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What connections could you have?"

He chuckled at her question "Poor Rogue I know it has to be hard to die, sweetheart I proun

"Look at the pictures, Jonesy Zeke already knows you’re involved" She threw her hand out to the table where the pictures were scattered "Thad Mayes wasn’t stupid He sent Zeke’s mother pictures He doesn’t even have all of them here," she lied "He went after the others Don’t you think Thad would have protected hi as it flickered to the table and the pictures "I burned those pictures," he seemed to wheeze

"He made copies," she warned him "Lots of copies, Jonesy He sent them to Zeke’s mother, and you know he sent theoing to knohen he finds the now He’ll notice you’re "

He shook his head slowly "I covered my ass Everyone but you heardI wasn’t supposed to be there"

"He’ll know, Jonesy He knows you were calling ure it out, especially when he finds the other pictures"

It was a desperate lie, but it was logical to her Thad had sent Zeke’s mother pictures; he could have sent other copies elsewhere

"There are no pictures in there of ue forced asmile to her lips "But there are, Jonesy There are several" She moved back and waved her hand toward the hundreds of pictures scattered over the table "Just look He has all he needs to take you down just as the others were taken down"

She wouldn’t have ht to keep the thunder of her heart fro in She couldn’t think about John or Natches; she couldn’t let herself sink into the well of despair waiting on her

She was logical She could find a way out of this She searched the rooh her peripheral vision and tried to find aJonesy to move closer to it

The basement was cluttered with years of old furniture, clothes, and boxes There were la rifle in the other corner, a two-by-four piece of lu the back of the couch

She wished she had a weapon She should have thought andshe was protected, and she had believed she would be

No, she’d been too shocked to think, too hurt to use her brain rather than her eht sarcastically Zeke had known about the tunnel He had thought she would be safe, and if by chance she wasn’t, then he had given her a place to hide He couldn’t have known that anyone else knew about the tunnel, especially Jonesy, because he didn’t trust Jonesy to begin with

"Crazy fucker," Jonesy h a stack of pictures "He was always taking these dahed and said he had a hold on Thad, that he could keep hihtly as one of the ht his eye "He said he didn’t develop the pictures, and Dayle believed him"

"But you knew better," she said "Didn’t you, Jonesy?"

Jonesy grinned "I knew better I knehen he left he’d take those negatives with him

I knew he’d betray us for that little bastard of his and the grandson Zeke wouldn’t let him see Damn, Zeke hated his old ain

Jonesy nodded as a thoughtful look crossed his face He picked up a picture of hier man, with Thad and James Maynard Zeke and Gene were in the pictures They were just boys, dressed in caet rid of Jah Jairl on his fars anymore He doesn’t want to rebuild e lost, says he’s too old," he sneered then "If he’s too old to fight, then he’s too old to live, wouldn’t you say?"

Rogue backed against the couch as his attention turned back to the pictures Her fingers curled around the six- foot length of two-by-four that lay on the back of it

She wasn’t far fro in before he could bring the gun back up, then shechance She refused to stand here like a sacrificial laue, her ass Those bastards needed to die anyway They were all as daottenover the nation

"He seehtened on the wood "Smarter than you"

When he turned back to her, shefor his head before he could react His arht her what John hadn’t about fighting He’d taught her how to disarht her how to counter a defensive ht her to be effective rather than powerful Using the momentum of her body, her shoulders, she slaun to drop as she kicked out

The heel of her boot caught his chin as she punched back with the end of the two-by-four into his head Blood sprayed around her before she dropped the wood and ran for the stairs

Forget the tunnel, she had no idea where it went Jonesy was bigger than her, faster; she needed corners and furniture to hide behind, not a tunnel to run through

She raced up the stairs cursing her boots even as she gloried in the blood they had shed

She slammed open the baseh the wood inches above her head