Guardian Ranger (Shadow Agents 2)

She frowned. “Jimmy? Jimmy, is that you? This is Veronica Lane.”

“It’s me,” he said at once, voice clearer, more alert. “Something wrong, Ms. Veronica?”

Yes. Everything. “I need to talk to the sheriff.”

“He’s back there with them agents talking to...” Jimmy cleared his throat. “He’s talking to your brother. I think they’re interrogating him.” Dropping his voice, he said, “I heard ’em talking. They’re gonna charge Cale with all them murders.”

“Tell them to stop!” The words burst from her. “I’ve got proof—” Maybe, please, let it be some proof. “I’ve got proof to back up Cale’s story about being in the Caribbean! Files I took off Reed Montgomery’s computer. I just... I need to talk to Wyatt or Jasper. Someone there. I can prove Cale’s innocence.”

“You got real proof?” Jimmy’s voice cracked with excitement.

“Yes.” She wouldn’t tell him that it wasn’t one hundred percent. That it was just a few notations in a file, but...it was something. Bread crumbs that could lead them in the ri

ght direction. To the real killer. “I think Reed Montgomery was murdered because he could back up Cale’s story about being out of the country. I think he knew the real killer’s identity.”

Lightning flashed, illuminating her living room. The storms weren’t over. Another day, that was what the weather forecaster had promised. Another day.

“Is Jasper there?” Veronica asked. She could talk to him and—

“I don’t know where he is, but, Ms. Veronica, I’ll go get the sheriff. I’ll tell him what you found. We’ll clear Cale.”

Jimmy had always seemed to look up to her brother. When he’d been younger, Jimmy had often come to the ranch, dogging Cale’s footsteps, asking to hear stories about Cale’s time in the army. Jimmy was a good guy, and he knew Cale for the real person that he was.

Yes, yes, they’d clear Cale. The nightmare would be over.

She hung up the phone and headed back for her desk. She pulled the flash drive away from the computer and tucked it in her pocket. She could stay at her house and wait for Jasper or the sheriff, or she could go to them. Force them to see the proof that she had.

The lightning flashed again, and every light in her house went dark.

I’m coming, Cale. Fumbling, she found a pair of car keys. The keys were for the old sports car Cale kept covered in the garage. The car hadn’t been used in over a year, but it was her only option at the moment. Cale and his cars...her brother had always been obsessed with them, and he’d made sure to share his expertise with her, too.

Then she rushed out of the house. The rain hadn’t started, but the wind was already strong. She wouldn’t think about the rough roads or the wind that could push the car too hard.

She’d just think of Cale. This time, she’d protect her brother.

* * *

CALE WAS GIVING them nothing. Figured. A ranger like him, Jasper knew exactly what sort of training the guy had been through over the years.

A few tough questions weren’t going to rattle him. Not after he’d survived torture.

Yeah, Cale, I still remember Syria. Some things could never be forgotten.

Back then, Cale had been one of the good guys. What the hell had happened to him?

Jasper glanced back down the hallway toward Cale’s holding room. Once, he never would have said that Cale would snap and start killing innocents.

“The story checked out,” Sydney said as she walked out of the surveillance room. She had a fistful of papers. “Just got the fax on Dr. Paul Lyland. The guy did lose his license about eleven months ago.”

Jasper ran a hand through his hair. “So the shrink’s profile was bull?”

“No, I’d say Cale Lane has some definite aggressive tendencies.” Her stare was knowing. “Just like you.”

His back teeth clenched. “Dr. Lyland wasn’t the only shrink who came up with this profile.”

“No, but he was the most vocal, and if Cale had already been burned by one shrink, his hostile behavior to the others is more understandable.”

Maybe.