IDENTITY: CONFIDENTIAL

Everyone believes agent Jase Bradford is dead—everyone but Reyna Peterson. Only he can protect her now that someone wants the information her CIA husband died to secure. As the one member of their spy team not killed, Jase must remain in the shadows. Yet when Reyna leads the enemy right to his mountain refuge and blows his cover, Jase risks his life for hers. As his best friend’s beautiful widow scales the walls around his heart, whether out of loyalty or love, he makes it his duty to secure her safety. But when their pursuers trap them in the snowy Colorado mountains, will it become his final mission?

“You’re all I have.”

Despite Reyna’s words, his patience neared the breaking point. “Tell me who they are.”

“I don’t know.” Then she slumped forward, as if she couldn’t take any more. “They came to my house and threatened me. They said my husband had taken something they wanted. Jase, I think these men killed him. And now they’re after me. We need to get out of here.”

The noise of approaching vehicles grew louder. As much as he needed to know more about the danger she’d brought to his door, if they didn’t leave soon there would be no way out.

He led her into the night. “Take my hand. We can’t risk using the flashlight. Stay quiet. Noise carries for miles up in these mountains.”

She clasped his hand. The tremors in her gave away her fear, and his heart went out to her.

It might be the worst mistake of his life, but he believed everything she’d told him. He’d do whatever it took to protect his friend’s widow…or he would die trying.

MARY ALFORD was inspired to become a writer after reading romantic suspense greats Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney. Soon, creating characters and throwing them into dangerous situations that test their faith came naturally for Mary. In 2012 Mary entered the Speed Dating contest hosted by Love Inspired Suspense and later received “the call.” Writing for Love Inspired Suspense has been a dream come true for Mary.

Rocky Mountain Pursuit

Mary Alford

www.millsandboon.co.uk

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

—Isaiah 40:31

To the men and women of our armed forces

who risk their lives daily so that we might

enjoy the freedom that we do today.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your sacrifice.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

EPILOGUE

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

PROLOGUE

A thunderous rap on her front door jerked Dr. Reyna Peterson’s attention from the letter she’d been reading seconds earlier. Her heart slammed against her chest at the ominous tone of the knock. It was almost eleven at night and she wasn’t expecting company so late.

The pounding grew louder and more demanding. Whoever was out there wasn’t going away. Reyna shoved the letter into the pocket of her robe, flipped on the outside light and inched the curtains apart. Three extremely menacing-looking men dressed in suits stood on her front porch. She didn’t recognize any of them.

If it weren’t for the unsettling contents of Eddie’s letter warning her this moment might come, Reyna might not have thought anything unusual about the men on her porch. But now, coupled with the events leading up to her husband’s death, she wasn’t so sure.

She glanced around the living room as the banging was followed by an angry voice, demanding, “Open the door, Dr. Peterson. Now. Federal agents.”

Don’t trust anyone from the government, Eddie had warned in the letter.

The door rattled in someone’s grasp. Were they going to break the door down? Her chest constricted with fear. Reyna grabbed the phone to call 9-1-1, but what the man said next had her ending the call before she placed it.

“This is about your husband, Dr. Peterson, and what he stole from his country. If you don’t want to be charged as a coconspirator to treason, I suggest you open the door.”

Every instinct inside of her warned against it, but in her heart she knew she had to find out what they were accusing Eddie of stealing, because she had a feeling she knew already.

“Please, Lord, protect me,” she whispered under her breath. Her fingers shook as she slowly unlocked the dead bolt. Before she could open the door, the men burst inside without invitation. The door hit Reyna in the shoulder and sent her stumbling backward. She almost lost her footing.

Now she was truly terrified. Three strange men were in her house and she was alone.

“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just barge in here without invitation—”

“We can,” interrupted the man who had spoken earlier. He was obviously the leader.

“Who are you?” Her voice wobbled over every syllable. Truth be told, she was shaking all over. Their intimidating stance petrified her and they were obviously armed. She could see a gun tucked inside the leader’s jacket.

He dug in his pocket and pulled out a badge. “Agent Martin. Intelligence.” He flashed it briefly in her face, but she was so rattled she didn’t have time to read his name much less verify the details he’d given her.

“It’s late, Agent Martin. Why are you here?”

He moved threateningly closer and into her personal space. Reyna took an involuntary step backward and the edge of his mouth quirked upward in obvious satisfaction. “I told you this is about your husband.”

“My husband is dead...”

Agent Martin’s steely glare showed no reaction. “Your husband is dead because of his allegiance to a terrorist organization. Your husband was a traitor.”

His words struck like blows. “That’s not true!” she exclaimed.

The smug grin on Agent Martin’s face confirmed he had something to back up those words. “I assure you it is. Peterson took a laptop containing highly confidential government documents and we want it back.”

He motioned to the two men with him and they began searching the room, tossing her personal possessions everywhere.

Reyna couldn’t believe what was happening. “What are you doing? You have no right to search my home without my permission.”

The men continued with the search as if she hadn’t spoken.

“Not only do we have the right to search your house and confiscate anything suspicious, we also have the authority to take you into custody without giving you so much as the privilege of a phone call if you don’t cooperate. Do you want to be charged as a traitor?”

Reyna struggled to draw air into her lungs.

“Where’s the laptop, Dr. Peterson?” Agent Martin asked impatiently. “I’m sure your husband told you where he hid it. We need it now—otherwise, I can only assume you are as guilty as he.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But she did. Eddie’s letter had detailed where she should go to find the laptop. It had been by God’s hand that she’d received the letter from Eddie’s father that very afternoon. Ed Sr. told her he’d found it tucked away in a drawer with a note informing him to send it to Reyna if something were to happen to Eddie.

Agent Martin practically snarled at her in response as the two men rejoined them once more. They shook their heads.

Martin moved closer, inches from her face, his eyes seething with anger. “Enough games. Tell me where it is, Doctor. I’d hate to have to haul you in to make you talk. We have ways of getting information out of people and I promise you won’t like it.”

She shivered at his all-out threat. He wasn’t even trying to hide it now.

“Believe me, Doctor, these charges are real, and you’re going to want to get in front of them if you ever hope to have the chance at seeing the light of day outside of a prison cell.”

As she looked up at him, Reyna realized she didn’t trust anything he said. There was more going on here than what Agent Martin was telling her.

“I don’t have a laptop and you’re wrong about my husband. Eddie wasn’t a traitor. He loved his country...” She stopped when the two men came and stood behind her. She could feel their hot breath on her neck. They were going to arrest her.

“You’re lying.” Agent Martin surmised as he continued to pin her with his gaze.

Reyna lifted her chin. “No, I’m not.” Her fingers rested on the letter in her pocket, confirming that Eddie did at one time possess the laptop in question. If they searched her and found it, they’d make good on their promises and she might never have the chance to prove her husband’s innocence. “I know my rights, Agent Martin, and I happen to still have friends at the CIA. They’ll come looking for me. You can’t arrest me without charging me.” She silently prayed he didn’t call her bluff. After a handful of seconds ticked by in a silent standoff, Agent Martin finally nodded to the two men behind her and they strode over to the door.

“You have two days to bring us the laptop, Doctor. Otherwise, we’ll be back and you’ll face the consequences. Serving a life sentence for treason will be the least of your worries.”

Agent Martin slammed the door behind him and Reyna rushed over and slid the dead bolt back into place. She slumped against the door and onto the floor, her legs no longer able to support her.

After she drew in a handful of calming breaths, she could think clearly once more. She needed help. The type of help Eddie had explained in his letter. If anything happens to me—if they come for you and threaten you—go to Defiance, Colorado. Find my former colleague, Jase Bradford.

But finding Jase Bradford was going to prove a near impossible task since he’d supposedly died from his battle injuries three years earlier—in spite of Eddie’s insistence that Jase wasn’t actually dead.

Reyna killed the lights, crawled over to the window and glanced outside. A black Suburban was parked down the street from her house. They weren’t leaving. They were going to watch and see if she led them to the laptop. She couldn’t let that happen.

She got to her feet and raced to her bedroom. Taking down her old suitcase, she threw as much stuff as she could fit into it and then slipped out the back door. She didn’t dare risk using her vehicle. They’d be looking for it. She’d have to borrow her neighbor and good friend Sara Dawson’s car if she stood any chance of staying out of prison long enough to retrieve the laptop and find Jase Bradford.

