LITMIR.BIZ

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do for Owen.”

      She felt a pang in her heart. “He loved you like a brother.”

      “I felt the same way.” Zane rubbed his chin. “We crossed paths and I spoke to him a couple of times after I came back to Cobalt.”

      Caroline felt her jaw slacken and for a few seconds she was speechless. “I can’t believe he didn’t tell me.” She shook her head. Why would Owen keep that from her?

      “It was only twice. And the first conversation went pretty rough.” A half smile flashed across his face. “Owen wasn’t a kid anymore. And he was very protective of you. Didn’t want to tell me where you were. Told me he would let you know he saw me and find out if you wanted to talk to me before he’d share a word about you. But I think he wanted to get a handle on me first before letting you know.”

      Her little brother had thought he needed to take care of her? Ridiculous.

      And touching. Owen had been carrying more of a burden on his shoulders than she’d realized. Weathering a painful divorce after being abandoned by his wife. Summoning all the emotion and patience and energy it took to raise a small boy while starting his own business. And maybe getting dragged into something else that had gotten him killed.

      Zane was watching her intently, waiting for her response.

      “I guess it would be all right if you came along on this one ride out to the house,” she said. “Just stay out of view of my mom and my nephew. And afterward you stay away from all of us.”

      “If that’s what you want.”

      They reached Matt’s patrol car. He had Caroline sit in the back seat with Zane beside her. One of the officers that had been watching the street slipped into the front passenger seat. He introduced himself as Shane, but didn’t say anything more.

      A shiver passed through Caroline as they pulled away from the hospital. The life she’d carefully built in California had started unraveling the moment she’d heard Owen was murdered. Now someone was trying to kill her. She also had her mom and nephew relying on her and no idea what to do next.

      She glanced out the window at the disappearing lights of town as they followed the curving road along the lake. The Cobalt Resort shone like a golden beacon and reflected on the rippling surface of the dark water. After a couple of miles the road became a highway and turned away into the forest. Caroline blew out a breath. Please, Lord, keep Dylan and Mom safe. And help me know what to do.

      * * *

      Zane had had plenty of experience with night patrols in enemy territory. At least this transport of Caroline along an Idaho highway wasn’t being conducted on foot. And the chances of coming across an improvised explosive device were pretty slim.

      On the other hand, they had little protection. No helmets. No body armor. No air support to fall back on.

      Yeah, he was overthinking things. He knew it. It was a post-combat survival instinct that would likely never go away. That’s what the therapist told him when he’d sought help six months after returning from his second tour in Afghanistan, after he’d found himself unable to drive past a broken-down car by the side of the road or anything else that looked like a potential trap. Anything and everything out of the ordinary made him wary.

      He’d had a lot to talk about that first year after he’d returned to civilian life, staying with friends near the base where he’d been stationed in North Carolina. Most of it was related to combat, but some of it went back to things that had happened before he’d even enlisted.

      The headlights of their patrol car cut through the darkness and shone on the curving road ahead. Cobalt was in mountain country, barely seventy miles south of the Canadian border. The deep mountain lake, for which the town was named, was surrounded by heavily forested jagged mountain peaks.

      Owen’s house was located in a small community south of the lake. They were modest homes, mostly occupied by people who worked in the Cobalt Resort, downtown restaurants or the local ski resort.

      Zane kept his gaze sweeping across the surrounding terrain as he’d been trained. Not that he could see much looking out into the darkness. The police radio crackled with regular transmissions. Routine stuff, mostly about traffic stops. So far he’d heard little related to the search for the men who’d attacked him and Caroline. But he also knew any substantial information would likely be transmitted by cell phone so anyone with a scanner couldn’t listen in.

      Matt asked Shane a question and they started talking.

      “So, where have you been all this time?” Caroline asked quietly from beside him.

      Zane wasn’t looking to keep secrets. Not anymore. And Caroline deserved answers.

      “I was in Texas for a little while. A couple of other places, and then Afghanistan.”

      “So were you in military? A private contractor?”

      “Army.”

      “It makes sense now,” she said thoughtfully. “That explains how you got the skills to help in the police reserves.” She was studying his face. He could see her in the light from the instrument panel in the front seat and, for a couple of seconds, from the bright beams of a passing car. “It explains why you look so different, too,” she added.

      “The passage of time will do that.” He felt self-conscious, wondering exactly what kind of changes she saw.

      “That isn’t the only thing that changes a person.”

      She was right.

      “When you said we needed time apart, that you were going to leave town for a while, everybody thought you’d just be gone for a few weeks. Maybe a couple of months. Why didn’t you tell us that you were leaving to join the military? That you were going to be gone a long time?” She glanced at the two officers up front who were still carrying on their conversation. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

      The catch in her voice made the center of his chest ache. At the time he’d had no doubt she’d get over him after he left. That he wasn’t anybody special. But he’d also known she had a kind heart and might worry about him for a little while. If he’d told her what he was planning at the time, she might have tried to convince him not to go. And he would have been very tempted to listen to her.

      Sitting in a patrol car with a couple of cops wasn’t exactly the place where he wanted to talk to her about the past, but what choice did he have? She’d said this ride to the house was the only time he’d have with her. If he was going to wrap up any unanswered questions for her, he had to do it now. And at least for the moment, Matt and Shane were focused on their own conversation.

      “I’m sure you remember the increase in drug crime about the time I left,” he said. “Suppliers fighting over territory.”

      “Remember it?” She made a scoffing sound. “My dad got killed in the middle of it.”

      Zane didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Didn’t trust himself to talk about the man who’d been like a real father to him without breaking down. Caroline didn’t need that right now. She needed someone strong she could lean on.

      “Did you know he’d been shot?” Caroline asked.

      “Yes.” Zane had been through basic training and shipped overseas by the time he’d heard—word had taken a while to reach him. And he hadn’t known how to react once he’d heard. There was a lot going on in his life at the time. The death of Sergeant Henry Marsh had been one very significant addition to a long list of emotional events he couldn’t deal with just then. He’d unpacked the pain of that loss a few years later, when his life had threatened to get out of control and he’d needed to face everything he’d been avoiding for so long. That was when he’d finally seen a therapist.

      “Why didn’t you call us?” she asked. Her voice was cold and hard. “Send a card? Something? Did you know my mom had a heart attack shortly after it happened, leaving

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