Christmas Double Cross. Jodie Bailey

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СКАЧАТЬ and comfort her, make her feel better.

      But she couldn’t drag him in. He’d long ago grown cold.

      Tucking his elbows closer to his sides, he pulled his gaze from her to a spot just above her head. Forgetting who he was dealing with would be dangerous. “Why me? Why talk to me?”

      “Because I thought you were someone who could be trusted. When it comes to the authorities, I’m picky lately.”

      She’d found her voice, and it was rising fast.

      “Seems to me, if I were you, I’d be picky, too.” Colt let himself pin her eyes again. “You chose the wrong person to trust, because I’m the one you ought to fear the most.”

      Her eyes widened as her head jerked back. She winced from the movement, tears edging to the corners of her eyes.

      He turned his head to look out the window at the El Paso skyline. “Listen, I’ll lay it out for you. What we want is—”

      “Colt.” The voice came from behind him, low and loaded with authority.

      Forcing his fingers to unlock from the foot of the bed, Colt turned to face Austin Brewer, who stood in the doorway, imposing in his unofficial uniform of khaki pants and a white button-down, his Stetson at his side. Normally, Austin was smiling, but not now. Something in his expression said things had gotten a whole lot worse than someone trying to kidnap the suspect the Rangers had been hunting.

      His gut twisted. Was it Carmen? Since going undercover in the Garcia cartel over a month ago, Ranger Carmen Alvarez had been missing. No contact. No nothing. The greatest fear among the team was that she’d been taken... Or worse. And the look on Austin’s face right now hinted that Colt might need to steel himself.

      If they’d lost Carmen because of the woman behind him... He fisted his hands and walked toward Austin, who fell into step beside him.

      “You can’t question her like that. You’re way out of line.” Austin kept his voice low, a reminder, not a reprimand.

      Digging his teeth into his lower lip, Colt stayed quiet. Austin spoke the truth. They had to tread lightly or a technicality would wreck this case in court.

      “Now come with me—there are some things you should know,” Austin continued, leading Colt a short distance up the hallway where Rangers Trevor Street and Ethan Hilliard waited.

      Trevor’s glance raked over Colt’s then stuck to a bulletin board on the wall, something like pity, maybe even frustration, in the look.

      Ethan just watched.

      “Carmen?” Colt wasn’t going to wait for someone to lob the grenade. He was going to pull the pin himself.

      Ethan shook his head. “No word on that front.”

      That was either good...or very, very bad. Bad news meant closure. No news meant she was still out there, and no one knew her condition. But Colt knew Carmen. She was smart. Tough. Savvy enough to keep from being found out. Knowing her, she was hiding, waiting for the right time to come in and blow this whole thing wide open.

      If that was the case, why did everyone look as though someone had keyed their pickups?

      Austin blew out a loud breath and scratched the top of his head. “No easy way to say this, Blackthorn.”

      “Then spit it out.”

      “That woman is not Adriana Garcia. Not even close.”

      Colt backed off and stalked up the hallway away from his teammates, dragging his hand through his hair. No way. The woman in that hospital bed had to be Adriana Garcia. The photo wouldn’t lie. Neither would his gut.

      Except his gut had proven wrong one too many times recently, which was probably why Trevor couldn’t look him in the eye.

      Colt turned back to his team but didn’t step closer. “Prove it.”

      “The print we lifted off the business card? It belongs to Danielle Segovia. The same one that’s been showing up in the database all along. Twenty-six. Born and raised here in El Paso. Mother was Mexican. Father an American she met when he was stationed at Bliss. Both died in a car wreck a few years ago. She’s raising a younger brother. We have school records, taxes filed. She’s solid. The print doesn’t match Garcia’s.”

      “A good cover.” Except fingerprints didn’t typically lie.

      “There’s more. Lizzie called. Preliminary DNA testing on the blood found in the car’s trunk is way off. Danielle Segovia is not even a twelfth cousin to the Garcias.”

      The words hit Colt in the chest, forcing the air from his lungs. He gripped his cheeks and dragged his hand along his mouth, tugging at the tension in his jaws. “So why did someone try to take her?”

      “Same reason we came after her. Same reason local law enforcement tipped us when she called them about the break-in at her store and she looked just like the BOLO we put out on Adriana.” Ethan straightened and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I glanced through the window of the room just now while you two were talking.” He held his phone up, open to the passport photo of Adriana Garcia that they all carried. “She’s a dead ringer, right down to the way she parts her hair.”

      Trevor sniffed and finally spoke. “Which means Manning and Rook are at the wrong apartment right now, searching for evidence they’re never going to find.”

      “Major Vance already called them off,” Ethan said. “They’re headed here, because we’ve got bigger problems in that hospital room right now.”

      Colt dropped his chin and shook his head. Bigger problems was an understatement. Not only had they not found the woman half of the state was hunting, they’d led Rio Garcia here and put a civilian in danger. That meant Danielle Segovia was one more complication in the hunt for Adriana Garcia.

      One that could prove deadly for the woman they had placed in harm’s way.

       FOUR

      Pain, fear and confusion spun into a cocktail that threatened to swamp Danielle.

      When the door closed behind the two men, the tension in the room dropped palpably. Danielle sank into the pillow and closed her eyes, willing the world to stop spinning. A Texas Ranger had gone undercover in her shop, then rescued her from kidnappers only to interrogate her now. This had to be a trauma-induced nightmare. The way he’d talked to her, it was clear that he believed she’d done something wrong, but he’d never said what it was.

      The only thing she knew with certainty was that she wanted out of here before Colter Blackthorn came back. If he started in on her again, she didn’t know what she’d do. Too much had happened in the past few hours. The last thing she needed was to fall apart in front of the angry Ranger. He’d probably view the weakness as some sort of confession.

      Her finger hovered over the call button for the nurse. They couldn’t keep her here. She could refuse treatment, tell them she wanted to be discharged. There were plenty of people from church who’d be willing to drive her home.

      But СКАЧАТЬ