Page 28 of Control Line

“Sure.” That dissipated her anger instantly. She wasn’t lying, she was a fixer.

“You were stationed at Fort Riley, right?”

“Yep.” She had a spring in her step and popped her P before turning back to the hikers and stopping. “Guys, pay extra attention for the next part. There’s some soft sand which makes for a slippery downgrade. But also, there are hidden rocks under it. Step too hard and you’ll tweak you knee or ankle.”

Sexy.

The hike resumed.

“Are you familiar with Olathe, Kansas?”

A shadow passed over her visage that he didn’t understand. Maybe if her sunglasses were lighter, he could read her. He’d have to ask about that more later.

“Yes. Olathe is about two-and-a-half hours west of Riley. Why?”

Even her voice changed. She was not a fan of Olathe and he wanted to know why.

“Because the man who stole my identity had an address there. I feel like that gives me a reason to hate the town, but why do I get the impression you do, too? Is their high school football team that bad?”

Barney reverted to humor when things got heavy. Zee’s steps faltered as she picked up the pace.

To get away from me?

“Zee?”

“Can we drop it?”

“Not if you run, no. We can drop it because you asked, but not by running away.”

Her shoulders fell, and she exhaled forcefully. But she slowed enough to allow him to catch up.

“Sorry, running is a habit now I guess, but I can’t run from Olathe or Manhattan or even Junction City.”

Barney was clueless, but it meant something to her so he would stand there and let her work through it until she was ready to share.

“Billy had a kid and a girlfriend in Olathe. She was his ex and current. He didn’t know I knew, but he basically lived there when I was deployed or when he had a ‘weekend job’.”

Shit. That was not the answer he was expecting. Three fucking kids. . .that she knew about. How many more were out there that he didn’t know about. Billy was some fucking piece of work. Barney wished the asshole was alive so he could kick his ass when he finally made it out that way to resurrect himself.

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