by Amelia Autin
Suddenly uncomfortable, Keira looked around for someplace to sit down. But other than the bed and a couple of kitchen table chairs over in the corner, there wasn’t anything to sit on, so she leaned against the wall, watching the other woman in renewed silence until baby Abby fell asleep on her mother’s shoulder.
Keira wanted to dislike Mandy, this beautiful woman Cody loved. But there was just something so basically nice about her, something in the way she loved her children so unreservedly. And then there was the way she looked at Cody. Or rather, the way she didn’t look at him. Keira wasn’t blind. Cody might be in love with Mandy, but in Mandy’s eyes he was only a good friend. That was all he would ever be, and Keira felt a sense of relief.
Cody doesn’t belong to you, she chided herself mentally, but that didn’t stop how she felt. If was as if a bond had been formed between them that first night—on her part, anyway—when she’d known instinctively she could trust him with her life. The possessiveness she felt toward him was something new—and she didn’t like it.
The sudden sound of boots on the front porch made Keira reach for her Glock even though she’d been expecting to hear it at any moment. But she wasn’t taking any chances. She put a finger to her lips, motioning Mandy to silence, and moved swiftly behind the door.
Cody walked in, followed by Trace, with Callahan bringing up the rear, and Keira took her hand away from her gun. She closed the door behind the men.
“That’s everything,” Cody told her, and Keira knew from his eyes he’d seen—and approved—her reactions as par for the course for a good agent, which she was. He glanced over at Mandy, his eyes widening. Keira’s gaze followed his, her own eyes widening as she saw something she hadn’t seen before. The other woman was holding her baby with her left arm. Her right hand was holding a gun.
Where did that come from? Keira wondered, her admiration for Mandy growing.
“Going to shoot me again?” Cody teased, making light of the situation.
“Sorry,” Mandy replied, tucking the nine-millimeter beneath her thigh again. “I couldn’t be sure it was you, and I wasn’t taking any chances.”
Movement on the bed behind her made Mandy turn around, and Keira saw the younger boy stretching awake. Callahan had already dropped the load he’d been carrying beside the kitchen table. Now he moved to the bed and picked up his son.
He murmured something to the boy. Keira couldn’t catch the words, but the change in his tone was amazing. There wasn’t a trace of the hardness she’d noticed earlier. And the expression on his face betrayed him, too—he was completely vulnerable where his children were concerned. Where his wife’s concerned, too, she amended as she saw the private look that passed between Ryan and Mandy Callahan.
Keira had never loved anyone as much as Mandy obviously loved her husband and children, but a sudden yearning inside her caught her by surprise. She wanted to. And she wanted to be loved in return, the way Callahan wholeheartedly loved Mandy. To be loved like that, she thought, hiding her unexpected emotions behind the tough, professional mask she’d learned the hard way to assume years ago in the Marine Corps. What would it be like to be loved like that?
Involuntarily her gaze moved to Cody, standing with Trace by the kitchen table. The pain in her heart as she watched him was another shock. Cody would love like that, she realized. If he gave his heart, there would be nothing held back.
Some joke passed between the two men, and Keira saw Cody’s quick grin flash across his face. Cody wasn’t anywhere near as handsome as Trace, but there was something especially appealing about his angular features, something that spoke about the inner man. And Keira, who appreciated her partner’s excellent qualities as well as his darkly handsome movie-star appearance, had never felt her pulse quicken with him the way it did just being in Cody’s presence.
She couldn’t help remembering Cody’s rough treatment of her the night they’d met, the bruises he’d left on her body, but she knew that wasn’t how he normally was with a woman. No, something told her he would be gentle and caring, the seducer, not the aggressor. She wondered what it would be like to...
Keira dragged her gaze away from him and brought her thoughts under control. This isn’t the time to be thinking about that, she warned herself. Not with an op going down. You’ve got to stay focused.
