1. River
CHAPTER ONE
River
Trace:
Riv, you haven’t been to Last Refuge since last week. Working on something new?
Are you alive?
Where the hell are you?
Answer my messages. If I don’t get proof of life, I’m showing up unannounced. I know how much you love that.
Sighing, I wiped a hand over my face and rubbed my eyes beneath my glasses.
It was light outside, but aside from that fact, I wasn’t sure what time it was. Or the date, except for the fact that it had been at least three days since Genevieve and Owen had left my apartment. Or four?
Time was a funny thing. Sometimes it moved so fast, even I couldn’t keep track.
It had been a quick eight months since I’d left the CIA to move to Hartley, Colorado. Since I’d joined the Last Refuge Protectors. Essentially, we were vigilantes. Helping those with nowhere else to turn. When we’d learned of Stillwater and their dirty dealings in Hartley, the discovery had lit a fire under me that I hadn’t experienced in a decade at least. A new challenge for the right cause.
Then the name Charlotte McKinley had fallen from Genevieve’s lips, and time had frozen. Rewound in my head.
My pulse thrummed erratically at my neck. I hadn’t spoken to her in years. But Charlie couldn’t have… no . There was no way she’d have anything to do with Stillwater.
I just wished I could prove it.
A couple of deep breaths, and I was steady again. My phone had been making noises for a while now, so I checked my messages, finding a slew from Trace. The latest had come in a few minutes ago. He’d threatened to come check on me.
Me:
Don’t pull from my playbook
Trace:
FINALLY. I’ve been texting you for days. What’s going on?
Busy
You forgot what day it is, didn’t you?
Yes
FFS. It’s my sister’s birthday. You’d better not miss tonight.
When was Jessi’s birthday? Hell if I knew.
When I got into a flow state, I could work for days at a time with only occasional breaks for food, exercise, and sleep. I did need all three, contrary to what my buddies sometimes assumed about me. But years of training, plus sheer stubbornness, had taught me to ignore my body’s limitations.
Annoying best friends, though? They were noisier. And much harder to disregard. I knew it because I had been the annoying best friend a time or two.
Me:
Right. What time is the party?
Trace:
6:30
I’ll be there
If you’re not, I’m dragging you out of that apartment. Aiden has big plans for tonight. It will mean a lot to him that we’re all there.
Scarlett is standing over your shoulder telling you what to write isn’t she
No comment
Trace and Scarlett had a point though. I had to get off my ass. I’d been following one rabbit hole after another in my research into Charlotte McKinley, and if I didn’t move from this room, my muscles would atrophy.
My joints cracked as I stood up to stretch, like I was an old man. Yikes. Welcome to thirty-five.
I dove to the ground to bang out my usual set of pushups. Then jumped up and grabbed onto the pull-up bar attached to my doorway. Knocked out eighteen.
After a quick protein shake, extra powdered greens, I changed into running clothes and headed out the door.
Half an hour later, I was jogging down the street toward Trace and Scarlett’s house. I’d made my favorite scenic loop around Hartley’s quaint business district. Now I was going to pay my bestie an unexpected visit. Just to get him back for threatening me earlier. I was ornery like that.
I pounded my fist on his front door.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” The door flew open. Trace stood there, looking like a feral mountain-man with his long hair and beard and that menacing scowl. But the sunflower pattern on the tea towel in his hands told a different story, along with the wet splatters on his T-shirt.
I leaned into the doorframe. “Aren’t you just a perfect picture of domesticity?”
He rolled his eyes and swung the towel so it draped over his shoulder. “Scarlett’s at work. I’m picking up after two teenagers who have no idea how bad their rooms smell. You’re too early for the party.”
“Hoped we could talk.”
He widened the door and stepped aside so I could enter. “Is this about Stillwater? I assume that’s what you’ve been working on so furiously. Found a new lead?”
“A wrinkle I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of. I could use a sounding-board.”
“I can chat, but you have to make yourself useful at the same time. I have strict instructions to make everything perfect.”
“From Scarlett?”
“No, man. From Aiden. He’s going to pop the question tonight at the party. He’s trying to act like it’s no big deal, but he’s sweating it.”
I scoffed. “As if Jessi will say anything but yes.”
We went out to the backyard. Soft clouds blotted out the blue of the sky and hid the sun. The smells of fresh cut grass and pines came from the nearby woods. Strings of lights and decorations that I assumed were for tonight’s party hung overhead.
Maybe I wasn’t a believer in traditional crap like marriage. Not for me. But I did want my friends to be happy. I hoped tonight went well for Aiden and Jessi.
Trace wheeled the grill to one side and pulled off its cover. “ So what’s on your mind? Whatever it is, it’s got you distracted.”
I made a rude sound with my lips. “I don’t get distracted.”
“I know. Exactly what tells me that this isn’t the usual.”
“Do you remember how I told you I used to spend the summers near Hartley when I was growing up?” I said. “My parents shipped me and my brother off to the Rockies.”
“Sure. I remember.”
Trace knew more about my background than most of the other people in my life these days. He knew about my trust fund, who my father really was. But there was still plenty I’d never shared with him.
“The family we stayed with was the McKinleys. Now their oldest daughter, Charlotte, is the Colorado lieutenant governor.”
