Page 15 of Hidden Sins
Her throat tightened painfully. Was Jason in trouble?
“Your brother asked us to come,” Tai admitted.
Bridger stared him down, but the bigger man merely shrugged.
“To help find the blackmailer?” she asked.
“Yes,” Bridger added. “He’s got several cases going and he needed more boots on the ground.”
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know. That’s the truth.”
She snorted. “Part of it, I’m sure. I want to see that journal.”
“We’re not done studying it.”
Anger overrode her fear. She cocked a hip and crossed her arms. “He’s my brother.”
If she’d thought Bridger couldn’t look more stubborn, she’d been wrong. His expression hardened. “He’s working on another case. It’s not connected to the blackmail. I can tell you that.”
“So it’s from your past. Something to do with his Special Ops work.”
That he didn’t even bother to answer. He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and stared out into the moonlight.
With floor-to-ceiling glass, her house overlooked a rugged portion of the Sierra.
Sharp snow-covered peaks shimmered in the light of the nearly-full moon. Normally, she found the scene enchanting, but tonight, with Jason missing and the pastor’s wife in danger, it looked cold and empty.
Nature at its most dispassionate.
Bridger faced her full on, arms akimbo, gaze penetrating. “I’m not trying to torture you.”
She wanted to laugh. “And yet….”
Tai sank down on the sofa, rested a foot on his knee, and laced his hands together behind his head as if settling in for a good movie.
Bridger scowled. “Your brother’s more than capable of handling the preacher’s little issue, but another case came up. Something urgent. He asked Tai and I to come down here and wrap up Pastor Zack’s problem while he took care of it. That’s the truth.”
“All of it?”
He exhaled. “Ish.” He held his hands out, as if he could deflect her protest. “That’s all I’m prepared to say at the moment.”
Well it wasn’t all she was prepared to hear. She hugged herself tight, trying to rein in the flare of anger over his high-handedness.
“Jay’s our bro,” Tai said. “We’re on this.”
“We’ve never left a man behind,” Bridger added. “Not gonna start now.”
That, she believed. But she needed more info. No way they were going to stop her from helping. “Are you sure this blackmailer isn’t responsible for Jason’s disappearance?”
Bridger laughed softly. “No way.”
Tai nodded in agreement. “Highly doubtful.”
She wished she could be so certain. “I know Jason’s Special Forces, but anyone can lose a fight.”
Bridger shook his head. “Not your brother. Not at the hands of some two-bit blackmailer. Not in this lifetime.”