Kane drained his beer, helped himself to a second. This one he opened but didn’t drink yet. “Is Lucy okay?”
“As you can expect.”
“Does that mean she’s cried, screamed, lashed out? Gotten angry?”
“Of course not.” Sean tensed. “You don’t think she’s okay?”
“You said to me she would lose herself. I want to make sure she didn’t. She handled herself much better than I expected. She did everything right, except going back for Michael and forcing us to split up.”
“And that was wrong?” Sean was going to get angry if Kane pulled out the There are always casualties speech.
“No, not wrong. Human. I sometimes forget. What we did—I’ve done many times. I am who I am. But—” He stopped, obviously at a loss for words.
“She has me,” Sean said. “She will survive and be stronger.” He finished the beer, then went to get his second.
“She’s damn special, Sean. You’re extremely lucky.”
Sean couldn’t disagree. He’d thanked Kane for protecting her, back when they were still in Mexico, but he wouldn’t forget any of this. Not his brother, not what happened, not the aftermath. For Kane this operation was almost typical, but at the same time he’d seen a subtle change in his brother. He wasn’t sure what specifically had impacted him, but Sean would use it if it meant he could bring his family together again. The Rogans would never be the Kincaids, but they could be closer.
“You rarely come home,” Sean said. But I want you to know, Kane—there’s always a place for you here.”
He looked around. “Big. Comfortable.” He said it as if being content was a bad thing.
“I like comfort.”
“I’d like to visit more often.”
“More often?” Sean smirked. “You never visit. You didn’t visit even once while I was in DC.”
“You’re my brother.”
“So’s Duke.”
“Duke has his own life.” He paused. “You understand this better than Duke.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Sean pulled out more beer. “Did you hear Nora had the baby last night?”
Kane’s lips curved up just a fraction. “Duke and I don’t talk much, outside of business. I heard you don’t, either.”
“Duke and I are fine.” Sean didn’t think Duke knew yet what had happened in Mexico. When he heard the truth—which he would—he might not be so fine with Sean. But Sean was no longer seeking his approval like he once did. The most important thing to Sean was that Lucy adjusted to her suspension and her new life here in San Antonio.
“What did they have? Boy? Girl? One of each?”
Sean laughed. “Girl.”
Now Kane smiled. “Duke once told me he was afraid he’d have a boy like you.”
“Yeah, well, Duke and I don’t always see eye to eye, but he could do a lot worse than me.”
“He was more afraid he’d have a boy who was smarter than him.”
“Maybe this girl will be smarter than him.” Sean paused, then added, “They named her Molly.”
Kane looked away, rare emotion crossing his hard face. He stared out the window into the green backyard. “All this,” he said quietly, “I started because of her.”
“I know.”
Molly, the oldest Rogan, who spiraled down into drug abuse until she died.
“Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth the fight anymore. For every field I burn, ten more grow up. For every drug dealer I kill, ten more replace him.”
“You told me once, if not us, who? If not now, when?”
“I stole that line.”
“When you’re ready to step away, there is plenty of work we can do here in the United States.”
“We?”
“You’re every bit as much a Rogan as I am.”
“I’m not ready.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Lucy walked in through the garage door and saw Sean and Kane sitting across from each other at the kitchen island, smiling, drinking beer. For all Sean had said about what a jerk his brother could be, Sean obviously loved and admired him. And Kane, for all his hardness, loved and respected Sean.
“Hi, boys,” she said. She walked over and hugged Kane, then sat on the stool next to Sean and took his hand.
Sean had said family was complicated, and had lamented that the Rogan family wasn’t as close as the Kincaids. Maybe it was because they were mostly men, or because they’d lost their parents in a tragedy and didn’t know how to bridge the grief and pain. But the mutual trust was evident from the minute she saw Kane and Sean sitting across the table in Jack’s house in Hidalgo. And now, here, she was still stunned by the resemblance, Sean a younger, happier version of his brother.
She hadn’t spoken to Kane since they’d parted at Jack’s house after bringing Bella and Michael home. Kane needed to deal with the guns in the truck and get cover from RCK for the operation.
