Guardian Ranger

by Cynthia Eden

  “We have to get out of here,” Cale said. His mouth was close to her ear. “The shooter’s close, and I can’t risk him taking a shot at you.” His hold eased on her. His hand slipped away from her mouth. “Come on.” His voice was the quietest of whispers. “We’ll circle back and stay low behind the brush near the—”

  “I’m not leaving Jasper.” Her own voice was hushed, and she could barely hear it over the frantic beating of her heart. She wanted to grab Cale, to hold him tight, but she had to take care of Jasper. He needed her. “He’s hurt, Cale,” she said as she turned to face her brother. “We have to get him out of that truck, get him to safety—”

  “Step the hell...away from her.” Jasper’s voice. Coming from right behind her.

  She whirled and found him standing near the back of the vehicle, his face pale, his bloody shirt clinging to his chest.

  He was also holding a gun. A gun that he had aimed right at her brother.

  Veronica stepped into that line of fire. “Jasper, what are you doing? Cale is here to help us.” She refused to acknowledge the fleeting terror she’d felt when she first heard his voice.

  “Did you think the shot...took me out? That it was...safe to come and...get Veronica?” Jasper rasped.

  The gun was aimed at Veronica now.

  “Lower that weapon,” Cale snarled.

  Jasper lifted his left hand. Held his palm out to her. “Come here, Veronica.”

  If she moved, he’d have a clear shot at Cale. Cale was the only family she had. “Cale didn’t do this,” she said. “Jasper, you’re hurt. Give me the gun and let us help you. Cale can give us cover—we can all get out of here alive.”

  Jasper shook his head. His eyes weren’t on her. His gaze was focused over her shoulder. On Cale. “I don’t...think...the plan is for us all to get out.”

  Cale swore behind her. His hands rose to her shoulders. He was trying to move her to the side. To get her out of Jasper’s range.

  She wasn’t going easily.

  Cale’s grip tightened on her. “You’ve got a head wound, man. You don’t know that you can take a clear shot.” Cale’s voice was ice-cold, but she still heard the hot fury undermining the words. He always became colder when he was angry. “You could hit her.”

  A muscle jerked in Jasper’s jaw.

  Then they all heard it...the growling of an engine, coming closer. Wyatt? Coming to help them? Or the shooter, coming to finish them?

  She glanced back at Cale. He didn’t have a weapon in his hands. Jasper was the only one with the gun, and he was pointing the weapon at the wrong people.

  Veronica looked at Jasper once more. “Y-you were supposed to help me find Cale,” she said, trying to get through to him. “Why are y-you doing this?”

  “Because he’s not here to find me.” The instant response burst from Cale. “The EOD sent him to capture me.”

  The EOD? She didn’t even know what that was, but—but the growling of that car’s engine was growing louder.

  Company was coming.

  “That could be the shooter,” she whispered as she stepped toward Jasper. Instantly, Cale’s hands clamped down on her shoulders like a vise. She tried to shake him off. Not happening.

  “Get. Away. From. Her,” Jasper gritted.

  “You’re not going to shoot.” Cale was confident. “You’d hurt her. You’ve never hurt a civilian in your life.”

  Was that all she was to Jasper? A civilian?

  “I’ll be back,” Cale whispered in Veronica’s ear. “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you on your own.” Then he was pulling away, turning, running back for the brush that would give him cover until he reached the stream.

  And Jasper was trying to follow him. No, Jasper was raising his weapon to shoot him.

  “Stop!” she screamed. She leaped forward and placed her body directly in front of the gun. “Don’t do it.”

  Jasper wrapped his hand around her wrist and jerked her to his side. She turned her head, desperate to see Cale.

  But her brother hadn’t made it to the brush. The woman with short blond hair—the woman Veronica had seen with the tech team at Last Chance—had just burst from that covering. She had her weapon up and dead-aimed on Cale. The federal agent, Gunner, was right by her side.

  They’d stopped her brother. And they were...cuffing him?

  “Jasper?” He’d finally lowered his weapon. He stared at her with a carefully shielded gaze, one that she couldn’t read no matter how hard she tried.

  “I’m sorry,” he told her.

