Guardian Ranger (Shadow Agents 2)

She caught the faintest expression of surprise in his gaze. A very, very fleeting expression.

“Who?” Jasper demanded.

“My brother. Cale’s missing.” Missing and, she feared, dead. Because Cale had been gone for six months. There’d been no contact at all from him during that time. Cale would never leave her for that long without a word. Even when he’d been working as an army ranger, he’d still found ways to check up on her. To let her know that he was alive.

Her brother knew how much she needed him. He wouldn’t just leave her.

But Jasper leaned back in his chair and waved a dismissive hand. “Cale’s a big boy. If any man knows how to take care of himself, it’s him.”

Why? Because her brother was a killer? A mercenary? Yes, she knew all the dark parts of Cale’s life. It didn’t make her love him less. Her chin lifted. “It’s been six months. No calls. No letters. No texts or emails.”

“He could be in deep cover. Maybe on a mission that can’t be—”

“Cale didn’t even tell me when he left.” That was the part that had first tipped her off to the fact that something was wrong. “Before every mission, he always comes to see me.” It was a ritual they’d had. After the sudden death of their parents, well, they’d needed to stick together. There hadn’t been a choice. It had just been the two of them.

Cale had never gotten a chance to tell their parents goodbye, to say that he loved them that one final time.

So every time that Cale left for a mission, he came to see her. He always told her goodbye.

“He didn’t tell me goodbye,” she whispered.

Jasper shook his head. “You think your brother is missing because he didn’t tell you goodbye?” He gave a low whistle. “I hate to break this to you, but—”

“Six. Months,” she gritted, not about to be put off now. Fine, he could think she was crazy, but he’d still better take the job that she was offering to him. “If you don’t believe me, well, you won’t be the first. The local sheriff thinks I’m being neurotic, and he sure won’t lift a finger to help me.”

Jasper watched her with his steady gaze.

“Does it even matter if you believe me?” Veronica asked. “Can’t you take the money, find him and then prove that I’m wrong? You’ll get paid either way, I swear. I just need to know that he’s alive.” Because the gnawing in her gut told her that something was wrong.

She was afraid that Cale was dead.

“I can’t live the rest of my life, wondering if my brother’s body is in a shallow grave someplace. I need to know what’s happened to him.”

Jasper just kept staring back at her.

“Say something,” she told him, voice tight.

His head cocked to the right. “You’re not what I expected.”

Well, that was something. Just not what she’d wanted to hear.

“We met once, didn’t we?” Jasper asked her.

So he remembered? She gave a quick nod.

His gaze narrowed on her. “Your hair’s different.”

Her hair didn’t matter. Only Cale mattered. Why was Jasper stalling?

He said, “Your brother talked about you a lot. He was always telling me how smart you were.”

Not so smart when it came to people. People generally made her feel lost, but when it came to computers and technology, she got by pretty well. “None of Jasper’s credit cards have been used. None of his accounts touched. Not since he vanished.”

“You know this because...?”

“Because it took me all of five minutes to get access to his accounts.” With her computers, there was very little that she couldn’t access. “If my brother had just been taking another job, then some cash should have been put in his account. A down payment, something. There was nothing.”

“Maybe he gets paid when the job’s done. Or maybe he has an account you don’t know about.” Jasper was being so calm and logical.