by Ronie Kendig
A girl stood there.
Watching.
Six
A Breed Apart Ranch
Texas Hill Country
What do you mean you don’t exist?”
Sunlight peeked through the cedar trees whose branches waved in the unusual summer breeze. Aspen hated the nerves that skittered through her veins. As she waited for his answer, noting that Heath and Jibril now stood a little taller.
The almost-there smile flickered for a second before it vanished, and Dane lowered his gaze. “I was being facetious.” He shrugged those broad shoulders. “Have no idea why I wasn’t mentioned in the reports. I was there.” He motioned to Talon. “He even recognizes me.”
Instinctively, Aspen’s hand went to the Lab’s broad skull. The big lug leaned against her leg panting, oblivious to the tension that had just coated the afternoon.
“Seriously.” Dane held up his hands. “If you aren’t comfortable with me being here, I can leave.”
“No.” The word shot out before Aspen could process her response—or the why. The urgency that tightened a fist on her didn’t let go. This guy was the first possible good news she’d had in a very long time. “No, I want to hear your story.” Something sparked in his blue eyes that unsettled her. “Then, I’ll decide for myself if you need to leave.”
“Fair enough.”
“Why don’t we take this up to the house?” Heath said.
“Yes, yes.” Jibril started up the hill that led to the house. “I have tea and lemonade.”
“You or Khat?” Heath taunted him.
Laughing, Jibril stepped onto the wraparound porch. “It is my house, not my sister’s, yes?”
Though Heath and Jibril continued with their banter, Aspen drew into herself. Dane might have the answers. Or he might not. And what good would it do to hear his story for herself? Even if he did see Austin in Africa somewhere, it wasn’t proof.
Seated in the cluster of deep-cushioned sofas that overlooked the pool and outdoor area, Aspen motioned Talon to her side. He lumbered to her and flattened himself against the cold tile floor.
Dane folded himself onto a chair next to her. Somehow, the low ceilings and short sofas amplified the guy’s height. While he stood several inches taller than her, he wasn’t a giant. Though his presence carried powerfully in the room.
“Let me get some refreshments,” Jibril said. “Don’t wait for me.”
Hands folded, elbows resting on her thighs, Aspen steeled herself. “So, Brittain shared the interview with me.”
He sat on the edge, forearms on his knees, and nodded.
“So, you were there when the bomb went off.”
“I was.”
“Tell me what you remember.”
“I told Ms. Larabie everything I know.”
“I know.” Aspen drew in a breath and looked at Heath, whose presence gave her the gumption to push. Not that she was weak. But something about this guy unsettled her. Left her feeling nervous. “But I want to hear it for myself.”
“Okay.” As he launched into his story, into being down on the ground when the bomb went off, getting knocked unconscious and coming to, it all rang true.
“And in Africa?” Prompting him felt artificial. As if he wasn’t willing to tell her what he saw. But he couldn’t come this far then drop her off a cliff. Aspen inched closer. “You saw him there?”
He darted a look at her then to Heath before sloughing his hands together.
She touched his arm. “Please. Tell me what you saw.”
“That’s just it—I can’t guarantee what I saw was real.” He snorted. “I mean, I saw someone, but…”
“It could’ve been anyone.” Heath towered over both of them.
Dane’s blue gaze rose to Heath’s. “Yeah.” He skirted her a glance. “I just…I don’t want to get your hopes up, ya know?”
“I appreciate that.” She smiled, noticing for the first time how much depth rested in his face. “But you wouldn’t have gone on national television if you didn’t think there was a chance it was my brother you saw, not just anyone.”
Ice clinked against glass as Jibril returned with a tray of drinks. He set them on the coffee table cuddled in the center of the sofas. “Here we go.” The ABA owner slowed as he set the tray down. As always, he didn’t miss a thing. “Is something wrong?”
“Hot Shot here is getting cold feet.”
The challenge soared through the air, and Aspen could tell it hit center mass. Dane rose. Aspen with him. “Hey,” she said, catching his forearm as she glared at Heath, “no baiting.”
