She didn’t have to think twice. “I’m coming with you. Let’s go.”
Some of the tension drained from his shoulders as she took his arm and let him lead her over to the Yukon. Jason opened the passenger door, and Kate settled herself inside. He didn’t say anything as he drove out of the garage, but the set of his jaw said his temper was still running hot.
“Let’s get something straight.” His big hands gripped the wheel a little too tightly. “You’re either with him—or you’re with me. You can’t have it both ways.”
“Andrew had a business opportunity for me. It could be worth a lot of money.”
“Yeah?” He flicked her a sideways glance. “And what’s he expect from you in return?”
If he didn’t look so serious, Kate might have smiled. “Nothing I’m willing to give.” She couldn’t remember the last time a man had been jealous of her. It felt kind of good.
“I don’t like him sniffing after you,” Jason grumbled.
“I’m surprised you care. You don’t seem like the jealous type.”
“I don’t share, Kate.”
She caught his gaze and held it. “Neither do I.”
His shoulders relaxed. She figured that meant they had just struck a deal. Kate felt oddly relieved.
“I don’t like him,” Jase said. “You deserve a lot better than a dick like that.”
She wondered what he’d say if she asked if he was interested in the position, but she had a feeling she knew the answer. Once the case was solved, Jason would be moving on. Since there was no point thinking about it, Kate settled back in her seat.
The atmosphere in the Yukon improved even more after they’d driven through the local McDonald’s and picked up breakfast goodies. Both of them were hungry. They carried warm bags of sausage-and-egg biscuits into Jason’s town house. The delicious aroma surrounded them as they sat down to eat.
Kate glanced around the sunny kitchen. She had liked his place before. Now she was struck by how cozy it was, somehow snug and warm, a contrast to her open, sparsely furnished, modern apartment, which had a tendency to feel slightly cold.
Jase had showered at her place earlier that morning. When they finished the meal, he went upstairs to change, came back down in crisp blue jeans and a short-sleeved white Western shirt with pearl snaps on the front. He was wearing his usual scuffed brown boots, instead of the shiny black lizard boots he’d worn to the funeral.
They headed back to the garage to load his gear into the Yukon.
“What’s in the bag?” Kate asked as he stowed a heavy black canvas satchel in the back and slammed the lift gate.
“We don’t know what we’re heading into. Better to be prepared.”
Weapons then. She wasn’t surprised, yet worry filtered through her. She thought of the night she had gone with him and Bran Garrett to Eli Zepeda’s, thought of the shooting in Waco. Danger could be waiting in San Antonio.
She was glad to be facing it with Hawk Maddox.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jase had a dark blue Mustang rental car waiting when he landed the Cessna at a small private airport not far from San Antonio International. Once he had the plane tied down, they drove to the northwest side of town for the meeting Dr. Jerry Maxwell had arranged at the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office.
Since you never burned a source, Jase didn’t mention Tabby’s friend in the ME’s office, the guy who had called with the intel.
It took less than twenty minutes to drive from the airport via I-410 west to Louis Pasteur Drive, wind through the maze of buildings and make their way inside the multistoried structure.
As they approached the front desk, Jase flashed Kate a glance full of concern. Coming here had to be painful for her. He remembered the day she had gone to the medical examiner’s office to identify her sister’s body, ended up drunk at the Sagebrush Saloon and cried on his shoulder.
He opened his mouth to ask if she wanted to wait outside, but before a word came out, she just shook her head. “Don’t even go there.”
How the hell did she always seem to know what he was thinking? “Fine.” Didn’t really matter. He’d known what her answer would be. He needed to accept she wasn’t backing down no matter what.
They stopped at the front desk to check in. Jase gave the blonde woman behind the counter his name.
The woman smiled. “Dr. Chow left word for you to come straight back.”
