Page 16 of Lone Star Protector

Hoping, too, that this close-quarters arrangement didn’t turn into something else.

He was doing a whole lot of silent cursing about that kiss. And not because his boss had witnessed it either. The cursing was because it sure as hell should have never happened. There was this blasted heat between Caroline and him, but that heat was going to have to cool its ass down. That kind of entanglement could lead to a loss of focus, which in turn could get Caroline killed the hard way.

At Bodie’s hand.

No way could Nash risk that happening again.

Caroline wrote down some things and handed the notepad back to Malley, who then in turn jogged back to the CSIs to give it to them. Malley didn’t speak to them for long but instead turned and motioned for Leland to follow him to the workshop. Leland did.

And so did the minion.

“Have they been searched for weapons?” Nash asked Malley. Best to get that out of the way before asking Leland where Bodie was.

But it wasn’t Malley who answered. It was Leland. “Yes, and trust me, my lawyer will have something to say about that.”

“Trust me,” Malley fired back, “my lieutenant would have something to say about that if I didn’t follow standard protocols. Someone helped Bodie escape, and all indications are he’ll come after Caroline. I’d be derelict in my duties if I didn’t put her safety first.”

Nash wanted to applaud the detective. Leland’s scowl conveyed he didn’t feel the same way.

“Both came here armed,” Malley went on. “And, yes, they had the permits to carry. Their weapons are in my cruiser. They’ll get them back as they’re leaving.” He hiked his thumb toward the beefy man. “FYI, this is Mr. Harris’ driver and personal assistant. Roger Grange”

AKA minion.

“Mr. Harris, this is Caroline and Ruby Maverick and Nash McKenna, a security operative at Maverick Ops.”

Leland spared Nash a glance and had moved on to nodding a greeting at Ruby when his attention flew back to Nash. “McKenna?”

Nash nodded. “Brother of the escaped convict,” he readily provided.

Leland huffed and looked at Malley as if he might object to Nash’s presence, but then he must have figured it wasn’t an argument worth launching. Malley’s raised eyebrow and don’t test me expression probably played into that.

“I’m guessing since you work for Maverick Ops, you’ve been vetted,” Leland muttered before he turned to Caroline. “I think you and I want the same thing. Bodie McKenna dead. Am I right?”

Caroline shrugged. “I’d settle for him going back to jail. With the new charges from the escape and attack on the nurse, he won’t be getting out any time soon.”

“He’d be better off dead,” Leland snapped, and he glanced at his daughter through the open door.

Jordana was glaring at them. Maybe because she hadn’t been invited to this discussion, or she might just know her dad was hellbent on giving her husband a civilian’s version of a death sentence.

“Where’s Bodie?” Nash came out and asked.

“Near here. I don’t know his exact location,” Leland tacked onto that, causing Caroline, Nash, and Malley to groan. “But every indication is that he’ll try to get to Caroline.”

Malley added a second huff. “You didn’t have to drive all the way out here to tell us that. Do you or don’t you know Bodie’s whereabouts?”

Leland’s scowl deepened. “Again, not specifically, but I have an entire team of private investigators on this. They’re searching for him and will find him.”

“Cops are looking for him, too,” Nash pointed out. “So is Maverick Ops. What makes you think your team would be better at finding him?”

“Because I have a plan.” Leland fixed his attention on Caroline. “If you’re willing to be bait, we can draw Bodie out.”

That brought on a bunch of cursing, some of it from Nash, Malley, and Ruby. Plenty more of it came from Caroline.

“I’m already bait,” she snapped. “Wherever I am, wherever I go, that will be Bodie’s destination.”

Ruby took up the argument. “What do you expect her to do? Stand out in the pasture, arms open wide and with a target on her forehead? Well, it’s not going to happen. It’s not,” she repeated with far more emotion than she usually showed. “Why don’t you use your own damn daughter as bait? Certainly Bodie will want to see his wife?”

Leland’s jaw muscles went to war with each other. “Wife in name only,” he snarled. “I intend to fix that as soon as I talk some sense into Jordana.”

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