He’d had his too and had asked for updates regularly.
“I thought you liked working for the FBI,” she said.
“I did.” Until they’d split.
“Then why did you leave?”
He wasn’t going to tell her it was because he hadn’t been able to go back to the place he’d met and fallen in love with her. “I missed the mountains and wide-open spaces.”
“You missed home.” She nodded. “You never liked the traffic and overabundance of humanity in Virginia.”
“And there never seemed to be an end to bad guys. We’d put one away, and ten more took their place.”
“Yet you’re still fighting bad guys with the Brotherhood Protectors, aren’t you?”
His lips curled on the corners. Again, she knew things about him. It gave him hope that she hadn’t totally forgotten what they’d had together. “It’s different.” He tilted his head to the side, thinking about his words. “Most of the time we’re protecting people against the bad guys, before they can take innocents’ lives or livelihoods, not always cleaning up the aftermath.”
“You and the founder served together in the Navy, didn’t you?”
“We did.” Grant smiled. “He took me under his wing when I joined the team fresh out of BUD/S training. Saved my life on a mission.”
“And you returned the favor,” Avery said.
He shot a glance her way. “How do you know about that? It was a top-secret mission.”
Her lips curved. “I have my sources.”
His heart warmed. She hadn’t totally stopped thinking about him.
He sure as hell hadn’t stopped thinking about her.
“I’m glad you found work you’re passionate about,” she said softly, “in a place that brings you joy.”
He’d reconnected with other men who’d served on special ops missions—and being back in his home state of Montana had been a bonus. Yes, it felt good, but there was always something missing to dull the passion, as she would’ve put it.
Not something, but someone.
His chest tightened. When the nurse had called, he hadn’t hesitated. Losing Avery had been the blow that had put a gaping hole in his passion for everything.
Hearing she’d been in an accident had set his heart in a tailspin. For the two years she’d been undercover, he’d tensed every time his phone had rung from his contact back at the bureau. He’d expected each time to receive word that Avery’s ruse had been discovered. That the syndicate had dealt with her betrayal as they dealt with anyone who turned against the organization. He’d died a thousand deaths between identifying the number and answering the call.
When he’d heard they’d blown the lid off the syndicate and Avery had made it out alive, he’d gone out on horseback on Hank’s ranch and cried.
Getting a call from a random nurse from Waco, Texas, with news his wife had been in an accident, had sent him back to that horrible place he’d been for two years.
He’d almost cried when he’d found Avery sleeping peacefully in the hospital bed.
The GPS brought them into the small town of Shadow Valley a few minutes before noon.
Grant drove straight to the county sheriff’s department and pulled into the parking lot.
A man with his teenage son held the entrance door open for a woman as she came out before they entered.
The woman wore a black baseball cap, a black leather bomber jacket and dark jeans. She smiled at the man and his son as she stepped past them and turned to the right, heading for the far end of the parking lot. A long black ponytail poked through the back of the hat, bouncing slightly with her assertive strides. She slid into a dark SUV.
Grant frowned. There was something familiar about the woman, but he hadn’t gotten a clear enough look at her face to put his finger on it.
The SUV left the parking lot, heading east.