As Reyna walked out into the humid Texas night, it scared the daylights out of her to think that she was risking her freedom, if not her life, on locating a man who the entire world believed was dead.

ONE

Reyna’s breath stuck in her throat. She clutched the steering wheel in a death grip to try to keep the tiny car from sliding off the ice-encrusted road. She was way out of her comfort zone. Truth be told, she had been since the nightmare first began.

She slowed to a snail’s pace as an onslaught of ice and snow clung to the windshield, making visibility next to zero. The storm had continued to intensify since she’d been up on the mountain. She had never felt more terrified or alone than she did at this moment, yet turning back wasn’t an option. Behind her lay almost certain prison time—or worse. Agent Martin had all but promised as much. Still, no matter what lay ahead, she had to find out the truth. Was Jase Bradford dead or alive? Reyna believed her life might depend on the answer.

Her eyes darted fearfully to the rearview mirror. What if the men watching her house had somehow managed to follow her here to Defiance, Colorado? She couldn’t let them find the laptop and then kill her before she had the chance to clear Eddie’s name and prove her husband had been murdered. To keep that from happening Reyna had devised a plan. After she’d called the hospital to let her supervisor know she would be taking an extended leave of absence, she had left the laptop in a secure storage facility in Eldorado, Colorado. Then she’d sent a letter to Sara letting her know where to find it if something were to happen to her.

Reyna scrubbed her hand over her weary eyes. The frantic thirteen-plus-hour drive from Stevens, Texas, to Defiance had taken its toll. She was exhausted beyond belief. Thinking clearly took more strength than she had. She’d hit Defiance a couple of hours before darkness descended and just as the edge of the storm arrived.

Maggie, the woman working the night shift at the diner, told her there were only four houses up on Defiance Mountain and none of them belonged to a Jase Bradford. Still, Reyna pressed on because she was all out of options. She believed Eddie had been murdered for what he’d discovered on the laptop. If she wanted to stay out of prison long enough to prove that, then she’d need Jase Bradford’s help to unravel the contents of the files hidden there.

Reyna leaned forward in her seat. She’d driven past three of the houses already and there were clear signs no one had been home in quite some time. One house remained. The last one up was almost at the top of the mountain, according to Maggie, and the storm wasn’t showing any sign of letting up.

She could now barely see the hood of the car, much less the road. The conditions were deteriorating quickly and she had no idea how much farther the car could make it.

Even facing all those dangers, her biggest fear was that Eddie had been wrong and the man buried in Arlington National Cemetery was indeed Jase Bradford. After all, they both had attended his memorial service at Langley. Everyone including the CIA acknowledged Jase was dead.

Why then had Eddie been so convinced in the weeks before his death that Jase was still alive?

She eased down on the gas pedal and the tires spun on the slick gravel, spewing debris against the underside of the car. Since she’d moved from DC back to her childhood home, Reyna had grown accustomed to mild winters. Nothing in Stevens, Texas, had prepared her for this.

The tires finally caught, the car lurched forward, and Reyna remembered to breathe. The road continued its upward spiral broken only by a series of switchbacks that snaked around the side of the mountain. Her heartbeat pounded a frantic rhythm in her ears when she reached another ninety-degree bend. She’d been at it for over an hour and had only managed a quarter of a mile.

Up ahead, the headlights flashed across the left side the road. It appeared to slough off a good foot from the edge. It was pitch-black out and she had no idea how steep the drop-off was. A fall would almost certainly result in major injuries...or death. If she did survive, hypothermia would set in quickly. She’d be dead by morning.

Reyna nudged the car along. She had almost reached the end of the switchback when she felt the vehicle slide on black ice and inch closer to the side of the mountain. Panicking, she jerked the wheel hard in the opposite direction. The small car skated backward some twenty feet. As a result, the tires lost their tenuous grip and slithered closer to the edge.

She floored the gas and the vehicle wrenched forward, swerved sideways and headed straight for the drop-off. Reyna screamed and tried to turn the wheel but it was useless. It moved freely in her hands. She had lost control.

Reyna closed her eyes and prayed with all her heart. She didn’t want to die up here. Not alone like this. Not without proving Eddie’s innocence.

“Please, Lord, no.”

The car spun 360 degrees a couple of times until the front tires slipped over the edge of the mountain and were suspended in midair. The car rocked a couple of times and then stopped. Reyna slowly reached for the door handle. If she could just open the door, she could leap out before it was too late.

She tentatively lifted the handle; the vehicle tilted back and forth from the simple movement. An eerie silence surrounded her. The car hung in place for a second longer and then tipped forward. Reyna barely had time to scream again before the tiny car hurled itself headfirst over the side of the mountain.

* * *

Davis Sinclair stomped hard on the brakes of his battered SUV and somehow managed to keep from spinning out on the slippery road. The first storm of the season had hit hard and fast. It was barely September and already the storm had dumped a foot of snow in a matter of hours. It had piled up on the gravel road leading to his house.

He had been so focused on getting back home through the wintry mix that he hadn’t noticed the skid marks on the road until he was right on top of them.

Someone else had been up his mountain.

The new-fallen snow covered most of their tracks. Still, he hadn’t become aware of them until now, and that concerned him most of all. He was slipping. He’d been gone from the CIA too long.

A familiar fear coiled deep in the pit of his stomach. There would be no reason for anyone to come this far up the mountain. Especially in these conditions.

Davis squinted through the cracked windshield at the skid marks that started about twenty feet in front of him. That wasn’t the part that worried him. It was the direction they were heading. Straight off the side of the mountain.

Was this just some innocent traveler lost in the storm, or the moment he’d feared for three years?

His heart drummed in his ears as he grabbed a flashlight along with his Glock and shoved the Jeep’s door open against the howling wind. The freezing air mixed with sleet robbed him of his breath. Instinct had him panning the area for unseen trouble. Was it a setup? Had his identity been blown? It could be someone dead set on eliminating the threat he still posed. Old habits died hard. Three years, and he still hadn’t broken his.

He shook off the past with effort and trudged through the additional snow that had fallen since he’d left home.

The flashlight’s beam picked up a small car perched about ten feet over the edge. Another three feet to the left and the car would be halfway down the mountain by now. As it was, it had laid bare a five-foot-wide stretch of dirt once covered in heavy brush and small trees, before coming to rest in a grove of aspens.

Davis shoved the Glock inside his jacket pocket, braced his right foot against one of the mangled tree trunks and shone the flashlight’s beam on the ground. Putting one foot against available trunks and another on an exposed rock, he slowly made his way down to the car.

He could see the driver—a woman—leaning forward in her seat, her head almost touching the steering wheel, the seat belt the only thing keeping her upright. The airbag hadn’t deployed. He couldn’t tell if she was dead or alive.

He yanked at the door. The woman moaned and Davis breathed a sigh of relief.

“Are you hurt?” he asked her, and watched as she struggled to focus on him. He noticed a quarter-sized red spot on her forehead that had the makings of one nasty bruise.

Davis moved closer and she shrank away, terror written on every inch of her face.

“No,” she said at last. “I don’t think so. It happened so quickly. I thought I had made the turn and then...” She fumbled with her seat belt.

“Hang on a second. Don’t try to move until we’re sure you’re not hurt.”

She didn’t listen and, instead, scrambled to undo her restraint. The woman was obviously suffering from shock.

The latch freed and Davis caught her before she could fall forward. His arm circled her waist and she froze. He lifted her out of the car and set her on her feet. The moment she was safely on ground, she pushed his hands away and distanced herself from him. It was clear he made her nervous.

The storm around them was no comparison to the one raging in her startling emerald green eyes. It had been a long time since he’d seen such panic. Was it just because of her near-death experience or fueled by something more?

Her light brown hair, once tied into a ponytail, was now mostly escaping. The first thing to strike him as unusual was that she seemed familiar. Impossible. They’d never met before; he was almost certain of it.

Davis realized he was staring and quickly pulled himself together. Too much time spent alone, obviously. “We need to get you out of here. The storm’s not easing any. Can you walk?”

She took a tentative step forward. “Yes, I think so.”

“Good.”

He gazed up at the sky. The weather conditions were definitely worsening and he had a decision to make. He couldn’t leave her here and the car didn’t appear drivable. But there was another option. He could take her back into town and deposit her at the hotel then wait out the rest of the snowstorm from Maggie’s Diner.

His was the only house past the last curve. No one came this far up the mountain by accident. So what brought her here? Old fears from his past life slowly crept in. She didn’t appear to be a threat, but he’d learned the hard way not to depend on appearances. Bad people came in innocent-looking packages, and in the spy business, you never let down your guard.

