Easy Prey. Lisa Phillips
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Название: Easy Prey
Автор: Lisa Phillips
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon Love Inspired Suspense
isbn: 9781474047883
isbn:
“I haven’t seen my brother in...” She faltered. “As long as it’s been since I’ve seen you. I’m telling the truth. We only arrived in town today.”
The kid glanced between them. “Mom?”
Elise sighed. “Fix Tanner is my brother. Your uncle.”
“And this guy?” The kid motioned to Jonah.
He folded his arms across his chest. “I’m the one who’s going to bring Fix Tanner in for his scheduled court appearance.”
It was Elise’s turn to sigh. “Nathan, this is your other uncle. Your father’s brother, Jonah.”
Jonah blinked. “His name is Nathan?”
Elise glanced at him like he was an irritant. “You know I loved your father, too. There wasn’t much else I could give him, so I named his grandson after him.”
He couldn’t breathe. He only blinked, trying to comprehend her naming her son after his paternal grandfather. His dad had adored little Elise, and she’d felt the same way. There’d never been a steady father figure in her life. And now there wasn’t one in Nathan’s—unless Jonah could change that.
The teenager shook his head. “I don’t...I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything, honey.”
Jonah nodded, thinking the same thing. “It’s not a big deal, kid.” There was time enough for them to process this and everything else that had happened tonight.
Elise spun to him, a look of horror on her face.
Jonah shrugged, but that only made it worse. He and Nathan could talk later. Now was not the time, when the police were waiting to take Elise and Nathan’s statements about the intruder and the bomb, and Jonah had to get back to the hunt for Fix. What did she think he’d meant?
Elise shifted. She groaned as if she was in pain. Nathan caught her, which made her cry out louder. He looked at Jonah, fear on his face. Jonah was already there, supporting Elise as they lowered her to the cracked concrete.
“I’m okay. I just couldn’t catch my breath.”
“You need to get checked out at the hospital.” The EMT’s face was somber. “I think you might have done serious damage to your back.” The guy already had her arm in a tight pressure cuff, not wasting any time. She pulled at the tab to detach its hold on her bicep.
Jonah crouched and stilled her fingers, refusing to register how cold she was. Probably shock. Did he have a blanket in his truck? The EMT produced one before he could even think it through.
“Go with them. We need to know what happened if we’re going to find your brother. I’ll let my team know what’s going on and meet you there.”
Elise tried to sit up. “What?”
Jonah stood. “I’m coming to the hospital. Until I figure out what just happened, you don’t go anywhere without a police escort.”
“There’s no sign of Fix Tanner. We searched the grounds and the outlying streets. He’s gone.”
Jonah nodded at Hailey Shelder. “If the cops don’t need help with the bomb investigation, then head home. We can meet first thing tomorrow and regroup, find out if all of this is related, or just coincidental timing.”
The others walked up. Jonah stood in a circle with his teammates: Hailey’s fiancé, Eric, the SEAL, Parker, and the former cop, Ames. “I’ll see you all back at the office. Seven a.m.”
Hopefully he would be able to find an off-duty cop to help keep an eye on Elise. He didn’t think she was being targeted per se, but she’d been attacked and a bomb had gone off. Whether the things were related or not, they still had one common denominator—the zoo she was now in charge of. Jonah wasn’t willing to risk losing her all over again.
Shelder’s lips twitched. “And Elise?”
Ames shot her a look. “You’re such a girl.”
She folded her arms. “So what if I am?”
Jonah sighed. “One of these days I’m going to fire both of you. I’m the boss now. I can do that.”
If he didn’t get it over with now, they were going to keep hounding him for details.
“Elise married my brother, Martin. He passed away eighteen years ago, when he was in the army and I was with the marines. I wasn’t there with him, I was on a different mission when I found out he’d been killed. By the time I got home, Elise was gone. My mother told me she banked the death benefits and took off.”
Parker clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Women.”
Shelder gasped. “She was grieving.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Parker said. His eyes were hard, filled with the shadows of the past. “She still lied by not saying anything about having a baby. That boy is Jonah’s nephew and he didn’t even know the kid existed.”
“But—”
“Enough.” Jonah shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll sort things out with Elise, but it’s not going to be resolved tonight. You guys just worry about Fix Tanner.”
“Is he really Elise’s brother?” Eric asked.
Jonah nodded.
“She’s involved, then,” Parker said.
“Unlikely, but I’m not going to rule it out.”
Parker nodded. “That’s good. Stick close to her, and eventually you’ll discover what she’s lying about.”
Jonah frowned.
Shelder shook her head at Parker. “When did you get to be so cynical?”
Jonah wasn’t going to hang around for them to argue some more. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”
He drove his truck to the hospital where they’d taken Elise. It was hard to decide if he was more interested in seeing her or in getting to know his nephew better.
Nathan.
The boy’s name brought forth the memory of his own father’s warm smile. But then, he supposed that was the point of Elise naming her son after his father. Nathan Rivers, Jonah’s dad, had always had a soft spot for the girl from the trailer park across town.
The first day they’d met Elise, she had been a spindly twelve-year-old on the lakeshore. Her older brother, Fix, was supposed to have been watching her. She’d wandered a mile around the lake’s beach, looking for turtles, before she met up with Jonah, Martin and their father, СКАЧАТЬ