Page 49 of Rhys

Ending the call, Rhys looked at Vanessa. “Guess that answers that question. What about you?” He motioned to the mess on the table. “You find something, too?”

“I think I did. I couldn’t sleep, so I came out here and started going through the files Parker emailed you yesterday.”

“Files?” He frowned. “I don’t remember seeing an email from Collins.”

“He sent it later last night. Said he and Greyson had decided to divide and conquer, since there were so many.” An adorable blush filled her cheeks. “It came through while we were…occupied.”

“Oh.” He smiled. “That reminds me.” Bending down, he planted a soft, sweet kiss to her lips. “Good morning.”

“Morning to you, too.” Vanessa held his gaze a smidge longer before pulling back and focusing on the computer. “Okay, so like I was saying…I was going through the files Parker sent. At first, I didn’t see anything useful, but then…”

Her fingers clicked across the keys in record time. Standing beside her, Rhys leaned in to see what she’d just pulled up.

“Check it out.”

Rhys frowned. “It’s an obituary.”

“Just read it.”

Following the determined woman’s order, Rhys started to read the obit. It was for a kid who’d apparently died a week before his twenty-fourth birthday. He’d been in the military and was killed during a raid on an HVT, or high value target’s home.

“Damn. That really sucks. But I still don’t understand—”

“Keep reading.”

Okay…He kept on, reading about where the kid grew up, what sports he played in high school, when he went to boot camp, and what unit he’d been serving when he died.

There wasn’t a single thing that stood out to him. Not until he got to the portion of the obituary that listed his surviving family members.

“Holy shit.” He stared at the printed name in disbelief. “Kenneth Austin had a son?” Rhys looked over at Vanessa. “I had no idea.”

“Neither did I. But I did some research, and it turns out Austin got married super young and divorced just a couple years later. But during those two years, his then-wife gave birth to a son.” She pointed to the screen. “This son. From what I can tell, Austin signed his rights away when he and his wife split. Apparently she didn’t want him growing up in the public eye, and for whatever reason, Austin agreed. But he sent money…alotof money…every month when his son was growing up. Since then, Austin’s been known to publicly speak out against the military and the war. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume this is his motive.”

“Our government sends his son off to a war he doesn’t believe in—”

“And his son dies fighting that war.” Rhys nodded. “That would be enough to send an unstable man over the edge.”

With determination in her eyes, Vanessa nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

“Okay, then. I’ll shower and get dressed, and then we need to go back over this and the other files with a fine-tooth comb. We’ll make notes of anything that seems connected so we can share them with the others once they get here.”

She thought for a moment and then, “How long do you think we have before your team arrives?”

Rhys looked at his watch again. “By the time Grey and Trace get ahold of everyone and they make the drive here? Probably an hour. Maybe a little longer. Why?”

“I was just thinking.” She pushed herself to her feet and faced him. With her fingertip tracing a line down the middle of his chest, her tone became thick with need. “I need to shower too, and I thought maybe we could conserve water by showering together.”

His cock twitched behind his zipper. After two rounds of some of the best sex he’d ever had, Rhys would have thought he’d be good to go without for a while. But not with this woman.

It didn’t matter that his body should be depleted from the night before. He saw her, and he craved her. Just like when they first met.

Guess some things never change.

Hoisting her up by the hips and holding her close, Rhys said, “Well, Iama firm believer in helping the environment.”

With a smile on her face and her legs wrapped snuggly around his waist, Vanessa said, “Hey, Rhys?”

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

---