Page 2

Four months later

J ake Dunbar opened the door to The Trailhead, holding it for Noah to walk into the building. He glanced at the bar, a long wooden span that ran from close to the front door to the swinging doors that led into the kitchen. When he spotted Noah’s wife Anne disappearing behind those doors, Jake turned to Noah. “Your wife’s in the kitchen?”

“Yeah, her day to cook dinner,” Noah said easily. “Have a seat at the bar and order whatever you want. I’m gonna say hello to Anne,” he said, walking behind the bar to the swinging doors that Jake assumed led to the kitchen.

Jake had just ordered a beer from Hiram when the front door opened again and a woman and another man walked in and slid onto stools at the bar. Jake recognized Tom Larson and Olivia Williams, both former FBI agents.

Noah stepped out of the kitchen and smiled when he saw the newcomers. “Hey, Livvy. Tom. Haven’t seen either of you for a while. How’re you doing?”

Livvy swiveled to face Noah. “Yeah, now that you don’t live at the Blackhawk Security compound, it’s like you’ve forgotten about the rest of us who work there.”

Noah slammed a hand over his heart. “No way, Livvy. Impossible to forget about you.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “You always were a sweet talker, Noah.”

Noah shook his head and nodded at the man beside Olivia. “How’s it going, Tom?”

“Good,” the other man said. “Wish you were still one of the trainers at Blackhawk Security, though. Been a while since I’ve had a good smack-down.”

Noah shrugged. “I’m always available to deliver a smack-down. All you have to do is ask.”

“You think I still can’t take you?” Tom asked, one eyebrow cocked. “Maybe I’d be the one dishing out the punishment.”

Noah snorted. “In your dreams, tough guy.”

As they were talking, Jake Dunbar stood up from his seat at the other end of the bar and ambled toward the group. “Hey, Olivia,” he asked with a smile. “Been a while since I’ve seen you. How’re you doing?”

Olivia swiveled to stare at Jake and froze. Her eyes went as cold as winter snow, and Jake would have sworn ice coated his skin. “Damn it, Dunbar” she said, making his name sound like a curse, her voice prickly as a desert cactus. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Jake looked around, wondering if there was another Dunbar in The Trailhead. When he saw no one, he realized she was talking to him .

He frowned, shocked and, yeah, irritated, wondering where her attitude had come from. “Having a beer. Just like you’re probably gonna do.”

“You just happen to be in Helena? At the same bar I’m in?” Olivia scowled at Jake. “This is my town, and this is my bar. You’re not welcome here, Dunbar.”

Jake raised one eyebrow. “That’s pretty ballsy, Livvy.” He jerked his head toward the bartender. “Last I heard, Hiram over there owns this place. You don’t wanna see my face? Go ahead and leave. No one’s stopping you.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Dunbar. If you can face me after what you did, you’re even worse than I thought you were.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jake asked, frowning.

“You know damn well what you did,” Livvy said.

Jake shrugged. Held out his hands, palms up. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Williams. So either leave or sit down there and fume all you want. I’ll be sitting with Noah in one of the booths. Ignoring you.”

He turned to Noah. “I’m gonna grab a booth. Company at the bar isn’t up to its usual high standards.”

Noah bumped his shoulder to Jake’s. “Yeah, do that. Nick shows up most days, and you can talk to him without it being all official and serious.”

Jake shot his gaze toward Olivia. Then looked back at Noah. “Sounds good. I’ll keep an eye out for him.”

As Jake slid into a booth, he watched as Olivia turned away and leaned on the bar. Her dark red curls cascaded down her back as she leaned forward to say something to Hiram. He smiled and nodded, then moved away from her. Grabbed a glass and pulled a dark, foamy Guinness from the tap and set it in front of her.

Jake snorted as Noah joined him. “No wonder she didn’t want to leave. This is probably the only bar in town that sells Guinness.”

Noah grinned. “You’d be right about that. This is Bud and Coors country. And Moose Drool. The tourists love ordering that one.”

Livvy turned her head to talk to Tom, and those dark red curls of hers bounced on her back. Made him wonder what they’d feel like if he ran his fingers through them.

Jake snorted at the unexpected thought. He’d rather pet a rattlesnake than tangle his fingers in Livvy Williams’ hair.

Noah leaned closer to him. “You have any idea what the hell’s going on with Livvy?”

“Hell, no,” Jake said, letting his gaze drift toward Livvy and those red curls again. Those curls had figured in a lot of his fantasies since she’d taken the Blackhawk Security job. “I’ve got no idea what she’s ranting about. Clearly, a bug crawled up her ass, but I have no clue why.” He shook his head. “Damned odd. Before she left, she had a great reputation with the Bureau. Bright, tough, hard-working. All the mucky mucks had big plans for her. Then she quit to work for Blackhawk Security.”