She glanced back at the bed and saw the older boy was finally awake. Callahan was sitting on the bed now, a boy on each knee, holding them protectively in his arms as he talked softly to them and to his wife. Mandy was leaning close, holding baby Abby, and Keira realized from the other woman’s expression that Callahan was telling her something she didn’t agree with. Keira strained her ears to hear what they were saying.
“I’m not leaving you,” Mandy was saying fiercely.
Callahan just looked at her, and it was all there in his eyes, everything he wouldn’t say in front of the others. A pang of envy twisted through Keira, combined with compassion for what the other woman had to be going through. “Somebody has to be with the kids,” Callahan said in his deep voice. “Somebody has to make sure they’re safe. And that somebody has to be you. You know it and I know it. Besides, I’ll be stronger once I know you and our children are out of harm’s way.”
“That’s not fair,” Mandy said in a choked voice.
“No,” he agreed. “It’s not.” As Keira watched, he leaned over and brushed his wife’s cheek with his lips.
Keira turned away, shaken by the raw emotion she’d witnessed on the faces of Mandy and Ryan Callahan, and saw Cody and Trace walking toward them.
“It’s time,” Cody said, and Keira’s eyebrows rose in a silent question that was also an accusation. Apparently the men had discussed some plan when they’d been outside together, a plan they hadn’t bothered to clue her in on.
Cody caught Keira’s expression and said, “McKinnon’s taking Mandy and the children to the agency’s safe house in Casper. He’ll rejoin us after that.”
Keira hadn’t thought about that before, but it was the smart thing to do. Even though it appeared Mandy could protect herself, the three young children were at risk, so it made perfect sense to whisk them out of the way to safety. She was surprised Cody had picked Trace for the job, though. She would have expected him to give that task to her, the woman on the team.
Then she knew. Callahan, she thought with a wry twist to her lips. He probably voted to have Trace, the known element, protect his family, leaving what he probably considered the weaker link—herself—with Cody and him. And Cody had gone along with it.
A burning sense of injustice swept through Keira, but she suppressed it. I’m not the weaker link on the team, she told the two men in her mind. You think I am, but you’ll see.
Trace knew better. Her partner knew what she was capable of, and Keira drew some comfort from that knowledge. But she couldn’t tell Cody and Callahan—they wouldn’t believe her. She could only show them when she got the chance. If she got the chance.
* * *
Callahan and McKinnon had left to take the suitcases out to Callahan’s four-by-four, which the team had decided was the best choice for McKinnon to drive, since the children’s car seats were already set up in it.
Mandy was fitting her daughter, Abby, into the baby sling to make it easier to carry her along the rough path. When she was done, she touched Cody’s arm to get his attention. “I’m trusting you,” she said. “Don’t let anything happen to Ryan. I’ll never forgive you if—” Her voice broke, but she didn’t have to finish the sentence.
Keira read the expression on Cody’s face and knew he didn’t want to make promises he might not be able to keep, especially not to Mandy. She saw compassion there, and something more, something that twisted her insides when he told Mandy in a deep voice, “I’ll do my best.”
“That’s not good enough,” Mandy whispered. She glanced down at her two boys, then put a protective arm around the baby slung in front of her. She raised her face to Keira’s, tears she couldn’t p
revent springing to her eyes. “Please,” she said as if her heart was breaking. “Please, take care of Ryan.”
“I will,” Keira promised her, ignoring the frown on Cody’s face and the slight shake of his head. This was between Mandy and her. If Keira had anything to say about it, Ryan Callahan would return to the wife who loved him more than her own life. Even if it meant Keira had to sacrifice her own.
Callahan and McKinnon returned just then. Each man picked up one of the boys, and Callahan put his arm around his wife, ushering her toward the door. “I’ll be right back,” he told Cody and Keira without a backward glance.
* * *
Once the others had left, Cody told Keira, “Probably wasn’t a good idea to lie to Mandy.”
“I wasn’t lying,” she replied coolly. “Special rule seven, remember?”