“What were you doing up here on the mountain in this storm anyway?” he asked through narrowed eyes, carefully gauging her reaction.

“I’m...searching for someone.”

Her body language told him she wasn’t being completely honest and he needed answers.

“There’s no one up here but me, so let’s try this again. Who are you and why are you really here?”

Her gaze collided with his, and he lost his equilibrium for a second. Even scared to death and as cagey as a trapped bear, she had the type of beauty that took his breath away. He hadn’t thought of another woman in such a way since Abby, and it bothered him that a total stranger could illicit such thoughts.

“My name is Reyna Peterson and I have told you the truth,” she retorted, bristling at his tone. “I am trying to find someone. A friend of my husband’s.”

She was married. A simple gold band on her left hand seemed to confirm her story, but he couldn’t let go of the doubts. “Oh yeah? What’s the friend’s name?”

She hesitated, evidently torn between answering his question and keeping her secrets. His internal radar pegged the top of the chart.

She cleared her throat. “Jase Bradford. His name is Jase Bradford.”

Shock and disbelief threatened to buckle his knees. He hadn’t heard that name in years. He had long ago buried the person he’d been back then.

Somehow, Davis managed to get coherent words to come out of his mouth. “There’s no one by that name around these parts. Your husband is mistaken.” A hard edge crept into his tone as it always did whenever he thought about the past.

Reyna stared at him in a way that conveyed she either didn’t believe him or didn’t want to.

“Eddie was so sure I would find him here...” she murmured, almost to herself.

Eddie. Eddie Peterson? No, not possible. He couldn’t have heard right. “Your husband’s name is...Eddie?” He latched on to the name as a distraction because it felt as if someone had slugged him hard in the chest. With the exception of his former handler, Kyle Jennings, Eddie was the last remaining member of the Scorpion team still alive. Eddie wouldn’t be trying to make contact with him without good cause. And why send his wife? Had something happened to his former comrade?

“Yes,” she confirmed reluctantly. The second the words were out, he could see she thought better of sharing them. “I’m sorry. None of this is your problem.”

She had no idea how wrong she was. Eddie Peterson had been one of his own. He’d recruited him personally as part of the elite Scorpion team after the failed weapons mission near Tora Bora had taken the lives of two crucial team members. Eddie had been a good fit with the team and they’d grown close while serving side by side. Her husband was his problem. And now so was she.

Davis’s plans had now changed. Instead of going back to Defiance, he’d take her to his place. See what he could find out by morning. Pray that all of this would turn out to be just some strange coincidence and then send her on her way. Unfortunately, he didn’t believe in coincidences. Especially ones this huge.

A deluge of wintry mix pelted his face like tiny bullets and his feet were numb. “There’s no way to get your car out of here tonight.” He crooked a thumb in the direction of his SUV. “My ride’s just up there. Let’s get you warm. You’re shivering. I can come back and get whatever you need for the night and we’ll deal with the car in the morning.”

Reyna didn’t budge. He could see she didn’t trust him. Not the normal reaction of someone just rescued from almost certain death.

“We’ll be stuck up here if we stay much longer,” he added, hoping to convince her.

She hesitated another second before giving in. “You’re right. We need to get out of the storm. It’s got to be well below freezing out here.”

Try as he might, he couldn’t get a good read off her, and he didn’t like it. Not one bit. “Watch your step.”

She clutched the edge of his jacket in a vise grip as she followed close behind, slipping over the icy mess.

Davis reached for her hand to help her the last bit of the way up to the road. The touch of her hand in his sparked a sweet memory of Abby from long ago. They had slipped away for a few brief moments alone between missions. They’d climbed a snowcapped mountain in Afghanistan and spent the afternoon together, just enjoying the breathtaking view and the quiet they’d found amid a raging war.

Back then he’d still believed love was possible. That was before he’d lost Abby. He shoved that painful memory deep within the dark recesses of his broken heart.

Through the swirling storm, he located the Jeep and they trudged through deep snow the short distance. He forced open the passenger door and waited while she climbed inside.

Davis went around to the driver’s side, got in and cranked the heater up another notch. Reyna was shaking uncontrollably. He grabbed a blanket from the backseat and wrapped it around her shoulders.

For the first time she smiled and it caught him completely off guard. She had a pretty smile. It eased some of the tautness from around her mouth and eyes.

“Thank you for saving me,” she whispered. “If you hadn’t come along when you did, I—I wouldn’t have made it. With the temperature dropping so quickly and prolonged exposure to the elements, hypothermia doesn’t take long to set in...” He gave her a quizzical look and she laughed. “Sorry, I’m sure you must know all about the dangers of exposure living up here. I’m a doctor,” she explained. “Sometimes it’s hard to shut it off.”

He absorbed this new piece of information with a nod. He remembered something Eddie had said once about his wife studying to be a pediatric surgeon. That part seemed to lend credence to her story.

“My place is a couple of miles farther up the road. You can spend the night there. In the morning, I’ll see if I can get the car unstuck.” Her smile disappeared. Apparently, the thought of being alone with him made her uneasy. She glanced nervously behind them as if she was looking for someone. He had to find out what she was hiding.

“I promise you’ll be safe there,” he added somberly.

“Okay,” she finally agreed, and he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Good. Tell me what you need from the car.” He continued to analyze her reactions very carefully and came to the conclusion she wasn’t an assassin. She gave too much away. Still, the odds of Eddie’s wife showing up on his mountain without a dire reason were just too high to ignore.

Reyna sat up a little straighter in her seat. “There’s a tote bag. It was in the front seat next to me. It has...my purse and phone.”

There was something more in the bag she needed. He saw its significance before she could camouflage it.

“Why don’t you stay here where it’s warm and I’ll go get it?” He didn’t wait for her answer, mostly because he had no intention of taking her with him. He wanted to find out what was so important in the bag that couldn’t wait until morning.

Davis turned up the collar of his jacket and braced to battle the cold.

The moment he left the safety of the Jeep, a torrent bombarded him, drenching his clothing straight through to his skin. He slipped and slid his way down the side of the mountain until he finally reached the car once more. He found the bag in question lying on the floorboard of the passenger seat.

A quick search produced a prepaid phone. Why would she need one of those unless she was trying to keep her location secret? He dug further and found a small plastic bear key chain with several keys attached and a woman’s purse below that. Inside the purse were a few fast-food receipts and a wallet.

He pulled out her wallet and opened it. A Texas driver’s license with her name on it, a handful of tens and a couple of credit cards. An access ID card from Stevens Memorial Hospital confirmed what she did for a living. In the coin purse, he found another key that looked as if it could fit any storage locker. Not much to go on. Still, he didn’t like it. Three years and not a peep from his past until tonight.

The remoteness of the area was the very reason Davis had moved back to Defiance. No one from his childhood lived here anymore. The Defiance Silver Mine, the main source of employment for the area, closed down about fifteen years earlier and the town had all but dried up. When he’d left his old identity behind, Kyle had destroyed his CIA personnel file. There would be no record of his past life anywhere. Other than Kyle, no one from the Agency knew he had grown up in Defiance.

With the exception of Eddie.

It finally dawned on Davis why Reyna looked so familiar. Eddie had shown him a picture of his wife once. He was so proud of her. Eddie told him that Reyna’s parents had died when she was barely a teenager. Lots of kids would have fallen apart after losing their entire family. Not Reyna. If anything, it had made her stronger. Eddie said that after they’d gotten married she’d held down two jobs just to put herself through medical school.

Davis did a quick search of the rest of the contents of the car and found nothing out of the ordinary. A suitcase laden with clothing and toiletries indicated she’d planned for a long period away from home. She was running from someone. Eddie? It didn’t add up. Everything he knew about the man pointed to someone who wasn’t violent. Besides, she’d said she was looking for her husband’s friend, which seemed to imply Eddie had sent her.

On impulse, he dumped the contents of the suitcase on the seat and found what he was after. A small box that contained a set of dog tags. Eddie’s. There would be only one reason the tags would leave a soldier’s body. If he were killed in action.

Eddie Peterson was dead.

Shocked, Davis slumped back against the seat, covering his face with his hands. Grief and disbelief made it hard to draw air into his lungs. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the knowledge his friend was dead.

“Why, God? Why Eddie? He was an innocent,” he said in a broken tone and struggled to hold back the tears.

