Guardian Ranger (15 page)

He caught her hands, pushed them back over her head. Held them there with his left hand. “You’d only hurt me if you turned me away.”

Her legs were open, parted slightly. He eased between her thighs and placed a kiss on her stomach.

“Jasper?”

His right hand caressed her flesh. He wanted her as aroused and eager as he was. Lust was a constant heat in his blood now, burning him from the inside out. But he wouldn’t take, no, he wanted to give the pleasure to her.

Needed to see the pleasure on her face.

He pushed his fingers into her, stroked the most sensitive part of her body. Her hips arched up toward him. Eager. Not as eager as he was, not yet.

His fingers thrust again. He released her wrists, bent and tasted her.

She gasped out his name and that was the moment he’d been waiting for. The moment when pleasure and need merged for her.

After quickly taking care of the protection, he positioned his aroused length at the entrance of her body. Met her gaze. Saw the desire.

The...trust?

Yes.

He drove into her as his control shattered. She met every thrust, rising up with her hips, wrapping her arms around him—but not touching his shoulder. His Veronica. Always so careful.

So perfect for him.

His thrusts grew harder. Deeper. Her sex tightened around him, and he knew another release was close for her. His own climax was bearing down on him. He kissed her, because he wanted to taste her pleasure.

Then she was tensing beneath him as the wave of release hit her. Her sex contracted around him, and his climax ripped through Jasper, sending pleasure pouring through his body as he held her tightly beneath him.

They hadn’t
just
had sex. He got that. He’d had sex with plenty of women over the years. The pleasure he took with her, the way he felt...

So much more.

He stared down into her eyes. He could hear the drumming of his heartbeat filling his ears. She was everything he wanted, and he’d been a blind fool not to realize it sooner.

“Veronica.”

She smiled up at him. “I didn’t think it could get better.” Her hand lifted. Traced a sensual path down his chest. “I was wrong.”

His lips took hers.

A knock sounded at the door. A knock that he was very, very glad hadn’t sounded about one minute sooner.

But Veronica’s eyes still widened in alarm and her cheeks stained more with that lovely red. “Oh, no, do you think—”

“I think you should stay exactly where you are. It’s just Logan or Sydney, coming with some extra clothes for you.” He’d forgotten all about them until that moment.

He rose from the bed, pulled the covers over her and bent to grab the clothes that he didn’t even remember ditching.

But Veronica was already hopping out of the bed. “I’m not staying here naked! What if they know—what if—”

Oh, they knew, all right. He was pretty sure that Logan understood the hungry looks he’d been shooting at Veronica.

Unless he was very, very bad at reading people, there’d been a whole lot of desire and longing looks passing between Gunner and Sydney for months.

His team understood lust.

As for him, he was starting to understand love.

He headed for the door. After he checked through the peephole, he pulled it open. Because he didn’t want to embarrass Veronica any more, he only opened the door a few inches.

Logan lifted a brow even as he also raised a small paper bag. “Some fresh clothes for your lady.” The guy’s voice was carefully expressionless.

Jasper tried to remember if he’d been...loud. Had he bellowed Veronica’s name?

Logan’s knowing look said, yep, he had. “Not a word to her,” Jasper growled. No one would insult Veronica.

Logan nodded. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” But then his face hardened. “Sydney just got a hit on the deputy’s cell phone. It turned on near Cale and Veronica’s ranch.”

The deputy must have doubled back. Maybe he was still looking for the evidence Veronica had taken from Reed’s computer, hoping that Veronica didn’t have it on her.

Too bad. The EOD has the files.

“We’re going hunting.” Logan cocked his head. “You in with us?”

Jasper looked over his shoulder at Veronica. She had belted the robe around her body again. She stared back at him with wide eyes.

“No,” he said slowly as he turned back to face Logan. “I’m staying with Veronica. I don’t want her alone.” Not until he was exactly sure what they were dealing with. Deputy Jimmy Jones had looked like a scared kid the few times Jasper had seen him.

Jimmy
had
been at the police station the night it was torched. Wyatt had said the kid was in the back, and the flames and explosions had first started back there. And when Wyatt went looking for him, Jimmy had been gone.

