Deadly Coincidence (Brantley Walker: Off the Books Book 4)

by Nicole Edwards

  He could tell Reese was surprised by his response. And truthfully, he was, too. Perhaps it had to do with all the stress he was under. Most of it having to do with the fact the task force was on borrowed time. Which meant hiring anyone was something Brantley had to shoulder all on his own. And when one didn’t have a firm plan of action, that was a lot to deal with.

  “I like her,” Reese said, watching him intently. “Holly. I think she’d be good at it. Plus, she’s probably used to her brother’s quirks, so she’s equipped to deal with JJ’s as well.”

  Brantley took a drink of his tea, sitting back when the waitress delivered their food. “Good. Because I offered her the job this afternoon. She accepted.”

  Reese exhaled roughly, shaking his head in disbelief. “Of course you did.”

  No, it probably hadn’t been his place to make a decision like that without consulting Reese first, but he was serious when he said he needed to fill those vacancies. Even if the task force wasn’t exactly what it had once been.

  Brantley understood the politics behind Governor Greenwood’s decision, something he’d endured during his time in the military. It was all one big political chess game, and while the governor had been quick to bring them on, he did get a lot of push back from a lot of people. Turned out, they didn’t make decisions in a vacuum, and when they did, they were held accountable.

  The thing was, Brantley wasn’t willing to let the task force go, but at the same time, he wasn’t opposed to going off the books entirely. If they went into the private sector, they could focus on what they’d banded together to do in the first place: find missing people. From the moment the governor had said they would be loaned out to help with homicide investigations, Brantley had been having second thoughts.

  Which was partly why he’d asked RT and Z for a tour of Sniper 1 Security when they’d been in Dallas for Christmas. And why he’d kept in touch with both of them since. Without funding from the state, they would need to get it from somewhere. And while Travis was giving them money when they asked for it, he was only one man.

  “What’s on your mind?” Reese asked, interrupting his thoughts.

  He recentered his focus, realizing Reese was eating, but Brantley had yet to pick up his fork.

  “Been a long week,” he said, reaching for the utensil.

  “The good news is, Dante’s safe and secure in a rehab facility,” Reese said with a smile.

  “For now.”

  “Ever the optimist.” Reese grinned. “One of the reasons I love you.”

  Brantley stared, his brain processing the words.

  It wasn’t the admission of love that caught him off guard. Reese had spoken those words numerous times already. But what he hadn’t done was say them in public, loudly enough for anyone to hear. He hadn’t whispered or looked away or appeared embarrassed by it in any way.

  And while that made Brantley’s heart fuller than it had ever been, it also made him feel incredibly guilty.

  “I … uh…” He sighed, set his fork down. “I should probably mention…” He swallowed, overwhelmed by nerves.

  “Somethin’ wrong?”

  Brantley figured that depended on how Reese looked at it, so he spit out the words. “We’re unemployed.”

  Reese’s expression fell. “We’re what?”

  “The … uh … the task force. It no longer exists.”

  “The governor fired us?”

  “You could say that, sure.” Brantley reached for his tea. “But it’s cool.”

  “Cool?” Reese leaned forward, lowered his voice. “You think it’s cool that we’re unemployed?”

  Brantley exhaled and blurted out, “No, I think it’s cool that we’re gonna literally go off the books. You know, do this on our own.”

  *

  “I think maybe your blood sugar’s low,” Reese told Brantley, staring back at him.

  He wanted to take the task force private? As in run it like a business? On their own?

  Brantley set down his glass. “Hear me out.”

  Reese lowered his fork, forcing himself to relax as he waited to hear Brantley’s big reveal.

  “Let me preface this by sayin’ the governor made the decision, not me.”

  “The decision to what?”

  “Disband the task force.”

  Reese frowned, sitting up straight, trying to understand what Brantley was saying. “What do you mean disband? I thought you said we were fired.”

  That was something he would understand. The being fired part. After all, Reese had been privy to the conversation with the governor after they’d recovered Dante and returned him home. The man had not accepted that Dante had come up with the plan on his own, insisting his son was incapable of such an egregious act, accusing Brantley of reaching. They hadn’t exactly left the hospital in the governor’s good graces.

  “This was a decision the governor made before the incident with Dante.”

  Before? “How long before? And why’s this the first time I’m hearin’ about it?”

  The waitress chose that moment to swing by to check on them, but rather than wave her off, Reese held up a finger, asked for two coffees. If he had to guess, this was going to be a long night. Might as well fuel up now.

