She shook her head. The memory was right there. “And you said you’d always be with me.”
“I’m sorry,” he rasped.
So was she.
The growling of that engine was so close. She rushed away from the window and yanked open the front door. Noelle saw not one but two vehicles driving up behind the snowplow. One was the sheriff’s car and the other, a dark SUV. As she watched, they braked and the passenger door of the SUV opened. A man jumped out. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him.
He wore a thick coat, but she could tell his shoulders were broad. His back was straight. He yanked off his woolen cap as he headed toward her. The closer he came, the more she noticed the gray at his temples, his stony visage....
“No way,” Noelle whispered. Sunglasses shielded the man’s eyes, but she knew they would be green—and sharp.
Another man flanked the guy, a man who walked with a tense alertness, which broadcasted his military background.
She knew the second guy was a bodyguard, even before he turned and blocked the sheriff from heading up to the cabin.
And the man striding so confidently toward them was none other than—
“Mercer?” Thomas said, shock in his voice.
He should be shocked. As a rule, the EOD boss didn’t do field work. He stayed in his office, and he pulled the strings. But, thanks to the recent attack at the EOD, there was no D.C. office.
“Inside,” Bruce Mercer snapped. “You never know who’s watching.”
He was the man who’d kept her past from her. The man who knew where all the bodies were buried in D.C.
And because he was there, right in front of her, Noelle knew the situation in Camden, Alaska, had to be very, very bad.
If Bruce Mercer was there, then death wasn’t far behind.
Chapter Eight
“Judging by the way Noelle is looking at me, I guess you told her everything, Agent Anthony?”
They were inside the cabin. Mercer was pacing near the fireplace while the man he’d brought with him—Thomas easily recognized Aaron Black—stood guard near the door.
For Aaron to be there, with Mercer, Thomas knew the situation had to be serious. He’d worked with the ex-SEAL before on cases that didn’t involve hostage rescue. They’d involved cleanup.
Target disposal.
Death.
“You should’ve told me the truth,” Noelle said, voice sharp. “As soon as I came on with the EOD. You should’ve—”
“I thought the past was dead and buried. Part of it was dead.” Mercer waved toward Thomas. “Thanks to Agent Anthony.”
His back teeth locked. Mercer wasn’t exactly helping the situation.
“We thought the man who’d taken you—”
“Justin Hardin,” Noelle bit out. “His name was Justin Hardin.”
Mercer would know that. The man knew everything.
“We thought he was working alone. Our intel was wrong. We didn’t realize just how mistaken we’d been until you uncovered those photographs at the senator’s place.”
Now he understood why Mercer was in Camden. “You identified those girls.”
“Yes.” Mercer turned sharply on his heel and faced Noelle. “They were taken from different states. Two even from different countries, before you went missing. The geographical area was so wide that we never connected the dots together.” He exhaled. “That was a mistake that we have remedied now.”