Page 56 of True Valor
Before he could answer, their food arrived.Both men dug in, as she suspected they would.If she hadn’t been soperturbed that they hadn’t answered her, she’d have smiled.Apparently mediocre food trumped even the most importantconversation.
Julie tapped her water glass with her fork,stopping both Cruz and Nic in mid-chew.
“Attention.Hello.Please could you answer myquestion?”
Twin looks of alarm from both men for hercalling attention to them.She put down the fork, and offeredfeeble apologies.Nic patted her leg under the table and swallowed.He leaned close and whispered in her ear.“Sheriff Raines.”
Shock shot down her spine, like lightning.“What?No way,” she said, trying not to shriek.
Cruz just raised his eyebrows inresponse.
“But...he was so nice to me.Liz and Italked about it.He was sorta creepy.But…”
Nic waited until she finished sputtering.Then he again patted her leg and encouraged her to eat.They’dexplain as they ate.
“It’s stolen valor,” Cruz said, “at the veryleast.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s where someone pretends to have militaryhonors that he didn’t earn,” Nic said.“Raines has taken overanother man’s identity, a man that earned the Distinguished ServiceCross.”
“It’s possible that he killed the guy to getthat identity,” Cruz added.“We don’t know.But the deal is thathe’s built this whole big sheriff persona and your dad knew aboutit.Raines has a lot to lose.”
Over the next fifteen minutes, it becameobvious that not only was the good sheriff not what he seemed, buthe was a big-time deceiver.Probably a murderer.
With the help of a contact that Cruz hadmade, a fake-SEAL hunter in Colorado, they’d put together an entirepicture of the man who pretended to be the golly-gosh Ex-GreenBeret, now sheriff of Lassen County.They’d even found a photo ofRaines in full dress greens with an array of medals, not the leastof which was the Distinguished Service Cross.Wearing that uniformand those medals is a federal offense and Raines’ career in lawenforcement would be over if it came out.
The problem was they couldn’t provemurder.
“No kidding.The D.A.would laugh you rightout of his office, even if he isn’t buds with the guy.”
Julie hadn’t seen him coming.The man whospoke did so as he slid in beside Cruz.He was tall and lean, withdark, shortly cropped hair and silvery eyes that crinkled when hesmiled—a let’s-be-friends-you-can-count-on-me smile.On this man,it seemed to be second nature.No doubt, another member of BravoSquad—the best looking team in the Air Force.
“You must be Julie.I’m Chris Gabriel.”
With a tip of his head, Cruz gestured acrossthe table.“Gabe’s our resident legal adviser.”
“Oh, so not a member of the team?”
“No, he is.”
Of course, he is.
“But he was a JAG officer in his formerlife.”
Julie looked from man to man.“And doeseveryone on the team know the intimate details of my life?”
At that question, Nic promptly blew milk outhis nose, grabbed frantically for his napkin, and excused himselffrom the table.
“You okay?”Gabe asked as Nic slid back intothe booth.
“I’ll live.”
“Gives new meaning to drowning on dairy.”
“So how’d you find us?”Julie asked Chris.“Batsignal?”
“Nah.It’s very scientific.”Chris stoppedthe waitress and ordered an iced tea.He pointed, indicating Nicand Cruz, “If they aren’t at home and aren’t at work, then they’reeither here or at the Oasis.”He looked at his watch, then smiledover at Julie.“And it’s too early for them to be there.”
