Courage Under Fire (Silver Creek #2) - Lindsay McKenna Page 0,110

too. “I feel like we went through a war, Dan.”

“We did,” Chase said. “But we survived. That’s the good news.”

Dan gave Cari a gentle look. “You’re not like Chase and me. We were military, trained for combat, and you were not. It makes a huge difference on how you handle your head and emotions afterward. You need to talk to Chase when you’re feeling odd or funny or over-emotional, Cari. Talking is good.”

“Wow, all this coming from a man. I’m impressed, Dan. Usually men are zipped up tighter than a drum and never talk about what they’re feeling.”

“I’m working at it,” Dan said wryly, giving Chase a knowing look. “You women have us beat by a mile on dumping your emotions, working through them and releasing them.”

“Where did you get so wise?” Chase asked, grinning.

Dan shook his head, rummaging around and finding a gray file hidden beneath a number of other items on his desk. “My sister is my main teacher,” he acknowledged, opening the file, smoothing out the papers in it.

Chase glanced at Cari. “Her name is Raven,” he told her.

“My older sister,” Dan corrected. “She’s two years ahead of me in just about every way. She’s the one that broke down some of my walls and started me talking about my time as a Navy SEAL. It’s been good for me. I owe her a lot.”

“I wish,” Cari said sadly, “that Dirk had been a positive force in my life, like Raven is in yours.”

“Well,” Dan murmured sympathetically, “they say that blood runs thicker than water, but that doesn’t guarantee that siblings are going to always get along and save one another’s hides.”

“It sure as hell doesn’t,” Chase growled. “Bannock was the way he was long before he came into your family, Cari. And he was jealous of you, always in competition with you. I know his type: He was envious of you and your mother.”

“Good psychology,” Dan congratulated him. “I thought the same thing. But most stepchildren don’t turn out like Bannock did. There’s plenty of second-family situations, and the kids learn to adjust and get along. Thank God most don’t end up like Bannock did.”

“What’s going to happen to him?” Cari asked in a low tone, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. “I know my mother and her husband have been contacted by the FBI.”

“Yes, and that’s what this file is all about, Cari.” Dan lifted up the gray file. “The FBI just sent me a copy of it yesterday evening, which is why I called and asked both of you to meet me here this morning.”

“What’s happening to him?”

“Right now? He’s back in his old prison in California. He’s got a lawyer and he’s going to court, charged with attempted first-degree murder of the two of you, as well as escaping from prison and all sorts of other things.” Dan tapped the thick sheaf of papers in the file. “Bannock isn’t talking to us. He won’t tell us how or when he knew you were here. Or how he tracked you to California. We may never know, but maybe it will come out in the trial. And of course, you will be part of his trial, and so will Chase. I’m sure any jury in the world will find him guilty as the evidence, the facts, show his intent toward both of you.”

“He was a drug lord in Southern California,” Chase said. “Somehow, he knew Hauptman, but I’m not as clear on that connection.”

“Hauptman uses drones, just like all of the cartels do now,” Dan said, tapping the file. “They’ve been using them to carry drugs across the Mexico border to the US for years. Here’s my guess on all of this,” Dan said, leaning back in his chair, looking at them. “I’m just wondering when I went driving past them, following them at a good distance, if Hauptman didn’t order one of his men who handles their drones to get one up in the air. If they did, which is entirely possible, that drone would have followed me back into Silver Creek. And if that drone had a camera attached to it? They’d have gotten photos of all of us. I’m sure if that happened, your stepbrother would have recognized you, even if he hadn’t in the restaurant. The drug runners have highly advanced and expensive drones that can be at six or seven thousand feet, easily, and be following you around, Cari. Bannock would have known you were at Three Bars Ranch.