Chapter Two Alejandro
Chapter Two
Alejandro
Just outside Jackson, Wyoming
“Like hell you won that round.” Recruit Two brushed the snow off his pants, scowling. “You fell on your ass in a snowbank and pretended it was a strategy.”
“It was a strategy.” Our other recruit’s breath fogged the air between the two of them as he scoffed, “It was a tactical retreat.”
I listened to the two candidates continue their back-and-forth nonsense as Ryder stepped forward to shut it down.
He barked out a gruff noise of annoyance. “A retreat into what, exactly? Hypothermia?” He waved them off, motioning for another lap through the course.
The two candidates groaned, held back the curses I knew they wanted to sling our way, then started for the reset point.
“Were we such pains in the ass when we were recruits?” I asked, my breaths coming out in steady white puffs, the cold air managing to bite through my layers.
Ryder slid his sunglasses down his nose just far enough to give me his classic shut the hell up look.
“I’ll take that as a no,” I responded, following his gesture toward the ranch.
The light reflected off the snow like a spotlight, turning everything into a white wasteland. Even my shades didn’t offer a reprieve. I bowed my head, eyes to the ground, as we walked, with only the sounds of the recruits arguing in the distance and the crunch of snow beneath our boots.
For whatever reason, the white blanket covering the field sent me back into the past—to Christmas, which was less than two months ago. I’d helped Ryder’s nephew roll a snowball bigger than his head while Audrey had watched on from the deck with Ryder’s fiancée, Seraphina.
While the air burned my lungs today, the same as it had then, it didn’t carry the laughter from that day, and I couldn’t help but miss that sound.
Shit. Why was I thinking about that? Or remembering her smile, and the way her blue-green eyes lit up when I said something funny?
I did my best to try to shatter those thoughts and force them through the cracks of the steps as I climbed up to the porch.
Our third teammate, Reed, was there, in a rocking chair like an old man, sipping his black coffee and silently judging the world.
I was one step behind him in losing my faith in people.
The only thing that gave me hope was knowing there were kids like Chase out there, growing up to be better than us.
“Good news,” I muttered, resting against the porch rail and glancing at Reed. “The recruits can’t possibly get worse.”
“A three-man team is the sweet spot. No need to add more people,” Reed remarked.
That was the original agreement when we’d let go of our fourth man last fall, but things had changed. Hence, the current recruitment-weekend disaster.
“You hate people.” I laughed, my breath ghosting before me. “But I agree with you.” I folded my arms, watching the candidates I knew we’d be cutting. Just like the other six we’d already axed in the last few days.
“So, who’s telling the White House?” Ryder asked, arms crossed like mine.
We all respected President Bennett, but we were irritated that he kept pushing us to expand. Now that we were working directly for him, running covert missions, we didn’t exactly have veto power.
“They’re sending someone here who will convince us they’re right and we’re wrong,” Ryder gritted out in an agitated voice.
“Gotta love when life-and-death decisions are made by guys in loafers who’ve never had a gun pointed at their head,” I said, on the same page of annoyance as our team leader.
“Tell me about it.” Ryder removed his glove to go for his buzzing phone. “It’s my sister.”
Was Audrey a mind reader? Did she know I’d been thinking about her not even a minute ago? I shifted my jacket sleeve up to check the time. “Is it normal for her to call you this early on a Saturday?”
“No, it’s not.” He set his glove aside and answered. “Hey, you okay?”
The uneasy, gut-sinking feeling that hit me—and Ryder, more than likely—must have also slammed into Reed, because he abruptly stood.
“But she’s fine? Chase?” Ryder dropped his forehead into his palm and exhaled. “They got away?”
Someone else had to be using Audrey’s phone. What the hell had happened?
Reed and I exchanged a quick look as that chill settled in deeper.
“No, of course. You did the right thing.” Another pause.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just don’t let her or—” Ryder was cut off.
“No, I’m not telling you what to do, but I—” He let out a frustrated grunt, lifting his head.
“Yeah, okay. Have her reach out when she wakes up.” He ended the call. “That was Trevor Sloane.”
Chase’s dad, right. He was a veteran, and he and Audrey had divorced seven or eight years ago.
Audrey had mentioned back at Christmas that she’d moved from Virginia to Colorado so Chase could be closer to his dad.
Other than that? I knew nothing about the man.
I figured Ryder had done his homework, but he hadn’t shared his findings, so I had to assume there weren’t any red flags.
“Someone broke into Audrey’s place last night,” Ryder said, finally revealing why Trevor had called, then lifted a hand like it might dismantle the nerves between us all.
I stood tall and at attention, ready for marching orders.
“Who’s our target?” Reed asked, beating me to it.
“No one yet.” Ryder pocketed his phone, his fingers dragging through his hair before he slipped his hand back into his glove. “Trevor was on his way over to Audrey’s to drop Chase off after the movies when it happened. He arrived just in time. Scared off whoever was there before they could . . .”
He didn’t need to finish that sentence. I couldn’t stomach thinking about what someone might’ve done to a woman alone in her home. All that mattered was that it didn’t happen. She was okay.