Eddie hadn’t been part of the original Scorpion team that was being targeted for death, so Davis had believed him safe.

Why hadn’t Kyle contacted him about Eddie? His friend knew how close he and Eddie had become. He didn’t like it. Something was wrong. Davis believed if it were humanly possible, Kyle would have reached out to him about Eddie. The fact that he hadn’t didn’t bode well.

The threat facing the original Scorpions had been real enough for Davis to fake his death. Kyle was probably in grave danger, too, since he was the handler for the group. Had Kyle gone into hiding himself or...was he dead?

“Please, God, no.” Losing Eddie was gut wrenching enough. He didn’t want to think about the possibility of Kyle being dead, too.

Both Davis and Kyle had long believed something the Scorpions had witnessed during their time in the Tora Bora region was the real reason behind their systematic annihilation. But Eddie hadn’t been part of those missions. He’d joined the team later on.

A surge of guilt shot through Davis, catapulting him back three years to that horrific day when his life had changed forever.

Sometimes at night, he could still hear the firefight exploding around him. See the smoke and the flames. On those really bad nights, he could feel the bullet searing through his flesh as it destroyed his leg.

That night, well, it had had given him the reason he needed to get out of the CIA, especially after learning the woman he loved had perished in the same battle. His injuries had been severe enough to send him home. But Abby and so many others had sacrificed their lives.

Nowadays, the physical wounds were all but gone. The only reminder was a limp and the occasional throbbing ache when bad weather moved in. Like today. But the emotional wounds he carried inside ran much deeper. No matter how much he prayed for release, he doubted if he’d ever be done with them entirely.

Davis let go of those dark memories with difficulty. What was the point of reliving what he couldn’t change? He’d gotten good at stuffing his feelings down inside. Only sometimes, on occasion, they refused to stay buried. When that happened, he dove into his Bible and prayed for God’s help.

Releasing a ragged breath, he got to his feet and put the tags back in the suitcase then threw the clothes over them. He’d do a more thorough search in the morning. Right now, he needed to get Eddie’s wife out of here and to safety.

Davis grabbed the tote bag and hiked back up to the SUV. He stopped at the edge of the road. He could see Reyna hunkered down inside. She had leaned back against the headrest, her eyes shut. He remembered the picture Eddie showed him. His buddy had told him they took it right after they were married. Davis remembered thinking how pretty she looked back then, and how innocent. Reyna Peterson had grown from a shy-looking bride into a strikingly beautiful and accomplished woman.

Still, something had left an indelible mark on her. She appeared weary from life. No doubt partly due to Eddie’s death, but there had to be more to her story. Her skittish behavior only reinforced that feeling.

Davis jerked the driver’s door open with a little more force than necessary. Reyna jumped as if he’d startled her and her hand flew to her chest. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He handed her the bag and she clutched it against her body like a life support. Further proof that the value of its contents were of grave importance to her.

Davis put the Jeep into Drive. The wipers slapped back and forth at high speed, trying to fend off the ice and snow blanketing the windshield.

“How much farther?” she asked, continuing to watch the passenger mirror.

He glanced her way. “Not much. A couple more miles. Are you expecting company?”

Her gaze flew to his and he saw the truth before she could deny it. His nerves hit the critical mark. Was someone following her?

The Jeep crept along the road, occasionally slipping as the snow chains struggled to hold their grip. Each time he sensed she was trying not to scream.

“Why do you need to find this Jase Bradford fellow? Where’s your husband?” So far, she didn’t have a clue Davis was the one she was looking for. He planned to keep it that way. He’d find out what she needed, do his best to help her for Eddie’s sake, then send her on her way before someone realized he was still alive.

Reyna edged a little farther away, as if his questions made her uncomfortable. “That’s none of your business.”

His mouth quirked up in a grin. “I think you kind of made it my business, don’t you?”

She shot him an annoyed look, then stared straight ahead. “My husband is dead.” She confirmed the news of Eddie’s fate with those simple words.

It was a long time before Davis could bring forth a steady answer over the lump in his throat. “I’m sorry. That must have been difficult. How long?”

She swallowed visibly. “Six months. It’s been six months and I still can’t wrap my head around it. We were best friends forever. We went through most of our school years together.” Her voice caught and he could see tears in her eyes. “There are times when I still expect him to walk through the door.”

Davis understood what she was going through all too well. He felt the same way about Abby. They’d worked side by side together for more than six years. He’d loved her just as long. When he’d learned of her death he’d fallen apart. It didn’t seem possible that such a vibrant, strong woman could be gone. At times, during those lonely winter nights when the walls closed in, he let himself think about the future they might have had. An impossible dream now.

“You know, I was so grateful you stopped to help that I completely forgot to ask your name,” Reyna said.

His breath stuck in his throat, his composure all but shot. For a second, he debated giving her another of his aliases, but thought better of it. “It’s Davis,” he said, without looking at her.

“Davis what?” she prodded.

His expression hardened. “Davis Sinclair,” he said at last. “Satisfied?”

“Yes. Sorry, it’s just...been a very bad day.”

Bad day? He thought it was much more than that. “You still haven’t answered my question. Why is it so important you find this Bradford guy?”

She took her time answering. Something in her beautiful, fragile countenance tore at his heart. It made him want to protect her. In spite of that, he killed the remnant of emotion before it could take hold. He couldn’t go there. He’d do what he could to help her for Eddie’s sake.

And then he’d move on.

“Eddie told me if I was ever...if I ever needed help, I could trust Jase Bradford.”

Had she been about to say if she was ever in danger? Was someone threatening Reyna because of her relationship to Eddie?

His hands tightened on the wheel. “And what if you don’t locate this guy? What then?”

The sheer desperation on her face confirmed failure wasn’t an option.

“What did your husband tell you about this man? Do you even know what he looks like?” Davis added brusquely when she didn’t answer. He was on a fishing expedition of his own. He wanted to know what Eddie had told her about him. She obviously knew where to find him.

He steeled himself when she shot him another piercing glance. Did she know what he looked like? No way. He’d changed his appearance dramatically. Let his hair grow. Years of working outdoors had lightened his dirty-blond hair somewhat. He’d even managed to grow a beard. He’d traded his fatigues for plaids and jeans. The only part of his previous uniform he still possessed was the Glock stashed in his pocket.

“I know Jase Bradford was born here in Defiance and at one time his family lived up this same mountain. And I have a photo.”

“A photo?” Davis’s heart lurched as he pulled the Jeep in front of the gate and stopped abruptly. There was no way she had a photo of him. In their line of work, anonymity was crucial. You couldn’t afford to have your picture floating around where it could quite possibly fall into enemy hands.

“Why are we stopping?” she asked nervously.

As desperate as he was to find out more about the photo, he didn’t want to tip his hand just yet. He needed to tread carefully.

He pointed to the locked gate in front of them. “I need to open it. I’ll be right back.”

Davis took his time. His usually tough composure had taken a beating when she mentioned a photo, and he struggled to regain his footing. His life might depend on it.

TWO

Reyna watched the man who had come to her rescue throw open the gate with enough force to send it rocking on its hinges. She glanced around at her surroundings. The isolation of the place sent up all sorts of warning signals. Had she behaved foolishly in trusting a complete stranger whose motives were unclear?

She’d been so intent in finding Jase Bradford that she hadn’t fully thought her actions through. Now all the odd behavior Eddie had displayed before he left on that final tour of duty came back to taunt her. Could her original diagnosis have been correct all along? Maybe Eddie had been suffering from PTSD, as she’d first believed, and Jase Bradford was truly dead.

But even if Eddie had been ill, that still didn’t explain why Agent Martin and his goons had shown up at her house and accused Eddie of treason. She’d known the moment they barged in that something was terribly wrong, and so she’d run.

Reyna had done her best to cover her tracks. She hadn’t taken a direct route to Defiance, but had made several deliberate stops along the way, including the one to the storage facility in Eldorado. All designed to throw off a possible tail. She was almost positive no one had followed her. Almost.

Still, as the miles had disappeared behind her, the terror and paranoia had grown. Lack of sleep had a way playing on a person’s uncertainties. She couldn’t give in to them. The first thing she’d done when she arrived in Defiance was to call her friend Sara with the disposable phone she’d purchased along the way. Sara had been worried sick when Reyna showed up at her back door and asked to borrow her car. She had begged Reyna to tell her what was happening, but Reyna knew it was best she didn’t know about the threat. She hadn’t told Sara about the letter containing the location of the storage facility, either. She had put her friend’s life in enough jeopardy simply by association.

