke off and shook his head. “Cale Lane is my best friend. Do you really think I’d turn my back on him if I thought he was in trouble?”

  It didn’t matter what he thought. It only mattered what the evidence showed. All of their evidence was currently showing that Cale was the killer who’d taken out three EOD agents—and that he was quite possibly the man who’d shot the two suspects last night.

  “I want you to tell me everything you know about Cale Lane,” Gunner said. “Every. Single. Thing.”

  Because if they were going to catch Cale before the man killed again, then they had to get inside his mind.

  To catch a killer, you had to think like one.

  Chapter Four

  “Why isn’t anyone else here?”

  Veronica jumped and spun around, her heart racing. Jasper stood in the kitchen doorway, wearing a pair of faded jeans that clung low on his waist.

  And nothing else.

  His chest rippled with muscles. His shoulders filled that doorway, and Veronica had to yank her jaw off the floor.

  “Veronica? Why’s the ranch deserted?”

  “B-because it’s not a working ranch.” Not yet. But Cale had talked about changing that. “Cale and I—we bought it for the privacy.” The isolation. “We have a few horses, and someone comes in to tend to them, but...”

  But it was just her.

  Alone with Jasper.

  “Where do you work?” he asked as his gaze swept over her.

  Like him, she was dressed in old jeans, but she also had on a T-shirt. He needed a shirt. Her gaze kept falling to his chest. “My office is down the hallway. Third door.”

  “You do all your work from the ranch?”

  She nodded. “I’ve got a satellite connection for the internet—that connection is all I need.” She built websites for doctors, lawyers, schools, writers. Anyone who needed the sites designed and maintained.

  And she did it without having to rush to the city or having to face off with clients.

  She had a partner in Dallas who took care of the PR and marketing end of things. Kelly booked the clients, found out just what they needed, and Veronica did the building and website coding part of the business.

  It was a deal that worked well for them both.

  “You shouldn’t be out here alone.” Now Jasper sounded angry.

  “I’ve got a security system.” One that she would not be forgetting to activate ever again. “I’m perfectly safe.”

  “Out here by yourself? In the middle of nowhere? If you needed help, who would get to you before you were dead?”

  Now, that was a brutal jab she hadn’t seen coming.

  He stalked toward her. “Who would get to you,” he demanded, voice lowering, “if you needed help right now?”

  Her hands were behind her. Curling around the counter. “I’m not as defenseless as you seem to think.” He was trying to scare her. She got that.

  “Aren’t you?” Jasper pressed.

  She grabbed the knife that she’d just used and yanked it in front of her. “No, I’m not.”

  He smiled, and she had the impression that she’d actually surprised him.

  She doubted that much surprised Jasper.

  But then the crazy man grabbed the knife. No, he grabbed her hand as it held the knife’s handle. “Having a weapon and being willing to use it are two different things.” His breath blew lightly over her. “Would you be willing to kill?”

  No. “I’m not looking to kill anyone.”

  “What if someone wants to kill you?” He lifted her hand to the counter. She dropped the knife. “Gunner called me,” Jasper told her. “He can’t reveal everything about the case, but those two men who were shot last night? They were hired thugs. Their prints came back and matched to a Billy Ferrell and Chuck Trout. They’ve got a dozen charges on them in Dallas. B and E, assault...”

  “Kidnapping?”

  “No. Looks like you’re their first kidnap attempt. But word is that those guys weren’t afraid to hire out their services.”

  “You’re saying...” She licked her lips. His gaze dropped, heated. He felt the awareness, too. That was a good thing, right? “You’re saying they were hired to take me?”

  “Gunner found out that Trout’s older brother served in a training unit with Cale. Back when the men first enlisted. The guy died in combat, but Cale just might have kept in touch with his family.”

  “How does Gunner know this already?” It was just past nine in the morning.

  “Because the team is good.”

  The team? The FBI?

  “The team might be good,” she managed. “But you’re wrong about Cale. He wouldn’t pay someone to kidnap me. That doesn’t even make sense.”

  “You’re asking a lot of questions about his whereabouts. Turning over rocks that might need to stay still. Maybe he got tired of that scrutiny.”