Gone because he’d been outside, killing witnesses?

It sure looked that way.

And Jimmy looked like a scared kid.

“I thought you might say that.... Wyatt’s inside the TH.” Temporary Headquarters. Jasper knew the lingo. Logan continued. “He and Gunner are going to stay behind with Cale. Veronica could go there with them. She could—”

“No,” Jasper said. He wasn’t leaving her.

“Yes,” Veronica responded at the same time. She grabbed the bag of clothes from Jasper’s hand and pulled the door open even wider. “If you need backup, then Jasper’s coming with you.”

Logan glanced between them.

Her hand brushed against Jasper. “This is your job. You make sure that Jimmy comes in alive—he can come back and clear my brother.”

Because proving her brother’s innocence was the one thing that mattered most to Veronica.

“Logan has backup,” Jasper said, still not willing to leave her. “Sydney’s damn good at her job and—”

“It’s a whole lot of land. It’s a guy who knows the area,” Veronica said, “and you’re tracking him through a storm. If Sydney’s found a link to him out at my ranch, you can’t waste time. Go find him.”

Because it was what she wanted, he nodded.

“We leave in five,” Logan said as he stepped back.

Five minutes. Not long. Jasper shut the door. Pulled Veronica against him. “When I come back, you and I are gonna finalize some things.”

She frowned up at him.

“The EOD.” Jasper heaved out a breath as he tried to find the right words. “It doesn’t have to be the only thing for me.” He’d had another dream, one that had whispered through his mind for years.

The picket fence. A family.

Someone he loved.

“Finish this job,” she whispered to him. “Come back, and we start fresh.”

Sounded like one fine idea to him.

He kissed her and knew that he wouldn’t,
couldn’t
fail on this hunt.

* * *

H
E
WATCHED
THE
EOD agents leave. They thought they were so smart. Tracking him. Closing in. They didn’t realize their mistake.

He’d been the one to turn on the cell phone so they could do their GPS tracking. He wanted them out on that ranch.

Because while the EOD was away, it gave him plenty of time to play.

He smiled and checked his weapon. Perfect.

They could search that ranch all night if they wanted. It would give him the chance he needed to take care of business.

He glanced down at his chest. At the stupid star near his heart. People acted as if that star was supposed to mean something to him.

It didn’t mean a damn thing.

Money mattered. Getting paid for the jobs that he did. He’d been poor. He’d been pitied.

He’d never be that way again.

He’d found a way to get a whole new life, and to get that life, he’d just needed to
become
someone new. Cale wasn’t so special. Not “Cale Lane,” anyway. But “Striker”...he was special. People asked specifically for that mercenary when they went to Reed Montgomery.

Cale had balked at the jobs that weren’t straight rescues. He’d never taken the hits. Even though those jobs paid the most cash.

So someone had taken the jobs for him. Reed had been down with the switch. Morality hadn’t been big with the guy, so Reed sure hadn’t balked at lying about which mercenary actually took a job. People wanted Striker? Then they were told Striker handled the cases, even if someone else was actually doing the job. It had been the perfect situation.

But when Veronica just wouldn’t give up on her hunt and those federal agents came to town, well, he hadn’t been able to trust that Reed wouldn’t turn on him.

So he’d eliminated Reed, just as he had the others.

For now...now it was time for the next step. Time to take over the “Striker” name once more and finish the job he’d started.

He’d been paid very, very well to take out EOD agents. Two more agents were on his hit list.

Gunner Ortez.

Sydney Sloan.

It seemed someone down in South America wanted those two out of the picture. The same someone who’d paid to have the other EOD agents eliminated. When he finished this job, he’d have a cool two million waiting in his Cayman Islands account.

There was a lot that a man could do with two million dollars. Hell, two million dollars could wash away so much blood.

He rubbed the star on his chest, checked his weapon once more and got ready to finish the job.

Chapter Twelve

Inside the EOD team’s headquarters, Veronica paced along the narrow hallway. She didn’t see Gunner, but she knew he was just a short scream away. Not that she planned to scream.

