Noah jerked around and she stood there, staring at him, her gray eyes bleak and filled with pain.
This was one of the reasons why he couldn’t stay. This. This burning need to rip apart anyone who had hurt her. The rage that blazed inside him, that tore away logic
and control, that left him either tasting blood or tasting lust. Sometimes, he swore he could taste the need for both. At the same time.
She licked her lips slowly and moved from the doorway, coming toward him. Her face was pale, her eyes dark gray diamonds at they glittered with tears.
She stopped in front of him and simply leaned her head against his chest. That quickly the rage burned out. His arms came around her, and behind the hood of the car sheltering them, he jerked her to him, holding her. Holding her, and screaming inside. Because honest to God, he didn’t know if he could let her go.
“Back to work.” He stepped back.
Noah pushed his fingers through his hair and fought to get a hold on the feeling of betrayal he felt at hearing Grant’s opinion of Sabella.
He’d asked only one thing of his father. In more than a decade, only one thing. If anything happened to him, protect Sabella. Take care of her. And Grant had sworn he would. He had lied. He had let Sabella suffer. He’d done everything he could to run her out of her home and out of the business Nathan had left to her.
He shook his head and went back to his job. He pushed thoughts of Grant Malone to the back of his mind, to deal with later. And he would be dealing with his father later, there was no doubt.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Two hours later Noah stood in the closed office, his jaw clenching in rage as he held the secured cell phone to his ear and listened to Jordan’s report.
“Delbert Ransome was released on order of Federal Judge Carl Clifford, Houston, Texas,” Jordan reported. “Federal Marshal Kevin Lyle arrived at the airport an hour ago on a private flight, carrying the orders. He’s taken over the investigation on the feds’ end.”
“And what do the feds think of this?” Noah asked carefully.
“My contacts are screaming,” Jordan bit out. “Judge Clifford released Ransome on the fly-by-night excuse that Ransome’s truck had been stolen and missing for several days around the time of the death. Good ole Delbert just didn’t report it because he was drunk at the time, and by the time he sobered up, they found the truck parked in one of the pastures. He thought maybe he’d just parked it in the wrong place.”
Noah snorted at that.
“No shit. My opinion too,” Jordan grunted. “We have the leads we need though. We don’t have to play by the rules here, Noah. Our orders are to stop this, no matter what we have to do.”
No matter who they had to kill. Noah didn’t balk at killing when it was needed, but he’d like to have a little bit of proof before he pulled the trigger or wielded the knife.
“We’ll set up watch,” he told Jordan quietly. “I’ll put Travis back in place. We’ll get what we need.”
“I’m running background on the names you gave me and Tehya’s running probables and pulling in satellite time for the area. Watch your ass. When it hits, we’ll have to move fast.”
They were watching. Waiting. The next hunting party that went out would have a few surprises waiting for them.
“Did they get anything during interrogation?” Noah asked, watching through the wide square window of the door into the garage where Sabella was running a computer diagnostic on the sports car she was working on.
She was sweaty, greasy, her hair was escaping her ponytail, and she was the sexiest damned thing he had ever seen in his life.
“Nada. He didn’t say shit. Didn’t even ask for a lawyer. Just sat there and stared at the interrogators until the order came through on his release. Then, the bastard smiled.”
He’d known he was covered. Whoever operated in those hunting parties knew their asses were covered. Noah nodded slowly, plotting.
“We’ll cover high cards of interest,” he told Jordan, letting him know someone would be on the federal marshal in town.
“Someone needs to get that sheriff out of the game while they’re at it.” Jordan said. “I hear he almost threw a punch at the marshal. He left the office in a rage. Apparently, there was a leak in information. Word came down the line that physical evidence was collected before the arrest. And it seems it might have come through his office, and back out of it. He threw his deputy out the door, sent his secretary home, and locked up the office. No one’s seen him since.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed. It might be time to talk to the sheriff.
“I’ll lay out the deck,” he told Jordan, indicating he would place the members of the team where they needed to be. “I have priority here, and we’re searching for the missing.” For Chuck Leon, who Noah was beginning to suspect was more than a mechanic, or even a militia plant.
“We’re tracking for the leak,” Jordan promised him. “We should have it soon and you can bet the sheriff is searching as well. I’ll update you as I have more.”
Noah closed the cell phone slowly and continued to stare at Sabella.