Missing the Stars: Chandler County

by Melissa Sinclair

  “You can’t be serious?” Coop whispered.

  “I’m sorry. I…I mean, I’m not sorry. That makes it sound like I don’t want them alive, but, yes, they are very much alive. At least, well…they didn’t die that day.”

  “Where are they?” Cole asked, his jaw was clenched so tightly it hurt her to look at it.

  “I don’t know.” She stared him in the eye. She wouldn’t feel bad for not telling them. That was a lie, but she wouldn’t apologize again. She did what she had to do.

  “Bullshit.” She would have preferred he yelled because that word was entirely terrifying coming out so quietly. Malice dripped from each syllable.

  “I’m not lying.”

  “How can we tell? Everything you told us from the moment we met you seems to have been a lie.”

  She lifted her chin; she would not feel bad. She couldn’t. So when her lip trembled and her eyes and throat burned with unshed tears, she shoved them back.

  “That’s not fair,” she whispered. “And you know it. If the roles were reversed, you would have done the same thing.”

  “I guess we’ll never know for sure.”

  “Cole, shut up,” Coop said savagely. “She’s right, and you know it. If you had known what she knew, you wouldn’t have told me.”

  For a millisecond she thought he would storm off, his hands dug into his hair while he paced.

  “My God, they’re alive, Cole. We have to help her end this, we have to help Mom and Dad.”

  Cole glared at Coop.

  “How are you certain they’re alive if you don’t know where they are?”

  “Like I said, they didn’t die that day. They unwittingly stumbled upon El Diablo and when he turned the car around to gun them down, he missed them entirely. Seems he’s a sadist, but a bad shot. It helped that they were able to take cover and my parents were able to return gunfire. After the shootout, the feds swooped in and confiscated everything. There were two DBs in the house.” Coop looked confused, so she clarified. “Dead bodies. It was chaos. There was no way to let your parents go home. They would have been sitting ducks. El Diablo would have seen to that by nightfall. The only way to protect you both was for them to disappear.”

  “Why haven’t they come home? Why are they still in protection?”

  “Like I said, my parents were also placed in protection. From what I was able to ascertain, my parents became your parents’ protection. They had a contact at the FBI, and they checked in monthly. It wasn’t exactly protocol, but it was what was done. They checked in regularly for eight years.”

  “Then what?” Cole spit the words out.

  “Then they went off grid. Something happened. I’ve been trying to piece everything together, but I keep hitting walls. My best guess, and I’m fairly certain I’m right, is they were betrayed somehow and had to go on the run.”

  “You don’t know for sure they’re alive?” Coop asked.

  “No. I know they’re alive.”

  “How?” Again, Cole sounded fiercely angry.

  “First, my parents are smart. They would only go off the grid if they needed to and they would make sure they weren’t found. As long as your parents followed everything they said, they will also be alive. Secondly, their case suddenly became active again.”

  “But you don’t know. You’re speculating.” Cole was staring her in the eye, and they were so hard and cold that she almost shrank away from him. He was a formidable man, but at the moment, he was terrifying.

  “I’m not speculating. I know it. In my gut. They’re alive. All of them.”

  “It’s the reason you went undercover,” Coop said quietly.

  “Yes. I went undercover to take El Diablo down so they can come home. It’s the only way to make it safe for them. If he’s still alive, they won’t risk it. When I said the case became active, I didn’t just mean on the FBI side of things. Suddenly El Diablo and his cohorts were on the move. It became inherent I take them down or find them. I didn’t want to involve either of you, but I’m not stupid and I know I’m over my head. I have no resources, and I can’t trust anyone in the FBI right now if there’s a mole. There’s another reason I know they are alive.”

  “Oh, and what’s that?” Cole asked cynically.

  “Because if they weren’t alive, JD would be dead. I would be dead.” Those words seemed to soften Cole’s features a degree. “He has JD in his goons’ hands; he knows where I am. He wouldn’t let me live another second, especially after I tried to infiltrate his network if he had what he wanted. And what he wants is revenge against my parents. I need your help. Please don’t walk away.”

  “As if I would walk away and leave you both exposed. But when this is done, I don’t want to see you again.” The words were like a knife to her heart, and after he spoke them, he did exactly what she didn’t want—he walked away.

  “Jackass!” Coop called after him. “He just needs to assimilate what you told us. After he does, he’ll feel like the ass he is and apologize.”

  “No. He won’t. It isn’t so much that I knew all these years, it’s that I knew when I came into town and I didn’t say anything. Even after we…” She cleared her throat, “after I knew it was all connected. For that, there is no apology big enough.”

  “Well, if he can’t see the bigger picture, then that’s on him. I’m just happy my parents are alive. I mean, you’re sure, right?”

  “Yes. I’m sure. My instincts have never let me down.”

  “Then he’ll come around. Once he figures out he loves you and realizes you did what you did to protect our parents.”

  “I’m not so sure you’re right. It would be hard for anyone to accept…wait, what did you say? He doesn’t love me. We don’t even really know each other. We only met yesterday.” Yet she had let her hair down, so to speak, and had hot, steamy barn sex with him. After knowing him less than, she looked at her watch, twenty-four hours. Shit. Her face flushed a little, and her lady parts might have gotten a little warm too. Damn, libido was in overdrive at the worst possible time.