  “Don’t be sorry! Tell me what’s happening!” If he weren’t wounded, she’d be shaking him.

  The woman ran toward them. “Hell, Jasper, that looks bad.” She had her phone out and was calling for backup and an EMT right away. Her gaze swept to Veronica. “You hurt?”

  Yes. It felt as if someone were clawing out her heart. “Why is Cale in cuffs? He didn’t shoot at us.” She waved her hand in the air, pointing up toward the ridge. “You need to check up there for the shooter. We’re all in danger out here. We’ve got to stop him and—”

  “We checked the ridge. Right after we heard the crash. No one’s there.” The woman moved closer to Jasper. Is she an agent, too? “Figured you’d get shot. You always have to prove that you can take a bullet, don’t you?”

  “Bullet...in and out of my shoulder...it’s my head that feels like it’s...tearing apart.”

  Because his head had slammed into the steering wheel or the windshield. Veronica wasn’t sure which. She wanted to comfort him, but the other woman was checking his wounds and Veronica wasn’t sure what was happening. Jasper pulled a gun on Cale. Her gaze snapped toward her brother. Gunner was leading him away.

  She was standing there, lost, and the full knowledge of what had happened slowly sank in for her.

  The way the woman was talking to Jasper...

  The reference Cale had made to the EOD...

  The presence of the agents and their readiness to arrest Cale.

  Her body trembled. Nausea rolled in her belly.

  From the beginning, it had been a setup. Jasper had been hunting Cale, but not because he wanted to help her find her brother.

  But because he wanted to arrest him.

  “What’s the charge?” Veronica whispered.

  Jasper glanced over at her. His eyes glinted. “Veronica...”

  “Multiple counts of murder,” the blonde woman said, voice flat. “I’m sorry, Ms. Lane, but your brother is a killer, and we’re taking him in.”

  That was the moment when her world came crashing down around her.

  * * *

  A LOCAL DOC, a lady with bright red hair, glowering eyes and tough hands, stitched Jasper up. It was the same doc who’d taken care of the kid who’d tried to abduct Veronica. Jasper railed the whole time she patched him up. He could feel a sledgehammer hitting his brain, but he didn’t care about that pain or the burn of the bullet wound and stitches.

  He wanted to get to Veronica.

  He had to explain to her.

  Back at the accident scene, she’d stared at him as if he were a stranger. Hell, to her, he was. A stranger that she’d taken to her bed, only to discover that he’d been lying to her all along. Using her.

  I’m so damn sorry, Veronica.

  Once the doc was through with him, Jasper headed over to meet up with the rest of his team. Even before the sheriff’s station had been reduced to ashes and a few skeleton walls, the EOD agents had already scouted the area for their own headquarters. Now the EOD was set up in an old building, one that would serve as their base until the mission was over. When he entered their temporary headquarters, Jasper saw Logan sitting behind a desk in the main room. Sydney paced near him.

  “That was close,” Logan said, glancing at the bandage on Jasper’s forehead and the covered wound on his shoulder. “I’m starting to wonder who has the bigger death wish, you or Gunner.”

  Jasper’s jaw clenched. “Where’s Veronica?”

&
nbsp; “That’s your question?” Logan’s blue gaze narrowed. “We brought in our suspect. We even held off interrogation until you dragged your sorry hide out of the doc’s office, and the first thing you ask about is the girl?” He gave a soundless whistle. “Interesting.”

  Jasper thought about punching Logan. Sure, Logan was their leader, the guy with the code name of Alpha One, but leader or not, he was still close to getting hit.

  Logan rose from his chair and slowly came around the desk. “You didn’t get emotionally involved in this one, did you?”

  Hell, yes.

  “Because we both know just how dangerous that can be,” Logan said, memories flashing in his own eyes.

  But in Logan’s case, that emotional involvement had turned out okay. Logan had saved his lady, and they were planning to get married. Logan was on his way to that picket-fence dream.

  Lucky bastard.

  While Jasper was pretty sure any dreams he’d been dumb enough to have were dead.

  “He asked for you,” Sydney said.