“I’ve heard the name. She was elected about a year ago, right? Touted as an up-and-coming force in her party. I don’t pay much attention to politics, but I caught that much from the headlines.”
“Genevieve thinks Charlotte could have ties to Stillwater.”
Trace whistled. “And this Charlotte McKinley is a friend of yours?”
That was a difficult question to answer, wasn’t it? I sat on the edge of a picnic table. “Used to be. I’ve spent the last few days learning everything I could about her tenure as lieutenant governor so far. Her allies and enemies. Her favorite issues and causes. Shifts in her bank account balance. Anything that could reveal whether she’s getting paid off by Stillwater.”
“And?”
“Nothing. Except for the fact that she dated Jud Hale until recently.” Jud Hale was a former state legislator and the owner of a significant portion of the land in Hart County. Hale was on our list of suspects for being the Stillwater mole. “That was what put her on Genevieve’s radar in the first place.”
My friend studied me. “Then what’s bothering you about this? The personal connection?”
I glanced into the far corner of the backyard, not sure how to answer that. But I didn’t have to.
“She means something more to you,” Trace supplied. “Is Charlotte McKinley an ex of yours?”
“She’s Ross’s ex-girlfriend. My brother’s ex-fiancée, in fact.”
“But…”
I nodded. “But.” Period. Full stop.
“Damn.”
My friend could read me well. He could fill in the blanks. Which was the real reason I’d come here today. I’d known Trace would get it, even if I didn’t say the words aloud.
Trace and I had met at Langley. When Trace had gone rogue from the Agency and nearly died as a result, I’d tried to find him. He hadn’t wanted to be found. But way down deep, I had realized my friend was suffering. And I’d let him go through that alone.
In the end, he had been the one to contact me and renew our friendship. I’d shown up in Hartley not long after that, eager to help my friend in whatever way I could. But the thought still nagged me that I could’ve done more. Should have done more.
And that line of thought just brought me back to Charlie. To all the mistakes I’d made.
I knew I came across as an arrogant asshole. I wasn’t typically the most inward-looking guy. This was the reason. I wasn’t crazy about what I saw.
“So you felt something for your brother’s girl,” Trace said. “Was it more than just a feeling? ”
I smirked. “I never acted on it. She never knew.”
“Does Ross know?”
“No. For the record, my feelings predated their relationship. Charlie and I were friends. Until we weren’t.”
Trace didn’t push me on the reasons why, which I appreciated. “So the lieutenant governor has some inconvenient exes. Including your brother and Jud Hale. But never you.”
“That sums it up,” I said testily. Her past relationship with Ross had been bad enough. But a douchebag like Hale? I didn’t have my head wrapped around that yet, either.
“You think you can’t be impartial when it comes to her?” Trace asked. “Are you worried you’ll miss some connection between her and Stillwater?”
I rounded on him, making a face. “What? No. My work is impeccable.”
Trace chuckled and shook his head. “So sorry I doubted the great and powerful Rubicon. It’s just not often I get a reminder that you could be human like the rest of us.”
“I try to keep that to myself.”
“No kidding. I still don’t see what’s bothering you though.”
I rolled my tongue against my teeth. “I guess I could use your advice. I can’t prove one hundred percent that Charlie isn’t working for Stillwater, but all my instincts say she’s clean. The corrupt Hartley official is someone else. But do I get in touch with her again? Or do I leave the past where it is? In the past.”
“Depends on what you want the future to look like.”
I wanted to make a joke. Turn what he’d said around and act like it didn’t affect me. But I couldn’t.
“I’ll think about it,” I said. “For now, I need to keep my focus on Stillwater.” Trace was right. I’d already let Charlie distract me for the last several days. I had to push past it. “Thanks for talking it through with me. ”
“Not sure I did much. But yeah, anytime.” He shoved a wire brush at me. “Now help me clean off the grill.”
We worked for an hour on party prep. Then my phone made a noise. “Notification from Cerberus. He has news. Wants me to call. You good here?”
“Go handle it. Any minute the kids will be home, and I’ll put them to work. See you at six-thirty?”
“Yep.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “I wouldn’t miss Aiden’s big moment in the spotlight. Maybe I should stop by Last Refuge to give him a pep talk.”
“Sure, if you want him to take off your head.”
Trace knew I was kidding. I didn’t have that kind of death wish. I mean, I could handle Aiden no problem. But Jessi would do me in if I put a scratch on her grumpy man.
After jogging home, I stopped at the saloon to place an order. My apartment was conveniently located upstairs. Marco promised to send up my chicken sandwich when it was ready.
At home, I fired up my computer and placed an encrypted call to Cerberus. Audio only. We didn’t do cameras.
“Talk to me,” I said.
“You asked me a few days ago to watch for the name Charlotte McKinley. The lieutenant governor.”
I tensed. “Yeah?”
“Her name came up. Big time.”
“In connection to Stillwater?” My heart was in my throat.
“Yeah, but not what you’re thinking. We’ve been waiting for Stillwater’s next move, and I know what it is.”
By the time we ended the call, adrenaline had me shaking.
I’d spent a decade and a half answering to superiors. Taking orders. That wasn’t my life anymore. Yet I’d never felt so out of control as I did in this moment.
I wasn’t going to make it to Jessi’s party tonight.