Now she wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake by not taking Sara up on her offer to help. She’d simply run off on her own and ended up in the middle of nowhere with a man she knew nothing about. He could be a serial killer. Or worse. Working for the same thugs who she believed had killed Eddie and threatened her.

Reyna braced herself as Davis headed back to the Jeep...and then she saw it. She leaned forward in her seat in amazement. He had a limp! She hadn’t noticed it before, but then she’d just gone through a traumatic experience. Now that she thought about it, she vividly recalled the days following Eddie’s return stateside after the attack on the team. Eddie had been in shock. He’d told her that with the exception of Jase, Kyle and himself, the entire team had died. Eddie believed it was a deliberate attack on the unit that had nothing to do with the mission they were on.

Her husband told her Jase’s injuries were extensive. A bullet had shattered his right leg. Another one had punctured his lung. He’d been flown to a military hospital near DC. She and Eddie had received news from Kyle of Jase’s passing a few days later. Yet, even after they attended the memorial service at Langley, Reyna could tell Eddie didn’t believe his friend was dead. In the weeks prior to Eddie’s own death, he’d insisted Jase had had no choice but to fake his death.

If Jase had survived, as Eddie believed, then he definitely would have a limp. Reyna dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out the photo she’d hidden there. It showed all the Scorpion team members. The man she knew to be Jase Bradford was slightly younger in the photo and clean shaven. Still, the resemblance was uncanny. It certainly was plausible that Davis Sinclair could be Jase Bradford.

She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting to feel. If Bradford was alive, then everything else Eddie told her must be the truth. The thought alone was chilling.

Reyna quickly tucked the photo away before Davis got into the Jeep and turned to her. His gaze narrowed as he watched her try to recover from the incredible shock of learning the person seated next to her might quite possibly be a dead man.

“Anything wrong?” he asked.

She pulled in a shaky breath, her survival instincts cautioning her to watch what she said. “No, I’m fine.”

He accepted her answer with a curt nod and put the vehicle in gear.

Once he’d relocked the gate, he drove past snow-covered trees lining both sides of the drive. They rounded a ninety-degree curve and the house appeared before them. The hair on her arms stood to attention and she shivered. Nothing about the place was inviting.

“This is it,” he said as he eased the car to a stop. “Hang on just a second, I’ll come around and help you. There’s ice everywhere.” He shoved his door open and got out. The noise stretched her raw nerves closer to the breaking point.

Swallowing hard, Reyna watched as the man who claimed to be Davis Sinclair circled the front of the Jeep. The limp was much more noticeable this time, maybe because she was paying closer attention.

He yanked open her door and she shrank away from him. He lifted a brow at her reaction.

“Ready?” he said as he leaned in to give her a hand. Reyna’s breath stuck in her throat, her heart drumming a mile a minute. She blamed it on the fact she’d been living in fear and the near-death experience—anything but the handsome, mysterious man by her side.

Their eyes met and her chest tightened. He was so close. She could see every line etched around his eyes, the deep grooves framing his full lips that spoke of someone who had chosen to live a life of solitude for a reason.

She had to get a grip. If this was indeed Jase Bradford, then she needed his help. But first she had to find out what he was hiding other than his true identity.

“Yes, I’m ready.” Her voice sounded as if she’d run a marathon, and her hands shook. She sucked in her bottom lip, a nervous habit she couldn’t break.

His attention shifted to her lips, his own breathing labored. She took his proffered hand and got out. After what felt like a lifetime of seconds ticking by in perfect cadence with her heart, he moved away and she was able to relax.

“Let’s get you inside. Watch your step. The porch is slippery.” Reyna slowly followed him. She kept the bag containing the storage locker key close. The contents of that locker might just be the one thing that would keep her alive if those thugs found her. Agent Martin’s threats had solidified things in her mind. Eddie’s death was no accident.

As they neared the house, motion-sensor lights flashed on, illuminating the front of the place. The man calling himself Davis Sinclair lived as if he was expecting danger to show up at his door any moment.

The house was three stories and enormous in stature. Made entirely of full round logs, it looked as if it could withstand quite a few Colorado winters. She noticed surveillance cameras positioned to capture every possible angle of the house. Massive amounts of firewood were stockpiled along both sides of the porch. The place looked like a compound and about as impenetrable as the White House.

A trickle of unease ran through her and she uttered a silent prayer asking for God’s reassurance that she was doing the right thing. With everything she had gone through, she couldn’t let down her guard for a second. She was at the mercy of a man with secrets and could be walking into a trap.

Her boots slipped on the porch and he reached out to steady her. His large, muscular arms circled her waist and drew her close. She could feel the warmth radiating from his body. Just for a second she stilled. She was so tired and he was so strong. If she inched in just a little bit, she could lean in to his strength.

Reyna pulled away and gave herself a mental shake. His arms dropped to his side. No matter how desperate she felt or how much she might want to trust him, her life was at stake. He unlocked the house and stepped inside, yet Reyna hesitated. She stood in the entrance, surrounded by darkness, the only light coming from a dying fire in the fireplace. She wouldn’t go inside until she knew what she was facing in there.

He seemed to read all her uncertainties, because he flipped on the overhead light, illuminating the room. No one waited inside to take her into custody. There was nothing scary or out of the ordinary. Just the evidence of a house occupied by one person.

Reyna slowly stepped in and closed the door. He stopped by the fireplace but stood quietly watching her, as if trying to gauge her threat level. Neither one trusted the other just yet.

She glanced around. Reyna had to admit, the room itself was impressive. The ceiling vaulted up to what looked like at least fourteen feet above them. A massive stacked-stone fireplace was the showpiece of the room. Windows facing out toward the drive would enable him to see for miles. No one was coming up to the house unannounced. None of which eased her fears one little bit. Who was he expecting to come after him?

Reyna stole a glance his way. He was still sizing her up. The overhead antler chandelier bathed the room in soft light and she was able to get her first good look at the man she believed to be Jase Bradford. He was incredibly tall and powerfully built, his collar-length blond hair swept back from his face, and he sported a neatly trimmed beard slightly darker than his hair. He was rugged in an outdoorsy, mountain-man way and had the most intense midnight-blue eyes she’d ever seen.

“There are a couple of bedrooms upstairs. You can take your pick. Sheets are clean and there’s a spare bath at the end of the hall. Towels are in the linen closet.”

Reyna didn’t budge. If he was really and truly the man she believed him to be, she needed answers as to why he’d lied to her. He might just have saved her life, but that didn’t mean she trusted him.

“You asked me why I was out on the road tonight and I told you, but what about you? You said yourself the weather was terrible. It had obviously been snowing for hours. Why risk running off the road as I did or get stranded out there alone?”

The corner of his mouth turned up in what passed for a smile. “I’m not the enemy here, Reyna.” Chills sped up her spine at his gravelly tone.

She lifted her chin. “And that’s not really an answer. Stop playing games with me. I know you’re lying about who you are.”

His body grew rigid in response, but he didn’t say anything.

“When Eddie first told me he didn’t believe you were dead, I thought maybe he was suffering from PTSD or something similar. He certainly showed all the classic symptoms. Still, the obvious reason not to believe was that both Eddie and I were at the memorial ceremony for you.”

She stared straight at him. “During those last few days before Eddie returned to duty, he kept insisting you faked your death because someone was trying to wipe out all the original members of the Scorpion team. He told me if anything happened to him and someone came to the house asking questions I should find you. Then I come here and I find someone who looks similar to Jase Bradford, who has the same limp as Eddie’s description of your injuries indicated, and suddenly I’m starting to believe that my husband was right all along.”

She waited for him to deny it. He didn’t, and her heart dropped to her stomach. A single muscle flexing in his jaw was his only reaction, a telltale sign that what she said made him uncomfortable.

After a handful of seconds ticked by. He turned away, gathered a couple of pieces of wood stacked next to the fireplace and then tossed them angrily onto the fire.

It was then that she saw it. The last piece of the puzzle that confirmed the truth. He had a scorpion tattoo on the inside of his left wrist. Eddie possessed the same tattoo. He’d told her the entire team had them. It was sort of a rite of passage. There would be only one reason this man would have it. He was the leader of the CIA’s Scorpion team.

Shivers racked through her, rendering her breathless.

She was right. This was Jase Bradford.

