Page 20 of Lone Star Protector

Slade. His other brother. And not an asshole killer. Slade was former special ops and one of the best operatives Ruby had. Nash couldn’t think of anyone else he’d rather have back him up unless it was his baby brother, Jericho. Yet another operative.

Being a hero ran in the family.

Then again, so did killing.

That was especially true since their father had almost certainly murdered their mother and gotten away with it. Clearly, Bodie had followed in their dear old dad’s footsteps.

“Once you have Caroline safe at your place,” Ruby went on, “Slade can come back here and join the search for Bodie and the shooter if that turns out to be someone else. Sorry to pull your brother away from you after you’re home, but Slade’s one of my best trackers.”

He was indeed. “I want Slade on the hunt,” Nash let her know.

“Good.” Ruby gathered her breath and rubbed the spot where the bullet had hit the Kevlar. “I’m fine,” she insisted, obviously seeing what he’d noticed. “I’ll stay behind and do clean up,” she tacked onto that.

Normally, he wouldn’t have taken her up on an offer like that. Because clean-up was going to be a bear. But Caroline had been through enough, and they could get to his place and regroup.

He got in the SUV, putting the rifle back in the case, and he looked at Caroline. “We’re going to my house about twenty miles from here,” he said. “With Slade following us on the way there. Are you okay with that?”

He wanted to give her a say in this, but the alternative was to go to a safe house. His place was just as safe as any that Ruby could set up for them. And they wouldn’t have to wait for that set up either.

Caroline nodded. “I need to get away from here,” she muttered.

“Understood.” And her mother had obviously understood it as well.

It wasn’t easy, what with the debris covering the driveway, but Nash was able to maneuver his SUV around the other vehicles and responders by driving through Caroline’s flower beds. Yet another kind of destruction to something she’d obviously tended and taken care of. Then again, with the house gone, it was possible she wouldn’t even be coming back here.

“I don’t have any clothes,” she said, maybe latching onto that less serious problem than everything else they were facing.

“Oz, arrange for some clothes, underwear, and toiletries to be brought to my house for Caroline. Arrange for the usual food delivery, too. I just got back from an op,” he added to Caroline, “and I haven’t had time to do groceries.”

Again, that was one of those less serious problems, but he would eventually want her to eat something.

He drove just a few feet away from the others and then stopped, waiting for Slade. They didn’t have to wait long before he spotted Slade’s familiar black van. His brother obviously spotted them, too, and pulled to the side of the road so that Nash could get ahead of him. Nash didn’t waste any time driving away.

And keeping watch.

After all, they had to drive right past those woods where the shooter had been, and it was possible the dickhead was still there, waiting for another chance to fire some bullets. Nash doubted it though. Soon, there’d be cops and investigators scouring those woods, and the shooter, or Bodie, wouldn’t want to be within miles of the place.

But where would Bodie go?

If his goal was to get to Caroline, and Nash was certain that it was, then Bodie could possibly be looking for her. At Nash’s place. Maybe Ruby’s, too. However, it wouldn’t be easy to set fires and stage a bloody scene at either of those two locations because of the security. Bodie would be aware of that, too. He would have heard of Maverick Ops’ reputation with such things.

So, Bodie would have to lure out Caroline or send in someone who could get close enough to her to do the luring. Again, not an easy task since Caroline and he would be on heightened alert.

They drove in silence for a while, passing by all that beautiful scenery he’d passed on the mad rush to get to her. This time though, Nash had a new task. To keep watch for any signs of another attack. Thankfully, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary so he kept threading through the backroads toward his house.

“Sorry about that outburst back there,” Caroline muttered, yanking his attention back to her. “And these,” she said, wiping away some tears. “I’m not a boo-hooer, and I’m not about to start now.”

“I think you had a valid reason for a few tears,” he pointed out.

The sound she made let him know she didn’t agree with that. “I thought I was done with tears,” she added, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “I did enough of that after the attack.”

Yeah, he was betting she had. A long, painful recovery, and even though Bodie had been in jail throughout it, that didn’t mean Caroline wouldn’t have been looking in every corner and in every shadow for a killer.

He hated that.

Hated Bodie a billion times over for putting her through a nightmare cycle that would never end. Never. Because even if Bodie was dead and buried, that wouldn’t erase the memories of the attack that had nearly left her dead.

“Part of me does want to stand out in the open and shout for Bodie to come after me,” she added a moment later. “That final showdown where I turn the tables on him and kick his ass.” Caroline paused. “But another part of me is worried I might freeze, that I might slingshot back to him stabbing me. I certainly didn’t do much fighting back that time.”

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