Cody Walker's Woman

Cody cast his mind back to his conversation with Callahan. “That’s where you’re wrong about him. He might be a throwback where women are concerned, but he respects courage and quick wits.” Then he added, “I also told him you remind me of his wife.”

The silence was electric, and Cody knew somehow he’d said the wrong thing. But all she said was “I guess that’s a compliment.” There was just a hint of something in her voice he couldn’t put a name to, and he realized anew that Keira had picked up on his onetime attachment to Mandy...and didn’t like it.

Putting his theory to the test, Cody said, “If you meet her, you’ll understand just how much of a compliment it really is,” adding more warmth to his voice than he would otherwise have done. “Mandy Callahan and I grew up together.”

“I see.”

She didn’t say another word, and the silence in the SUV was deafening. Cody lay back, pillowing his head on one arm, using his jacket as a blanket. He had a million and one things to worry about, not the least of which was how he was going to keep his team safe if all hell broke loose as it had once before with the New World Militia.

But a tiny smile played over his lips as he dozed off in the darkness.

Chapter 5

An hour outside Buffalo, Wyoming, they switched drivers again, Cody taking the wheel of the pickup while McKinnon moved to the passenger seat. “You could try the backseat of the SUV,” Cody offered. “I won’t mind.”

“That’s okay,” McKinnon said, stretching out his legs and reclining back against the passenger door, bunching his jacket behind his shoulders as a cushion. “I probably won’t sleep much, anyway. Besides,” he added, “I want to talk to you before we get there, without Keira around.”

Cody didn’t speak, just drove up the on-ramp to the highway, watched to make sure the SUV was following him and waited. Eventually McKinnon said, “She told me what happened last week.”

There was an edge to his voice that Cody sympathized with. A man’s relationship with his partner could sometimes be closer than his relationship with his wife, especially when he trusted that partner with his life. And it was a two-way street. Anything bad that happened to a man’s partner was conversely a reflection on him. Cody wasn’t sure exactly how much Keira had confided in McKinnon, but he sensed the other man was berating himself for not being there when his partner needed him. Cody made a noncommittal sound that could have meant anything. No way was he going to reveal what he knew, not even to Keira’s partner.

“I saw the bruises,” McKinnon said softly. “Did you have to hurt her like that?”

Cody kept his face impassive, but it was an effort. There was just a hint in McKinnon’s voice that betrayed the fact he wasn’t sure; he was fishing, and Cody wasn’t rising to the bait.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” He kept his eyes on the road, knowing McKinnon was watching him like a hawk for any sign he knew more than he was letting on. He signaled a lane change and passed a slow-moving diesel truck on the left, then steered back into the right lane.

Eventually McKinnon sighed and said, “Maybe you don’t at that.” Then he slipped in a question so neatly Cody almost didn’t see the trap. “So, how do you know her?”

He almost answered that he’d met her in the agency cafeteria, or something innocuous like that, but then he remembered Nick D’Arcy had mentioned the day before that Cody and Keira already knew each other, and how would D’Arcy know that unless it was related to a special op, or...?

And Keira’s partner since she joined the agency would know Cody hadn’t met her on a special op. “Sorry,” he lied, making light of it. “That’s classified.”

“Mmm-hmm.” The sound conveyed that McKinnon unmistakably knew Cody was lying, but wasn’t going to pursue it further.

Both men were silent for so long Cody thought McKinnon must have fallen asleep, but when he glanced to his right, he saw the other man was wide-awake. “I was surprised when I heard you worked for the agency,” he said on the spur of the moment. “I thought you were a fixture in the U.S. Marshals Service.”