* * *

Reyna looked as if she’d suffered a terrible shock. She had turned deathly pale and was staring at his wrist. She’d seen the tattoo. He regretted again his foolishness in keeping it.

While he tried to come up with a plausible denial, she dug into her pocket, pulled out a photo and held it out for him to see.

He never broke eye contact. “What’s that?” he hedged.

“You tell me,” she said, and shoved it closer into his line of sight.

He took it from her. It was a grainy photo taken a short time before the attack. He remembered the day they’d posed for it as if it was yesterday. His arm rested around Abby’s waist. Eddie was standing next to Jase. Charlie, Brady and Steve Douglas in the background. The picture had been taken on Eddie’s phone by the fifth member of their team. Their Afghanistan guide, Benjahah.

He stared at the phantoms in the photo. They had been invincible back then. They’d liberated a small village from a Taliban stronghold that day, each member of the team so full of life and promise. It was only Eddie’s second mission with the team, yet already he’d become like one of the gang. Now they were all dead with the exception of him.

He glanced from the photo to Reyna. “Where did you get this?”

“I found it inside Eddie’s laptop bag. It’s true. Don’t deny it. You are the person in that photo. You are Jase Bradford. I wasn’t completely sure until I saw the tattoo.” She grabbed his wrist and turned it up for them both to see.

He closed his eyes. Over the past three years, he’d thought about having it removed over a dozen times. But in the end, he’d kept the scorpion tattoo as a constant reminder of the woman he’d loved and the friends who had lost their lives instead of him.

“Eddie had one just like it. He told me everyone on the team got the same tattoo. It was like some sort of bond between you all. He was so excited to get his. So proud to join the elite Scorpions. So honored to work with you.”

He couldn’t move. Her words were like a knife to his heart. He didn’t pull away, couldn’t deny the truth.

Reyna let him go and went for the kill. “Why’d you lie to me and say you didn’t know Jase Bradford after I told you I was Eddie’s wife? You knew he was dead. I wouldn’t be here without good reason. You saw how terrified I was and you lied to me. Answer me...please,” she said desperately. “You owe me.”

His breath hung in his throat as he gazed down at her.

You owe me...

He’d been expecting his past to return for years. As such, he’d deliberately set the house up to be a virtual Fort Knox. Had weapons hidden everywhere on the property. Traps set. He’d gone over every possible attack scenario and figured out a means of escape. Still, nothing he had planned prepared him for the repercussions of facing Eddie’s beautiful, grieving widow.

“At first...well, you looked different from the man in the photo. You’re older. The beard and the hair threw me. When I saw the limp, it all started to add up. With the injuries you sustained that night, your leg would have been shattered, so naturally there would be a limp.”

He tried to regain his cool, but it was next to impossible when he saw the condemnation flashing in her eyes. He didn’t want to have this conversation with her. Didn’t want to have to try to explain why he’d let Eddie down.

“My husband believed in you. He trusted you to help me.” She huffed out an angry breath. “Well, obviously he was wrong. He believed in what you stood for back then...but look where it got him! You left him alone, and the people who took out your entire unit ended up killing him.”

Killing him? She believed Eddie’s death was not in the line of duty. If that were true, then had he and Kyle been wrong about it being the result of the failed weapons raid in Tora Bora?

Which meant...he had been wrong, too. Dead wrong. He thought Eddie was safe at Langley, but that clearly hadn’t been the case. Now, the reality that he was responsible for his friend’s death was almost too much to bear.

A dam broke inside of him. Emotions he thought he’d killed off long ago resurfaced and he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Yes, I’m Jase Bradford.” His tone flatlined. He couldn’t believe he had actually admitted the truth to another living soul. “At least, I used to be. I’ve tried to bury the man I was for so long, but he’s still in here somewhere.” He held his fist to his chest.

Relief fought with shock as she watched him without so much as a word.

“And you’re right... I do owe Eddie. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wish I’d never gotten him involved in the CIA.” He smiled bitterly at her reaction. “Your husband was a good man. If he hadn’t met me, he’d probably still be alive today, and for that I am truly sorry.”

Jase regretted again his part in her pain.

“Reyna, I can see you’re scared. I’m guessing you are being threatened because of something that happened with Eddie. It doesn’t matter.” Holding her gaze, Jase tried to swallow back the lump in his throat, but it wouldn’t go away. “Whatever reason brought you here, of course I’ll help you. Eddie was my friend and I’d do anything for him.”

“Thank you.” She moved close, smiling up at him as if the weight of the world had been lifted, and then clutched his hand in gratitude.

“Why are you being followed, Reyna?” he asked.

She hitched in a breath and kept her answer brief. “Because I have something they want.”

Before he could ask what she meant, a noise outside grabbed his full attention. A vehicle was coming up the mountain. He quickly extinguished the lights.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Someone’s coming. Stay here.” Jase grabbed his Glock from the mantel and the thermal-vision binoculars he kept near the door and stepped out into the crisp night. The storm continued to dump snow and ice everywhere, but at least the wind had died down. He listened to the muffled quietness and then he heard it again. Off in the distance, probably five miles still down the mountain, more than one vehicle coming this way.

He scanned the mountainside with the binoculars and spotted movement on the ridge across the valley. His heart leaped in his throat. Had they stationed lookouts or—worse—snipers in case he and Reyna tried to escape before the extraction team arrived? If they had followed her all this way, she must have something extremely valuable to them. Why hadn’t they taken her before now, under less dangerous conditions? Unless they were hoping she would lead them to him first.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of multiple flashes. Jase turned back to the door. The noise of rapid gunfire from an automatic weapon exploded around him. From inside Reyna screamed as a bullet whistled past his left ear. Before he could hit the ground, another grazed across his shoulder, the impact knocking him flat on his back. Blood oozed from the wound and coated his sleeve. A second round of shots took out the engine on the Jeep, along with the tires, rendering it useless.

His pulse kicked into overdrive as he struggled to make sense of it. Had he been wrong about Reyna? She’d seemed innocent enough, but what did he really know about her beyond the fact that she claimed to be Eddie’s wife? Maybe she’d been sent here to find him by the same people who had taken out his entire team. Maybe Reyna Peterson was really just a cold-blooded killer.

THREE

Jase crawled on his hands and knees inside the house and slammed the door shut behind him.

“What happened out there?” She spotted the blood. “Jase, you’re hurt. Did they shoot you?” Reyna’s voice shook so much that he barely understood the words.

He leaped to his feet. “Not directly. The bullet grazed my shoulder. My guess is that was deliberate. If they’d been trying to seriously injure me they would have. It’s just a flesh wound.”

He needed answers. “You said you have something they want. Tell me who they are, Reyna. Who’s following you?”

Wide-eyed, she stared at him. “I don’t know...”

His patience slipped closer to the breaking point. “Don’t give me that. You know something. Why else did you come all this way to find a dead man?”

“I don’t know who they are, okay?” she retorted. “But I think they’re the same men who came to my house and threatened me.”

He looked at her in shock. “They threatened you? Why?”

“I don’t know. They came to my house and accused Eddie of being a traitor. They said he’d...taken something and if I didn’t give it back I could end up in a federal prison or worse.” She exhaled shakily. “Jase, I think these men are responsible for killing Eddie. And now they’re coming after us. We need to get out of here.”

It took him a second to process what she’d said. “You think Eddie was murdered. That doesn’t make any sense. Unless you have proof that someone wanted him dead?”

She looked away. “Not exactly.”

“What does ‘not exactly’ mean?” The noise of approaching vehicles grew louder. As much as he needed to know more about the danger she’d brought to his door, it would have to wait.

He blew out a blustery sigh. “We need to leave now. There are multiple vehicles heading our way.”

“Let me take a look at your shoulder first.”

“There’s no time,” he said in a hard tone. He added quietly, “It can wait. I’ll be fine.” He grabbed a couple of thick wool jackets from the hall closet and stuffed a small towel inside his shirt to absorb the blood.

Jase handed her one of the jackets. “Here, put this on. It’ll help in keeping them from tracking you through thermal imagery. Wool helps to conceal body heat.”

She slipped into the oversize jacket. “They must have followed me somehow.” She unknowingly confirmed what he suspected. “But I was so careful.”

“Did you tell anyone you were coming here?” She’d seemed so innocent with her story of Eddie, but what if she was just a tool to get to him all along?

“No...and I did everything I could to make sure I wasn’t being tailed.”

“They found you some way.” His eyes flicked to her face.

