Page 56 of Jasper

“I…maybe. I don’t know. I know this address by heart, so I don’t need to write it down., but I can’t guarantee there’s nothing.”

“Okay.” He rubbed her back, and she let herself sink into him. He felt safe, and right now she needed safe. She was so scared. “Even if they find where you landed in Bismarck, they won’t find a rental or a hotel room in your name. They’ll have to start from there and work their way out. That gives us time.”

“Time to what?”

“Time to plan, pretty girl. Time to plan.”

Sloane wasn’t sure what kind of plan he had in mind, but she didn’t care. Jarrod had replied to the email she sent him, saying Jasper was one of the best men he knew and the only man he trusted her with. He said Jasper could take care of her, and she’d have to trust that he could.

He sat there with her for a long time, but the hungry cries of the kitten eventually broke through her panic, and she fed him. Jasper told her to get dressed and come back downstairs. He made her stay with him the whole time he fed the animals and did the morning chores.

She was ashamed to say she never so much as lifted a hand to help him. Her mind was too frozen on the fact that the people who had killed and dismembered the only witness in one of their boss’s trials knew who she was.

Paralyzed.

That was the word she’d use to describe herself right now. She felt paralyzed.

They knew where she was.

Once Jasper was done outside, he ran a hot bath and told her to try to relax. She sank into the warm water, but it did nothing to dispel how cold she felt.

She wrapped her arms around her knees and sat there in the water, replaying the images of that awful day, of body parts going into the dumpster.

Her mind shut off from everything except the movie reel playing over and over in her head.

Jasper fed the kittens and sat on the couch. Fuck, but he was tired. He watched them scamper around the room for a minute then pulled out his phone. Not his new cell, but his actual phone. He’d dug it out of his drawer and put the battery back in it after he’d run Sloane a bath.

As much as he didn’t want to call, Sloane’s life might depend on it.

“Jasper? Dude, your ass is grass. Kade’s in a snit because you haven’t been answering your damn phone.”

“I’m on leave. Kade can fuck off.”

Daniels let out a whistle. “You’re a braver son of a bitch than me.”

“I need a favor.”

“Sure, man. What do you need?”

“You still tight with the police in Miami?”

“Yeah. Is that where you are?”

“No, but I’m doing a favor for someone, and I need to know about a case down there and who might be on the payroll in the police department. Can’t take her in until I know she’ll be safe.”

“Her? You working a case?”

“Yeah, but it’s not a paid gig. It’s for an old buddy of mine from the Corps. His cousin’s in trouble. She saw something she shouldn’t have, so I need to know who to trust with the PD down there.”

“Email me the details, and I’ll have an answer for you in a few hours.”

“Good, because I’m fairly certain they know where we are or will by tomorrow.”

“How fucked are you right now?”

“It’s the cartel, man.”

“Shit, I thought we were fucking done with those bastards after we got Mateo back.”