  Jasper glanced her way. Her gaze darted between him and Logan. “During his transport here,” Sydney clarified, “the prisoner kept saying that he only wanted to talk with Jasper.”

  Well, that would explain why Logan hadn’t started the interrogation. “Planning to use me, huh?” Jasper asked. But wasn’t that the way the EOD worked? Before Logan could answer, Jasper focused on Sydney once more. “What about Veronica?” They’d been separated at the crime scene. Logan had insisted that Jasper go with the doctor—as if he hadn’t spent plenty of time walking around with much worse wounds—while Veronica had stayed with the EOD agents.

  “What about her?” Sydney asked, lifting her brows.

  The woman was going to make him spell it out. She always enjoyed making him suffer a bit. Part of Sydney’s charm. Or not. “Did she ask about me?” he gritted.

  A hint of sympathy lit her gaze. “She asked if you were EOD.”

  Hell, hell, hell. “And you told her?”

  “It’s not my place to break that woman’s heart more than it’s already been broken.” She stared directly at him. “That’s your job.” There was more heat in her voice than he usually heard.

  Even Logan glanced at her with a touch of surprise.

  “You know, it’s not impossible to do a job without hurting a woman. You didn’t have to sleep with her.” Sydney’s hands were fisted on her hips now. Yes, the woman was definitely angry. Odd, especially for controlled Sydney.

  “She told you that?” he asked her.

  “No, I could see it on her face.” Sydney exhaled in a rush. “There’s a certain kind of look that a woman gets when a lover betrays her. Your Veronica had that look.”

  “I need to talk to her.” Now. He had to explain—

  Logan shook his head. “We’ve got a plane coming in at 0600 tomorrow. The EOD wants Cale brought in to the D.C. office for questioning and containment. That means we have less than twenty-four hours—” his eyes narrowed on Jasper “—to break the suspect.”

  Logan wanted him to do the breaking. That message was loud and clear in Alpha One’s gaze.

  “The first EOD agent that Cale killed...Marcus Holloway...he was a friend of mine.” Logan’s lips tightened. “We’re not letting another team take this guy away. We’re getting Cale’s confession. We’re closing this case.”

  Logan had always been territorial. When it came to the cases and his life.

  Jasper had never really felt territorial about anyone or anything, until Veronica.

  “We have everything here that we need to break him.” Logan nodded at Jasper. “We’ve got you, Wyatt—the sheriff seems to be the guy’s only friend—and we’ve got Cale’s sister.”

  Jasper stiffened. “I’ll talk to Cale.” For all the good it would do. The man wasn’t the breaking type. Most army rangers weren’t. “But we aren’t using Veronica.”

  Logan just stared back at him.

  Angry, Jasper snarled, “Would you use Juliana?”

  He saw the hit in Logan’s eyes.

  That was what I thought. “Veronica stays out of this.” He pulled in another breath, trying to slow his racing heart. “I’ll handle Cale.”

  Then, because he didn’t want to waste any more time on an already ticking clock, he glanced at Sydney. She pointed toward the narrow hallway. “Last door on the right. Gunner has guard duty.”

  He nodded, and squaring his shoulders, he headed down that hallway. Logan followed him, shadowing his steps. Jasper knew that Logan would want to hear every word of this interrogation. And, knowing Sydney, the room housing Cale had already been set up for full video and audio surveillance.

  Everything that happened in that room would be recorded. Monitored constantly until Cale was on the flight heading to D.C.

  Gunner opened the door for Jasper. Jasper and Logan stalked inside. A small table sat in the middle of the room. Cale was seated at the table, with his hands cuffed behind his back.

  The room’s windows had been boarded up. The only way in was through the door. The door that an armed Gunner was blocking.

  Jasper pulled out a table chair, one directly across from Cale. No point in delaying. He sat down and met the glaring blue gaze of his prisoner.

  Veronica’s gaze was a bright sky-blue. Her brother...well, his blue gaze was dark and hard. Promising retribution.

  “You used her,” Cale said, body tense.

  Jasper didn’t speak. Just having Cale talk first was a victory in interrogation. When suspects wanted to talk, you let them. They usually talked too much, revealed too much.

  And you just got to sit back and listen.

