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Keira sat across from Ryan Callahan and watched hilanced froain She thought it was just habit, at first; alanting to knohatto see what Mandy sees in hiure out why Mandy would choose him—or any man—over Cody
She couldn’t see it
Oh, Ryan Callahan was physically intiive hith she’d experienced firsthand And Callahan had impressed her earlier with his ability to reat stealth, too He’d slipped silently across the bedrooht, with her kidnappers in the next room, to pry open thefor their escape
And whereas Callahan was saturnine and displayed a cynic’s view of the world, Cody was golden-haired with an unexpected grin that lit up his face and made you want to smile, too Somehow you just knew the world was a better place when Cody sht, Mandy must see her husband differently than I do She had to, if she illing to kill her best friend—to kill Cody—to protect him
Callahan stood abruptly, the chair rasping across the floor, breaking Keira’s train of thought He went to the stove to refill his plate He offered the pot to Keira first, but she shook her head She was nearly full and still had some left in her bowl Cody allowed Callahan to add half of what remained in the pot to his plate Then Callahan scraped out the last of the stew, placed the pot in the sink and ran water in it
He didn’t come back to the table, but stood next to Cody and asked as he ate, “What tiet back?”
Cody looked at his watch “It’s just over two hours to the agency’s safe house in Casper—say two and a quarter Figure another hour to get your family settled in and squared away, and a couple of hours back Five and a half hours at the least My guess is somewhere between three and four” He looked at Callahan “About the same time the backup team will be done at your house”
“You’re sure the safe house is safe?”
“There are no guarantees in this world,” Cody said with a level stare “You know that But I know the agents who run that safe house Even stayed there once on an op You’re going to have to trust some people unless you decide to hole up in a cave somewhere”
“Fair enough”
Cody resu we need to head to where we at least have internet access We can’t dohere”
“I won’t be ation,” Callahan said “Steve was my only link to the new ure out what his last words mean or what that key opens”
His face expressed his frustration at not knowing as well as his desire to do so Keira kneasn’t the kind of man to sit patiently on the sidelines while others ran the football But at this point there wasn’t a lot he could do
“I don’t even knoho else rowled “For all I know, one or ht be involved The militia is that insidious”
“That’s why I’ McKinnon with you,” Cody said He held up his hand as Callahan started to protest “It’s not open for debate We can’t afford to have anything happen to you Not if we ever solve Tressler’shis killer or killers to justice You’ll need to testify”
That silenced Callahan Keira could tell he wasn’t happy about it, believed he could take care of himself now that he didn’t have to worry about his family But a man who always calculated the odds, as she’d already realized Callahan did, knew that he couldn’t always be on guard, knew that he’d have to sleep sometimes
“He’ll need a cover story to stay with you,” Cody said “And you’ll need an explanation for why Mandy and the kids are gone”
“I’ll co,” Callahan said “Don’t worry” Finished eating, he turned to wash his plate and the pot in the sink He stacked theht with a tiny inward s rew NeitherKP—kitchen patrol—for her to do, and a good thing, too