“Trevor couldn’t chase after them without leaving her and my nephew alone,” Ryder added after a heavy pause. “The sheriff’s calling it a burglary.”
“But . . . ?” Reed cut in again before I could.
“Maybe it’s random. Maybe not. We’ve got to keep in mind who her ex is.
Well . . . both her exes. Trevor was a SEAL for twenty years.
Maybe he racked up a few enemies in that time.
And while Audrey doesn’t like to talk about Mitch, I went ahead and looked him up.
” His mouth twisted, guilt tugging at the fact he’d gone behind her back.
I did my best to water down his worries over doing what any good brother would have done—not that I had a sibling. “Of course you checked. It’s what any of us would do.” I cleared my throat, waiting for his eyes. “What’d you find out?”
“Naval pilot for twenty-one years. Highly decorated. His files were heavily redacted, though, so something tells me he was doing a lot more than a routine supply run when his plane went down a year ago.” Ryder’s jaw flexed. “I hate that I wasn’t there for her at the funeral.”
“You didn’t know you had a sister,” I reminded him. The man loved to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, even when the weight didn’t belong to him.
“Anyway, uh, I’m hoping it really was just a break-in—and the assholes thought no one was home. So they took off the second they heard Trevor coming.” The side of his mouth hitched. “She didn’t even want me to know. Didn’t want me worrying. Thankfully, Trevor disagreed with her.”
“Stubborn, huh? Must run in the family.” I swallowed down the knot rising in my throat. “Where’s she staying now?”
“At his lodge. He owns a bed-and-breakfast with his sister. It’s why he moved out to Colorado after he retired. Their parents gave it to them after they retired. She tried running it by herself for a few years, but Audrey said she was struggling, and Trevor offered to step in under one condition.”
“He’d only move if his son came too?” I guessed.
Ryder nodded. “He thought it’d be good for Audrey to start over somewhere new after everything that happened as well.”
“Start new with him?” The jealousy in my tone bled straight through, and I didn’t know where that’d come from. That feeling had no business being anywhere near me.
Ryder read my expression correctly, and I knew I needed to immediately backpedal.
“I’m sure she’s not a fan of being under the same roof with her ex.” I’d run the wrong direction I was supposed to go with that. Like, straight into the truth. I was the one who was uncomfortable with the idea. What the hell was wrong with me?
“I don’t know,” he grumbled. “Better with him than at a hotel, I suppose.” He shook his head. “This whole brother thing might be new to me, but I know I need to be there for her. Not just work the case from a distance.”
“What about the White House?” Reed pointed toward the recruits, who were younger than us but limping through the final obstacle. “The president’s man today won’t listen to us; it has to be you that tells him we don’t need to expand.”
Ryder hung his head, sighing. “Seraphina’s flying here from Charleston tonight too.”
“Then let one of us go ahead. We can get a room at the lodge and stay close until you’re free tomorrow,” I suggested. “And if her ex gets territorial, we’ll remind him Delta guys make SEALs look like weekend warriors.”
“I’ll go,” Reed offered.
I arched my brow. “You? You hate people. You’re going to play nice with Audrey’s ex?”
“I can be civil when I have to.” Shockingly, Reed sounded offended.
“Sure you can. Your idea of being nice is using cyanide to kill a guy instead of putting one in his head,” I deadpanned.
Reed smirked. “And that is more humane.”
“Watching someone choke on his own vomit, hmm?” Ryder cracked a smile. “Alex is right. He should go. He’s better with kids.” He winced as a form of apology to Reed.
Reed sat again, resuming his rocking. “Animals like me.”
“And that’s your lane; stay in it. Nothing wrong with that.” I winked, then turned back to Ryder. “She’s going to be fine. We’ll figure out who broke in and deal with them. It’s what we do. Don’t lose sleep over this.” I nodded. “I’ve got this.”
“This big-brother thing . . .” He rubbed his chest like something heavy sat there. Probably the weight of that moral compass we all did our best to follow. “Should’ve come with a damn manual. I got a late start.”
“Yeah, well, better late than never.” I stepped back. “I’ll go pack.”
Ryder frowned. “We’ll meet you there tomorrow morning.”
“Roger that.” I turned to go, but he caught my arm.
“Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“She’s my sister.”
I blinked. “I’m aware.”
He dragged his sunglasses down his nose and locked on to me. “Sis. Ter.”
Ah. I heard the subtext loud and clear that time.
“You don’t have to worry. Falling for anyone is the last thing on my mind. My ex-wife tried to kill me, remember?” I pointed to the spot where Beth had shot me just last fall. Physically, I was fine. Emotionally? Probably still teetering on the edge of being wrecked.
Thanks to that woman, I had zero plans to date or get married again.
Ryder didn’t respond. Didn’t even crack a smile. He just stared.
“I’m serious,” I said, holding his gaze. “I promise.”
And really, why would Audrey want anything to do with me? She had to still be mourning the loss of her husband.
After everything she’d been through, the last thing she needed was another man with a military past full of baggage blowing up her life.
“But for what it’s worth . . .” I half turned with a grin. “This brother thing? You’re a natural.”