“You know, this was a bad idea.”
“Why?” Heath held his ground. “Am I right?”
Dane swallowed. “I don’t have cold feet.” He started for the door.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I’m not doing this.” Dane shook his head and stomped toward the foyer.
“Wait!” Aspen speared Heath with her fiercest glare as she rushed around the U-shaped sofa. “Dane, please.”
Sunlight shot through the open door.
She hurried onto the porch. “I want to talk. I need to know everything.”
“Why?” He spun toward her. “There’s nothing that can be done. The government won’t go after him. They won’t even listen to me, though they’ve shoveled threats at me by the ton.”
“What threats?”
He snapped back into composure and lowered his chin. “Never mind.”
“No. I won’t never mind. You have information about my brother and I want it.”
“Why?” His brow furrowed, but those blue eyes shone through. “What are you going to do, Aspen? Go after him?”
Indignation rippled through her and yanked her courage to the front. “If I have to.”
“Be realistic. I’ve been there on a mission. Have you been there? Do you realize the temperature?”
“This is Texas. I’m familiar with hot weather.”
He let out a half laugh, half snort as his eyes closed, and he lowered his head again. “I meant the political temperature.”
“Oh.”
“They aren’t friendly to Americans. It’s predominantly Muslim. There’s an American base there, but that doesn’t mean anything except more trouble. If your brother was there, finding him is one thing. Getting him out of there is another.”
“Why? What are you saying?”
“I’m saying if he’s there, if he went missing—there are myriad possibilities. He could’ve been snatched. He could’ve been brainwashed or have amnesia. He could be—” Dane chomped his mouth closed, and his gaze flung to the trees.
Aspen didn’t need him to tell her his thoughts. Because hers went there, too. “He could be a traitor.” Her next breath felt like it weighed as much as an MRAP. “That’s what you were going to say, wasn’t it?”
“It doesn’t matter. This whole conversation doesn’t matter.”
“Why? Are you saying my brother doesn’t matter?”
“I’m saying we have no way to find him.”
She squared her shoulders. “Are you saying you’ll go with me?”
He blinked and shook his head. “Aren’t you listening to me?”
“I have a team.”
“Who?”
“Talon—”
“The dog?” The incredulity in his voice scraped over her spine.
“Yes.” She practically hissed the answer. “Talon knows Austin. Better than anyone. He never forgets a scent, even the one of a purported coward.”
Dane cocked his head, understanding her accusation. “You said he had PTSD.”
“He’s getting better.”
He ran a hand through his hair. The longer strands swung into his face. “Getting better doesn’t do us much good in hostile territory.”
“Let her worry about that.”
They both spun toward the door. Propped against the jamb, Heath had his arms folded again. The proverbial big brother look plastered on his face. No wonder
Darci loved that man. Would Aspen ever find a man so protective and gentle, yet every bit the warrior?
“She can worry about anything she wants,” Dane said, an edge to his voice. “But taking a damaged dog into who-knows-what—”
“Please.” Aspen’s heart jammed into her throat as she caressed Talon’s head. “Don’t call him that.”
“I meant no harm.”
“I know.” Nobody ever did. But it hurt more than anyone could imagine and more than she could possibly explain. “You said you know the last place Austin was seen—”
“Possibly seen.”
Aspen held up both hands. “Right. But if there’s a chance, then that scent is one Talon can pick up. He’s our best chance of figuring out if who you saw was Austin.” Tentatively, she touched that trembling thread of hope. Austin… “If we can get a team together—”
“I can put one together.”
Point of no return. He’d said the words. Started the opening dialogue of commitment to this mission. With her.
He wanted to curse himself. Cut his eyes out so he couldn’t see the hopeful longing in her icy-blue eyes. Eyes so pale they looked cold, yet nothing but warmth flowed from this woman. Angel. The fight club guy had called her that. Now Cardinal understood why. The fire lingering beneath that cool, sultry surface could singe the unsuspecting.
