Sponsored through another organization Barnes hadn’t fully identified. Barnes had given what he could—but he’d been kept in the dark, the email had said. Because he hadn’t earned his place yet.
Barnes had made certain to say several times he hadn’t known what he was getting in to.
Ed Dennis had sent Sin Lorcan and Mick Brockman to Texas to grab that team leader as soon as possible.
Barnes had sworn in his statement that he’d just thought he’d been doing a favor for his team leader: she’d told him she’d purchased a piece of land in south Texas from the man and was paying for it with cash. Barnes had called himself an idiot for believing her.
Supposedly, Barnes hadn’t known it was Paul Sturvin he had delivered the money to until the night Eugene Lytel had taken him to meet Sturvin and had killed Sturvin right in front of him.
Barnes had carried Olivia out of a burning building, after Lytel and the others had left.
He said he’d known that would bring Lytel’s ire his way, but he wasn’t about to leave a child to die like that. That Barnes took his oath to the bureau seriously.
Barnes hadn’t given a damn about angering Lytel—his email to Miranda had been far more personal, and had showed a side of Barnes that he doubted the other man realized he’d revealed.
Security cameras had put Lytel in the hotel just minutes before Barnes had been shot. Another had put his bureau-issued vehicle within two blocks.
Lytel hadn’t been careless—but PAVAD was good. Sin Lorcan and his private team was even better.
The director had Carrie Lorcan and Shannon Toliver and J.T. Thompkins going over everything Lytel had touched for the last three years. It was going to take a while.
Max wanted Lytel. Wanted him bad.
He battled back the rage.
The man was scheduled to be back at PAVAD first thing in the morning. The easiest way to catch him was to let Lytel come to them.
It was best not to tip their hand. Yet.
Every possible agent from the CCU was out there looking for him now.
They were rounding up Lytel’s team now. They just had to do it without alerting the other agents on Lytel’s team what they were doing.
The director was on the warpath. Max was right there with him.
His phone beeped.
A familiar ringtone.
Jac.
She had turned her phone off at the hospital. He hadn’t been able to reach her yet, to update her what had happened to Barnes.
To tell her about Lytel.
He paused outside his office and hit accept on his phone.
A video chat immediately popped up.
Max almost said her name…until he saw.
Eugene Lytel was right there in front of him—in Jac’s living room.
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This was not what Eugene had planned. “Well, look who came home early.”
“Yes, had a problem with some grape juice and a four-year-old,” Jaclyn said, her Glock pointed at him. “Agent Lytel. I’m not going to say hello. I will say that I have questions.”
He had on his vest—it was a part of his daily uniform now, and it was of the newer Lucas Tech material. Nice and lightweight.
But Jaclyn Jones had some of the best marksmanship ratings of PAVAD. He’d seen her on the gun range himself and been very, very impressed. She was even better than the men on his own team.
She wouldn’t need to aim at his chest to kill him. “Put down your gun, Jaclyn. All I have to do is pull the trigger.”
Hell, no, she shouldn’t put down her weapon. He knew the statistics.
Her best chance for survival rested in that Glock she held so steady.
His evaluation of her went up—she had to know just how precarious of a position both she and her younger sister were in now. He certainly was.
He was going to have to kill them both in order to get out of this now. With her armed, that was going to be harder than he anticipated.
Unless he killed the sister now.
But as soon as he pulled the trigger, Jaclyn would do the exact same thing.
He might not have time to kill them both. And if that behemoth of a dog got through the glass door anytime soon, he could have more of a problem than he wanted.
Especially with Jaclyn armed.
He stared at her for a good four full minutes while he contemplated his options.
She never said a word. She had the training; training Eugene had helped design—in a negotiation scenario, whoever talked most lost.
Her eyes never wavered.
“Well, I suppose we should chat, shouldn’t we? Isn’t that how this is done?”
“Lytel, what’s going on here? Why are you doing this?”
The younger girl never moved, just stared at her sister.
Almost…calmly.
Trustingly.
Hell, maybe she didn’t feel anything either—but whatever grief had had her weeping her heart out.
“Jac, I love you.”
“I know, Nats. I love you, too.”
“Good. I think we needed to get it out there.”
They sounded like their mother. Their voices were similar to one another’s, of course, but mostly they sounded like Felicia. It was like stepping back into the past for a moment.
Did they even realize Eugene was there?
Jaclyn’s eyes met his. Eugene pulled the sister against his chest. Between her ridiculously small body and the vest he wore, he was about as protected as he was going to get.
He wished she was six inches taller and fifty pounds heavier.
His heart was pounding in his ears. From actual excitement. He ran the barrel of the Hi-Point through the silky dark hair the younger sister had left down. She smelled like honey and flowers. His other hand dropped to the front of her narrow chest to pull her closer.
There wasn’t much there.
Hell, he was a man. Grabbing a woman there was fun. “Hold still, little Natalie. We don’t want to make big sister nervous.”
“She’s not nervous, Agent Lytel. Jac is angry. Very, very angry you’re
