Page 61 of End Game

“Whatever she needs.” Ash brushed a hand over his face. “Mind if I ask a favor?”

“Name it. I still owe you one for helping us find Lena’s family.”

He wanted to ask how the reunion was going, but didn’t feel this was the right time. “Before you commit, you need to be aware that this request requires a high degree of sensitivity, confidentiality, and the dark web.”

“Noted.”

The tension pulsing through his body dissipated. “I’m part of a multiagency task force working the Stokes case.”

“Any leads on who killed the governor yet?”

“Not yet. That’s the reason for my call. Can you scrape the dark web and see if there’s any chatter about the hit?”

“Why not use the FBI’s team of intelligence analysts? Surely, the governor’s assassination takes priority.”

“They’re working on it, but . . .” Ash struggled to say the words he never imagined saying after leaving the family business.

“Your colleagues have to color between the lines?” Rohan offered, taking pity on him.

“Exactly.” Ash expelled a breath. “I know you have lines you won’t cross, too, but yours are more flexible.”

“You’re talking a lot of scraping, Ash.”

“I know it’s a long shot, but I have reason to believe—” He stopped himself before revealing details of the case. Outside of a few favors recently, it’d been years since he’d worked with his brothers. Yet he’d almost shared sensitive information with Rohan without a second’s thought.

“I’ll need to understand what I’m searching for, or this won’t work,” Rohan said after the silence stretched between them. “Whatever you share stays between you and me. I’ve never betrayed your confidence, as evidenced by my two decades of silence about who was responsible for the discarded condom in the back of Mom’s vehicle.”

Ash smiled at the ancient memory. He turned away from the window and headed back to his desk, pulling out the Stokes case file. “I believe Kayla Krowne might have been the intended target.”

“Kayla?” his brother echoed, incredulous. “I didn’t hear anything about her being present.”

“So far, we’ve managed to keep her name out of the news. If she hadn’t tripped over a rug, she would have taken a bullet from behind.”

“That close?”

“She was damn lucky.”

“How’s she doing?”

“Hurting. The governor was a close family friend. I don’t think she took the threat to herself seriously until her vehicle was vandalized yesterday.”

“What about protection?”

“Her driver is a former Ranger, so she’s covered during weekdays. I touched base with APD this morning and they agreed to schedule a regular patrol of her street in the evenings. Her mother is going to speak to her about hiring a private security firm to cover the weekends.”

“What else can you tell me about the shooter?”

“He left what appears to be a signature embedded in a tree.”

“What kind?”

“A pearl earring.”

“Unique. Anything else?”

“There might have been another intruder. Forensics discovered fresh blood not far from where I found the earring.”

“You think the two did some hand-to-hand?”

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