But he wasn’t unsuspecting. This was his doing. She’d walked right into his trap. Grinding his teeth, he stood there, waiting as she stared up at him. Expecting. Hoping.
“You can?” A voice soft and pleading like that should be illegal.
Soft, pleading voices had never affected Cardinal. Most often, as now, the woman had no idea how they’d played into his carefully laid plans. But her voice…that hope…the common thread of knowing Austin.
That’s what was different this time. They both knew Austin. That’s why it pulled at him. Barreled over his conscience.
“How can you put together a team?” Suspicion oozed out of the former Green Beret. Daniels was bred to mistrust those he didn’t know. The Army and multiple tours of combat did that.
“I got a call after my interview with Ms. Larabie.” Cardinal avoided the woman’s gaze, watching as the Lab and the other dog, Trinity, loped around the porch. “There is a team ready and willing to help.” He gave a light, halfhearted shrug. “A high-ranking DIA officer offered it to me.”
“DIA?” Daniels perked up.
Act hesitant. Didn’t want to give himself away. “Uh, yeah. You know them?”
A wall of granite would’ve been easier to read than Daniels’s face. “Go on.”
“Right, okay. Well, he told me they’re with me if I decide to do something.” Cardinal checked out Talon, now on his belly. “Just not sure about this, especially about the dog.”
“Talon should go.” Aspen stepped closer to Cardinal.
Pure. Pure trust. Pure beauty. Pure innocence. Pure Aspen. Angel.
And then the angel flew. A cold breeze swept over him. Cardinal hauled his thoughts into line and flogged them. “Are you sure? What if he shuts down or goes nuts on us?”
“He was Austin’s partner.” Fiery determination sparked in her eyes. “If Talon caught his scent…I think there’d be no stopping him.”
“But what if there is?”
“We take Trinity.” Daniels joined them and leaned back against the railing that stretched the perimeter of the house. “She’s Talon’s new woman. She keeps him motivated.” He smirked. “He’ll find his way. If Austin is out there, she’ll help Talon find him.”
Not good—having the former Green Beret and his MWD on hand would increase the chances of things falling apart, of Cardinal’s identity and dealings being compromised. He’d have to find reasons to exclude the man that wouldn’t appear artificial. Arrange something…
No, he wouldn’t put this man in danger. Getting married in two weeks, Daniels should be able to walk down the aisle on his own two feet.
“Give me forty-eight hours.” Cardinal had to take control of this before they stepped in. “I’ll be in touch.”
Aspen nudged into his way. “If something comes up, how can I reach you?”
Cardinal hesitated, ignoring his steel barriers that demanded he spout off some gruff answer like he’d call her. He tugged his wallet out, plucked a card, and passed it to her. “Forty-eight hours.”
She scanned the information, tapped it against her hand, then bobbed her head. “I’ll be waiting.”
The way she said that, why did he find himself reading into those words?
He gave a curt nod to her and the others then climbed into the rental. As he aimed the sedan down the dusty road to the gate, he kept his gaze forward, though in his periphery he could tell Aspen watched. For that reason, he restrained the disgust spiraling through his veins. The urge to punch the dash. The fire that lit across his shoulders.
It worked. Perfectly.
She’d played right into his hands. Easiest deck he ever dealt. It could not have been scripted more precisely. He read her right. Read the men in her life right. Every ploy had been dead on. She responded as if he had puppeted her. He’d known—known—what was in her because of the hunger, the deep, burning ache for resolve where her brother was concerned. Resolution.
He could relate. There were answers in his life he wanted, questions eliminated. Loved ones located.
But that man no longer existed. Cardinal. That was his name. His identity. Bestowed on him by Burnett because of their first meeting at the church.
That’s exactly what he needed right now. A church. Confession. To purge this evil he had allowed to seep into his soul. Cultivated by manipulating Aspen Courtland.
