Page 2

Arguing would get her exactly nowhere. She blew out a breath. There had to be options.
“You’ve got a zillion hours of vacation time,” Ryan pointed out. “Take some.”
“Soon,” she promised.
“Now.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared her down. “I’m serious. Get out of the office for a couple weeks. Things’ll look a lot better once you’ve toasted yourself on a tropical beach. You need the break.”
More like he and her fellow agents needed the break from her.
Fair enough.
But the thought of taking time off—doing nothing—when she knew more people could die …
Not. Gonna. Happen.
Her lips parted, but she caught herself before she could dig a hole she’d never be able to climb out of. Instead, she nodded. “You have a point.”
“Yeah, I do.”
Best to do this now, before she changed her mind. She tapped a finger on the edge of his desk. “You win. Let’s make it official. As of ten seconds ago, consider me on vacay.”
Ryan’s lithe frame sagged in relief. “You got it. I’ll even do the paperwork for you.” He made a shooing motion with his hands. “Get gone, Agent Ellis. I don’t want to see your face for at least two weeks. You hear me?”
Avery turned on her heel, waving at him from over her shoulder. “Loud and clear, sir.”
“Avery?”
His sharp tone stopped her in the doorway.
“Keep your head down. The owners of Rain Bay hang with some bad people. You and I know you’re off the case, but Rain Bay Trucking doesn’t. Do yourself a favor and pick a beach in another time zone.”
“Sure. I appreciate the warning.” She shut the door behind her on the way out, the gears already turning.
2
Two dayslater
Mason Ortiz powered through another set of shoulder presses, gritting his teeth as he pushed the heavy weights skyward. The strain burned through his muscles, a welcome distraction from his dark mood.
November winds whistled through the canyon outside the open doors of the headquarters’ gym, the biting chill foretelling the winter on its way. Winter came early in the Eastern Sierra, especially to the small towns like Redemption Creek that butted up against the soaring granite mountains. But inside, Mason built up a hard-earned sweat.
Anything to outrun his melancholy. It wasn’t like him to mope, but ever since Bridger and Jane’s wedding last month, he’d been kinda down. Strange, because he was stoked for his teammate. There was no doubt Bridger had found his soulmate. Everyone on the team, Mason included, was thrilled for the couple.
And yet their happiness seemed to add to the empty ache in his own heart. Seeing Tai with his arm around his new love, Tenaya, didn’t help. Again, Mason was stoked for the guy, but seeing his bros start coupling up was … weird.
The fact that he was even thinking about this kind of stuff was weirder still. He didn’t do feelings. Didn’t do romance or flowers or any of that mushy stuff. No Ortiz man did.
Mostly because they were so bad at it.
He was still in his twenties when he’d decided he’d stick to things he excelled at: soldiering and fighting and firearms. Stuff that required hard work, mental toughness, and a penchant for ignoring any kind of feeling, physical or otherwise.
He gripped the dumbbells harder, lifting faster, trying to burn away the feels, and prayed to the Lord to send them a new mission. Too much downtime made him crazy.
His watch buzzed on his wrist. Again. And again, he ignored it.
It was his brother’s new number. He’d just talked to Paul a couple weeks ago, when his estranged brother called with news of his new diesel mechanic job. Mason was relieved the guy had finally landed an actual grown-up job for once, but that didn’t mean Mason was ready to be best buds.
Paul had a lot of growing up left to do before he’d let him back into his life. Plus, talking to his brother wasn’t going to help his lousy mood. Only time and prayer and a whole lot more sweating would do that.