Page 16 of Tango (Hunt Brothers Search & Rescue #4)

Tucker

“ M y baby girl,” Jemma coos as she rushes out onto the porch the second we pull up in front of my parents’ farmhouse. The older woman wraps her arms around Alice, and her daughter does the same. They stand there for a few moments, completely silent, just holding onto each other.

The door opens again, and Fred steps out. Without a word, he joins in on the hug, wrapping his arms around both his wife and daughter. It’s a heartwarming moment to see family reunited…most of the time.

A familiar ache blooms in my chest, so I rub the heel of my palm against it in the hopes it’ll chase away the memories of the day we brought Dylan home.

“I just put a fresh pot of coffee on,” my mom calls from the still-open doorway.

“Thank you so much, Ruth,” Jemma replies as she takes her daughter’s uninjured arm and leads her into the house. “This is our Alice.” The Sterling matriarch is positively glowing with joy as she stands beside her daughter.

My mom smiles. “Alice, it is lovely to meet you. I’ve heard a lot of amazing things about you.”

“Thanks. It’s really great to meet you too, Mrs. Hunt.”

“Please, call me Ruth. Come on in.” She ushers all three of the Sterlings inside.

“We’ll be there in just a second,” my dad tells her then heads over toward where I’m standing near the porch railing.

My mom offers an understanding smile before heading inside with them.

“Everything all right?” I ask. I may not be a teenager anymore, but that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize my dad’s “we need to talk” face. It’s just as clear now as it was back then.

He doesn’t respond right away, just glances back at the door and leans against the railing. “You’re sure she’s innocent?” he asks. “I saw that video. It looked incriminating enough to have her behind bars.”

“It’s a fake. I just have to prove it.” Even if I had doubted her before, our time at the diner would’ve changed my mind.

Not because of the story she told me, but because of the way she told it.

The love she had in her eyes when she spoke of God and how He is keeping her together.

She’s not a woman capable of murder or treason.

If only the police would take my word for it.

He sighs. “Then I trust your gut, son. Just—please be safe. We’ve had a lot of close calls in our family, and I’m terrified it’s not going to be a happy ending one of these days.”

“We’re all good, Dad.” I clasp a hand on his shoulder and offer a reassuring smile.

He takes a deep breath then runs a hand through his silver hair. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Just pray that we can figure this out so Alice and her family can return to some semblance of normalcy.”

“That, I can do.”

“This is an epic setup,” Alice says, jaw dropped, as she surveys the wall of monitors in my office. “Like, seriously, I could live in this room.”

“Thanks.” I’ve always been proud of my setup, but for some reason, right now, even with as impressed as she looks, I’m feeling a tad self-conscious. Not because I think mine is subpar by any means, but when compared to the resources Web Safe has, it definitely pales in comparison.

“These are all areas of the ranch you have cameras on?” She points to the security footage on the wall-mounted monitors.

I nod. “With what we do, we’ve had a few times over the years where we’ve needed to keep clients here to protect them for a time. That, and some trouble we had last year, when someone paid people to cause trouble on the ranch, means we’ve upped security.”

“Someone paid people to come mess with your ranch?”

“They did.”

“Wow. They must not have wanted to live in this world long. Five brothers—all with Special Forces training living on the same piece of property? This place must be untouchable.”

“We have our weaknesses,” I admit. “And with as many acres as we have, there’s plenty of blind spots. We’ve just done the best we can with protecting the places that matter most.”

“The people,” she says with a soft smile.

“Exactly.”

Our gazes hold for a moment, and I find myself unable to look away. She blushes and tears her gaze away from mine.

“Do you all live here on the ranch?”

“We do. My parents deeded us all an acre apiece to build our houses on, and we all pitch in around the ranch. Though Bradyn pretty much runs things.”

“Your eldest brother?”

I nod.

“That’s so great. What a cool way to grow up.” She steps back toward my computer. “And this is gorgeous.” Alice runs her fingers over the top of my desktop in the way a mother would run her fingers over the face of her child. Or so I imagine they would.

“I built it last year,” I blurt. “The computer. My old one went to Riley. His wife uses it for work now.”

“That’s awesome.” She smiles at me. “So, you have at least one married brother. Do you have someone special in your life? I noticed only one coffee mug on the counter.”

I run a hand over the back of my neck as heat climbs over the skin. “Three of my brothers are married, Riley being the most recent one to stand at the altar. Uh, I’m single, and so are Dylan and Lani.” Why is this making me so nervous?

