Page 40 of Long Arm of the Cowboy

A big hand came down on top of it and rested there like a heavy weight that couldn’t be budged.

“So someone on the inside knew the unit was coming to meet us to get rid of this bomb,” he continued in a methodical recounting. “Then they were stopped. So that leads me to believe that whoever is behind all this knew the FBI’s moves.” He turned his focus on Julius. “Did you get the workup your brother sent on the guy on Quick Bunny?”

“Yup. It’s a bogus name and that house is hijacked.”

“Hijacked?” Lark echoed, a question in her tone.

Jennings’s dark eyes landed on her. “The house is actually up for sale. Whoever this dude was, he took down the For Sale sign and broke into the place to make it appear that he lived there.”

“Oh my god. At least the house was empty and nobody was hurt!” Her outburst had all three men staring at her. She realized that the idea of others being hurt hadn’t even occurred to any of them—they were hunters first and foremost. Once they got a whiff of the crime and a suspect, they were bloodhounds relentlessly tracking them down.

She moved her leg away from Clay’s, but he tightened his grip on her knee, locking her in place. Their stares met for a single heartbeat before he swung his attention back to the guys.

“What do we know about the person that Lark was supposed to deliver the bomb to?” he asked.

“That’s still under investigation,” Jennings spoke up. “The WEST team can’t find anybody by that name in the database.”

“And the address?” Clay asked.

“Another home up for sale. Seems to be a lot more of those in East Canon, Colorado than most cities. Any reason for that?” Jennings aimed his question at Lark.

“The factories shut down. People can’t get work, so they’re leaving in droves. Those who stay are fighting for rank. Poverty is real, and not in an I-can’t-make-rent way. It’s becoming an entire downward spiral into addiction and crime. Even the domestic abuse cases are at an all-time high in the town.”

“Desperate times create desperate people. We’ve seen it,” Julius said. “I think we need to entertain the idea that someone is working on the inside with the FBI. They knew where they were going to be.”

“That could be a simple GPS tracker on a vehicle. What evidence of that do you have it could be someone on the inside?” Lark’s inner reporter popped up.

Julius contemplated her. “Gut instinct, that’s what.”

“But does that stand up in a court of law?”

“She’s got a point.” Clay swung his gaze from Julius to her. “But I agree. There’s something more going on.”

God, even when he disagreed with her, his mind wassohot. She shifted her knee, bumping his again. When he swiped a finger over it, her insides fluttered with awareness.

In fact, she was so locked in on Clay that she didn’t realize when the talk shifted to a game plan to get her to safety.

“I’ll need to talk to WEST, but now we need to consider that Lark requires a bodyguard. Her place was ransacked, and people know her name on that app and around East Canon.”

“I’m sure the Wyntons will send a guard to fetch her. Or one of us can take her to a meeting point.” Jennings cast her a glance.

Clay’s fingers fell away from her knee and he settled it in a fist on the tabletop. Her reporter’s mind was always working on a story, and that meant she read body languagepretty dangwell.

What she saw was a show of dominance. Clay would no sooner put her in a vehicle alone with one of the Abel brothers than he would ride around with that bomb in the back of his truck for much longer.

“Lark stays with me.”

There he went again with the dad act. Lark rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat, which moved her knee from its spot up against Clay’s.

He didn’t react to the change of connection. Both guys eyed him like they detected it, though.

Lark cleared her throat. “Look, I have an old friend from college. I’ll get in touch with her. I know she’ll let me crash for a few days at her place in Boulder.”

All three heads shook, stopping her mid-thought.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Just no. You’re not going to be safe with an old sorority sister from college,” Clay ground out.

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