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He sighed He knehy he’d left Just as he knehy he’d taken this job But sometimes it didn’t seem worth it

He’d been unofficially reprinment—no ould they have dared to make it an official reprimand under the circuh what his iht he could have done other than what he had done was a mystery to him

He’d nal to his partner, waiting with a backup tea him He hadn’t wanted her to know she’d interrupted a covert operation, hadn’t wanted her to have any suspicions of what he was or why he was there But he’d had a lot of explaining to do later that night about why the op had to be aborted

He was just thankful he’d been at the right place at the right time Thankful they’d both escaped and he’d seen her safely back to her car and on the road home Thankful he hadn’t had to kill anyone in the process—the red tape on that would have included a hly investigated Not that he had any doubts he would have been cleared But it would have been a ti chained to a desk

Besides, he’d only ever taken one life, and he wasn’t in any hurry to repeat that experience unless he had no other option Now if only he could get the feel of Keira’s taut, unyielding body beneath his out of his mind

The phone on his desk shrilled He swiveled around and picked it up automatically “Walker,” he said crisply He relaxed back in his chair “Hey, Callahan,” he said, “I was just thinking about you” He listened to the voice on the other end of the line for a second, then added, “Well, not you, exactly I was thinking about the time your wife shot me”

“No more than you deserved,” Ryan Callahan responded promptly “At least from her perspective”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Cody replied “Tell that to the marines”

That was so he and Callahan had in common—they’d both served in the US Marine Corps, but at different tiht for a second If he was thirty-seven, that meant Callahan had to be forty-five now, close to forty-six We’re none of us getting any younger

They’d also both worked the sa down the New World Militia together when Cody had been the sheriff of Black Rock, Wyo, a position Callahan now held

They had so else in common, too—they’d both been in love with Mandy Edwards Mandy Edwards Callahan, Cody corrected himself with a wry smile He wasn’t in love with Mandy anymore Well, not much, anyway There would always be a small corner of his heart devoted to her, but once Callahan had come back into her life, Cody had known there was no chance for hi Enforceunshot that had almost killed him

But his work in the DEA hadn’t satisfied hi e when he’d been approached by Nick D’Arcy to join a newly created ultrasecret agency not quite two years later His new job was , both , too And it had allowed hi Mandy to Ryan Callahan

“So what’s up?” he asked

There was just the slightest hesitation on the other end “Soly head again”

“What?” Cody sat up straight in his chair and gripped the phone a little tighter He knew instantly what Callahan was referring to “The New World Militia?”

“Got it in one”

“Don’t BSa rapid ton’s dead,” he said, referring to David Pennington, the founder of the New World Militia Silently he added, We both killed hi about orofficers are all serving long prison terms How—”