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Tai waved a tattooed arm at the hangar door. “Yo, guys, maybe we should have this convo inside?”
“Negative.” Bridger replied. “We haven’t had a chance to sweep for bugs.” He turned to Jane. His hard stare made her take a step back. “Where can we talk?”
“My place is across the valley, about five miles away,” she said before she considered the wisdom of inviting two armed strangers into her home.
Bridger gestured at his partner. “That works.” He opened the door to her truck. “You drive.”
Tai holstered his weapon and jerked a thumb at Jason’s hangar. “I’ll get what we came for and bring the Jeep.” He disappeared inside.
She rounded on Bridger. “What is it you came for?”
He eyed the pastor. “Nothing we need to discuss now.”
She wanted to stand her ground, but getting the pastor somewhere they could have a more civil conversation seemed more important. She’d postpone giving the two spy-guys a piece of her mind for rifling through her brother’s things.
Ten minutes later, she let Bridger and the pastor into her cozy home. She was just closing the front door when Tai pulled up in a lifted Jeep that looked like it could tackle the Sahara. He headed after them, a black pack slung over one arm.
Pastor Zack had been at her place many times for Bible study and celebrations, but it had been a while. A couple years, now that she thought of it.
Kellen’s seventh birthday. A month before Pete took him.
She shoved the painful memory away and headed for the kitchen. “I’ve got coffee or tea.”
“Black, please,” Bridger called out as he followed the pastor into her living room.
“Me, too. Sugar if you have it,” Tai, the big man, said. His backpack thunked down on the table behind the couch.
Either the pastor didn’t hear her offer, or he was so preoccupied he couldn’t respond.
He looked afraid. For Jason, or himself?
Her nerves flared, making her skin hot. Neither answer would make her feel any better.
By the time she got the coffee machine working, the two operatives were sitting across from the pastor, studying some kind of journal.
When she strode in, mugs in hand, Bridger slapped it closed, but not before she caught sight of her brother’s handwriting.
She gave him a pointed look. “What’s that?”
Bridger shoved the journal between his thigh and the side of the couch. “It’s something Jason wants help with. He asked us to retrieve it.”
She set their mugs down with a sharp bite. “Could you be a little more vague? My brother’s missing. I have a right to know what’s going on.”
Bridger locked eyes with her. Caramel brown—not that she should care. “That’s why we’re here. We’re going to find him.”
Any kindness in his expression disappeared as he swung his attention to the pastor. “Let’s get to it. What makes you think Jason’s in trouble?”
The pastor tugged at his frizzy beard. “Jason and I weren’t just meeting to study Scripture. He was helping me.”
Jane didn’t like the way he avoided her gaze.
“With?” Bridger prompted.
“A personal issue.”
Tai pulled a face. “A personal issue that required a guy with Jason’s special ops training?”
“No! I had an old...issue. He offered to take care of it for me. It’s only important because we’ve been talking a lot recently. That’s why I noticed he was missing.”
