Page 78 of Under Fire

A slight pause, then, “What happened?”

Matt brought his friend up to date. “Cade will be fine, but he’s out of commission for a few weeks while he heals. I’ve already alerted Nate Armstrong. If Bravo is deployed, he’ll cover for Cade.”

“I’ll inform Maddox and get back to you about your tail. Might take a while. The Texas unit is in a hotspot at the moment.”

Texas unit? Delilah twisted to stare at Matt. How many units worked for Fortress?

“I understand.”

“If I can’t do the search in the next few minutes, I’ll hand it off to one of the tech geeks.”

“Thanks, Z.”

“Yep. Delilah, how are you?”

“Grateful to be alive and blessed to have Matt in my life.” Understatement of the year.

“I’m sorry about your childhood home. Were you able to save anything?”

“We had fifteen seconds to get out of the house. The fire department was still working the fire when we left. Based on what I saw, I think the house is a total loss.”

“Let us know if we can help. Matt, we’ll be in touch soon.”

Twenty minutes later, Matt parked in front ofTresAmigosrestaurant.

“Perfect.” Delilah smiled. “We’re here before the dinner crowd. Do we still have a tail?”

“Oh, yeah. I wasn’t trying to lose him.” He sent a text and slid his phone away. “We’ll eat and let Zane identify the truck’s owner.”

Ninety minutes later, they were back on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. Matt scanned the parking lot as he pressed his hand to Delilah’s back as he guided her toward the SUV. “Still have our tail. Good. Bravo should be back at the hotel and have the Ramseys settled by now. Time to lose the truck and check on Cade.”

After helping Delilah into the SUV, Matt drove from the lot and headed for Highway 219 and Harmony. Ten miles later, he exited the highway in Waynesboro and turned squares as soon as they drove downtown.

The pursuer fell back as Matt increased the distance between them. He glanced in the rearview mirror and sped up. “Hold on.” At the next corner, Matt turned, stomped on the gas pedal, and raced to one of four parking garages on this block.

He whipped into the farthest one and zoomed up the ramp until they were no longer in sight of the street. On the top floor of the garage, Matt parked and opened his door. “Stay here.”

He got out and jogged to a concrete pillar at the front of the garage. Still in shadow, he eased closer to the edge and waited. The minutes stretched out while Matt remained motionless at his post.

Delilah wanted to see for herself what was going on. She wrangled herself under control. If she was caught in the open, Matt would risk his life to protect her.

Matt pulled out his cell phone and checked the screen. His expression turned grim.

Delilah’s stomach knotted. Not a good sign. What now? Was Cade worse or had something else happened?

After another perusal of the street below, Matt returned to the SUV.

“Did we lose the truck?”

“Yeah, we did.”

She wrapped her hand around his. “I know something is wrong. Talk to me.”

“Zane hacked into traffic cams and captured the truck’s license plate.” He kissed her knuckles. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but the truck is registered to your brother.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Matt drove from the garage and turned squares on his way back to the highway, frequently checking his mirrors. No sign of Zach or anyone else.

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