Noah tilted his head. “You know why?”

“No idea,” Jake said immediately. “I didn’t even know she’d left the FBI until I got here and found out she was working at Blackhawk Security. But I doubt the Bureau fired her. Last I heard, she was on the fast track there.”

He shrugged. Swiveled to face Noah, trying to put Olivia Williams out of his mind.

Noah was studying him, and Jake frowned, waiting for his friend to speak. Finally Noah said, “Don’t let Livvy drive you away.” His voice vibrated with irritation. “Not sure what her problem is, but she’s not in charge here.” His gaze darted to Olivia, then back to Jake. “If she objects to your presence? Tough. She can leave. You came a long way to take Nick’s statement. At least wait and have a drink with him.”

The two of them stared at each other for another few moments, then Jake turned and drank a gulp of his half-finished beer. He flicked a glance at Olivia, who was glaring at him, steam coming out of her ears. After a long moment, he nodded. Turned to Noah. “You know, you’re right, man. I have as much right to be here as she does.”

Determined to ignore Olivia Williams, Jake wrapped his hands around the glass, then lifted it and took a long pull. Noah leaned closer to him. “You really have no idea what that was about?” he murmured.

“Not a clue,” Jake said, shaking his head. “I have no idea what she’s ranting about.”

Noah studied him for a long moment. “You’re serious,” he finally said. “You really don’t know why Livvy’s so pissed at you.”

Jake shrugged. “I mean it. No idea.” He frowned. “But she was always a little jumpy around me. No idea why.”

“She’s been working for Blackhawk Security for maybe four months,” Noah said. “She’s a damn good trainer. Good bodyguard, too.”

“She was a damn good FBI agent,” Jake said. “Or at least I always heard she was. But she clearly went off the rails somewhere.”

Noah touched Jake’s arm. “Maybe you need to talk to her. Figure out what’s going on. That was a really odd reaction to seeing you here in The Trailhead.”

“Yeah.” Jake shrugged one shoulder. “I have no idea what she’s talking about. I thought I’d developed a good relationship with Livvy when she worked for the Bureau.” He scowled. “But talk to her? Hell, no. I value my balls too much.”

Noah’s mouth flirted with a laugh, then he frowned. “She’s been a great addition to Blackhawk Security,” he said, glancing toward Olivia. “Steady. Reliable. Talented. I have no idea why she lost her shit just now.”

“You and me both, man.” Jake shook his head. “We worked together on a few cases when she was with the Bureau, and I thought we’d had a good working relationship. We even went out a few times. She had a great reputation at the Bureau. I remember that.”

“I know Mel and Dev, the owners of Blackhawk Security, were thrilled to get her,” Noah said. He took a long drink of his beer, then set the glass down. Frowned as he darted a glance at Olivia, then looked back at Jake. “Aren’t you at least a little curious about that odd reaction from her?”

“’Course I am,” Jake said. “But I don’t want to dig into it. Pretty sure that would piss her off even more.” He shuddered and picked up his beer. “Let sleeping dogs lie. I’ll be here a couple more days, then I’ll never see Olivia again.”

“But won’t you always wonder what she was talking about? Won’t it be a pebble in your shoe you can’t shake loose?”

“Hell, no. I know I didn’t do anything wrong. Know I didn’t screw up somehow. Whatever’s in Olivia’s head is made-up shit.”

Noah leaned a little closer, and his gaze bored into Jake’s. “Livvy’s always been a straight shooter. I’ve never known her to make shit up. If I were you, Jake? I’d want to find out what she thinks you did. God knows how many other people she’s told about whatever she imagines you’ve done to her.”

Jake scowled. Opened his mouth. Closed it again. Finally sighed. “Maybe you’re right,” he said with a sigh. “Maybe I do need to talk to her. But not tonight. I just spent my day listening to a guy talk about his father killing his brother. Listening to the tape he had, with his father giving the order to have his own son killed. Watching the video where a guy beats Doyle’s brother to death. What Nick Doyle had to say, and what I saw and heard on those tapes made me sick to my stomach.”

“You gonna be able to prosecute Bobby Doyle?” Noah asked.

“Hell, yes,” Jake said. “With what Nick has, it should be a slam dunk.” He scowled. “As long as someone doesn’t leak it to Bobby Doyle.”

“You’re the only one besides Nick and his father, and now me, who knows what’s on that tape,” Noah said. “So that shouldn’t be a problem, as long as you and Nick keep your mouths shut.”

“I can’t speak for Nick. But I’m not saying anything to anyone.”

“Neither am I,” Noah said. “And based on the shit that went down here a few weeks ago, when Bobby Doyle tried to kill Nick and his fiancée Celia? Bobby Doyle isn’t talking to anyone but the guards at the Henderson County Correctional Facility.” He shook his head. “And I’m guessing they just laugh at that shit from Bobby, anyway.”