“No one knows I’m here, Jase,” she assured him. “I did call my friend Sara once I arrived in Defiance to let her know I was okay... That’s her car down the mountain, which I borrowed because I was worried they’d find a way to track mine. I trust Sara completely. She’s my best friend. I never would have made it through Eddie’s death without her. But I never told anyone—her included—where I was going.” He was impressed. She’d put some thought into her getaway.

It might be the worst mistake of his life, but Jase believed her. “Give me your phone.”

She made no move to do so. “Why?”

“They had to track you somehow, Reyna. I’m guessing it may have been through your phone call.”

“That’s not possible. No one has the number...”

“Except for your friend,” he pointed out. “Maybe they traced the call you made to her. Either way, we need to get rid of it.”

She dug into her tote bag and handed him the phone. Jase didn’t hesitate. He tossed it into the fire, grabbed her arm and headed for the back of the house. “We have to get out of here now. They’ll be here soon.”

“Where are you going? Why aren’t we taking the Jeep?”

“It’s destroyed. They took it out to keep us from getting away.” He tossed his answer over his shoulder without looking at her. “Thankfully, they have no way of knowing I have another vehicle stashed down the mountain.”

She followed him to the back door and waited while he donned the second jacket. “Here, hold on to me. We can’t risk using the flashlight. Do your best to stay as quiet as you can. Noise carries for miles up here.”

She clasped the hand he held out to her. The tremors in hers betrayed her fear and Jase’s heart went out to her. He would do whatever it took to protect Eddie’s widow or he’d die trying.

He stepped off the back deck and she followed. “We’ll have to take it slow. There’s some pretty rough terrain back here,” his whispered against her ear. “Just stay close and don’t let go of my hand. It’s going to be okay.”

They headed past the storage shed at the back of the house and slowly down the mountain. They’d covered a quarter of a mile before he stopped to listen for a second. He couldn’t hear the noise of the engines anymore. The men had reached the house. It wouldn’t take them long to realize he and Reyna had escaped out the back.

Jase flinched as he tested his shoulder. It hurt like crazy, making him aware of every little move he made. Reyna saw his pain and she came closer and unbuttoned his jacket and shirt. He tensed as she examined the wound with gentle fingers. She took the towel, snugged it as tight as she could to stem the bleeding, then closed his shirt and jacket back up. “It should be okay until we reach the vehicle.”

“Thanks,” he gritted out. “We have to hurry. They’re at the house. It won’t be long before they come after us. It’s not much farther to the Land Cruiser.”

Reyna nodded, but he could see she was exhausted already. She’d been through enough to send most people to the breaking point and this night wasn’t close to being over.

They continued their treacherous trek through the woods, but finding the stashed vehicle in the dark in the middle of a snowstorm was next to impossible. He’d deliberately hid it well. It took him a few minutes to gain his bearings and then he whispered a prayer of gratitude when he finally spotted it.

“This way.” He pointed at the dark shape to his left. He glanced behind them and saw a half dozen flashlights fanning out behind his house.

“They’re coming. Hurry, Reyna.” She looked over her shoulder and saw what he did.

He let go of her hand and she followed him over to the camouflaged tarp covering the vehicle. Jase went about removing the tarp as quickly as possible.

One of the men with flashlights yelled to his comrades, “Hey, back here. I see them. They have another vehicle. They’re getting away!”

“Hop in and buckle up. It’s going to be a rough trip downhill,” Jase told her, and waited while Reyna braced one foot against the running board and boosted herself inside.

He rushed to the driver’s side. Behind them, he could hear engines firing once more. He started the SUV and shoved it into Drive.

Reyna reached for the grab handle above her door and braced herself against the jarring ride. She glanced back behind them. “Jase, they’re still coming,” she said in a tense tone.

He tried to reassure her. “We’ll be okay. We have the advantage. I know the layout of the land. They don’t. Hang on!”

The Land Cruiser bounced along the rough terrain lurching over brush and dead tree parts. Jase clenched his jaw to keep from grunting in pain. He checked the rearview mirror and could see five sets of headlights.

“So far, they’re not gaining on us. No doubt they’re taking it slow until they get familiar with the landscape.” He glanced her way. “That won’t take long. They appear to be highly trained. Probably former military.”

“They’re not going to give up. They’ll keep coming until they have what they want,” she said desperately. “We can’t let that happen.”

“I’m not going to let those thugs hurt you, Reyna.”

She stared at him for a moment, then slowly nodded. She believed him.

Jase had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, his shoulder wound throbbing every inch of the way. He jerked the wheel in time to dodge a stump only to be launched into midair by a rock he’d completely forgotten.

The SUV shot the rest of the way off the mountain and onto a gravel road. Jase killed the lights and floored the gas pedal. They needed to put as much distance as they could if his plan was going to work.

“Hang tight, I have an idea. This road leads to a small town called Glazer. We’re going to head that way and then go off-road and circle back. If I’m good at concealing our tracks, I’m hoping those men will think we continued on to Glazer.”

“Don’t you need the lights to see? It’s pitch-black out.” Reyna shot him worried look.

“We can’t afford to use them,” he said, keeping his focus on the darkness in front of them. “They’ll see the lights and follow us.”

He drove another five or six miles down the gravel road to Glazer all the while checking the rearview mirror. So far, nothing.

Jase slowed to a stop when he saw thick brush growing near the edge of the road. “Here. This is our best place to leave the road.” Jase edged the Land Cruiser from the road, drove into the wooded area some ways up and stopped. He turned to her. “I’m going to do my best to conceal what little tracks we might have left behind. Stay here.”

Jase waited for her to say something. When she didn’t, he squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right back.”

He jogged back down the path they’d just traversed. Other than a few squashed bushes there was no discernible evidence the Land Cruiser had left the road. On this side of the mountain the trees hung close to the road sheltering it from the brunt of the storm.

Jase did his best to straighten the bushes and then hurried back to the Land Cruiser.

He put the vehicle in gear. “There’s a small logging road a little ways from here. It’s not used much anymore, so it’s not on any map and no one but the locals know about it. It should bring us out on the other side of Defiance.”

It had been a while since he’d been four-wheeling this way and the landscape had changed quite a bit. It took several minutes to spot the logging road down below.

Jase eased the Land Cruiser onto it. “Hopefully they bought the diversion. It so, it will take our friends a little while to realize we gave them the slip. That will buy us some much-needed time.”

It took all his skills to maneuver the Land Cruiser down the road without the headlights. After what felt like a lifetime, Jase saw the lights of Defiance.

He hit the brakes and the vehicle slid on the ice some fifteen feet and then spun toward the ditch before it finally came to a grinding stop.

“Thank You, Lord.” He breathed the prayer aloud, then turned to Reyna. She had her eyes closed, her hands braced on the dash. “Are you okay?”

Slowly she opened her eyes and nodded. “Yes, I think so. How about you? How’s the shoulder?”

He could feel beads of sweat on his forehead. “It’s holding up all right, but I think it’s time for that bandage. There’s a first-aid kit in the back. I’ll get it and be right back.”

He hopped out of the SUV and walked a little ways behind it. Listening carefully, he heard the noise of engines fading into the distance. The men chasing them were continuing on the road to Glazer. They had time to breathe, but it wouldn’t last long. He and Reyna needed to make good of the advantage they’d been given, which meant he had to find out what she had that those men wanted.

What troubled him the most was Reyna’s conviction that Eddie had been murdered. It just didn’t add up in his mind. What could Eddie have possibly gotten involved in to end his life?

Jase drew in a deep breath and fell back on the training he’d received from one of the best in the spy business. The man who had taught him how to survive when his back was against the wall and there was nowhere to turn. Kyle Jennings had been a legend by the time Jase signed on. He’d recruited Jase straight out of the university and had become his handler as Jase had moved up through the ranks to lead the Scorpion team.

Jase could almost hear Kyle reprimanding him now.

Go back to the cause of the matter. Start there. Figure out why our men had to die.

He remembered the key he’d found in Reyna’s bag. Obviously, it fit something important, because she hadn’t let the bag out of her sight for a minute. He needed to find out what it belonged to.

Realizing he was wasting valuable time, Jase dug out his first-aid kit and got back in the Land Cruiser.

“They aren’t following us. We’re safe for now.”

Reyna blew out a visible sigh of relief. “Good. Honestly, I can’t believe all of the things that have happened recently.”

