Page 45 of The Veteran

“Tell me.” She sounded strangely urgent.

“See this here?” I pointed to a break in one of the lines. “It looks to me as though you’ve either been through or are about to go through a massive upheaval.”

Fiona looked disquieted, and I cursed myself. Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut. But she’d asked, and people had a right to honesty.

“What—” Ronan’s office door swung inward and she cut herself off.

Kade and Zeke stepped out. Zeke gave me a cheeky grin and arched an eyebrow at Fiona, whose cheeks colored. I dropped her hands.

“Fiona and I had an idea about where we could start following up with Dad’s old friends,” I told Kade.

“What’s that?” he asked. I explained to him about the pub, Lucky Dan’s.

When I’d finished, Zeke spoke. “According to Google, Lucky Dan’s is still going strong. Good work, ladies.”

Kade held out a hand to me. I took it and let him pull me to my feet. He dropped a chaste kiss on my lips. “Come on, before I remember how much I’d rather lock you in a safe house and throw away the key.”

Despite his grumbling, I smiled. He cared, and I liked that.

I threaded my fingers through his. “Let’s go, silent giant.”

18

KADE

Lucky Dan’s was a seedy bar in a downtrodden area. The paint was peeling and the windows were so dirty that it was nearly impossible to see inside. All of my instincts told me this wasn’t the kind of place Sage belonged. I wanted to whisk her away. But to my surprise, she seemed perfectly at home as we entered. I’d expected her to be tense and nervous, since there was a possibility the pub was one of the places Getty and Baker planned to visit, but her shoulders remained relaxed. Only one patron—a greasy-haired man in his sixties—sat at the bar, watching a replay of a football game on TV.

The grizzled bartender glanced up as we approached. His mouth was open, revealing yellow teeth. His eyes locked on Sage and several emotions flashed through them. Joy, affection, then stone-cold fear. He masked his expression so quickly I doubted Sage had noticed, but I laid a hand on her back to stop her. There was no reason for him to be afraid unless Getty and Baker had already been here. I scanned the pub, double-checking for any sign of them, then studied the drunk at the bar once more to make sure he really was what he appeared to be.

“Well, if it isn’t the sweetest girl I ever met.” The bartender limped around the counter and opened his arms for a hug. He didn’t seem to be armed so I removed my hand from Sage’s back and gestured for her to go ahead.

“Hi, Dan.” She smiled in greeting and gave him a quick hug. When Dan held on for a few beats too long, I took a step forward, but I noticed he was murmuring something into her ear. Sage pulled away, searching his face. Dan flicked his eyes toward a door behind the counter, then made his way slowly toward it. Sage began to follow, but I stopped her again and went first, my hand on the gun concealed at my hip.

Dan held the door open and I moved stealthily into the room beyond, half expecting an ambush. When I’d checked behind the door, I motioned for Sage to enter, and Dan closed the door behind her.

“You shouldn’t have come,” he said gruffly. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but some guys were here earlier, asking about your old man.” He grabbed a cane that was leaning against the wall and used it for support. “I didn’t like the look of them. A couple of cold bastards, and they were carrying. You need to watch your back.”

“They’ve been here?” Sage asked. “One short guy, and the other with blue eyes?”

Dan inclined his head. “That’s them. Doesn’t take a genius to know those two are trouble.” He jerked his chin toward me. “Who’s this?”

“Kade is keeping me safe,” she told him. “He’s former special forces.”

Dan turned assessing eyes on me. “I hope you know what you’re doing. These guys aren’t playing around. I got the feeling they’d happily have gutted me if they thought I knew anything useful.” He heaved a sigh and gave Sage his attention once more. “I know your father was a useless layabout, but you were the most precious thing in his world, and he’d want you to stay away from that lot. If I were you, I’d skip town for a while.”

Sage’s throat bobbled as she swallowed. “I know he did,” she whispered. “But the men who are after me have broken out of prison, and we need to make sure they’re locked away again.”

Dan’s expression was grim, but he nodded. “Have you talked to Mick? You know how close he and your dad were.”

Sage and I exchanged a glance.

“We haven’t yet,” she said. “But maybe we’ll do that next.”

“Good idea.” Dan scanned me from head to toe. “I hope you’ve got a gun.”

“I do.”

“That’s something, I guess.”