Jimmy? How could it have been Jimmy?
The idea still seemed wrong to her. Jimmy had been such a sweet guy. Lost, sad, hurt by his mother’s abandonment, but he’d
cared
about Whiskey Ridge. He’d cared about her and Cale.

Hadn’t he?

A man of the law, now being hunted. Soon enough, they’d find out what was happening with Jimmy. Soon—

Gunfire erupted, bursting from near the entrance of the headquarters. She tensed, then saw Wyatt rushing down the hallway to her. “It’s Jimmy!” Sweat glistened on his forehead. “He took a shot at me when I got close to the front window! Saw him...” He huffed out a breath. “For just a second... Fired back...” His fingers clenched around hers. “I think I hit him.”

Footsteps thundered behind her. She looked over her shoulder. Gunner was there, with his gun out, and his face was a hard mask. “What’s happening?” he demanded.

“Jimmy’s outside,” she said. “Wyatt thinks that he shot the deputy.”

Gunner’s hold tightened on his weapon. “Take her to the back. I’ll check it out.”

Wyatt’s fingers were trembling. How must he feel? To have shot Jimmy.

“I nearly raised him...” Wyatt whispered as he shook his head. “That boy...how could he do this?” He pulled her down the hallway. “How?” Pain deepened his voice.

More stumbling steps and they were near the end of the hallway. The room that housed Cale was to the right.

“Go on in there,” Wyatt said with a nod toward the door. “Stay with Cale until we make sure Jimmy is...” Wyatt’s breath blew out on a rough sigh. “Just stay with him.” Then he was gone. Rushing back down the hallway.

She opened the door. The handle turned easily beneath her fingers. She would have thought that Gunner had locked the room, but maybe her brother had—

The room was empty. Cale was gone. The slats of wood had been pried off the window.

Gunfire blasted once more.

* * *

J
ASPER
AND
L
OGAN
HAD
their weapons out. They were scanning the area around Veronica’s ranch. So far, there were no signs of Jimmy.

Not yet.

“The front door’s open,” Logan whispered.

Jasper nodded to show he’d heard. Then he gave a quick gesture with his hand. He’d go in first, and Logan could follow for cover.

One, two...

By three, he was in the house. And the house had most definitely been searched. Ransacked. Not just Veronica’s room this time. Not just Cale’s room.

Everything had been destroyed.

Was the guy still in there? Only one way to find out. Another fast hand gesture, and he and Logan swept through the kitchen. Sydney had her weapon out now, too, and she flanked them. Room by room, they searched.

Downstairs.

Upstairs.

Broken furniture. Overturned chairs.

But no Jimmy Jones.

Jasper peered down from Veronica’s window. “He could be in any of those buildings.” Just like before. Only this time, the guy was watching them, not Veronica.

“If he’s out there, why hasn’t he taken us out?” Sydney asked. “He could have gotten shots off when we came on the porch.”

“Maybe our cover was too good. He didn’t have a clean shot,” Logan said instantly. “Maybe—” He broke off, frowning, then pulled his phone out of his back pocket. The phone made no sound, but Jasper knew the device would be emitting a small vibration. “It’s Gunner.” Logan put the phone to his ear. “Area isn’t secure yet. We’re—”

Jasper saw his eyes widen.

“When? Damn it, yes, we’re on the way.” He shoved the phone back into his pocket. “Gunner says we aren’t going to find the deputy out here. He’s back in town, shooting at Wyatt.”

“He lured us away,” Sydney said with a shake of her head even as they all raced for the stairs. “That guy wanted to separate us so he could attack better. He left his phone for us to track.”

Now he was heading in to take out Cale. And Veronica. They rushed out of the front door. The porch creaked beneath their feet.

But then they heard the peal of a ringing cell phone, a sound that came from within the house. Jimmy’s phone? Sydney glanced back at the house. “Why...” Then her eyes widened. “The bomb at the sheriff’s station—it was triggered by a cell! He could be doing it again!
Run!
”

But there wasn’t time to run. The house exploded behind them. The force of the blast sent Jasper flying into the air, and then he hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud.

* * *

V
ERONICA
RUSHED
BACK
down the hallway. There was no more gunfire. Just silence. She crouched low, not wanting to make a target, and turned the corner that would take her back to the small lobby.

