“Someone wanted to get control of Veronica for the same reason that we wanted to approach her.” Before he smashed the phone, he forced his fingers to ease their grip. “Someone else wants to use her against Cale.”
“The man probably has a whole lot of enemies.”
The kind who wouldn’t mind torturing an innocent woman to get what they wanted.
They want you, Cale.
“We need extra surveillance out here,” Jasper snapped. The idea of Veronica being watched by someone, of her being targeted, had rage twisting in his gut. “I want fingerprints taken from the house. I want to know just who the hell is playing with us.”
Who’d tried to hurt Veronica.
r /> “A team is on the way now. They’ll search for prints, but do you know what was taken?”
Jasper glanced back at the house. “I’ll find out.” He paused. “If the intruder found what he wanted.” All those slashes and the destruction upstairs...maybe that had happened after the intruder didn’t find what he wanted. Whoever it was could have been furious. Enraged. So he took out that fury on Cale and Veronica. “I don’t like this,” Jasper gritted.
“I know.” Logan’s voice was softer, and Jasper knew that Logan really did understand. On their last big mission, the woman Logan loved—had loved, for years—had been put in a killer’s deadly path. She’d been bait, and the killer had come far too close to taking out both Juliana and Logan.
Logan’s gaze had been haunted for weeks after the attack. He’d realized just how close he’d come to losing his Juliana, and he’d been afraid.
If anyone could relate, it would be Logan. Sighing, Jasper said, “I don’t want her put at risk.”
“The ranch covers a huge area. Her nearest neighbor is over forty miles away.”
Yeah, and the ranch was overgrown, with extra buildings scattered around and far too many places for anyone to hide.
“It’ll be tough to keep every section clear,” Logan added.
Tough, but not impossible. “I’ll take Veronica with me. We’ll start searching the north end of the property.”
“And I’ll send a team to begin in the south.”
Because their watcher might not have left entirely. He could easily still be killing close.
You won’t get her.
“Jasper.” There was a tense note in Logan’s voice. “Is this case getting personal?”
It wasn’t supposed to be. He’d already been screened. Checked to make sure that the bonds he’d had with Cale wouldn’t get in the way of performing the mission. But when the team leader asked about the mission getting personal, Jasper knew that Logan wasn’t referring to the other ex-ranger.
Veronica. “I can do the job,” Jasper said, deliberately not answering. Sure, he wanted Veronica, pretty damn desperately, but he couldn’t be falling for the woman, not that fast. Lust wasn’t personal. Lust was just about need. “I’ve got this.”
“That’s what I thought, too. Then when I realized how much danger was right beside Juliana, I wanted to kill everyone who ever thought about hurting her.”
That’s how I feel. “I’m in control” was Jasper’s response.
Then the screen door opened. Veronica appeared on the porch. She looked tired. Her eyes were big, but dark shadows whispered under them.
“Send out the crew,” Jasper said, and ended the call. He shoved the phone into his back pocket. He’d gotten a holster from his truck and it was under the edge of the light jacket he wore. The heat had cooled, giving way to the dark clouds and the storms that the forecasters said would continue soon.
Not that he really needed the jacket for anything more than covering his weapon.
“What crew is coming?” Veronica asked him. Then she held up her hand. “No, wait, let me guess, your federal buddies? They’re coming to my house?”
“You think the sheriff’s going to sweep for prints?” he asked her.
“No.” Her hand dropped. “But they will?”
“They already have a tech team at Last Chance. Logan and Gunner...those guys are in my debt, Veronica. They can do this job for me. Hell, it’s the least they can do. Someone wants something that your brother—or even you—have, and there’s no telling how far that person will go to get what he wants.”