  “No. This is my brother—I know what I’m talking about. He didn’t hire those men.” They’d had knives. They’d forced her car off the road. No way would Cale have sent them after her.

  Jasper held her gaze a beat longer. “Someone hired them.”

  “Let Gunner and Wyatt find that someone.” She couldn’t lose her focus. “We have to find Cale.” She waited a beat and then, because he’d pushed her buttons and tried to make her doubt the one person who had always been there for her, Veronica said, “That is what I’m paying you for.”

  One blond brow climbed. “So it is.”

  He backed up. She could breathe again.

  “And here I thought you might be interested in other...things.”

  He was talking about the kiss. Her cheeks flushed. Seriously. He’d just brought that up? To her face? “I was stressed.”

  “Um.”

  “Adrenaline was surging. I—I didn’t even know what I was doing.”

  “Sure seemed like you knew to me.” His gaze dipped to her mouth. “If you feel the urge to...have another surge, you let me know.”

  She couldn’t even think of a comeback.

  “Until then, I’ve got some leads to run down.”

  Leads? “I’m coming with you.”

  His gaze narrowed. “After last night, there’s no way I’d leave you behind. Someone’s targeting you—and until Gunner catches that someone, you’re gonna have yourself a full-time guard.”

  “Th-that’s not what I’m paying you for.” What if he wanted more money? Her resources were close to being tapped out.

  But he flashed her a wide smile, one that made her heart feel a little funny. “Consider it a bonus,” he said.

  “He’s a tough SOB.” She remembered the words Cale had spoken to her the one time she’d met the two men at a restaurant in Dallas. He’d given her the warning when Jasper had slipped away to take a phone call. Her gaze must have lingered on Jasper’s back for a little too long because her brother had leaned in to tell her... “Don’t make the mistake of thinking there’s anything soft in there. A guy like him would eat
you up and spit you out.”

  Jasper’s gaze was a little too knowing on her.

  Eat you up.

  She gulped. “L-let’s go.” She tried to head for the door.

  He grabbed her arm. “Aren’t you going to ask about them?”

  Them? She knew what he meant, of course. Her gaze lowered to his chest. To the dozens of scars that crisscrossed his tanned flesh. “You survived.” Simple. The marks didn’t detract from his appeal. They just made him look tougher, stronger. The scars were silent testament to all that he’d survived. “Is there more you want to tell me?”

  Because she would listen.

  He shook his head. “I don’t get you. Earlier, I thought I was— I don’t get you.”

  Most people didn’t. Story of her life. But she tried to keep her voice light as she said, “What’s to get?” She wanted to lift her hand and trace the white ridge of the scar on his shoulder. Or let her fingers slide over the still-red scar on his stomach. A long, thick red line that looked dangerously fresh. “You’re a survivor.”

  “Most women get... They don’t like the scars.”

  She forced herself to hold his stare. “I’m not m-most women.” Nothing about him was a turnoff to her. No, he turned her on too much. More than any other man ever had. He was lethal in so many ways.

  “No” was his quiet, thoughtful reply. “You aren’t.”

  Her hands had fisted. The better not to touch him. But now she saw the curiosity in his eyes. The kind of curiosity a man got when he found a woman he wanted.

  Her breath caught. She didn’t know what to do right now. Stand there, kiss him or run.

  Since she was largely a coward at heart, she ran. Or at least, she walked very, very quickly from the room.

  And felt his gaze follow her every step.

  * * *

  VERONICA STUTTERED WHEN she was nervous. He seemed to make her nervous a whole lot.

  Jasper kinda liked her stutter. It was a little sweet and oddly sexy.

  But he didn’t have time to think about her sexy stutter then. For the moment, he had to keep his thoughts on the case.

  Despite the news that Gunner had given him about the would-be kidnappers, Jasper wasn’t going to head out of town with Veronica. Sure, it looked as though the trail might be leading to Dallas, but the shooter had been in Whiskey Ridge hours before. He’d been right there. So Jasper was betting that he was still around. The shooter had just gone to ground.