  “The Monday before Christmas, I got an email from Governor Greenwood tellin’ me there’s a good possibility he’ll have to officially disband the task force. Somethin’ about gettin’ pushback regardin’ the allocation of the budget. Accordin’ to those in opposition, the governor should’ve been dedicatin’ the money bein’ used for us to the law enforcement agencies already in place.”

  Reese nodded. “Makes sense.”

  It was one of the questions he’d had from the beginning but never voiced: why would the governor want to create something on the side when he could invest more in what he already had?

  “It does,” Brantley continued. “But Governor Greenwood truly believed the task force provided somethin’ the other agencies couldn’t. We didn’t have to deal with the bureaucratic red tape, we could focus our attention on whatever we needed to focus on, and so forth.”

  Reese had no argument there. They did have more leeway than the police and sheriff departments.

  “You’re sayin’ all this in past tense. So it’s real. The task force no longer exists?”

  “Technically, we’ll have access for the remainder of the month, but those opposed to his decision accused him of doin’ it for personal gain, so yeah. It’s a done deal.”

  “Personal? Because we found his daughter,” Reese mused.

  “Her and Lauren Tyler. Since she was a direct connection to the governor before she went missing, and our first official case, they argued that he was keepin’ the task force in his pocket.”

  Probably didn’t matter that they’d made the decision to make that their first case. They hadn’t consulted with the governor when they had.

  Reese studied Brantley’s face as a few dots connected. “That’s why you were talkin’ to Z and RT.”

  Brantley exhaled and Reese could see his concern. Likely worried Reese would be angry that he’d been left out of the loop. And fine, maybe he was a little frustrated that Brantley hadn’t bothered to share this with him. After all, Brantley was the one who continued to claim Reese was his equal, not just another member of the team.

  “That’s the part that isn’t past tense,” Brantley noted.

  They paused while the waitress delivered their coffee, bringing a small metal canister of cream and a glass bowl with sugar and sugar substitute to go with it.

  “Thanks,” Brantley told her before turning his attention back to Reese. “I’ve given it a lot of thought, and this last case … with Dante … it solidifies my decision. It’s best we do separate ourselves from the governor, take the team private. And yes, we’re gonna keep the task force together.”

  Reese nodded, understanding. “Work for hire.”

  “Yes.” Brantley exhaled again. “For the most part. But I wanted to
design it so we can take pro bono cases when necessary. The most critical ones.”

  “Missing kids,” Reese acknowledged.

  Brantley nodded.

  There was no denying the fact that Reese found he loved this man more because of little things like that.

  “I didn’t know how to tell you. I was hopin’ to come up with a foolproof plan before I had to.”

  “It’s your task force, I’m just—”

  “Don’t even,” Brantley snapped. “You are not just anything. This task force came about because of both of us. Not just me.”

  Maybe, but that didn’t mean Reese had to be in a position of power. Truth was, he didn’t want to deal with all the politics and bullshit. He wanted to find missing people. He wanted to solve cases. And he wanted to partner with Brantley to do it, but he didn’t care about all the added responsibilities.

  “Obviously you’ve come up with somethin’,” Reese said, redirecting to avoid an argument. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t’ve hired Holly and offered Luca a job.”

  He watched as Brantley sipped his coffee, clearly preparing his response.

  “Just spit it out,” he said softly. “Whatever you’ve decided to do, I’m on board.”

  Brantley’s blue-gray eyes were wary when he looked at Reese. “We’ve got a meetin’ with Ryan Trexler and Hunter Kogan in the mornin’.”

  “RT and Hunter? As in the heads of Sniper 1 Security?”

  “Yes.”

  “In Dallas?”

  “They’re comin’ to us this time.”

  Reese let the news tumble around in his gray matter.

  “As much as I want to believe we could do this on our own,” Brantley explained, “I think we’d have more success if we were absorbed by a company with a reputation that can sustain us.”

  “You’ve given this a lot of thought.”

  “I want what’s best for everyone involved. You, me, the team. And I truly believe this is our calling. We’re good at what we do.”

  Reese couldn’t argue with that. They had proven they were a valuable asset as a team.

  But there was one thing he did have a problem with. “I can’t see us relocatin’ to Dallas.”

  Brantley quickly shook his head. “No. Definitely not. That’s why they’re comin’ here. RT mentioned lookin’ at property in Austin and Houston. I told him to hold off on makin’ a purchase until we talked.”

  “They’re on board with this?”

  “They’re probably more excited about it than we are.”

  Well, that was reassuring.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  JJ stood in her front yard, staring at the charred mess of what used to be her house.