She slid a picture over to Sean. “This is from Tito. The boy who’d been shot in the foot, the one you carried out of the prison.”
It was a surprisingly good pencil sketch of Sean with a halo over his head and a group of boys sitting at his feet. It would have been sweet, except for the gun in Sean’s hand.
“I’m no saint.”
“To them, you are.” She kissed him again. “And to me.” She smiled at Kane. “I’m glad you came.”
“Me, too.”
“Stay for dinner. Stay the weekend.”
“I don’t think so.”
“At least long enough to visit Michael. I think he could use you right now. This adjustment is hard, and Padre has to go back to Hidalgo.”
“I’ll see him on my way out of town.”
“Dinner,” Sean repeated. “I’m cooking.”
“You can cook?”
Sean shook his head and sighed. “Damn straight. I can do anything, remember?”
Kane laughed. “Yes, yes, you can, Little Rogan.”
Sean scowled. “Don’t call me that.”
Lucy took Sean’s hand and said, “Since I have eight more days of forced, unpaid leave, I thought we should visit the littlest Rogan.” She looked at Kane. Waited until he was looking at her. “You need to come, too.”
“I have to get back.”
“No, you don’t. You want to get back,” Lucy said. “You need to see your niece. To remember why we all do what we do.”
Kane looked down at his beer.
“All right,” he finally said. “I’ll go.”
Sean looked surprised, but Lucy wasn’t. Kane wanted family, but he didn’t know how family and what he did could work together. All family had ever been to him were people who helped him get his job done.
Now family meant more. It had to, to keep them hopeful for the future.
“I’ll call the airport and have them fuel my plane,” Sean said. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
Don’t miss Allison Brennan’s gripping new Max Revere thriller
NOTORIOUS
Available in January 2015 from
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
And watch out for the next one, COMPULSION,
coming in March 2015, in hardcover,
from Minotaur Books.
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Titles by Allison Brennan
Notorious
Cold Snap
Stolen
Stalked
Silenced
If I Should Die
Kiss Me, Kill Me
Love Me to Death
Carnal Sin
Original Sin
Cutting Edge
Fatal Secrets
Sudden Death
Playing Dead
Tempting Evil
Killing Fear
Fear No Evil
See No Evil
Speak No Evil
The Kill
The Hunt
The Prey
Praise for New York Times bestsell
ing author
Allison Brennan
Stolen
“The evolution of Lucy and Sean’s relationship has been a critical piece of what makes these novels so compelling. Brennan is a true master at providing byzantine plotlines that keep readers guessing as the danger amplifies.”
—RT Book Reviews (4½ stars, Top Pick)
“All the excitement and suspense I have come to expect from Allison Brennan.”
—Fresh Fiction
Stalked
“Once again Brennan weaves a complex tale of murder, vengeance, and treachery filled with knife-edged tension and clever twists. The Lucy Kincaid/Sean Rogan novels just keep getting better!”
—RT Book Reviews (4½ stars, Top Pick)
“The novels featuring Lucy Kincaid and her cohorts are marked with deep characterizations and details of the workings of investigations by private eyes, the police, and the FBI … Catch the latest in this series as Lucy continues to evolve in strength and wisdom.”
—Romance Reviews Today
Silenced
“Brennan throws a lot of story lines into the air and juggles them like a master. The mystery proves to be both compelling and complex … [A] chilling and twisty romantic suspense gem.”
—Associated Press
“The evolution of Lucy Kincaid from former victim to instinctive and talented agent continues in Brennan’s new heart-stopping thriller … From first to last, this story grabs hold and never lets go.”
—RT Book Reviews (Top Pick)
“An excellent addition to the Lucy Kincaid series. Lucy and Sean continue to develop as complex, imperfect characters with a passion for justice … The suspense was can’t-put-it-down exciting.”
—Fresh Fiction
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DEAD HEAT
Copyright © 2014 by Allison Brennan.
All rights reserved.
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eISBN: 9781250035844
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / June 2014
St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allison Brennan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-one novels and many short stories. A former consultant in the California State Legislature, she lives in Northern California with her husband Dan and their five children.
Visit: www.allisonbrennan.com
Dead Heat Page 36