Page 20 of Rangers Last Promise

“No.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he was insulting my medical skills while I tried to stop the bleeding.”

A broken sound escapes Trigger. It might be a laugh, but there’s no humor in it.

Doc looks past me, into a memory none of us can see.

“He told me I was pressing hard enough to shove his spine through the ground. Then he said he was going to report me for damaging government property.”

That sounds like Grant.

It sounds so much like him that my throat closes.

I turn away before any of them see how close I am to crying.

I won’t do that here.

Not yet.

“What else did he say?”

The room goes silent.

I face Doc again.

“What did Grant say before he died?”

His gaze drops to the journal pressed against my chest.

“He asked me to protect you.”

The words hang between us.

For a moment, I don’t understand them.

Then I do.

My anger returns with enough force to keep the grief from swallowing me.

“That’s why you’re here.”

“Someone fired a bullet through your mother’s window.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“It’s why I came tonight.”

“But you’ve been keeping track of me for years.”

Wolf glances sharply at him.

Trigger does the same.

Doc’s expression barely changes.

But I see it.