Alibi (Brantley Walker Off the Books #5) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,53

boil notice in effect.

Of course, the storm had completely derailed their investigation, mainly because it had shut down the town and the neighboring cities. Having been forced to lock down, they hadn’t been able to actively search for Juliet. The Sniper 1 Security team had been impacted, the storm taking a bite out of the Dallas area as well.

Now that it was over, he hoped they could get back on track, because while they hadn’t found her, Brantley had thought they were making progress. Thanks to JJ and Luca’s combined efforts, they’d made a connection between Juliet and a computer programmer by the name of Samuel Aldering. It wasn’t a huge breakthrough, but they were able to track him down and learned Juliet had had an affair with the man, something good ol’ Sammy wasn’t proud of, obviously. And thanks to some blackmail on Juliet’s part, Sam had helped her to hack into a few camera feeds and a phone.

The information wouldn’t necessarily lead to them finding her now, but it did fill in some of the holes and answered a few questions.

“You awake?”

Brantley rolled over toward the sound of Reese’s voice. He offered a small smile as an answer.

“How’re you feelin’?”

“Like I was run over by a truck. The headache’s gone, at least.” But that meant he would be moving slowly, his body’s natural response as it tried to avoid doing something that might bring the pain back.

Reese took a seat on the edge of the bed on the opposite side.

“And everything else? Texas no longer at a standstill?” Brantley prompted.

“They’re openin’ most everything. Said the roads are clearin’ but it’ll take a couple of days over freezing to get rid of all the ice.”

At least there was an end in sight.

“You up for some breakfast?”

Brantley grinned. “I thought you’d never ask. Eggs, bacon, pancakes?” he asked hopefully.

Reese chuckled. “The works, huh?”

“Yep.”

“All right.” Reese stood. “Why don’t you grab a shower now that the water’s back on. I’ll start cookin’.”

Twenty minutes later, Brantley joined Reese in the kitchen. The bacon was in the oven, scrambled eggs piled high on a plate, and Reese was flipping a pancake at the stove.

“Coffee’s made.”

“Have I mentioned how much I love you?” he said as he grabbed a mug and headed for the coffee maker.

“You can love me all day long, but you’re still doin’ the dishes,” Reese retorted.

“My pleasure,” he said at the same time his phone rang. He took a sip of his coffee and hit the button to answer the call, immediately changing it to speaker. “Walker.”

“I don’t wanna get your hopes up, but there’s a good chance we know where she is,” Z said, his tone a bit urgent although it was obvious he was attempting to hold back.

Setting the mug on the counter, Brantley stared down at the phone. “Where?”

“It’s not one-hundred-percent vetted, but it’s the second tip we’ve received in a few hours, so I think there’s reason to be optimistic.”

“Where, Z?” he demanded.

“I’ll tell you under one condition.”

Brantley could feel his face heat, his frustration growing.

“You and Reese have to stay put until RT gives you the go-ahead.”

“That’s not the deal,” he argued, realizing too late that he wasn’t going to get the information.

“Look. I get that you and my brother are renegades and you’re ready to beat feet if there’s even a remote possibility you’ll find this woman, but we have to be careful in how we handle this.”

“I know you mean well,” he said, his voice low, anger palpable, “but I don’t need anyone tellin’ me how to do my job, Z. I’ve been on missions far more sensitive than this.”

“And what’d you do before you went on those missions?” Z countered, his irritation evident.

Brantley’s anger cooled almost instantly. “Touché.”

“It’s all in the planning and recon. You know that.” Z exhaled slowly. “The objective is to capture her, is it not?”

Capture or kill. Brantley didn’t really give a shit what happened to her. Rather than tell Z he was having homicidal thoughts, he said, “Of course.”

“Then our best bet is to chill until we can get eyes on her. RT’s sendin’ a couple of agents down for some recon. And no, before you try to nail me to the wall, he’s not takin’ over. He’s doin’ his due diligence. When the time comes, he’s agreed to let you go in and get her.”

Brantley didn’t bother to tell him the same agreement had already been made between him and Travis. Some things were better left