Page 44 of Lone Star Protector

The drone dropped down, going closer to the body as Slade and the cops approached. Slade stayed back a little, recording the scene on his phone. Probably since it would give him a different view than the drone.

A cop went to one side of the body, crouching down to look at Bodie’s face. The second went to the other, his attention focused on the neck wound. And while Nash couldn’t hear what they weren’t saying, he did see something that sent a spike of alarm through him.

One of the cops stood abruptly and appeared to be cursing.

Slade and the other cop moved in, going to the side where they could see Bodie’s face. That spike of alarm got even harder and bigger when Slade’s expression turned to ice, and he pressed something on his phone.

Moments later Nash’s phone buzzed not with a text but rather a call from Slade.

Hell.

Something was definitely wrong.

“What happened?” Nash couldn’t ask fast enough.

Slade wasn’t so quick to answer, though, and Nash watched him draw in a long breath. “It’s not Bodie.”

Nash shook his head.

Caroline made a soft gasping sound.

“But we saw him on the feed,” Caroline insisted. “It has to be him. He has to be dead.”

“It’s not him,” Slade said, his voice as strained as his expression. “I don’t know who the hell he is, but he’s wearing a mask of sorts.” He paused, seemed to struggle with what he added next. “It’s a picture of Bodie taped to the dead man’s face.”

Chapter Fifteen

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“This is hell,” Caroline heard herself mutter. “I’m in hell.”

She knew that she sounded on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. And she hated to worry Nash like that.

Hated to feel like this.

But she couldn’t stop herself from repeating that I’m in hell over and over while she pressed her hands to the sides of her head and tried to wrap her mind around what she’d just learned.

That Bodie wasn’t dead.

She’d been so relieved when she’d thought it was over. When she’d been certain that he’d never be able to hurt her or anyone else again. So relieved that she’d felt…alive. So whole. She hadn’t felt like a victim.

But now, all those old feelings had returned with a vengeance and were like a swamp around her. Hot and dirty, reeking of dark, dangerous things ready to rip her to pieces.

Yeah, that panic attack was coming, all right.

“Sit,” she heard Nash say, and that’s when she realized she had fisted her hands in her hair and was pacing. Not a slow movement either. She was practically running around the room.

Nash gently took her by the hand and led her back to the sofa. She sat because she wasn’t sure her legs could even support her at the moment. She wasn’t sure of anything except this rising dread that was coming on so fast that it was impossible to tamp it down.

“So, where is he?” she managed to ask. “If that’s not his body, then where’s Bodie?”

“To be determined,” Slade said.

Oh, God.

That was not what she wanted to hear. She needed him caught. She needed him dead.

Caroline tried to rein in her fears. Tried to focus. Or move. Or do anything that would help her fight this. But at the moment, it didn’t feel as if this was a fight she could win.

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