Page 55 of Shelter for Sharla

“I told him to keep his mouth shut, and he will.”

“I hope you’re right.” Cruz sat there for a few seconds, deep in contemplation, and Carter wanted to dance. His own deputy, a wet-behind-the-ears rookie, had figured out what everyone else had struggled with. It was true?sometimes a fresh perspective was all that was needed.

“I suppose I should call the analysts and?”

“No!”

“Yes. I don’t want government funds wasted when we’ve figured it out.”

“Then tell them we determined they were meaningless scribbles.”

Cruz frowned. “You know they’re not going to buy that.”

“Try. I’d rather they?”

The ringing of Cruz’s phone interrupted Carter’s sentence. “Hang on. This is my boss in SanAntonio.” Carter watched as Cruz hit the button to accept the call. “Livingston. Hey, yeah, still here. We… What? Yeah, the other day.” Cruz’s frown deepened and Carter wondered what was up. “But he was in solitary. Uh-huh. Yeah.” Something was going on, and Carter wanted to know what it was. “Oh, how coincidental, huh? Yeah. Let me know. Sure. Thanks.” Cruz hit end and stared at Carter. “You’re not going to believe this.”

“Try me.”

“The prison had my contact info, so they called the office. Estevez and McCutchen?” Carter nodded. “Dead.”

Carter was sure he’d heard wrong. “What?”

“They’re dead. Estevez was involved in a fight in the dining room and knifed in the stomach by another inmate.”

“But McCutchen was in solitary.”

“Yeah. Hanged himself from the bars in the window with a bedsheet.”

Carter could feel his eyebrows shoot up. “You don’t believe any of that, do you?”

“Not for a minute. I think we need to go back to that self-storage facility and pull everything that belonged to Imogen, bring it to your office, and lock it down.”

“Let’s go.” Carter ran to the bedroom, dragged on a pair of jeans and a tee, and met Cruz back at the front door.

And when they drove up in front of the building, Carter’s heart froze. The door was wide open and things were strewn everywhere, boxes overturned and items broken and dashed against the walls. “Holy fuck.”

“I think the holy fuck is that we’re here between a bunch of aluminum buildings where no one on the street can see us. We’re sitting ducks. Get us the hell out of here,” Cruz hissed, and Carter threw the truck into gear and tore out between the buildings and back onto the street. As soon as the truck was a block down the street, Carter heard Cruz sigh before he asked, “Why do I get the feeling we were being watched?”

“Because I’m pretty sure we were. And if they know that journal was in Sharla’s building and it’s not there anymore, they’re watching her too. My god. What do we do?”

“We make sure she’s safe and then check on the kids. There’s little else we can do.”

“You could assign agents to her and the kids! We could take them to a safehouse! We’ve got to dosomething!” Carter screamed at Cruz.

“But they’ll be the ones who flushLa Tana del Lupoout. They’ll come looking for that information. When they do, we’ll be ready.”

“I don’t like this. I don’t want people I love used as bait.” And it was true?he cared about Chelsea and Lionel because Sharla loved them. Tamara had already been used as a pawn. What else would these men do?

“I’m calling my superiors. We need some help down here, Carter. I know you didn’t want anybody else to?”

“Call them! Call the fucking NationalGuard! Call anybody you can! I want them safe, understand?I want them SAFE!”

Carter watched as Cruz flipped through the contacts on his phone and placed a call, but he had to leave a message. Fuck it all. Leaving a message wasn’t good enough. Carter needed to do something, but he didn’t know what. Sharla was in danger and she had no idea. He had to tell her. And he had to keep her safe.

There was no other option.

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