“No, I will not teach you how to kill people.” He couldn’t imagine taking Max Harper on as a mentee. He’d had enough trouble with young Taggart, and Max was even worse. He set down the hammer. He’d had to use the claw even after he’d managed to get the bolts out. That sucker had taken root and it took force to get it off.
Maybe that’s what he should do. He would simply squat in his own home and vigorously protest any attempts at removal. Could one squat a marriage? If anyone could understand the power of protest, it was his wife.
“Come on, Henry. You know how bad it can get around here,” Max argued.
Rye stared his way. “So the guy who came after Gemma didn’t trip.”
He bit back a groan. He should write a full confession for the Bliss Gazette and then maybe he could stop answering this question. “No. I killed him because he’d shot Jesse, tried to kill me, and my wife was unprotected at the time. So I took the easy route and severed his spine at the C0-C1 joint, and then I left him on the forest floor because I didn’t give a shit.”
“See, how do you even find that joint thingee?” Max had the new latch in his hand but seemed far more interested in the conversation than the task that had been of utmost importance a mere hour before. “Do they have a class on that? How did they find you? The CIA, I mean.”
The Harper twins were proving the two problems he would have with the people around him. One part would be afraid of him. The other would be frustratingly curious about his past.
“I was in the Army. The Special Forces team I was on worked a couple of jobs with the Agency. They recruited me from there.” He hated how grim he sounded. He didn’t sound like himself—the himself he wanted to be, the one he liked to be.
Rye shook his head like he was trying to clear it. “You were in the Army?”
Max turned his brother’s way. “You forget so easily, man. Do you remember when he first came here? You remember how suspicious you were because he didn’t act like a dude who taught history at a sleepy college.”
He thought he’d been pretty good with that persona. “You know you’re giving in to stereotypes. Exactly how is a sleepy-town college professor supposed to act?”
Rye ignored him completely. “Yeah, but all his records checked out, and Bill vouched for him.”
“Of course his records checked out. He’s a good spy. He’s not a dummy spy. He’s got all kinds of ways to fool the system.” Max sounded more excited with every word. “See, I don’t view this as a bad or scary thing. He’s Henry and he’s always been the most helpful guy in town. Now he can help me in different ways.”
“I’m not assassinating anyone.” He knew exactly where Max’s brain would go. Oddly, Max’s normalcy was helping him calm down. Not everyone would look at him like he was some kind of monster. But he would have to put up with Max’s insane requests.
“Now don’t say that so fast. We have some obnoxious tourists,” Max replied. “Most of them from Texas.”
Yeah, he hadn’t mentioned that part. “I was actually born in Houston.”
Max groaned.
“I thought you were from Ohio,” Rye said with a shake of his head.
Ohio had seemed as middle of the road as a state could be. Everyone recognized it, but no one really knew what a person from Ohio was supposed to be. Unlike his home state. Especially in Colorado. Coloradans weren’t overly enthusiastic about Texans. Probably because they tended to come in, buy up all the land for their vacation homes, and then generally act like…well, like Texans. “Ohio blended in better.”
Rye seemed to still be catching up. “Does Bill know?”
Fuck. He was going to get Bill in trouble. Bill had been his contact here. Bill had built a whole life for himself, and he’d welcomed Henry with open arms. Bill had been the one who’d advised him to choose again, to make the decision that his life didn’t have to keep going the way it had gone, that a life well lived was one of conscious will.
He’d found Nell because of Bill.
“Of course Bill doesn’t know,” Max started.
Rye frowned and looked at Henry, though his expression had gone from wary to slightly excited. Like he’d figured something out. “Bill was in the Army. He was your CO, wasn’t he?”
Well, Rye had been the town’s sheriff for years. No one had ever said he wasn’t a smart man. “Yes.”
“Dude, does Bill know how to do all the stuff you do?” Max’s eyes had gone wide. “Does he do it naked? Because the naked thing would throw me off. When you think about it, it’s probably a good tactic. I would be terrified of a naked man trying to break my neck. And also, he wouldn’t have to worry about his clothes. Do you think that’s why he opened the naked resort?”
Rye had gotten all the brains in the family.
“Bill was strictly military, though he knew I worked for the Agency. I asked him to keep my secret. It’s all on me.” He couldn’t stand the thought of anyone turning against Bill because of him.
“That’s why you came here.” Rye’s tone had gone so much softer. “You came to see Bill. That’s why you go up the mountain and visit him every week. He’s your family.”
Bill had been good to him over the years. “He was the only friend I could talk to at the time. He’s a good man. I hope no one gets upset with him for keeping my secret. I know you’re not going to believe this, but I’m no danger to you.”
Rye sighed and shook his head. “You’re Henry. I’m sorry. It threw me for a
