“I don’t trust the local police to keep the people on that list safe,” she went on. “Not completely.”
That obviously got Colt’s attention. “You think this thing’s connected to law enforcement?”
“I think, but I don’t know,” Brenna said, choosing her words carefully. “And with everything that went down at Timberline, I can’t afford to ignore the possibility.”
She looked up and met Colt’s eyes. “You remember how fast it fell apart. We were ten minutes out, and someone inside that lodge knew we were coming. We never figured out how.”
Colt’s jaw tightened. Harlan shifted his weight but said nothing.
“I don’t know what went wrong at Timberline,” Brenna continued. “But I want to stop it from happening again.” She looked toward the dark stretch of highway beyond the ranch. “For those people on that list. For us.”
“Does Noah already have security on the three you’ve already contacted?” Colt asked.
“Bodyguards are on the way.” But she wouldn’t breathe easier until she knew there was protection in place.
“We need to find the other two,” Colt insisted, and Harlan made a grunt of agreement. “The ones you couldn’t reach.”
Brenna nodded. “I was hoping they’d call me back by now but nothing yet.”
“Let me see the names again,” Colt insisted.
She pulled out her phone, opened the photo of the list, and sent it to both Colt and Harlan. A moment later, their phones buzzed with the incoming message.
Colt’s arm brushed hers as he reached for his phone, and she felt the heat. It had always been there between them, low and steady, like a fuse waiting to be lit. But it couldn’t continue.
Not when she still questioned whether that heat had interfered with her focus at Timberline.
“It’s in your inbox,” she said, after she cleared her throat. “Both the photo of Marcus and the list.”
Colt was already reading. “Second name right after Marcus’s is Leah Grayson.” He looked up, the instant recognition in his eyes. “That’s the older sister of Zachary Grayson, right? He was the youngest hostage. Nineteen.”
Brenna felt her chest tighten. “Yeah. I drove by her place first, but she wasn’t home.” She stopped, gathered her breath. “Since Timberline, Leah’s stayed in the limelight. She’s pushed hard for an internal investigation after the rescue went sideways. She’s the one who keeps publicly stating that someone tipped off the killer that we were coming.”
“Which someone probably did,” Colt said. And Brenna and Harlan made quick sounds of agreement. “We’re going to see her.”
Brenna looked at him. “Tonight?”
“Now,” Colt confirmed.
Harlan nodded, already pocketing his phone. “We’re not losing anyone else if we can help it.”
“Leah lives about thirty miles out,” Brenna let them know. “In Bulverde. Like I said, I dropped by earlier, but no one was home.”
“Then we go there first, if she’s still not home, we track her down,” Colt replied. “We’ll take the Crossfire SUV. It’s stocked and ready. I’ll have Noah arrange for your vehicle to be picked up,” he added, already reaching for his comms.
“Thanks,” Brenna said. She glanced back toward the ranch as the ambulance pulled away, red lights fading into the dark. “Do you need to finish up here first?” she asked after Colt had made the text request to Noah for vehicle pick-up.
Colt shook his head. “It’s finished. The hostage was rescued and is on the way to the hospital. The scene’s secure. Noah will stay behind to handle the rest.”
Brenna looked at him for a long second, then turned toward the waiting SUV. The past wasn’t finished. Not by a long shot. But for now, they had somewhere else to be.
She climbed into the back seat while Colt took the driver’s side and Harlan settled up front. The SUV smelled faintly of dust, coffee, and the sharp tang of gun oil. Comfortable, in a grim sort of way.
Brenna texted Colt Leah’s address. He read it and plugged it into the GPS without a word.
As they pulled out onto the narrow road, the beams from the headlights cut across low mesquite trees and patches of sun-bleached grass. The Hill Country stretched around them in quiet waves of stone and cedar. It was early October, warm and dry, the kind of night where the wind didn’t cool you so much as it carried the scent of earth and faint smoke.
Brenna leaned back in her seat and tried to call the two people she hadn’t been able to reach. And she got the same results as before.