“Yes, but...” He didn’t know how to explain without offending her. Cody had seen Callahan in action, back when he’d gone by the name Reilly O’Neill, and Callahan could almost assuredly take care of himself. If he couldn’t, then it was a fair bet no one else on the team would be in a position to do it for him. All in all, it wasn’t likely that Callahan would need Keira’s protection.
He caught a flash of something in Keira’s eyes, but all she said was, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Then she asked casually, “So, did the three of you discuss anything else while you were outside, other than who was going to take Callahan’s family to safety?”
Cody almost answered without thinking, then caught himself. But he knew from her expression that Keira somehow already knew the answer to the second part of her question without him confirming it in words.
“Did Trace object at all?” she asked gruffly.
McKinnon had objected, Cody remembered. He’d told both Cody and Callahan, You’ve got Keira figured all wrong. But he couldn’t tell Keira that. And he couldn’t tell her what Callahan had responded, either.
She walked toward the stack of gear on the kitchen table and asked, “So, did Callahan tell you how he knows the New World Militia has been resurrected?”
“No.” At least he was on solid ground with that answer. “McKinnon said he should wait until you were there.”
“Well, that’s something, anyway.”
“Keira...” Cody began, then stopped.
She whirled to confront him. “Why am I here?” she demanded. “If you and Callahan don’t think I can pull my own weight, why did you even bother including me on the team? What’s the point?”
Her eyes were flashing again, and it was anger Cody saw in their brown depths. If you’re honest, he thought, you’ll admit you deserve it. He nodded. “I guess there’s a touch of old-school in me, too—more than I realized,” he said, acknowledging the validity of her accusation.
The corner of her mouth twitched, as if she were trying not to smile. “You mean you’re more like Callahan than you thought?”
“Yeah. I guess you could say that. But it won’t happen again,” he promised. “Not on my part, anyway. I can’t speak for Callahan.”
She must have read the sincerity in his tone, because she nodded and said, “Okay. I’ll accept that.” She allowed herself a small chuckle. “Trace said the same thing—he couldn’t speak for Callahan. And now that I’ve finally met him, I realize no one speaks for Callahan...except him.”
“You got that right” came a soft, deep voice from the back door.
Chapter 7
Cody and Keira both whirled. Just as Callahan had crept up unnoticed behind them outside the cabin earlier, he’d managed to enter the cabin from the back entrance without them hearing him.
“Good way to get yourself killed,” Cody told him as his hand dropped to his side.
“True,” Callahan replied, moving into the center of the room. “But it’s also a good way to hear what other people might not want you to hear.” He bent a hard gaze on Keira. “You’re right, and I apologize. I shouldn’t have agreed to let Walker bring you unless I was willing to accept you all the way. Your partner told us we had you figured wrong. Walker and I should have listened to him.”
“You heard what I said?” Keira asked him.
Callahan nodded. “I heard you ask Walker why you’re here.” He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if trying to figure out where to start. “You’re here because I called him yesterday. I’m sure he’s already told you what I said on the phone—that I know the New World Militia is back in business. What I didn’t tell him is how I know—my neighbor, Steve Tressler.”
“Your neighbor,” said Keira, quickly making the connection. “The one whose blood is on your shirt?”
Callahan nodded and glanced over at Cody. “I knew something was up. I didn’t know what, but my instincts were telling me something wasn’t right for the past week every time I saw Steve—I just couldn’t get anything out of him. Then he came to me yesterday morning. Confessed he’d been recruited by the organization a year ago. They talked a good line, but then, they always did. You remember,” he told Cody.
“Yeah.”
“Anyway, Steve said he hadn’t realized what he was getting into. He was a decent kid—stereotypical computer nerd, but likable nevertheless. Just a little naive at times, and didn’t always use common sense. He was always playing those online war games. He didn’t say it, but I suspect he joined the militia for the thrill of it, thinking it was like one of his computer games. He just didn’t realize it wasn’t a game.”
He drew another deep breath. “It all came down on him when he accidentally stumbled across an elimination list a week ago, and—”
“He saw your name was on it,” Cody said softly.