When he didn’t answer, she took the first-aid kit from him, rifled through it and began to examine his wound. Her full attention on the job at hand, he studied her while she was unaware of him. Her lustrous brown hair, much the worse for wear after their grueling hike, hung loose around her shoulders. She’d lost her ponytail holder somewhere along the way and he doubted she were even conscious of it. Swallowing convulsively, he resisted the urge to brush away a silky strand that had fallen in her face. He was letting his chaotic emotions get the better of him.

Reyna tore the rest of his shirt away from his arm and he froze. He wasn’t used to people taking care of him. Her eyes locked with his. Hers were huge pools of green. She drew in a breath and he realized he was staring at her full lips, thinking things that couldn’t fit into his life.

“Let me take care of your wound properly,” she managed in a soft, soothing voice.

Jase tried to gather his straying thoughts. “There’s no time. We have to keep moving. They could have snipers on this side of the mountain. A roadblock.” The possibilities were limitless.

She didn’t listen. Instead, she dabbed the wound thoroughly while he tried not to wince as the antiseptic hit the exposed area, and then she stuck a bandage over it.

“There. That should keep it from being infected. I can do a more thorough job once we’re...safe,” she added as an afterthought, then moved away.

He prayed that moment would come.

“Jase, we could have died back there.” Her words tumbled out, but he could barely hear what she said over his own pounding heart. His reaction to her was completely unexpected. “What do we do now?”

“I’d say that depends on you.”

Her delicate brow knit in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“I think you do. No more secrets, Reyna. As you can see, these thugs are deadly serious. You said yourself you believe they murdered Eddie for something you have. Tell me what they’re willing to kill for.”

* * *

Throughout the frantic drive to Defiance, Reyna had asked God for guidance. Prayed for proof Eddie hadn’t been delusional. Then she’d discovered Jase was really alive, as her husband had believed, and now in the space of a few hours he’d risked his life to save hers...twice. But could she trust him? She turned in her seat so that she could see him more clearly.

“Why did you come here to me, Reyna?” he asked, his indigo-blue eyes piercing into hers. “Who are those people following you? If you want me to keep you safe, you’re going to have to tell me what’s really going on.”

His questions hit a little too close to home and an unfamiliar battle raged inside her. She was normally a straightforward person, but she couldn’t get past the fact that Jase Bradford was harboring secrets of his own.

Reyna decided to lay it all on the line. “I do need your help, but I’m sorry, I don’t trust you. You lied to me.”

She could see from the muscle ticking in his jaw that her declaration stung.

“You’re right... I did, but only out of self-preservation. I didn’t fake my death without a good cause, Reyna. Somebody wanted me dead. They still do. I had to be certain you weren’t working for those people.”

“And are you?” she asked curiously.

“I hope so,” he answered after a moment.

Not exactly the answer she wanted to hear, but at least she now knew where they stood. They were two people forced to trust each other when their lives depended on it.

“So now you understand how I felt when you lied to me. You could be part of them.”

“Them?” he snatched at the word. “Who are you talking about?”

“I’ll do my best to explain, but it’s so hard. I feel as if I’m drowning in what-ifs,” she said with frustration. “This is so far beyond my understanding. Nothing about it makes sense.”

His expression softened as he watched her. “I get that. Tell me what happened to Eddie. Why do you think he was murdered? How is his death connected to the people following you?”

Taking a deep breath, Reyna struggled to let go of her misgivings about Jase. “I should start by telling you Eddie left the CIA a year after your...death.”

Her revelation clearly floored him. “You’re kidding.” She watched the color seep from his ruggedly handsome face. “Why would he leave the Agency? He loved the job and he was working in Langley. He was safe.”

She stared at him, surprised. “What do you mean he was safe?”

Something came and went in Jase’s expression before she could name it. He cleared his throat. “Only that he wasn’t in a war zone. Did he tell you why he left the CIA?”

She couldn’t dispel the feeling that Jase hadn’t told her everything. He kept his secrets close. Eddie had, as well, and look where they’d gotten him. It seemed to be part of the job description when you were a spy. “He never really said. He just came home one day and told me he was done with it. And that he’d joined the Marines. I was speechless.”

“The Marines?” Jase looked baffled. “What happened to him? How was he killed?”

Reyna would never forget that day. It was imprinted into her memory like an indelible stamp. “Two men showed up at my door and told me Eddie was dead. One was a marine. The second man was dressed in a suit. He never identified himself. The marine told me Eddie’s platoon had been hit by sniper fire. The strange thing is, Eddie was the only one who died. No one else sustained injuries. It seemed almost as if he was the only target.”

Jase never broke eye contact. “You’re right, it does sound peculiar.” He thought for a second and then asked, “Was the second guy CIA?”

“That was my guess, but he never said, and I don’t understand why the CIA would show up. Eddie wasn’t with the Agency at the time of his death. Anyway, it had me curious so I called Kyle Jennings and left a message. I never heard back from him.” She studied Jase. Something about what she said obviously made him uneasy.

More secrets.

If it weren’t for the urgent call she’d received from Eddie shortly before he died, she might not have thought anything about his death was out of the ordinary. But Eddie’s call had shaken her.

She shared the details of the conversation with Jase. “My husband was scared for his life. He kept repeating ‘I wasn’t able to prove what happened. Tell him I’m sorry I wasn’t able to prove what happened.’ I had no idea what he was talking about.”

But Jase clearly did. He looked as if he’d been punched in the gut.

“What is it?” she asked.

He looked away. “Nothing. Go on.”

She sighed and stared out at the darkness. “They didn’t want me to view his body, but I insisted. I had to see him one last time.” She shook her head. “It was...the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I barely recognized him. They told me his injuries were severe.”

“I’m so sorry,” Jase said gently. “That must have been so difficult.”

She drew in a quavering breath. “It was...heartbreaking, seeing him like that.”

Reyna watched as Jase glanced into the rearview mirror once more. She looked over her shoulder. “You think they’ll keep coming after us.”

“Without a doubt. Which is why we need to get off this road as quickly as possible. It’s best if we keep moving for the time being.” He peered through the windshield at the sky. A handful of stars had popped out. “The storm’s letting up at least.”

Jase put the Land Cruiser in gear. “You still haven’t told me what you have that those men want.” He spared her a glance.

The gravel road dead-ended onto pavement that appeared to be at the opposite end of town from where Reyna had entered. Nothing looked familiar. The compass in the console said they were heading due north. Just the opposite direction of where she had stashed the laptop. She wasn’t going to leave without it. Whatever was on it had been significant enough for Eddie to risk his life to get it out of a war zone. The laptop was her only bargaining chip. Which meant, like it or not, she had to tell Jase where she’d left it. “I have a laptop that Eddie hid before he died. We have to go back for it.” Reyna briefly explained about the letter she’d received from Eddie.

Jase brought the SUV to an abrupt stop on the shoulder of the road and faced her. She could see she had his full attention.

He ran a hand across his stubbled jaw. “I can’t even imagine how difficult it must have been receiving a letter from Eddie after his death.”

“It was...so horrible. Almost like losing him all over again, and the note was extremely cryptic. He started out by saying how much he loved me and looked forward to us being together soon.” Reyna’s voice caught and she blinked back tears. “Then he mentioned our first date.”

She thought the letter was frightening until the men had shown up at her door and threatened her. “I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me until I thought about where Eddie took me for our first date. You see, Eddie’s family owns a farm outside of Stevens, Texas.”

Reyna remembered how emotionally difficult it was to go back to the farm.

She drew in a breath. “We went on a picnic there for our first date and afterward we went horseback riding. So I went back to the farm and I found the laptop in a fireproof box in the stable where they used to keep the horses. Eddie hid it there along with the photo of the Scorpions. I realize now that since you and I had never met, he wanted me to know what you looked like.” She paused for a long moment. “My guess is he hid it the last time he came home on leave. I remember he was acting strangely. He was paranoid someone was watching him. He’d disappear for long periods of time.”

“He knew you’d be the only one who would know where to find it,” Jase said. “Sounds like Eddie went to a lot of trouble to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. What’s on it?”

“I wish I knew.” She sighed impatiently. “Jase, there are a bunch of photos that I don’t understand and another file that’s encrypted.”

He continued to watch her as if trying to ascertain whether she was telling the truth. “Where is it? We can’t go to the car. They’ll have found it by now.”

“It’s not in the car. I thought if they caught up with me, they’d search the car and find it. Then they wouldn’t need me anymore. I couldn’t take the risk.”

“You left it in a storage facility somewhere,” he concluded.

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