Page 65 of Montana Freedom

I heard him speaking to Jude outside in low tones before he retreated, and I was left completely alone. The chair wasn’t comfortable, but I was fine being uncomfortable—I was alive.

Once again, Daniel had saved my life. This time, it wasn’t even on purpose. But I was starting to wonder if he was some sort of guardian angel sent to keep me safe.

Either way, I wasn’t leaving his side.

Pulling the chair close to his bed, I held his hand and laid my head beside him, getting as comfortable as I could for the wait.

* * *

“Emma?”

I jerked awake at the sound of Jude’s voice. “Yeah?”

“You have some…visitors.”

One look toward the door told me the visitors were the two suits I’d summoned last night.

No longer was I afraid and shaking, barely able to put a sentence together in front of them. This time, I had the questions, and they were going to answer them.

I pushed away from the bed and shut Daniel’s door behind me before I turned on them. “Was this because of you?”

“We didn’t shoot him,” Agent Jones said. “So no, this wasn’t us.”

“You think this is a time to get cute with me?” I asked. “I’m aware at least one of you doesn’t have the best opinion of me, and I couldn’t give less of a shit right now.”

Jude was behind me, and probably others too. I hadn’t looked. But it was fine. They deserved to know what had happened to get their friend shot just as much as anyone.

I focused on Agent Phillips. “I asked you to wait. And you didn’t, did you?”

To their credit, both agents looked sheepish. Once again, Agent Jones spoke. “We’re truly sorry for the trouble. This wasn’t what we’d anticipated.”

“I wasn’t talking to you.” I looked at his partner. “You used my name?”

“We did.”

“And it was really so urgent you couldn’t have done as I asked and waited until after the wedding?”

His face went dark. “We’d already used it when I saw you in town. I told you we’d already asked the judge for permission.”

I noted he kept sayingweinstead ofI. “And so you decided it was better for menotto know you’d already put a target on my back? Are you kidding me?”

“Whoa.” Agent Phillips held out a hand. “We only used your name. Put it out there like you had a presence. We didn’t attach a location to it or do anything to indicate you were here. We simply wanted him to surface.”

“And he did do that, didn’t he?”

My whole body shook with rage, but the image of Daniel bleeding and unconscious kept me focused. I nearly felt sick about what I was about to do, but this couldn’t happen again.

“You’re getting your wish, Agent Phillips. You want me to help? Fine, I’ll help. I don’t want another close call. Because the next bullet might be the one that kills me. Or kills Daniel. I’m not going to let that happen. So congratulations, asshole, you win.”

Phillips, who’d been mostly silent, looked grimly satisfied. “Good. We’ll need a day to set it up, but we’ll be in touch with the details.”

He started to turn away, and I couldn’t stop the words that flew out of my mouth. “If the shot had hit its mark, would you be sorry?”

“Excuse me?”

“If I were lying on a slab in the morgue right now instead of calling you out, would you be sorry? Knowing this was entirely because you’re up on your high horse with no grace for people who have gone through things you can’t even imagine.”

Agent Phillips’s face twisted into fury. “You haveno ideawhat I’ve been through.”

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