Page 21 of Lone Star Showdown

“Chase,” he repeated when that sank in. “Your ex?”

She nodded. “He just emailed me and said someone called him this morning, asking how to get in touch with me. The person claimed to be a former co-worker who owed me money. He didn’t give Chase a name.”

That got Jericho’s attention in a different kind of way. He took out his phone and alerted Ruby to do a trace on Chase’s phone. If the person hadn’t used a burner, they might be able to find out who’d called him.

“Should I respond to his email?” Rachel asked.

“No,” Jericho was quick to say. “These laptops can’t be traced, but it’s best to say nothing.” He paused. “But I’ll have Ruby arrange for someone to contact Chase about taking some precautions. You’re not close to him anymore, but the killer might not know that.”

“Oh, God,” she said, and some of the color drained from her face.

Jericho hated that he’d spiked the fear in her again. But she had to know there was a possibility the killer could go after anyone from her past. Chase included.

Unless…

Was it possible Chase was so pissed at Rachel that all the other murders were a coverup to conceal that she was the actual target? It was possible, but the theory was so out there, he wouldn’t mention it yet.

Not to Rachel anyway.

He would let Ruby know instead. For now though, he just sent her the text about checking into Chase.

“Ruby will let us know if she finds anything,” Jericho assured her, and he glanced at the screen on the laptop where she’d loaded the emails on one side and a page of the reports on the other.

Amelia Gutzman’s name was at the top. She was the school nurse who’d testified against Marla, and alphabetically, she was fifth on the list.

And she could be the next to die.

“Amelia can’t go to the safe house that Ruby offered her,” Jericho said, reading the latest memo. “She’s in the hospital after a bad reaction to chemo. But Ruby arranged for a bodyguard. And it’s a bodyguard we can trust. My brother, Nash.”

Being a bodyguard was what Nash did best, so Ruby couldn’t have assigned anyone better. Ruby often tapped his other brother, Slade, when a deep cover operative was needed. His third brother had gone in the other direction, the same path as their asshole father, and was in jail where Jericho hoped he was rotting away.

Rachel looked up at him. “That’s very generous of your boss. I’ve heard that Maverick Ops’ operatives earn something like ten grand a day plus expenses.”

Jericho reluctantly nodded. “For the dangerous missions, yes.” Sometimes, it was double that.

Rachel continued to study him. “And you only take the dangerous ones,” she concluded.

Again, he had to nod. “I take the ones that can make a difference.”

She sighed. Because she knew him so well. Knew the baggage that still clung to him like a dead weight. “You couldn’t have saved your mother,” she said.

Oh, yes. Rachel knew him all right.

“I could have if I had the skills I have now,” he assured her.

She stood, put her hand on his cheek. “You were ten. Just a kid.”

Jericho nearly just clammed up. That’s what he usually did when anything about his past was mentioned. But the words came anyway.

“I dream about her, and in the dreams,” he admitted. “I save her. I swim to her, pull her to the banks of the creek, and she lives.”

Rachel sighed and pulled him to his feet. “This isn’t a pity hug,” she said, drawing him into her arms. “It’s to soothe me because I feel so bad for what happened to her. And to you and your brothers. Because in my dreams, I save your mom, too. And mine. You don’t have to dream in order to save people. You do it for real.”

Heck. He hadn’t expected that, and he would have blushed had he been the blushing sort. “I just want to make a difference,” he settled for saying.

“And you do. I mean, I’m proof of that. I’m alive, and if I’d gone to Stronghold alone last night, I might not be. My car isn’t bulletproof, and I don’t own a Kevlar vest. Or a slingshot,” she tacked onto that.

No way could he resist kissing her after all that praise. Then again, Jericho doubted he could have resisted no matter what she said. So, he just went for it. Leaning in, pressing his mouth to hers.

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