She trusted him. Those blue eyes…so much like—
Cardinal drove his fist into the dash. Pain and fire spiked through his knuckles and darted up his arm, nerves tingling. Teeth clamped, he accelerated. The faceplate of the stereo system cracked. Warmth sped down his arm, dripped onto the gearshift. He snatched his phone and coded in.
“Go ahead, Cardinal.”
“I need Burnett.”
“He’s unavailable.”
“Well, you tell him I’m through. I’m not doing this. I’m gone.”
Seven
Somewhere in Somalia
Plaster exploded.
Neil Crane threw himself backward with a curse. Pulse hammering, he scrabbled over the dirt, dust, and Sheetrock. Light speared through the hole created by the bullet. As he checked his six, three more beams of light fractured the haven of darkness.
AK-47 cradled in his arms, he sprinted through the darkened hall.
“Go, go!” he shouted as he ran. Ahead, he saw her burst from behind another wall. In a dead run, she broke into the searing brightness of another brutally hot day.
He caught up with her. Catching the drag strap of her vest, he prayed for just one more mercy. They’d lived every day of the last three months on nothing but mercy. That fed his conviction that they were doing the right thing. That they had a purpose beyond sucking up oxygen.
“There.” He pointed to an alley to the right. “Go!”
As he sprinted with her at his side into the narrow space between two buildings, he heard the shouts of their pursuers behind them.
Thudding boots and creaking-groaning vehicles. More shouts. Rock and dirt burst up. From the side, wood splintered.
She tripped. Went down.
He dragged her back into motion.
“There,” she gasped, her breath sucked in by the grueling pace.
He searched, uncertain what she referred to. “Wha—?”
With a grunt, she threw herself toward a wall.
A split second of panic snatched the air from his lungs. Was she hit? Then he saw it.
She rolled forward and dropped out of sight.
In a dive, he prayed this worked as he dropped into the darkness. Into the stench.
A Breed Apart Ranch
Texas Hill Country
The
trail banked right and down. The cedar leaves provided little protection against the brutal summer heat. Aspen jogged around the bend, sweat dripping down her spine, her neck and temples. The swallow seemed to stick in her throat, the air so dry and dusty. With the lead wrapped around her waist and clipped to Talon, she glanced down at the animal she’d come to think of as a part of herself. Maybe that’s the way it’d been with Austin. Living day in and day out with a dog, becoming one, moving as one. She’d never dreamed she’d be able to run with a dog lead coiled around her waist.
His tongue hung out, pink and wagging.
Down the path, she made her way back to the house. At the bottom of the trail, she slowed, walked a few circles with her hands on her hips. She tugged a water bottle from the pouch that hung from the nylon cord. Squirting some in her mouth, she closed her eyes. Swished the liquid that quickly went from cool to warm on her tongue. She swallowed then aimed some at Talon. He lapped it up, tail wagging.
The grief that had been hers for the last five days—well, longer, but amplified over the last several days—tightened around her chest. She smoothed Talon’s yellow fur. “Sorry, old boy.”
At six, Talon didn’t act or look his age, but there was something “ancient” about the war dog. He’d seen more combat than she had as an assistant in the JAG office. The brown eyes, rich and deep, saw a lot.
“I’m sorry he didn’t come back, Talon.”
The Lab ducked when she said his name. Her heart cinched at the brokenness that engulfed her life. Losing Austin, seeing his once-strong, indomitable dog now cowering.
Remembering what the trainers and Heath had said, she rubbed him behind his ears. The T-touch soothed him almost instantly. She eased up and planted a kiss beside his ear. “I really thought…” Emotion in her throat was raw. “He seemed like someone who…”
Who would what? Care about Austin as much as you? Champion your cause?
Aspen plopped onto the ground, hugging her bent knees as she wrapped an arm around the bulky build of the Lab. She stared off over the land that sloped down into a valley. “I thought we’d get some answers.” Her lower lip trembled, but she let out a shaky laugh. “Even fantasized we’d get Austin back.”
