Page 112 of Critical Alliance (Rocky Mountain Courage 3)

“Cool toys,” Jack said.

“This tech is just what I could get my hands on quickly.” Clearly, he needed something more sophisticated.

“The DSS provide you with the toys?”

Uh-oh. He wasn’t prepared for full disclosure. Not until his superior gave him the go-ahead to share with the locals regarding his activities. “Not directly, no. I have a tech friend who helped find what I needed to protect Mackenzie. But obviously, there’s more to it. It’s not so easy.”

“At least you can take out the drone if you need to. Maybe next time just pull out the RF jammer first thing.”

“Well, I did manage to get the drone’s model and digital fingerprint, or the MAC address. I’ll send the information to my tech.”

“The MAC address?”

“Hardware ID number. It should be associated with a specific Wi-Fi network. Not that we’ll learn much from that, but it’ll be useful if we need the information for prosecution later.”

“I knew it,” Jack said. “You’re working. This wasn’t a break for you at all. You came to Montana to work.”

“You have me all wrong. This has everything to do with Mackenzie.”

“Just tell me if what happened to Nora and her vehicle malfunction last night is related to the shooter and the drone that was watching Mackenzie.” Jack pushed his sunglasses onto his head and squinted in the sunlight, but he still managed to drill his gaze into Alex.

Alex pursed his lips. He wanted to be transparent with the local law enforcement and with Jack and Nathan, his new friends. Forge a relationship of trust. But honestly, telling them anything could put them all in a precarious position. Now, what kind of friend would do that?

“I don’t have the answer to that.”

“Then just what do you know?”

Alex smiled.

Jack appeared stunned. “Why are you smiling? Did I say something funny?”

“Actually, yes. I mean, no. The truth is, I don’t know anything definitive. And anything I could possibly say could bring trouble to you. All of you. And to your future wives.”

“Is that supposed to be a snub of the county folks from the Feds? I’m former FBI. West is a former US Marshal. And Nathan, he’s always been county. I’ll leave it at that.”

Alex turned serious and moved closer. “Not at all. I said those words as a friend. Not as an agent. I’m trying to protect you. But I might need your help, so I’m going to ask you to be ready.”

Jack looked at him long and hard. “We’ve got your back, Alex, even now.”

Trevor West approached, a grim expression on his face. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“Nope,” Jack said. “What do you know?”

“Hildebrand, the county coroner”—Trevor glanced at Alex, gauging him, then looked back to Jack—“took a preliminary look. We’ll need next of kin to identify the body, of course.” Trevor rubbed a hand across his chin, then covered his mouth, as if thinking.

“That goes without saying,” Jack said, “but you’re pretty sure it’s Hastings.”

Trevor groaned and dropped his hands, hung his head.

Alex shifted to study the detective.

Still in his wet suit, Nathan joined them. He flicked his dark, wet hair out of his face. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing yet,” Jack said, keeping his eyes on Trevor. “Come on, man, you going to make us drag it out of you?”

“I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t. But you’re going to find out soon enough. I don’t know what kind of trouble this is going to bring down on us or this town. But keep it under wraps. If I hear one thing outside this group—”

“I’m losing patience, West,” Nathan said through gritted teeth. “I just dragged a body out of the river. What’s got you so upset?”

“Hastings wasn’t his real name. He was a federal agent working undercover.”