“Wyatt?” Veronica whispered. He was bent near the front desk.

He turned around, eyes widening. He had his phone in his hand. “I can’t get Logan and the others.” Worry hardened his words. “No one’s answering.”

She swallowed over the lump in her throat. “And Cale’s gone.”

Wyatt tensed. “What?” Then, suddenly, Wyatt was right in front of her, grabbing her arm and pulling her close. “Hell, he’s supposed to be cuffed back there.”

“The handcuffs were on the floor. The room was empty.
He’s gone.
H-he must have picked the lock and managed to pry the boards off the window.” The EOD had underestimated him. Her brother had gotten out of plenty of tight spots over the years. As if that little room would have held him for long.

Wyatt glanced over his shoulder. “Is that Jimmy out there shooting at us...or Cale?”

Shock squeezed her heart. “B-but you said...Jimmy...”

“I never saw the shooter.” His confession was a rough rasp. “I just assumed...” He shook his head. “Never mind. We have to get out there. Gunner needs to know who he’s facing.” His gaze penned hers. “You stay low and you move fast, got it?”

She had it, all right. But she’d feel better if she had a weapon. If she had
something.
Her gaze flew around the room. The filing cabinets. The desk.

She swiped out with her hand, grabbing the small weapon that probably wouldn’t do her a bit of good.

Then she followed Wyatt. She stayed down. She moved fast. Just as he’d told her. Just as...

“Get in,” Wyatt ordered roughly.

They were at his patrol car. He was trying to push her into the back.

There was no gunfire. No sign of Gunner or Cale or Jimmy.

And Wyatt was sweating so much. From fear. From adrenaline. From...something more?

Her fingers were curled around the small letter opener that she’d grabbed from the desk. “You didn’t say we were going to leave Gunner.”

“I don’t
see
him.” His gaze darted to the left. To the right. “So the only thing we can do is go to the ranch and try to find the others. Then we’ll come back.”

“But Jimmy could get away. Cale could—”

He pushed her toward the backseat. “We don’t have time to argue, Veronica! Let’s go!”

But she hesitated. Something just felt wrong.

“Veronica!”

Cale’s voice. She started to smile then. It was going to be all right. It was—

Wyatt spun at Cale’s shout. He brought up his gun and fired.

She screamed when her brother fell back. Screamed—and shoved that letter opener into Wyatt’s shoulder. The bellow of pain was his, but she was already moving, trying to jerk his gun away. He was strong, though, far stronger than she’d realized, and he shoved her, sending her tumbling into the back of his patrol car. She lunged up in an instant.

And found herself staring down the barrel of his gun.

“Didn’t want it to be like this,” Wyatt muttered, with a shake of his head. “Not for you. I had other plans for you.”

“Wyatt?”

Another gunshot rang out. It ricocheted off the open patrol car door. Wyatt swore and dropped low. She rushed forward, but he slammed the door, sealing her inside.

There were no handles on the back door. No way to lower the windows. A wire cage separated her from the front seat.

More gunfire erupted. One bullet hit Wyatt in the shoulder. He was snarling and lifting his gun, spinning around and seeming to fire right up into the air. Then he was lunging into the front of the patrol car. Revving the car’s engine and racing away. Veronica was yelling for him to stop. But he wasn’t.

She spun back to look behind her. Cale was trying to sit up. His chest was soaked with blood and his hand was up, as if he were reaching for her.

Gunner ran up behind Cale, a gun still gripped in the agent’s hand. Gunner lifted that gun, as if he’d fire.

Then his gaze locked on hers.

Help me.

Gunner didn’t fire.

Wyatt left them with a scream of his tires.

* * *

J
ASPER
PUSHED
TO
his feet. The house was an inferno, blazing out of control. The house that Veronica had loved.

“That’s how he did it at the station,” Sydney murmured. She didn’t seem to be aware that a one-inch gash was dripping blood down her cheek. “He had the bomb already wired. He knew we were bringing in the kidnappers. He just had to press a few buttons, make one call.”

And the station had exploded.

