Page 78 of Death Valley

I appreciate Eli speaking out, but I give him a sharp look anyway. If Aubrey truly isn’t here for Marcus, then she doesn’t need any additional information. I’d already confessed to her that the ranch belonged to Marcus and I was in debt to him. If she doesn’t know anything else then I certainly want to keep it that way.

“Arrest us?” Cole cries out, waving her gun around again. “I’d like to see her fucking try. Just fucking try, city girl.”

Aubrey ignores him, continuing to tend to Red’s wound with methodical precision. I watch her hands—the same hands that had traced fire across my skin in the firelight light—now covered in another man’s blood, moving with practiced efficiency that speaks to training I should have recognized sooner.

How many other signs did I miss? How blind was I, distracted by her beauty, by the connection I thought we shared? Maybe in the back of my mind I thought she was a nurse, but I know deep down it was something more than that.

Regardless, I find myself moving to her bag. I want to take the gun from Cole but not when he’s so combative. Instead, I rifle through the side pocket and my fingers clasp around a bottle of hand sanitizer. Despite everything, Red should be the focus here.

I give Cole a steady look, a warning, as I bring the bottle over to Aubrey.

Our eyes hold for a moment, tension rippling. Then she nods at it. “Squeeze a bit on the wound. It will help some.”

I do as she asks and Red gasps out in pain.

“We need to decide what to do with her,” Cole says, turning to Eli. “She’s compromised everything. The whole operation could be at risk.”

Aubrey raises a brow and I can tell she’s filing that information away.

“Shut it, Cole,” I snap at him.

“I think we need to secure her,” Cole says, stepping closer to Aubrey, gun raised, hand shaking. “Tie her up until we figure out what’s really going on.”

“Cole—” I begin, but he’s already moving, grabbing Aubrey’s arm and yanking her away from Red with enough force that she loses her balance, crashing into the edge of the table.

Something snaps in me at the sight—whatever my suspicions, whatever secrets she’s kept, I can’t stand by and watch Cole manhandle her, let alone with a gun in his hand while she’s unarmed.

I move without thinking, catching his wrist before he can grab her again.

“That’s enough,” I growl, twisting his arm until he releases her. “You lay a fucking hand on her again and you won’t be the only here bleeding out.”

Cole turns on me, fury and fear making his movements jerky, unpredictable. “Are you defending her? After she lied to all of us?”

“Right now Red is bleeding all over the floor because Hank tried to take a chunk out of him. That’s our priority.”

“Your priority, maybe,” Cole snarls. “Mine is making sure we don’t all end up in federal prison because you couldn’t keep your dick in your pants.”

The accusation lands like a physical blow. I shove Cole back, harder than I intended, sending him stumbling against the wall. “Watch your fucking mouth.”

“Or what?” Cole straightens, gun raised at my head, then at Aubrey’s. “You’ll protect your Fed girlfriend? Choose her over your own crew? We fucking own you, Jensen. She doesn’t.”

The situation is spiraling rapidly. Eli steps between us, hands raised placatingly. “Both of you need to calm down. This isn’t helping Red, and it sure as hell isn’t helping us figure out what happened to Hank.”

For a moment, it seems like Cole might back down. Then his gaze slides past me to where Aubrey is standing, and his expression hardens. “I’m not doing anything until she’s out of the picture.”

He lunges, not at me but at Aubrey, shoving past Eli with surprising speed. I pivot to intercept him, but Aubrey’s already moving, sidestepping his charge with practiced ease. Cole’s momentum carries him past her, and by the time he recovers, she’s across the room, grabbing the rifle that was leaning against the wall, aimed steadily at the center of his chest.

“Don’t,” she says simply, her voice calm despite the chaos of the last few minutes. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I will defend myself if necessary.”

The hut goes still, the only sounds Red’s labored breathing and the howl of the wind outside. Cole freezes, eyes fixed on the weapon in Aubrey’s hands—professional, steady, no hint of hesitation in her stance. She holds a rifle like she was meant to.

“This is who you really are,” I say quietly, the last of my doubts about her identity evaporating at the sight of her holding that gun like it’s an extension of her arm. Pure training, pure instinct. “Special Agent Wells.”

Something flickers across her face before her expression settles back into professional neutrality. “Yes. But that doesn’t change why I’m here, Jensen. I came to find my sister. That’s the truth, whatever else you might believe about me. That’s the truth and it’s all that matters.”

Did I matter?I think, but I know my thoughts are selfish.

“Why should we believe anything you say now?” Cole demands, though he’s wise enough to remain perfectly still under the gun’s muzzle. He’s still holding her own gun but if he raises it, he’s toast.

---