At the other end of the bar, Olivia Williams and Tom Larson were getting ready to leave. Olivia didn’t glance toward the booth he shared with Noah, and Jake pretended he didn’t see Olivia leaving. But he could feel Olivia’s gaze burning into his skin. He needed to talk to her. Find out what it was she thought he’d done.

A few minutes later, Olivia and Tom exited the bar, and Jake blew out a breath of relief. He was pretty sure Noah did, as well. Noah slid out of the booth and jerked his chin at Jake. “Talk to Olivia. Find out what she’s talking about. It’s better than flying blind.”

Jake stared at his beer for a long moment. Finally nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. I need to know what’s going on. And Olivia has some explaining to do.”

“You wanna talk to her here? Or at the Blackhawk Security compound?” Noah asked.

Jake thought for a long moment. “Here,” he finally said. “Feels like neutral ground.”

“I agree,” Noah said. “Call Olivia and set it up.”

Jake studied him for a moment. Nodded his head. “I’ll do that.”

Jake paced near the bar, glancing at his watch every few minutes. Finally, when about twenty minutes had passed, he turned to Noah, who was sitting across from Hiram. “Did I give her enough time to get back to the Blackhawk Security compound?”

“Should be plenty of time. When I was working there, I could make it in less than fifteen minutes.”

Jake blew out a breath. Then he turned to Noah. “You have her phone number?”

“Yeah.” Noah pulled out his phone. Tapped on his contact list and set the phone in front of Jake. “Use my phone,” Noah said. “She might not pick up if she sees your name. And put it on speaker. I want to hear what she has to say.” He grimaced. “Should be interesting.”

Staring at Noah’s phone, Jake squared his shoulders. Punched in Olivia’s phone number. It rang four times before Olivia answered.

“Hey, Noah. What’d you need?” she said.

“It’s not Noah. It’s Jake Dunbar. We need to talk, Olivia. You need to tell me what crawled up your ass and died. I have no idea what you think I did, but I can assure you, I’ve never done anything to make you hate me like you do.”

For a long moment, there was silence on the line. He couldn’t even hear Olivia breathing. Finally she said, “That’s rich, Dunbar. I’m sure you know very well what you did.”

“If I made a mistake, I’ll own it,” Jake said immediately. “Always have, always will. But I never did anything to cause that, that hatred you seemed to feel for me today. So are you going to have the balls to look me in the eye and tell me what you think I did? Or are you going to walk away like you did fifteen minutes ago?”

The only sound on the line was the crackling of the connection. For a moment, Jake thought Olivia had hung up on him. Finally she cleared her throat. “I’ll be happy to refresh your memory, even though it pisses me off that you could have forgotten such a huge thing. I could have died, Dunbar, and it would have been your fault. But it’ll have to be tomorrow, because I leave the next day for a job. If you can’t make it tomorrow, I’ll call you when I get back to Helena.”

Jake frowned. Was Olivia shining him on? Trying to avoid a meeting?

If so, nothing he could do about it. “Okay. I’ll meet you at The Trailhead tomorrow. Seven work for you? If not, give me a call when you’re back at the Blackhawk Security compound. Not sure how much longer I’ll be in Helena, but call me anyway. If I’m gone, we can settle this with a Zoom call.”

“Not a big fan of phone calls” she finally said. “I like to look someone in the eye when we’re talking.”

“Easy enough with Zoom,” Jake said easily.

An uncomfortably long silence sizzled over the line. Finally Olivia said, “Tomorrow at seven works for me. I’ll see you at The Trailhead.”

The call ended with a loud crunch, as if she’d just slammed her phone onto a hard surface.

“Pretty ballsy move, Dunbar,” Noah said, elbowing him in the side. “You really think she’s gonna make a Zoom call to you?”

“She said she’d be here tomorrow.,” Jake said. “If she doesn’t show? I doubt she’d Zoom with me. But if she does bug out, I’ll know there’s nothing there.”

He frowned. “Although I always thought Williams was a straight shooter. Said what she thought and didn’t make wild accusations against other agents.” He shrugged. “Guess I’ll find out tomorrow what kind of shit is stuck in her head.”

Noah smoothed his hand over his face to hide his grin. “Wouldn’t recommend saying that to Livvy,” he said. “She’s got a temper and she knows how to chew people a new one. Maybe let her talk first. See where she’s coming from.”

“Since I have no idea what she’s talking about, you’re damn straight I’ll let her say her piece before I respond.”

One side of Noah’s mouth quirked up. “I know Olivia. It should be a great show tomorrow night. You think she’d be offended if I brought popcorn?”

Jake shook his head. “Don’t poke the bear, Noah. I kind of like my head right where it’s at.”