The third man spoke. “I know Duke is supposed to be some kind of big deal, but what kind of big deal?”
The first man answered tautly. “I’d give you his service jacket if I had it. Just know he was being fast-tracked for the top, and not only because he knew the right people. That was the least of it. When the military history books are written, his name will be in them.”
The third man spoke again. “I take it you don’t mean because he eventually gets a star?”
“No. His commendations would fill a book. He’s reputed to be a tactical genius. He’s faced everything that we have, and probably more. Some think he should get the Medal of Honor for one mission.”
The second man blew air through pursed lips. “I hadn’t heard about that.” Then he turned toward the third man. “The point is, we’ve all heard about him. Even you. That should tell you everything you need to know.”
The first man spoke again. “We’re not talking about just going up against somebody’s brother. If we have to, we will. But I wouldn’t advise it. The man could be capable of taking out all three of us.”
Another long silence fell. The coffee started perking, and the second man leaned forward to move it to the side of the fire. Twigs and branches crackled as flames danced through them.
“And we can’t do another break-in?” asked the third man.
The first man sighed. “We can. But first I want that damn laptop charged. We could conceivably save ourselves a whole lot of trouble.”
“Except for what Larry Duke said about us never finding the info.”
“He could have been lying.”
They all hoped so.
It was so much clearer on an operation overseas. Here it was all muddied by lines they couldn’t cross.
Nobody had considered these parameters.
CAT EVENTUALLY ROSE, deciding to go indoors. The evening had been peaceful, few people about, but the chill was beginning to penetrate by way of her hands and denim-covered legs.
A cup of instant cocoa sounded perfect.
Inside, she boiled some water in her kettle and pulled cream out of the fridge. She always liked a bit of cream in the instant cocoa. It tasted richer.
When the kettle began to whistle, she poured the hot water into a mug over the mix. An easy, relaxed evening would continue.
A twinge of guilt hit her as she remembered the exercise she was forgoing, an hour or so in her basement with weights and her bicycle. It was okay to skip a couple of nights, and it wasn’t as if she needed to work out any tension.
Then her thoughts returned to Duke. Sitting at her kitchen table, she wondered about him running along the roads of this county, dealing with his demons, missing his brother. Should he even be out there alone?
Remembering his palpable anger when he had arrived in town, she wondered if he should be alone with that, either.
Damn, that man wouldn’t stay out of her head. She told herself he had to be her priority right now, but she suspected that was an excuse. Despite his initial anger, he’d steadily drawn her in. She cared about the hell he was dealing with, about how he was handling it.
Well, when she got additional information tomorrow at the office, she might have more she could safely share with Duke. One thing she didn’t want him to know was that their initial assessment was that Larry had been tortured. God, she didn’t want to be the person who had to tell Duke that.
Forgetting her relaxing evening, she put her forehead in her hand and stared down into her cup of cocoa. What happened to Larry had been awful, just awful, even without all the details. She couldn’t imagine how much more awful it would be for Duke to know.
Finally she sipped her cocoa again, then thought about tossing it, because it had grown cool already.
The rap at her door startled her. The digital clock on her microwave said it was just before ten. An emergency? Heck, this town practically rolled up the streets by nine, if not earlier.
Concerned, she hurried to answer the door. When she opened it, she was astonished to see Duke. The breeze had picked up, and even though he stood a few feet away, she could smell soap and shampoo.
“Come in,” she said, quickly stepping back.
“It’s late...”
“You’re here for a reason. Come in.”
He passed her, heading straight for the kitchen. She followed him, then asked, “What is it about you and kitchen tables?”
He shrugged. “In our family, this is where we always held conversations. Larry and I kept it up even sitting at tables when we went to a bar.”
That made sense. She faced him at the table, pushing her mug aside. “What can I do for you?”
“I just had a question. When I saw your lights were on, I thought it might not be too late to knock.”
“It wasn’t. Another half hour might have been different.”
He half smiled, reminding her of how attractive he was when he wasn’t on the edge of fury. Something had changed since he’d talked to Matt.
“I’m beginning to realize I’m probably on a futile quest,” he said after a minute or two.
Surprisingly, her heart squeezed. Not what she wanted to hear, despite all her initial objections. The fact was, she was now looking at a man who wasn’t accustomed to being stymied. How much harder for him than the average person. Nor did she have any reply to reassure him.
He continued. “I was reacting to Larry’s death. I needed to do something. My usual reaction to crisis. Useless under these circumstances.”
“I understand it,” she admitted.
“Still, there’s reality, and I’ve been avoiding thinking about it. There are so many situations I’ve encountered where I’ve been able to do something. But to act, you need to know the parameters of the situation. You need intel. I don’t know why I thought I could wring more out of people he knew here than you and the