  “He looks at you like my dad looked, looks, at my mom. You need to trust me when I say he does or he’s already on his way and this freak-out has a little bit to do with your not being forthright from the get-go and a hell of a lot to do with a way for him to put the brakes on. Full stop.”

  “Now isn’t a good time for either one of us to be getting feelings for each other.” It was true, she was an honest person at heart. “Maybe when it’s all said and done. I know a good thing when I see one. I’m not going to let him push me away quite that easily.”

  “Good.” He smiled from ear to ear and turned to leave. “You have to be starving. Let’s go make some breakfast.”

  Jessie had thought she wouldn’t be able to eat, but her stomach growled and told her otherwise. With renewed resolve, she followed Coop into the kitchen and set to work helping him make pancakes, eggs, and sausage links. Eventually, Cole came in, and without a word sat down at the table and proceeded to eat. She looked at Coop and shrugged her shoulders, trying to convey she wasn’t the least bit upset by the cold shoulder. Even though it was tearing her up inside, she tamped it down and sat down to eat.

  Although her hunger was no longer there, she forced herself to take a bite of the fluffy pancakes. Lifting the glass of orange juice to her mouth, she was about to take a drink when her phone chimed. Placing the glass down, she reached for it. It was showing a message from JD. He’d sent a picture. Her hands were shaking as she opened the attachment. A strangled noise escaped her. She dropped the phone and stood up so fast her chair crashed to the floor with a resounding thud. She rushed to the sink and managed to get there before losing what little she had managed to eat. The retching turned into dry heaves until there was nothing left. Then she felt a strong arm around her. She slumped against the body pressed against her and would have slid to the floor if not for him. He turned on the water and got a towel damp, pressing it to her face.

  “Son of a bitch.
” Coop’s voice was behind her, and she knew he had picked up the phone and saw the awful image.

  Her brother’s body crumpled on the floor, his face bloodied and bruised, lying in a puddle of blood. The text that accompanied it simply said: Don’t Screw With Me.

  What had she done? No longer capable of standing on her own, she slumped against Cole. Her training had not prepared her for this. She was prepared for the possibility of her own torture or death, but not for her little brother—the one she had helped raise—to be tortured to get to her. Only El Diablo was essentially torturing her, wasn’t he? By taking her brother, holding him captive, it was torture. What did he hope to gain by doing things that way? She shouldn’t have told him she knew who his family was. A thought came to her, and she knew with startling clarity that El Diablo would go to any lengths possible to correct the slight he felt from that day. All because his drug business had taken a minor hit, one it recovered from quickly and substantially. Yet, he would risk it all to come after her whole family.

  “Oh my God…”

  “It’s okay. We’ll get him back,” Cole said as he tried to lead her to a chair, but she was back in control and stood her ground.

  “He thinks I know where our parents are.” Her hand came up and covered her mouth as the idea made her want to scream to the rafters that he screwed with the wrong person. The wrong woman. And that he had made a huge mistake because she would never tell him where they are. He could torture her to within an inch of her life, and she wouldn’t tell him, because she couldn’t. Because she didn’t know and even if she knew, she wouldn’t say.

  “You think he took JD to get you to tell him where they are?” Coop asked.

  “Oh, yeah. He had the barn torched to get me to talk. My guess is whoever he hired didn’t realize we were in the barn. It was only meant to show us what he was capable of or to scare me into acting. He knew I would figure out he was behind it, and he thought I would run to our parents. If I’m dead, I can’t talk or lead him anywhere. I’m guessing whoever torched the barn is in a world of hurt right about now for messing up.”

  “Risky, but it tracks. He seems obsessed with getting back at them. But how did he know they’re alive?”

  “He was there that day, which means he would’ve known from the beginning they weren’t dead, because he didn’t kill them. It would only stand to reason when it was all over the news that all four were killed in a shootout. He happened to be at the shootout so he would be able to figure it out.” And he had been looking for them ever since. “He’s determined, and he has spent resources on finding them…”

  “And since he hasn’t, it means your parents are pretty remarkable.”

  Yeah, her dad and mom were the best. That’s why they had been able to get lost in the system. They didn’t have someone who they had to report to. For a while they did it as a precaution, but then they disappeared without a trace. Jessie hadn’t told them the last status update from them was six years ago when they feared El Diablo was closing in on them. That was when they disappeared. No word from them. Until recently. They had called in a few months back and tried to reach their contact. She had been in the office—she was there to give an update on the operation—and had seen the file on his desk.

  “Son of a bitch. That piece of shit,” she whispered.

  “Who?” Cole asked, honing in on her tone.

  “He’s the one that ratted me out. Oh my God, I was so stupid!” She paced the length of the kitchen, back and forth, chewing on her bottom lip. “Did you sweep the house again for bugs?”

  She didn’t know what Cole had been doing after he stormed off, but if they had been close enough to burn down the barn, it was possible they placed listening devices. Even though they’d looked earlier, it didn’t mean the house was clean now. And she only wanted them to hear what she intended for them to. What she didn’t need them to hear was how she knew what Special Agent Thomas Halverson had done.