  He’d learned all about interrogations during his two years at the EOD.

  “You know how important Veronica is to me,” Cale continued, his voice flat, totally emotionless, “and you knew she was always off-limits. She wasn’t part of our world.”

  The world of battles and death. Blood and bullets.

  Jasper leaned forward and felt the pull of his stitches. “You made her a part of that world when you started hunting EOD agents. You brought us right to her door.” Or they would have gone to her door...

  But she came looking for me in that bar. Walked up to me with fear and determination mixed in her gaze, and she asked for my help.

  “You’ve got the wrong man.” Cale gave him a smile that a tiger would have envied as he leaned back in his chair. “I haven’t killed any EOD agents.”

  “That’s not what the evidence says.” Jasper kept his voice just as flat as Cale’s. He wasn’t giving the guy the upper hand.

  Logan watched in silence from his position against the right wall. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his gaze was locked on Cale.

  But Cale shook his head and seemed to ignore Logan. A trick, of course, because Jasper knew that Cale was aware of every move that the other agent made. Still staring right at Jasper, Cale said, “Evidence can lie. Especially if it’s planted evidence.”

  “So someone’s setting you up?” Jasper let the doubt drip from his words.

  “If you weren’t so busy screwing my sister, you would have realized that sooner.”

  Jasper hadn’t expected the knife stab to come so fast. He took the jab and tilted his head to better study Cale. “You’ve been watching us.”

  Cale’s eyes darkened with fury. He didn’t know. Hell. He was just guessing. Just tossing out—

  Cale leaped to his feet and slammed his head into Jasper’s. Jasper punched him back, but not before Cale managed to connect hard with the fresh wound on Jasper’s forehead.

  Cale had never minded playing dirty.

  Logan rushed forward and shoved Cale back into his seat. Then he took out his gun and aimed it right at Cale. “Go at my agent again, and you’ll be a dead man. We won’t care about hearing your side of the story. We won’t care about—”

  Cale’s laughter cut through his words.

  Jasper swiped away the blood that had dripped down f
rom his forehead.

  “You think I don’t know this scene?” Cale asked, still grinning. “If you’re questioning me, then you want something. Something you think only I can give you.”

  True enough. So why play any more games? “We want to know who hired you to kill the agents.”

  Cale’s grin was chilling.

  “You’re a mercenary, right?” Logan pushed. “You kill for the right cash.”

  Cale’s gaze slowly slid from Logan to Jasper. “I figure every man in this room has plenty of blood on his hands.”

  Jasper looked down at his hands. He’d washed blood away less than an hour before. Still looking at his hands, he said, “You were paid to kill three EOD agents. Marcus Holloway.” He glanced up, waiting for a reaction. “Julian Forrest and Ben King.”

  Cale gave no reaction. “I didn’t kill them.”

  “You knew them all,” Jasper said. “That’s why it was so easy to get close to them. Hell, what did they do? Just open their doors when they saw you? Told you to come on in? Then you attacked when they turned their backs?”

  “That’s not the way I attack.”

  “We found shoe impressions that you left at a scene. Clay that matched up to the exact same kind that you’ve got on your ranch.” He heaved out a breath. “I guess you didn’t clean up after yourself well enough at those scenes.”

  Cale stared back at him. “I don’t kill men on my side.”

  “But they weren’t on your side.” This came from Logan. “They were on the EOD’s side, and the EOD didn’t want you.”

  Cale glanced over at him. “Is that the best you’ve got?”

  “‘Unstable,’” Jasper quoted, trying to divide Cale’s attention. “‘Extreme aggressive tendencies...’”

  The tiger’s smile flashed again. “Show me one ranger who isn’t aggressive.”

  “Most rangers aren’t put on warning lists by their shrinks.”

  “Yeah, well, most shrinks aren’t looking for a little payback because you caught ’em messing around with an underage girl.” One dark brow rose. “I had to let loose a few of my ‘aggressive tendencies’ that day.”

  What? Jasper kept his expression blank as surprise rolled through him. There hadn’t been a record of any charge against the shrink. Had the guy really been involved with an underage girl? Or was Cale just trying to B.S. them?