LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter 2

      Ryker yanked him out of sleep in the morning with a phone call. Groaning as he awoke to searing pain yet again, Trace reached for the phone beside the bed and answered it.

      “Yeah.”

      “It’s me,” Ryker said. “Meet me in thirty at the sheriff’s office. It’s just up the street from the diner.”

      “I need coffee.” He needed more than coffee, but these days caffeine was the only thing that kicked his brain into something resembling a normal gear.

      “Okay, then, I’ll bring it to you. How much and how do you like it?”

      “Three or four, black, strong.”

      “In ten, then. What’s your room?”

      Trace struggled for a moment to recall. “Four.”

      “Ten minutes.”

      Then Ryker was gone. Slowly Trace pushed himself upright, biting back groans and facing the nearly impossible task of getting dressed. Well, Ryker was bringing more coffee. So he popped another pill and started the laborious job. Shorts. Jeans. Shirt. He simply stared at the god-awful jacket. Not even enough time to shower. That was Ryker. That was the job.

      Socks. Boots with Velcro closures. Damn, sometimes he felt old.

      Ten minutes later he heard the knock. Rising, he opened the door, wide-awake and hating it. Ryker stepped in, carrying a cardboard tray with four tall coffees.

      “Trying to hurry me out of town?” Trace asked bluntly as he plopped on the bed and reached for one of the cups.

      Ryker spoke very quietly. “Cell phone?”

      Without question, Trace rose and got the phone from the pocket of his jacket. He didn’t say a word as Ryker pulled the back off of it and removed the battery and SIM card.

      “Later,” Ryker said, “get a new phone. A burner. That one is about to head out of town on the next truck that leaves the lot across the street.”

      Trace understood, and he didn’t like what he understood. If the right person had that number, they could have been listening to what was going on in this room at that very moment, at least until Ryker pulled the phone apart. “I’ve been getting fresh burners all along.” Because he wasn’t a total idiot, although he had to admit every time he’d gotten one, he’d had to use his debit card, even if only at an ATM. Hell, if the worst case proved true, he might as well have kept his original phone. “What about yours?”

      “My cell is still at home. We’re going to send this one out of town this morning. Just in case. Anyway, everybody else may be kicking you to the curb, but I’m not.”

      That jolted Trace, and he looked over as Ryker took the only chair and reached for a coffee. “Why not?”

      “I talked to Bill. Are you on meds?”

      “I’m still waiting for it to hit.”

      “Okay. Does it help?”

      He met Ryker’s dark gaze and saw something very like the sympathy that had been missing last night. “Yeah, when I take enough of it.”

      “Probably not often, knowing you.”

      “Not when I can avoid it. What’s going on?”

      Trace could feel the buzz coming, so he finished his coffee and reached for another before sitting on the edge of the bed again.

      Ryker sighed and sipped more coffee, then leaned back and crossed his legs at the ankle. “I told you I talked with Bill. I was going to rake him over the coals for giving you my address, but it turns out he gave it to you for a reason.”

      Trace sat up a little straighter, suppressing a wince. “What reason?”

      “Apparently he thinks there’s more going on than you’ve been told and that you desperately need an ally.”

      Trace felt his heart accelerate. “That’s news to me.” Important news. Something to give his full attention to. “Did he say what’s happening?”

      “No. He doesn’t know.” Ryker blew a long breath and glanced at his watch. “A few more and then we go. No, he doesn’t know, but he was unhappy about it. He thinks they’ve cut you loose and don’t give a damn.”

      “I was right. I’m a liability.” Instead of just wondering, now he knew, but he was damned if he knew why. So much was becoming clear, and he didn’t like it.

      “My guess is you’ve passed your expiration date because of your injury, and they’re more interested in catching the tiger that’s on your tail than whether you survive it.”

      “Or alternatively, they have a reason not to stop the tiger. I’ve heard of it.”

      “So have I, but I’ve never known it to happen.”

      “Me, neither, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. You know how much butt-covering goes on.” And secrets. Secrets that only a handful might ever know. Those secrets could be good for the country, essential even, but they could also cover up more nefarious activities.

      A sense of betrayal began burning in him, but this wasn’t the time to let it take over. Trace forced it down, trying to clear his head, suddenly wishing he hadn’t taken the pain pill. It wouldn’t help at all, not right now. What good would it do him to ease his hand when his brain would be in low gear?

      “We’ve got some time. Bill never told anyone he directed you to me, and I talked to him on a scrambled line this morning.”

      “You have one?” Trace hadn’t expected that, given that Ryker had hung up his spurs. That technology was doled out very carefully.

      “Better believe it. When I resigned, I still had a lot of useful stuff in my brain. They want to pick it occasionally. Think they’re going to trust the phone company with that? Or that I would? Hell, we don’t even let the NSA eavesdrop on our lines.”

      But another thought had occurred to Trace and it made him sick. “I got your address on an unsecure line. I’d better leave now. I don’t want your family at risk.”

      “Well...” Ryker’s eyes twinkled unexpectedly. “The conversation I had with Bill this morning wasn’t exactly as straightforward as I reported. We talked sideways on purpose. I gave Bill a helluva lecture about revealing my whereabouts, and I told him I’d sent you on your way this morning. So if anybody was listening, I sounded p.o.’d, Bill sounded apologetic and loosely explanatory, and in theory you’re already on the road. We’re gonna need to get your car out of town along with the phone, though. You okay to drive?”

      “Yeah.” Trace started smiling. His head was getting into the game again. He guessed he’d been missing a sense of purpose. And it felt good not to be alone for the first time in a few weeks. “You wouldn’t happen to know of a junkyard a few hundred miles from here?”

      “Well, I do happen

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