Sydney yanked out her phone. Dialed fast. Then, “Gunner, listen, the ranch has just—” She broke off, inhaling sharply. Her stare was on Jasper and he saw the horror in her eyes. Saw the faintest tremble of her lower lip, and he knew the news she’d gotten had been bad.

Veronica.

“But...but you’re all right?” Sydney whispered uncertainly.

Sydney was never uncertain.

Jasper took a step forward. Logan was on his feet now and they were both closing in on Sydney even as the house burned. “We’ll be right there,” she said. “But—what? What has Cale done?”

He wouldn’t hurt Veronica. Cale would never...

Sydney lowered her phone. “Logan, use your pull. Call D.C. and get them to send some county backup over to us
now.
The deputy’s still missing, and Veronica...” Her gaze cut back to Jasper. “She’s been taken.”

Jasper was already shaking his head because that just wasn’t an option. She couldn’t be taken by anyone. She couldn’t be hurt. He needed her too much and—

“It was the sheriff,” Sydney said. “Gunner told me the guy shot Cale and then Wyatt forced Veronica into the back of a patrol car. He took off, going hell fast, but Cale’s following him. I guess a bullet can’t slow him down for long.”

Everything seemed to slow down for Jasper. Even the heat of the flames seemed to die away.

Wyatt forced Veronica into the back of a patrol car.

“He’s dead,” Jasper whispered.

Sydney flinched. She put the phone back to her ear. “Gunner, do you have Cale within sight? I know he took the motorcycle but...” Her worried stare wasn’t leaving Jasper.

Only he could barely see her. In his mind, he just saw Veronica. Scared. He didn’t want her to be scared.

He’d said that he would keep her safe.

And he was damn well gonna do it.

Sydney was off the phone now, but Logan had yanked out
his
phone to call for backup. Jasper wasn’t about to let any more time waste. “Tell me that you can track Cale,” he said to Sydney. Sometimes the EOD would put tracking chips under the skin of certain witnesses, witnesses who were in danger of being abducted or killed. Logan’s Juliana had been one of those witnesses. That tracking device had saved her life. Maybe—

Sydney shook her head.

No.

“The sheriff took her,” Jasper gritted out. The man had been right there, with them every step of the way. He should have known. He should have suspected.

But he’d been focused on the mission, on capturing Cale. Then he’d been blindsided by Veronica.

I’m coming, Veronica. I won’t let you down.

“The sheriff knows every inch of this county,” Logan said, coming back to them. Flames crackled behind them. “He’s gonna have the advantage on us.” The guy could just disappear. Or just dump Veronica’s body someplace and
then
vanish.

Jasper turned away, began walking at first, then flat-out running toward the car.

“Jasper!” Logan called out.

Jasper didn’t stop. He jumped in the vehicle. Sydney had another car. He wasn’t abandoning the other agents. He just wasn’t waiting.
Veronica needs me.
Jasper jerked the keys in the ignition, and the engine snarled to life.

Logan’s hand slammed against the driver’s-side door. “You don’t even know where to look,” Logan snapped. “Let us get some intel together and—”

“You get your intel. Get Sydney to run all those phone searches and GPS hunts like she does.” His fingers clenched around the wheel. “I’ll go back to town and tear every building down if I have to. I won’t let her—”

His phone rang. He grabbed it instantly. “Veronica!”

A faint laugh rolled into his ear. “No, but she’s close,” Jasper was told.

Then he heard Veronica scream.

He almost crushed the phone in his hands.

“Want to see her, Ranger? Then you ditch those other EOD jerks,” Wyatt told him, voice grating. “You lose every single one of them, and you get yourself out to the old ranch at the end of Derby Road.”

Derby Road? He had no idea where that road was, but he’d load the name into the GPS and find that ranch.

“You’ve got twenty minutes to get there, or I’ll put a bullet into Veronica.”

Jaw clenching, Jasper looked back up at Logan. Logan was his friend, his team leader. He knew the way situations like this were supposed to go down.

Except this wasn’t just a case. Not a normal mission. It was Veronica.

“I love her,” he said, the only thing that he
could
say. Logan would know who’d just made that call.

Logan’s gaze told him that he understood, but Logan shook his head. “Give us the location. You need some backup. We can help!”