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Her words hit Cameron like a fist to the gut. “You don’t think…?”
“I get paid to think like this,” she muttered, and then shoved her hands through her hair. “God! What a mess. Just in the past two weeks, a toddler is kidnapped, a woman who works at a hotel goes AWOL, and a man is murdered.”
“There is nothing random about this,” Cameron said.
“My thoughts exactly,” Rusty said. “I have so much work ahead of me, and all I want is to go home with you and come apart in your arms.”
Cameron felt the angst and longing in her words. “You have no idea how close you came to that when you showed up on my doorstep. The only thing that stopped me was knowing I’d never let you go. I honor your devotion to duty. As a soldier, it’s also part of who I am. But you’re always in my heart, and have been from the moment we first met. We’ll find our time, honey, and it will be worth the wait.”
Rusty’s eyes welled as he pulled up in front of the Serenity Inn to let her out. “I don’t know what you like to eat, or what kind of music you like, but I know I don’t ever want to lose you again,” she said.
“That’s never gonna happen,” Cameron said, then reached across the seat, cupped the back of her neck, and planted a kiss on her lips she wasn’t likely to forget. “Sleep on that, darlin’. There’s more where it came from. Call me with orders. I can meet you or pick you up at anytime, anywhere.”
Rusty sighed. “Thank you. I’ll see what I can find out from headquarters and call you later. Oh…about Leslie Morgan. I’ve kept her name out of all the photo business. You need to tell her and her family not to talk about it to anyone. We don’t want the bad guys to consider her another loose end.”
“Shit,” Cameron said. “I’ll call her dad and find out where she is and talk to her myself.”
All of a sudden, Ghost poked his head in the space between them.
“Someone’s jealous I’m getting all of the attention,” Cameron said.
Rusty gave Ghost a big hug. “You are such a good boy. Take care of Cameron for me, okay?”
She exited the Jeep, her steps dragging as she headed for the entrance. Cameron watched until she was safely inside, then pulled up Wade Morgan’s phone number and was listening to it ring as he drove away.
***
Wade was washing up, getting ready to sit down to supper when his phone rang. He dried his hands and then answered.
“Hello?”
“Wade, this is Cameron. Did Leslie go home, or is she still there with you?”
“She went to work today, but she’s spending the night here again. Why?”
“Kevin Vanzant was found murdered today. It happened sometime last night after Leslie was there.”
Wade gasped. “Oh my God!”
“I have a message for you from one of the FBI agents involved. Tell Leslie not to talk about what she saw on Vanzant’s laptop, and don’t any of you tell anyone else. We don’t want her name even mentioned with his. It could put her in danger.”
“Jesus, Cameron! What’s going on?”
“I can’t talk about it beyond what I’ve already said. And it’s probably a good idea that she continues to spend the nights at your house for a while.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll tell her. We haven’t mentioned it to anyone but you, and I’ll make sure to caution her, as well. Is Leslie in danger?”
“We have no reason to think she is. It’s just early days. I think they want to cover all the bases to limit leaks,” Cameron said. “I’m on my way home. You can call anytime if you need me.”
“Thanks,” Wade said and disconnected, but he was sick to his stomach. How had everything turned so ugly so fast? Or was it always here, and the continuing rotation of strangers in and out of their little town had masked the truth?
***
Cameron pulled into the carport at his home a few minutes later, bone-tired and worried. Now that Rusty had to reveal herself to claim the crime scene, her cover was blown. Any aspect of the criminal element associated with human trafficking would not want feds poking about in their playground, which meant this could play out one of two ways.
Either they’d take her presence as a sign they were in danger and move their operation elsewhere, or they’d just decide to remove her. It would be a stupid move from a criminal standpoint, knowing an agent’s death would bring the whole department down on their heads. But criminals were motivated by greed and thought nothing about taking someone out who got between them and the source of their money flow.
Special Agent Caldwell was now in their line of fire.
