Page 45 of PenPal Hero

“We feel the same way about you.” Her father’s expression grew fierce. “That’s why we’ve always been so protective of you. Your mother and I. Your brothers.”

“My very awful brothers.” Bonnie flicked a wicked glance in Jackson’s direction.

He was lounging against one of the porch columns. “Yep. We’re awfully awesome,” he agreed, winking at her.

Their mother’s tears dripped as she listened to their banter. “I’ve missed this,” she sighed.

The next morning, the police launched Alice and Zayden’s pre-wedding hoopla. Their engagement photo took up a sizable portion of a page in the newspaper. Another article was posted online with even more photos. It went into great detail about the wedding preparations, mentioning the catered meal that would follow and the designer labels that the bride and her maid of honor would be wearing. Bonnie wasn’t mentioned by name. She was merely referred to as Alice’s business partner.

Jackson burst through the front door of Holt’s shop while he was browsing the article on his computer.

“I appreciate what the local police are doing. Don’t get me wrong,” he grumbled, “but they’re being a little too obvious, don’t you think?” He plopped his hands down on the cabinet in front of the cash register. “It’s like they’ve forgotten we’re dealing with expert manipulators, folks who don’t uphold any moral code when it comes to their mind control tricks.”

Holt nodded as he closed the tab on his computer screen. “To be honest? I was thinking the same thing.”

Jackson swung away from the cabinet and began to pace the small shop. “Maybe we should have a backup plan, just in case.”

“Like what?” Weren’t there laws against interfering in an official police investigation?

“I’m still working on that.” Jackson clenched his jaw. “The folks we’re after are going to see right through what the police are planning. We need to step back and look at the bigger picture.” He spread his hands. “We need to get inside their heads the way they got inside Bonnie’s head and yours. If we’re going to outwit who’s behind this, we need to stop thinking like the good guys and start thinking like the bad guys.”

“That’s, uh, pretty deep.” Holt hoped he’d never get on the guy’s bad side, because the way his brain worked was formidable.

There was so much more to Jackson Yates than met the eye. If ranch management didn’t work out for him, he might have a future in private investigating. Holt made a mental note to bring up his name the next time he had a sit down with Foster and Lyon. Jackson was exactly the sort of guy they might want to bring on board at K&G Security.

Jude Westfield’s shoulders were knotted from how many hours he’d spent hunched behind his computer. However, he finally had a lead on the car theft case, and he was chasing after it like a bloodhound.

He hadn’t told the sheriff about his discovery, because he didn’t want the police storming across the guy’s used car lot and arresting him just yet.

There was no point, because Jett Briggs was no ordinary criminal. In fact, he might not be a criminal at all. Sure, he was camouflaging stolen vehicles beneath countless pricey upgrades, but he’d probably been programmed to do exactly that.

Jude just yesterday had tracked down the car lot owner’s family tree. Or lack thereof, which was closer to the truth, since he’d been adopted at birth through the now defunct Real Sons agency.

He was likely as innocent as Bonnie and Holt. He was simply being used by a master puppeteer. Someone was pulling his strings, making him dance to a pre-programmed tune.

Jude felt like he was on the cusp of a major discovery — the why of all this mind control garbage.

I just need to think bigger.

He could practically feel the smoke seeping out of his ears as he put himself in the position of whoever was running the dastardly mind control experiments on children.

So far, they’d built triggers into their subjects to steal, conceal their crimes, and what else? Jude mulled over Bonnie Yates’ unusual case, wondering what she’d been programmed to do. Only a few months ago, the real estate company she worked for had gone toe to toe with a group of financial fraudsters. Bonnie had been right in the middle of the action, helping to bring them to justice.

It would’ve been the perfect time to trigger whatever was supposed to be triggered inside her. Was she a failed experiment, then? According to her boyfriend, she felt like she was being followed at times. They’d produced circumstantial evidence indicating that someone with a long-range camera, or a sniper rifle, had briefly had her in their crosshairs.

Which brought Jude back to the same question. Why? Why would anyone want to control someone else’s mind? Or, in this case, a bunch of people’s minds?

The answer that came to him was so simple that it hit him between the eyes. Mind control turned regular humans into living, breathing robots. Their handlers became like gods. If they could mass replicate the experiments, they’d eventually be able to do anything they wanted.

Literally anything.

Which begged the next question. What were they planning on doing with that kind of power? Create an army? Take over the world?

A knock sounded outside the bedroom door he’d been staying in at Sheriff Malone’s house.

“Come in.” He hadn’t been expecting any visitors since the sheriff was out investigating a case. The guy’s wife ran an animal rescue shelter, so she rarely left the farm. She also rarely interrupted him while he was working.

It must be something important.

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