Bree actually laughed out loud at the absurdity of that statement.
A half smile lit his face. “I guess that’s a no.”
“Believe me, there’s very few people outside of the ones from the Organization we put in prison a few months ago who would be able to do a back trace on me.”
“Okay, because if we’ve got to bend some laws, I want to make sure none of it comes back on you.”
“Believe me, it won’t.”
“Then I’ve got the perfect place for us to go. We’ll actually have to circle back toward Risk Peak, but it’s far enough away that we won’t run into anyone. A cabin, but with security and Wi-Fi. I’ll have to make a call first to some of Noah’s former Special Forces teammates.”
She nodded. “Okay, we can get a burner phone when we stop for gas. Any truck rest stop off the interstate will have them.”
A few minutes later, they were pulling up to a gas station. Bree grabbed two baseball caps from her bag.
She handed one to him. “Stay in the car and keep this as low over your eyes as possible. Don’t look around, just look down at your hands like you’re messing with a phone. I’ll get the gas.”
She could tell right away he didn’t like that. “No.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m much less conspicuous than you are, Tanner. I’ve got more experience blendingin, plus I’m not half a foot taller than everybody else around me.”
His lips pressed together in a mutinous line, but he finally gave her a brief nod.
Bree got out of the car, pumping the gas then going inside to pay and find a burner phone. She kept her head down and eyes averted—not a problem for her.
She was going to have to work quickly once Tanner got them to the cabin. He said he’d give it three days, but she was betting after two he’d be ready to turn himself in.
Tanner Dempsey was never going to be good at hiding. It went against his nature. Even when he had worked undercover, she was sure they hadn’t used him as someone who blended in.
But she would find out what was going on. Because there was no way she was letting him go to jail.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“We’re going to need to break into the sheriff’s office.”
Tanner’s head flew up at Bree’s words. It was after 2:00 a.m., and she’d been working nonstop for the last twelve hours, digging up whatever she could about the three murders.
If he had thought he felt helpless when he was just supposed to keep out of the way of the investigation, it was nothing compared to how he felt knowing someone was out there actively trying to frame him.
That was where they’d started in their research: Who held some sort of grudge against Tanner?
Ended up that was a pretty long list when they’d included everyone he’d arrested or stopped from completing some sort of nefarious plan.
“Break into the sheriff’s office?” he asked. “Adding to the list of crimes I’m wanted for doesn’t seem like the best of plans,” he responded, walking over and rubbing her shoulders. She leaned her head back against his stomach. “Is it some sort of information you can’t get to electronically?”
“Evidently, Sheriff Duggan has pretty important info that she’s not entering into her normal computer system. Is that strange?”
He nodded. “She’s got a separate computer in heroffice, without any sort of internet connection to it at all. She calls it her diary.”
Bree’s eyes narrowed, but she obviously had respect for Sheriff Duggan’s tactics. “Smart.”
“Definitely. Not to mention she knows what you’re capable of. She knows that any information stored in a computer connected to the internet can be accessed by you if you put your mind to it.”
Bree reached back and grabbed his waist with her hands, tilting her head back so she was looking at him, upside down. “I only found out about it because she mentioned it in an e-memo to her assistant. Do you think Sheriff Duggan thinks you’re guilty now?”
“I hope not. But me not being there to explain myself is certainly not helping.”
He knew word had gotten around Risk Peak that there was a warrant out for his arrest. He couldn’t even think too much about how that made the people who knew him feel. They trusted him to uphold the law. To now be on the opposite side of the law was almost unfathomable.
