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“How long do you expect Trace to stay with Callahan?” she asked “That cover story won’t work for more than a couple of weeks at the most”

Cody considered her question “I don’t know It all depends on how n to the case and e can uncover about the New World Militia in that ti to do with the h I doubt it It would be too much of a coincidence But if Callahan and McKinnon solve the er will be over It doesn’t resolve the issue of the hit list, but”

“It would be a start,” she finished for him

“Yeah”

Keira yawned unexpectedly “Sorry,” she said “I guess last night is catching up with me Maybe I should nap now, so I can drive later”

He cast her a sideways glance and realized she looked tiredabout as tired as he felt But they still hadahead of theh part of him wanted her to stay awake so he could talk to her

But ould he say? Callahan had told hi to feel for Keira but he could lock it away, and he’d agreed it hat he should do You just don’t want to, a little voice inside his head told him

Should he tell her Callahan had witnessed the kiss they’d shared in the cabin? Bad idea, Walker She’d already been eh when he’d confessed he’d told Callahan about how they’d met She’d be devastated to learn the othersituation Keira was so sensitive about being taken seriously as a ht even request D’Arcy re he wanted

Cody let his eyes stray from the road in front of him for a second and saw that Keira was already asleep She ht with sudden tenderness In sleep her face was soft, sweet and defenseless, and he knew she would hate it—would hate knowing he’d seen her vulnerable again

The corner of his mouth twitched into a half smile Guess that will have to be my secret

Not quite teeks later Cody sat in his office staring at his cohts were only partially on the docu The other part of hisup without his wife and children, wondering how Mandy was doing without her husband

Callahan had been right—Meone with no trouble from the New World Militia But he had adamantly refused to let Mandy and the children return ho it wasn’t safe for the to have to return to Denver Sunday—his cover story had lasted for teeks, but beyond that was going to look suspicious

“I can take care ofanother agent to guard him “But my family can’t come home Not until we knoho killed Steve Tressler Not until we knohat he tried to tell me before he died and what that key opens It’s been almost teeks, damn it, and we don’t know any more now than we did then!”

The statement wasn’t quite true The backup teainal crime scene was Tressler’s cabin, just as Callahan had surmised They’d returned the body there but left it in his truck, as if he’d tried to drive away but died before he could Callahan and McKinnon had “discovered” the body and had opened an investigation into his death as if Tressler had never appeared at Callahan’s house, as if he’d never had a chance to utter those cryptic words

There were inal two backup teams D’Arcy had dispatched to Buffalo and Sheridan had been joined by two dozen more teams spread across the country And Cody now spentreports generated by the agents in the field rather than doing any fieldwork himself

In all this ti Yes, Callahan had been correct The New World Militia had risen like a phoenix froo But they hadn’t uncovered any evidence to link it to illegal ar or any of the activities the militia had been involved in before In fact, if Tressler hadn’t beenon the investigation But he was dead And somewhere there was a clue as to why They just had to find it