“No southern belles catch your eye?” she asks. She’s being playful, but for some reason, it’s hitting a bit harder. Is she prying?

“I’m not actively searching.”

“Broken heart on the mend?”

“Just not looking,” I tell her, trying to keep my tone level when it feels like it’s thirty degrees hotter in here than it actually is.

Besides, it’s not a complete lie, though it’s not the truth either.

“I’m pretty busy with work and the ranch.

There aren’t many women who would be patient with all of that, and I’m not one to put only part of me into something.

When I do find that someone special, I need to be able to dedicate a whole lot more of me to the relationship than I can now. ”

“Honorable. Not a lot of men think like that.”

“I’m not like a lot of men.”

“I get that feeling.” Her pale crystal gaze locks on mine, and for a moment, the rest of the world simply fades away.

Then, the front door opens, breaking whatever tension was between us.

“Tucker, you here?” Dylan calls out.

“In here.” I clear my throat. Get it together, Hunt.

Tango rushes in first, brown eyes wide, ears forward, tail wagging. He slams into my legs and does a circle, then sits so I can pet him. “Hey, boy,” I reply with a laugh.

“He was not up for being distracted anymore,” Dylan says as he comes into the room. His gaze lands on Alice. “Miss Sterling.”

“Dylan. It’s just Alice, please.”

He doesn’t respond to her before shifting to me. “I wanted you to know Web Safe made a move on Frank.”

“What kind of move?” I step forward, a bite of anger surging through me. All I can think about is what they tried to do to Alice’s parents.

“Accused him of hacking the system and leaking that security video. Apparently, Find Me is currently doing what it can to thwart a warrant being issued for their system. Web Safe is requesting a thorough vetting of Find Me’s systems for proof that it was used to hack in and steal that video.”

Anger burns through me. They’re lies. All lies in an attempt to distract us now that Bradyn told Wilbur we were trying to find Ramiro. My guess is that the bruisers taken from Alaric’s custody also told whoever hired them that I have the Sterlings.

“There’s no way Frank or anyone at Find Me could have gotten into that system.” Alice crosses her arms. “And Web Safe knows that.”

“Of course they know it,” I say as I cross my arms too. “They’re just looking for another route to take if they can’t pin the data hack on you.”

“If they get into his system, they can plant information that makes it look as though he did what they’re saying,” Alice says, eyes widening.

“Which is why he asked me to come talk to you, Tucker.” Dylan fully faces me.

“Frank wants to know if there’s anything you can do to hide the more sensitive information in Find Me’s database.

Names, ages, pictures of the people they’ve saved.

You’re the only one he trusts.” He casts a side-eye at Alice, who holds up her hands.

“You don’t trust me. Got it. I’ll make myself scarce for now.” Alice leaves the room. Clearly curious about our new roommate, Tango trots after her.

As soon as she’s gone, I turn toward Dylan. “She’s innocent.”

“I’m not saying she isn’t, but given that she’s wanted for murder, based on fairly clear video footage, I’m also not open to trusting her at the moment.”

“Treating her like a criminal isn’t right, Dylan.” My brother has trust issues. There’s no denying that, but for some reason, the fact that he refuses to show Alice any trust is irritating me. A lot more than it would be if it were anyone else.

Dylan takes a deep breath. “Fair enough. I’ll apologize on my way out.”

I nod. “Thanks for taking care of Tango. I didn’t want to take him into town, and leaving him here alone just seemed mean.”

“No problem. He ran off quite a bit of energy, so he should be crashing in a few hours.”

“Good to know. I’ll get to work on Frank’s database. Depending on how good Web Safe is, I might be able to design a way for the information to be invisible to them; that way, they can’t get it even with a warrant.”

“I’ll let him know.” Dylan heads out of the office, so I follow him. Alice is sitting on the couch, petting Tango, who is lying lovingly beside her. “I’m sorry for being rude,” Dylan says. “It’s not my intention to make you feel like a criminal.”

“It’s all good. I’d be untrusting of me too. But I promise you, I didn’t kill Ramiro. He was my best friend.”

Dylan shrugs. “Tucker thinks you’re innocent, so who am I to argue?” He turns to me. “See you both at dinner later?”

“See you there.”

With one final nod at Alice, he leaves my house and closes the door behind him.

“You and your twin are two totally different people,” she says again.

I sigh, looking at the door. “We didn’t use to be. Come on, I could use your help with this. We need to make sure Frank Loyotta’s company doesn’t become exposed. I won’t let them be collateral damage in this fight.”