Page 38 of Fury
“Fury? He military? Ex-mil?”
She angled her head to better see his face. Sarge had something more than polite curiosity on his features, but she couldn’t tell what it was. She nodded. “He said army.”
“Huh.” After a nearly silent grunt, Sarge tipped his head to look at Ty, then back to Bethy. “Ty know this guy?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t ask.”
“Redheaded dude?” Bethy stared at him a moment before nodding. “Talk like Watcher does? Backhills country?” She shook her head. “No surprise, Ledbetter always a good conman. Could bend himself into anyone, putting on a mask for whatever was needed. I knew him, and knew of him. He ran with some shady folks overseas, heard he carried it back home with him. Spent a nickle in Riverbend. Figured he’d clean up after that.”
The world swam, loud buzzing in her ears finally resolving to Sarge’s voice asking, “Bethany, you okay?”
Hesitantly, she opened her mouth, afraid for a moment that the things she’d put together in her head would fall apart once spoken aloud. “Gabe Ledbetter?” Derek’s face flashed in front of her eyes, not the slick-talking man who’d shared her bed, playing her body exactly as well as Fury had, but the last time she’d seen him, through the glass in prison at Riverbend, dark red halo around his head where his hair was growing to cover his skull. Barely older than she was at the time, the Gabe who left the mountain to make his way in the world been a half-grown gangly kid. Clean-shaven, but his hair had been a deep russet, like the heavy cones that fell from the pine trees. Fury’s hair was lighter, brighter, and his beard so much fuller and longer than Derek’s scruff.How could I have missed it?“Gabriel Ledbetter is Fury?” she asked for clarification because Sarge was staring at her. Tabby’s brother, for all intents and purposes. Watcher’s cousin.
She watched as Sarge’s chin dipped and lifted, the single motion of his head setting her anger in motion.