  It was a mess. A big, stinky pile of ashes and bricks and a few partially constructed walls. It was even worse than what Brantley had said. Evidently, the water from those fire hoses had demolished anything that might’ve remained.

  The truth was, JJ wasn’t as torn up about losing the house or the contents as she’d thought she would be. Then again, she’d long ago stopped attaching sentimental value to objects. The house was a house. It provided shelter. The furniture gave her a place to sit or lay her head. The knickknacks had given it some flair, but there wasn’t anything she would shed a tear for. Her books were about the only things she would miss, but thankfully, those could be replaced for the most part.

  On the other hand, and what she hadn’t told a single soul, JJ was almost grateful this had happened. While the team hadn’t questioned why she had so many cameras in her house, she knew they were thinking she was paranoid. And they were right. She was. But thankfully she didn’t have to explain herself, because she wasn’t sure if they would ever understand. After all, she didn’t really understand.

  But she did have to find a new normal, one that included a place of her own. What worried her most was how long it would take to get to that new normal. Building a house would take time, but how much time was the question. Six months, a year? Longer? And where was she going to stay during that process?

  She felt more than saw Baz standing beside her. He’d offered to drive her here so she could see what she was dealing with. Ever since he’d taken that phone call from the Molly woman he’d spent the night with, he’d been acting strange. Six days and counting. Definitely not his usual laid-back, fun self. And if she was being honest, it worried her.

  “We got lucky,” she said under her breath.

  It had been a stroke of luck that no one had been in the house when it had blown up. Based on what they’d ascertained, Juliet Prince had convinced Marcus to set that bomb to do the most damage, then she’d texted Travis Walker pretending to be JJ so that he would arrive just in time to go up in flames. Juliet would’ve wiped them all out in one fell swoop.

  It was another reason JJ hated that bitch.

  But now she was also questioning Juliet’s skill set. The woman would’ve had to hack her phone to send that text. How had she done it? It wasn’t an easy thing to do. Where’d she acquire that skill set? Or was she working with someone?

  So many questions, not nearly enough answers.

  “You’re welcome to stay at my apartment until it’s completed,” Baz said, his voice soft. “I’ve got the second bedroom. I can clean it out, get you a bed and whatnot.”

  The old JJ would’ve immediately refused the offer of help. But that was the JJ who’d had something of her own. This woman, the one staring at the charred rubble of her existence, wasn’t in a position to refuse anyone.

  “I’d appreciate it,” she said softly, glancing over at him. “I’ll pay you rent. Split the utilities.”

  Baz nodded, his gaze never quite meeting hers.

  “Are you sure you’re okay with it?”

  His pretty blue eyes lifted, but the luster that was usually in them was dim. “What? Of course, JJ.”

  Although she wasn’t sure how she was going to manage living with Baz, especially if she had to endure him dating this Molly person—or any other woman for that matter—she wasn’t disappointed. She knew Baz, she trusted Baz. Most importantly, she felt safe with Baz, and right now, she didn’t feel safe anywhere. And she definitely didn’t want to be alone.

  After taking one last look at what was left of her house, JJ turned around, started back toward Baz’s truck.

  “You ready to go home?” JJ realized how that sounded. “I mean, you know, to your apartment?”

  “It’s home,” he said in that monotone she was getting used to. “For now.”

  Yeah. For now.

  That seemed to be where everything in their lives was currently positioned: right between somewhere and nowhere.

  She only hoped this was the worst of it.

  <<<— STAY TUNED —>>>

  I hope you enjoyed the fourth installment of the Off the Books Task Force. There’s definitely more to come for Brantley and Reese, JJ and Baz, Trey and Magnus, and the rest of the task force. Each book in this series is a full-length novel involving a new case and the continuation of the relationships between them all. And I promise not to keep you waiting long for each installment.

  If you enjoyed Deadly Coincidence, please consider leaving a review.

  WANT TO READ ABOUT THE OTHER CHARACTERS?

  If you haven’t had a chance to read about RT and Z, you can find their story in the Sniper 1 Security series. Their story unfolds in Never Say Never, which is available on all retailers. There is also a follow-up story in Naughty Holidays 2015, which includes the recipe for the Jack Daniel’s pecan pie. You can find the buy links in the book list at the back of this book.

  ABOUT NICOLE EDWARDS

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Nicole Edwards lives in the suburbs of Austin, Texas with her husband and their youngest of three children. The two older ones have flown the coup, while the youngest is in high school. When Nicole is not writing about sexy alpha males and sassy, independent women, she can often be found with a book in hand or attempting to keep the dogs happy. Yo
u can find her hanging out on social media and interacting with her readers - even when she's supposed to be writing.

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