  “I swept the house. Remember, I also have the audio jammer on.”

  Yet, he left and did a quick sweep of the house. Coop followed him out. When Cole returned, she was pacing the length of the kitchen, chewing on her fingernail. A terrible habit that she had broken herself of, but still regressed to in extremely stressful situations. She stopped moving and found she had too much energy and couldn’t stand not moving, beginning to pace again. She brushed past him, and he grabbed her wrist, tugging her against him.

  “Jessie, about earlier…”

  “Don’t worry about it, I understand.” And she did, she completely understood. She would have been just as upset if the roles were reversed.

  “No, I won’t accept just brushing it off. I know I would have done what you did.”

  “We can talk about it later.” If there was a later, she thought. He held her against him another moment, his free hand reached up and brushed her hair behind her ear, lingering longer than was necessary while he stared deeply into her eyes. She could fall into the pools of blue and never get back out; they were that beautiful, but for now, she had to focus. Sadly, she pulled out of his grip, and he didn’t fight her.

  “No bugs in the house,” Cole said when Coop entered the room.

  “Good. I was just checking on Suzie Q.”

  “How is she?” Jessie asked, feeling bad she’d forgotten about the foal.

  “Living the good life. She doesn’t seem to have any lasting effects from the smoke. All of the horses seem to be handling it well. In retrospect, it’s a good thing Race the Stars wasn’t in here—anyway, all will be forgiven when I have a barn again.”

  “I think she deserves some pampering.” She knew she was stalling, while she tried to process her thoughts, looking for any way she might be wrong, but she knew she wasn’t. The conclusion she’d come to made sense. Whether she liked it or not. “Might as well cut to the chase. I have reason to believe Special Agent Thomas Halverson is the one who sold my parents, your parents, and myself out to El Diablo.”

  “What led you to that conclusion?” Cole asked, his intelligent eyes searching every inch of the room, clearly looking for any signs of something out of order.

  “The special agent handling their case was killed in a B & E. He was taken by surprise by the burglar and killed execution style. The case was never solved.”

  “Convenient.”

  “It was and now it’s pretty obvious, to me, at least, who was behind it. It would have been an attempt to place his man inside to get information on his case as well as many other things.”

  “Let me guess, Halverson took over the old agent’s caseload.”

  “Yes.”

  “What makes you think that he is the one giving away information?” Cole asked.

  “Because not only did he take over the cases, he became my parents’ contact—he was also my contact. Everything I discovered I gave to him. Every update was funneled to him. On top of that, I found a file on his desk a few weeks ago with my parents’ names on it. I opened the file and saw they had attempted to contact our special agent in charge—not Halverson—but he wasn’t available, and they hung up. For whatever reason, they didn’t trust Halverson enough to contact him; they had asked for the agent above him.”

  “Is that really so strange?” Coop asked. Cole had stopped casing the room and now was tracking her with his eyes as she kept pacing.

  “Yes. He was supposed to be their contact. Initially, I thought they got spooked, but it seems obvious now that they didn’t trust him, and he didn’t update me on the fact that they called. He was supposed to do so.”

  “Even while you were undercover?”

  “Even then. In fact, it was a prerequisite for my volunteering. I told them I would only do it if I was kept abreast of any changes regarding their status. It had been so many years since they’d been in touch, there was nothing to update me with. Nevertheless, each time I called in, I asked if there was a status change. I wouldn’t have even known they’d tried reaching out to Halverson if I hadn’t be
en in to depose him on my ongoing case.”

  “What made you look at the file?” Cole was frowning deeply.

  “He wasn’t at his desk when I got there. I was exhausted. The case was starting to take a toll on me. I sat down on his chair and saw the folder. Curious, I opened it. I had seen all the information there was on their case—I knew it front and back. This folder was new. It didn’t hold much information, just the fact they had tried to reach the SAC, and he wasn’t there. There was no way to trace the location of the call.”

  “No, I imagine your parents would be too smart for that.”

  “Exactly.” She chewed on her bottom lip to stop herself from chewing on her nail.

  “When did you see the folder?”

  “Last week…why didn’t I see the connection? It was right in front of me the whole time.”

  “What connection?” From the tone of Cole’s voice, she was aware he had picked up on something.

  “I’m wondering if my seeing the folder is why I’m suddenly running for my life?”

  17

  Cole hadn’t liked the direction this had taken. Not only had he been thrown a curve ball with the knowledge his parents could possibly be alive, but a notorious drug lord being involved had him on edge. Getting JD back was going to be next to impossible if he was even alive. He couldn’t be sure from the picture. Now to find out the agent who inherited one case and was the contact in the other might also be the one who had sold Jessie and both their families out, had his blood boiling. He was no longer angry with her. Hell, he wasn’t sure he had ever really been angry with her.

  “What do you mean?” Coop asked, beating Cole to the question.

  “Call it a hunch, but the timing is suspect. I saw that folder, and a day later I was compromised. It was either put there for me to see or I saw it, and they didn’t want me to. Halverson reported it back to El Diablo, and that’s when his men came for me.”