Safety Breach

His eyebrow came up, and for one humming moment, they stared at each other until his mouth tightened. It was as if he’d gotten ESP issued with that badge, and he was giving her a silent warning to knock off the sex thoughts. He was right, too, as he usually was. But it had been much easier to slip into those memories than the things she needed to face.

Things she needed to piece together.

Like why Eric had waited a year to come after her? But that could be as Kellan had suggested—because it had taken him that long to find her. However, there were the other things that Eric had said.

You need to take a second look at the details of your father’s case. The devil is in those details. That’s what this warning is all about.

“Do you believe you could have missed something in your father’s murder investigation?” she asked, knowing it could earn her another of those frosty glares.

It didn’t though. Instead, Kellan took a deep breath. “Maybe.”

There was doubt, but that could have nothing to do with the way Kellan had handled the case. It could be the guilt over not being able to save his father.

“Eric’s never said anything like that before,” she went on.

Kellan shifted his position, their gazes colliding. “You’ve had other contact with him over the past year?”

“No.” And she was thankful she hadn’t, either. Not just because she hadn’t wanted to deal with Eric, but also because she was betting Kellan would have been riled to the core if her answer had been yes. He would have wanted to know why he hadn’t been told everything that pertained to Eric since he was looking for the killer.

“Eric left messages for me when I was still in the hospital, remember?” she continued. Gemma hadn’t actually spoken to him since she’d been first in surgery and then recovering from her injuries. But the hospital staff had recorded the calls and turned them over to Kellan.

“Yeah, I remember.” The muscles in his jaw went tight again. “He threatened you.”

She nodded, hoping that he didn’t repeat the actual words. Gemma didn’t need to hear them again to recall that Eric had been enraged that she’d lived and could therefore testify that he’d been the one to shoot her.

Except she couldn’t.

Gemma had some memories of that horrible night, but because of the storm and the darkness, she hadn’t seen much. About the only thing she could say for sure was that Eric had taken Caroline and her from Gemma’s house in Longview Ridge, and that later there’d been a gunfight.

“I’ll take another look at the investigation,” Kellan assured her, though it wasn’t necessary for him to say that. From the moment she’d heard Eric toss that out there, she’d known that Kellan would dig back into the files despite the fact that he likely knew every single detail in them.

“The Austin cops weren’t able to trace the call Eric made to you, and there’s been no sign of the shooter,” Owen relayed to them when he got off the phone.

Neither piece of information was a surprise. Eric had no doubt used a burner or disposable phone. And as for the shooter, the guy hadn’t been in the house when Austin PD had searched it. The home owners hadn’t been there when the shooter had broken in, so they hadn’t seen him, either.

Now the hope was that there was some kind of trace evidence or prints that the CSIs could use to ID him. Gemma doubted though that he’d been that careless, and if the shooter had slipped up, then Eric would just kill him rather than allow him to be captured and interrogated. Heck, the man could already be dead. Eric didn’t like leaving loose ends. It was the whole reason he was so angry with her. So, why had he issued just a warning and not finished her off? Maybe he wanted to torment her first. An easy kill might not be as much fun for him.

“What about my neighbors?” Gemma asked. “Were any of them hurt?”

Owen shook his head and made eye contact with his brother in the rearview mirror. “Were you able to get any details on the bomb?”

“They haven’t been able to find the detonator and until they do, they won’t be able to start figuring out who built it. Eric doesn’t have bomb-making experience. Or at least he didn’t a year ago, so he likely hired someone or spent some research time on the internet.”

Gemma had heard Kellan talking with the bomb squad, but she’d only heard his end of the conversation. Which hadn’t been much. Obviously, Kellan hadn’t liked that there hadn’t been much progress in the investigation. Then again, it’d only happened six hours ago, and the CSIs were still processing the scene.

Kellan’s phone rang again, something it’d been doing throughout the drive, and he mumbled some profanity when he saw the name on the screen. For a heart-stopping moment, Gemma thought it might be Eric, but then she saw her handler’s name on the screen. Amanda had already called once when they’d still been at the police station, and Kellan had let it go to voice mail, but he answered it now, and he put it on Speaker.

“Have you figured out who leaked Gemma’s location?” he greeted.

“No, but it wasn’t me,” Amanda answered without hesitation. However, she did sound as frustrated and annoyed as Kellan. “Where’s Gemma?” she snapped.

“She’s safe.” Kellan looked at her and put his index finger to his mouth in a stay-quiet gesture. “I need you to find the source of the leak and prove to me that you fixed it. Then I’ll give you Gemma’s location.”

“That’s not the way this works, cowboy,” Amanda argued. “I’m the one in charge here, not you.”

Gemma winced because she could feel Kellan bristling from the marshal’s cowboy label and sharp tone. Amanda had never been a warm and fuzzy kind of person, and she was even less so right now.

“Gemma’s in WITSEC,” Amanda went on, “and that puts this under the jurisdiction of the marshals.”

“Only if the marshals can protect her, and you’ve just proven that you can’t.” Kellan huffed. “Eric killed another woman last night and left a note for Gemma with her address. He’s coming after her, and I’d rather make sure that no one wearing a badge is feeding Eric info to help him do that.”

That silenced Amanda for a couple of seconds. “Is this about Rory?” Amanda came out and asked.

It was a question Gemma had expected. Rory was Marshal Rory Clawson, and Kellan’s then fellow deputy, Dusty Walters, had been investigating the marshal for the murder of a prostitute whose body had been found in Longview Ridge. Dusty hadn’t been able to find any evidence other than hearsay before Eric had gunned him down.

“Why would it be about Rory?” Kellan challenged.

“Because I figure you’re holding a grudge against Rory because you weren’t able to pin bogus charges on him. You still haven’t been able to pin those charges on him,” Amanda emphasized. “Or maybe you’ve got a wild notion that he aided Eric in some way.”

Kellan didn’t waste any time firing back. “Did he?”

Amanda made a dismissive sound. “This isn’t over. You will turn Gemma over to me,” the marshal added before she ended the call.

It sounded like a threat, and Gemma was certain they’d be hearing from her again soon. Maybe though, Amanda wouldn’t try to put her in a new WITSEC location until they had some answers about this latest attack.

“Do you trust her?” Kellan asked when he put his phone away.

Gemma opened her mouth to answer yes, but she stopped. The truth was, she didn’t know Amanda that well at all. They’d only met twice in the months that Amanda had been her handler.

“I don’t have any reason not to trust her,” Gemma settled for saying.

“Other than someone compromised your location, a location that only a handful of people knew, and Amanda was one of them.” Kellan paused, and then he huffed even louder than he had when he’d been talking to Amanda. “I just don’t want to make another mistake.”

Gemma could have said those same words to him. If she’d just lived up to her reputation of being a top-notch profiler, she could have stopped him.

“I owe you,” Kellan added a moment later.

That got her attention, and Gemma turned in the seat to face him. “You owe me?” she repeated.

Again, that was something she could have said to him. She’d been the one to mess up, not Kellan. But before she could press him on that, his phone rang again, and this time it wasn’t Amanda. It was Unknown Caller on the screen.

“Eric,” she whispered on a rise of breath.

Owen must have thought it was him, too. “I’ll try to trace it while he’s on the line.” Owen quickly handed his brother a small recorder, and Kellan clicked it on before he hit the answer button.

“So, I guess you’re both still alive and kicking?” Eric asked the moment he was on the line. “If Gemma had died, my little bird would have told me.”

“And who exactly is that little bird?” Kellan snapped.