“Top of the list.” Callahan smiled coldly. “I don’t know if it has anything to do with ancient history between the militia, Pennington and me, or if it’s just because I’m the local sheriff—Steve didn’t know. All he knew was he’d seen six names on a hit list, and that was something he wanted no part of. But it wasn’t that easy.”
Cody looked over at Keira. “I don’t know how much McKinnon told you when you started on this assignment...”
Keira’s soft brown eyes hardened. “Enough to know no one just walks away from the New World Militia. At least, not the one from years ago.”
“Right,” Callahan said. “I doubt that’s changed, and I wasn’t taking any chances. He wouldn’t tell me how he came across the list, or who had it, or anything. He said he didn’t want to get anyone in trouble.” His face showed his frustration.
“Since I couldn’t get anything more out of Steve, I told him to just sit tight and not let on to anyone in the organization he’d seen that list or wanted out.” His face contracted as he said roughly, “He was just a kid—barely old enough to drink. And they...” He drew another deep breath and put a tight rein on his emotions. “I told him I was going to call in the cavalry—your agency,” he said, indicating Cody and Keira with one controlled gesture. “Which I did, first thing.”
“But now he’s dead, and any proof he had died with him,” Cody said.
“Not quite,” Callahan said. “But that reminds me. I can’t just leave his body where it is. Not to mention his truck is parked at my house—he left it in the driveway in front, and I moved it behind the house last night before we left. But I didn’t have time to do anything about the blood trail leading right to my front door.”
“D’Arcy is sending backup teams to Buffalo and Sheridan,” Cody said. “They’re a few hours behind us, but I can have one of them handle it. They’re not official crime-scene investigators, but they’ll preserve any evidence, just in case. And they’ll clear away any trace he was there, if that’s what we want. We just need to decide if we want to make Tressler’s death public yet.”
“It depends on the original crime scene,” Callahan said. “If he was shot in his cabin...I’m thinking that’s where we’ll want his body discovered. Whoever beat him and then shot him will be expecting us to find him there.”
“Good poi
nt,” Cody said. He glanced at Keira for her input, and she nodded her agreement. “What’s the address? I can arrange for the backup team to check it out and handle moving the body back, if necessary.”
Callahan told him, and Cody jotted it down. “That settles that. But what are you going to do?” he asked Callahan. “You can’t just disappear from sight. I think the wrong people might start to wonder if the sheriff just up and disappeared, especially since your name is on the hit list.”
“You’re right.” Callahan ran one hand over his unshaven face. “I’m too tired to think straight. But I’ll have to go back to work, act as if Steve never told me anything.”
“Can you do that?” Keira asked.
One corner of Callahan’s mouth quirked in a faint smile. “Now that my family is out of danger—no problem.”
For the first time Cody noticed the lines of tiredness on Callahan’s face. The man must have an iron constitution, he thought, but he’s human like the rest of us. “Did you get any sleep last night?” he asked, knowing the answer before he heard it.
“I couldn’t take that risk.”
Cody pointed to the bed in the corner, the one Mandy and the children had used. “Why don’t you get some sack time now?” he asked with rough concern. As Callahan started to protest, he added, “You’re all in. We at least had some sleep last night before you called,” he said, indicating Keira and himself, “and we switched off driving on the way up, so we dozed then, too. Maybe you can go day and night, but you won’t be at peak efficiency. And that puts the whole team at risk.” He threw that last statement in, knowing it was the one argument the other man couldn’t ignore.
“Maybe I will at that.”
Keira asked, “Do you need to call your office first?”
Callahan shook his head. “I already thought of it, but I’m not on duty until tomorrow. Memorial Day weekend is always bad—lots of drinking, lots of bar fights, and lots of people on the road too drunk to drive and too stupid to know better. There’s also a big Memorial Day party at the VFW hall in town on Monday. That’s why I scheduled myself on duty for the whole three-day weekend.” He smiled wryly. “Mandy wasn’t happy about it, but...” He shrugged. “It’s my job.”