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“Trace did tell s,” she offered

“But he couldn’t tell you this story because he doesn’t know it Not the important parts, anyway”

“Then, you tell me,” she said softly

Cody thought for a in “It’s a bit involved I was the sheriff in Black Rock, but I was also working undercover in the militia way back then Some people were openly members of the militia, but I wasn’t My code nahed huht it was clever Maybe it was”

He breathed deeply “D’Arcy kneas undercover He was responsible for Ryan Callahan, and it was his idea to send hireed I know I already told you D’Arcy figured if Pennington soet wind of it and would be able to warn him”

She nodded

“It actually worked out better than that—when Pennington located Callahan I was given the assign ahead of the story”

His eyes took on a faraway expression as he looked into the distant past “You already know Callahan came to Black Rock under an alias—Reilly O’Neill He fell for Mandy Hard It was the same for her Two months after they met, theybecame lovers”

Keira closed her eyes momentarily at the pain in Cody’s voice, a pain she felt twisting inside her

“Some of this I inferred by what happened later Neither of them actually told me, of course, but II hadhow she felt And even if she’d wanted to, I don’t think she could have hidden it from me I knew her too well”

He stopped and took a deep s of coffee, then stared down into the cup After a minute Keira said, “Go on”

“Callahan had been in Black Rock about six ton tracked him there I was ordered to kill hiton was obsessed with seeing Callahan in hell—a vow he’d ainst him and put him in jail—so Callahan had to die by fire

“D’Arcy, McKinnon, Callahan and I set it up to fake Callahan’s death We rigged his truck with explosives, and D’Arcy even arranged for a cadaver to be burned in the truck” He grimaced at the memory “We also had a fake autopsy report all ready, identifying the corpse as Callahan, to make it more realistic”

Cody paused for a ton had tracked hiain, so he insisted we not tell Mandy He said he’d rather give her up than risk having anything happen to her” A wry smile played over Cody’s lips “That’s the throwback part of him In his world a man doesn’t put the wo her heart” The smile faded

“We planned it for a Saturday, Mandy’s busiest day at her bookstore Neither of us counted on her showing up at the reservoir where she thought Callahan orking, where the explosion was set to go off”

Keira’s gaze was glued to his face “Why? Why did she show up?”

Cody’s expression was gri iet there in time”

“So, what happened?”

“She saw the explosion froht Callahan was inside the truck She crashed trying to reach him She lost their baby She almost lost her life” The choppy little sentences were spoken without e inside

A long silence followed, and Keira waited patiently Then Cody said, “Callahan had to disappear for the deception to work D’Arcy had arranged for federal marshals to whisk Callahan away to safety immediately after the explosion McKinnon was one of the But everything was in place to convince Pennington that Callahan was dead, and that I’d obeyed orders We, none of us, considered how Mandy would take it, and Callahan didn’t find out about the crashor the baby, until a year later”