Page 78 of Fatal Intent

Rayne and Grant chuckled.

“Get to work.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Grant gave her his best salute, then nudged Rayne toward the couch since Riley had set herself up in the recliner across the room. Andre wasn’t far from her.

Rayne grabbed her laptop and powered it up. “With this many names to research, I think we should divide our list and see how far we get before our teammates arrive.”

“Good idea. Otherwise, we’ll both be reading the same thing and slowing our clearance rate.”

They divided the list of names and went to work. Grant settled deeper into the cushion and began digging into Beau Reed and the people in his life. By the time he finished reading the report, his brows knitted and the corners of his mouth turned down.

Rayne rested her hand on his forearm. “What’s wrong?”

“Eileen, Beau’s widow, married another man a few days after his death.”

“Fast work. I can’t say that I blame her. Raising children alone must be hard.”

“I’m not denying that. It’s the identity of the man she married.”

“Who is it?”

“Rex Lawson.”

Now it was her turn to frown. “Wait. Isn’t that one of the men assigned to Red Dawn?”

He nodded. “Rex and Beau were good friends. It’s a speed-of-light courtship.”

“And Rex is one of the men still alive, isn’t he?”

“He’s on our list,” Andre said from across the room.

“If you haven’t started on Lawson, we’ll take him and give you Joe Moreno.”

“No problem.”

“I need a pen and paper.” Rayne set aside her computer and randomly opened cabinet drawers in the side tables. She scored pen and paper and returned to the couch. “With this many people interconnecting, I need to see the connections on paper. I’m afraid I’ll miss something if I only make a list.”

“While you start on that, I’ll report to Maddox and Seth.” Knowing his team leader, Seth’s group was close.

After updating Maddox and promising another update in six hours, Grant ended the call to his boss and immediately called Seth.

“Sit rep,” was his greeting.

Grant recapped what they’d learned and the plan to run down information on military members assigned to Red Dawn and anyone connected to them.

“It’s a good plan,” Seth admitted. “Lot of people to investigate.”

“That’s why we split them up into four groups. You and Teagan have one group and Iona and Elias have another one. The four of us are already researching the other groups. Any chance you’re closer to Duncan than you planned to be right now?”

His friend laughed. “You know me too well, Grant. We should be at the hotel in an hour.”

“You aren’t staying in Ardmore?” Seth’s family lived near there.

“Nope. I already know my family won’t change their minds and accept Fortress’s protection. We’re not coming to babysit my family, Bowen. We’re coming to help you and Rayne.”

His throat tightened. This was exactly the reason he had loved working with Echo unit all these years. Not only were they teammates, but they were close friends. The men in his unit had gone to the wall for him more than once over the years. Many times, they’d taken a bullet or blade to protect him. He’d done the same for them. In his book, that made the members of Echo unit his family. “Thanks.”

“Yep. See you soon.” Seth ended the call.