Conard County Spy by Rachel Lee

end this for everyone, and his death wouldn’t do that. He could see the faces of people he’d worked with, people he’d come to care about. They were his only real family now. He had to protect them, too, and he could only do that by exposing this mess and proving it wasn’t just his imagination gone wild on painkillers. That he wasn’t just paranoid.
    He had to catch this guy. No asset could have the kind of power to track him around this country without help from the Company. None. So once he was exposed, that would expose those who had helped him. The mission was clear.
    He knew Ryker could protect himself and his family. Besides, if anyone had been listening to his cell phone for random conversation and heard him get his friend’s address, by now they’d know Ryker had thrown him out the night of his arrival here. Had told him to stay away. Then the phone had left town the following morning.
    But there was also Julie, and that pained him most of all. Ryker was accustomed to a world where he could get tail-bitten by the unexpected, and he knew how to defend against it. Julie was totally inexperienced. Good instincts, but little know-how. She needed him to protect her as long as he was around. She’d probably hate hearing that, when she thought she was protecting him.
    He popped a pain pill and started another pot of regular coffee.
    Yeah, she’d hate the idea he was protecting her when she’d dived into all this to protect her friend, and then him. She’d certainly given him cover, but that was as dangerous as the job itself. That probably hadn’t crossed her mind, and he hoped it never did.
    He wished to hell Ryker and the sheriff hadn’t been right about possible collateral damage. He couldn’t just buy a clunker and head for the West Coast. Anywhere he went, the shadow of death followed him.
    So he might as well face it here with people who’d volunteered for this mission. Even if Julie didn’t fully grasp its parameters. At least he wouldn’t have any explaining to do if he yelled for them to clear out. At least here the threat might stick out enough that they’d see it coming. It sure as hell would be invisible in a big town or city.
    Cusswords, as Julie had called them, traipsed through his mind like a Greek chorus. Betrayal burned in his belly, but rage did as well. He was being hunted by someone who was being aided by the very people he’d entrusted with his life countless times over the years. People he’d served well. Rage? He’d like to punch holes in walls.
    As he knew from experience, a fire like that in his belly could fuel him for a long time. He’d known it before when one of his operatives had been betrayed by an asset they were cultivating. He’d known it when a good asset had been discovered and killed before they could pull him out. It didn’t happen often, but it happened. And when it did, Trace made sure retribution descended. You don’t mess with me and mine. A clear, unmistakable message, however anonymous.
    Now there was a new card in his deck, a truly lovely woman who didn’t have the experience or training to really handle any of this. He thought again about going out into the storm. Freezing to death might not give the tiger the satisfaction he wanted, but it would solve the problem for everyone.
    Instead he sat staring out that window over Julie’s head and began running through his mental list again. If it was an asset the Company wanted to appease, then he had to be a big one. An important one. One on whom a lot depended.
    Just thinking about it shrank his mental list a bit more. Every asset mattered, but some were in a position to be nearly indispensable. He’d run a few. He knew of others. So who would be worth this kind of trade?
    â€œYou got any family, Trace?”
    He snapped back to the present and saw that Julie had turned her chair around. God, she was pretty, and