Rocky Mountain Pursuit. Mary Alford

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       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.

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