Page 2 of The Unbuttoned Ranger (Texas Heat: The Heart of a Texas Ranger #1)

Three weeks later in an undisclosed location

The plastic chair wasn ’ t the most comfortable but then again what did Sharp expect?

The bureau treated the Texas Heat Recon Team like they didn ’ t exist, because they didn ’ t on paper. They were ghosts, so to speak.

Long ago, the specialized unit was formed within the Texas Rangers, the tactical team had a clear mission to handle covert and overt operations along the Mexican border where local law enforcement faced limitations.

The unit had taken down many members of the Knights Alliance drug cartel, which meant TH had made a lot of enemies during the last five years.

The leader, Juan DeLupa, A.K.A “ Silver”, named after the color of his eyes and hair, had been arrested a year ago on charges that finally stuck.

Even his crook of an attorney couldn ’ t save him.

As the kingpin had been led away in handcuffs, he ’ d threatened that he ’ d bring the sledgehammer down on those responsible for his capture.

Sharp guessed Silver finally made good on his promise.

But what Sharp couldn ’ t understand, why the ambush was more of a “ friendly warning” than a fatal surprise attack. All four men who were targeted all survived. The attacks had been cleverly thought out and prepared—someone would have to know where the agents would be and their daily routines.

Laying in the hospital bed for those long weeks, Sharp had time to think about the case and come up with a theory. Injuring members of the team meant sending a clear message without escalating an outright execution. And, Silver wanted the team to be alive to suffer the fallout.

Yet, the bigger issue, how did Silver ’ s thugs know how to find members of the team?

This stunk of an inside infiltrator.

Sharp was sure he wasn ’ t the only one who suspected someone had leaked their identities.

“ I bet my bullet wound looks worse than yours.”

Sharp jerked his chin. Hawkeye had his shirt sleeve pulled up showing off the still raw-looking scar on his arm. It had healed a lot since Sharp saw the man last.

Standing, Sharp shook Hawkeye ’ s hand firmly and gave him a hearty slap on the other shoulder. “ It ’ s good to see you.”

“ Those sum ’ bitches thought they ’ d wipe us out. I always knew you were a warrior, Creed. You should be six feet under, buddy.” Although Hawkeye grinned, his grim expression warned that nothing about the situation was humorous.

“ If a man has nine lives I think I’m probably close, but who ’ s counting?”

“ Glad to see you here. We ’ ve dodged enough bullets across the pond. Didn ’ t think I ’ d be dodging them on friendly soil while I ’ m walking down the street.” Hawkeye ’ s gaze filled with anger.

“ Wonder what bullshit story the bureau will give us,” Ben “ Bear” Lane said as he strolled in and dropped down in one of the flimsy plastic chairs that barely fit the man ’ s size.

He didn ’ t have one ounce of fat. None of the men did.

Staying physically fit wasn ’ t only mandatory, but a way of life.

If ever they were in hand-to-hand combat they needed to make sure they could kill someone with their bare hands if the situation called for it.

“ You know how all that red-tape bullshit goes,” Hawkeye took a seat and ripped open the wrapper of a candy bar. He had a sweet tooth.

Aaron “ Sin” Sails strode in followed by Grimes who looked like he ’ d been sleeping in a box under a bridge. His hair had grown to his collar and his beard looked like something someone would use to scrub dirty dishes.

Grimes took a seat next to Sharp. “ How are you?”

“ Peachy,” Sharp said, noticing the dark circles under the man ’ s eyes and that he smelled of whiskey. “ You okay?”

“ About as good a rat at the county fair.”

“ I haven ’ t been called to the principal ’ s office in quite some time, anyone have intel on what’s going on?” Sin said.

A few of the men snorted.

“ It ’ s like the good old ’ days for me.” Hawkeye shoved the last of his candy into his mouth, crumbled the paper, and made a two-pointer into the trash can.

Arrow Stonebriar, strode in, looking his usual agitated self.

They often referred to him as a caveman because he was never shaven, his hair was always long, and his frown had become SOP.

He was covered in ink. He didn ’ t fit the clean image of a Ranger, but again, none of them did and that was the point.

“ Least they could have done was give us some cookies and milk.”

As he passed Sharp, Arrow thumped him on the shoulder. Although the men didn ’ t communicate their emotions in words, the little actions spoke volumes on how the ambush affected them all. They were all for one and one for all.

The team gathered around the long, narrow table and Sharp looked around at each of them, wondering where their heads were at.

Captain Rowan “ Delta” Delong walked into the room, looking as shitty as Sharp felt.

Since Delta had been promoted, he looked one thread away from beating the hell out of a bad guy.

Not that he would because he had the patience of a saint.

He dropped a folder on the table, and it slid a few inches, causing some of the papers to slip out.

Sharp read the word disassemble before Delta cleared his throat to gain everyone ’ s attention.

He gave each member a sharp glare then shoved the chair at the end of the table out of his way.

“ Glad to see you Sharp and Hawkeye.” He didn ’ t even make eye-contact.

“Too bad Echo and Zane can’t be here but they’re on their way to recovering. ”

Sharp had a feeling this wouldn ’ t be a meeting that he was going to like.

He liked the captain. Always had. They had a lot of history between them that started over in the desert.

Sharp had no doubt that Delta had the team ’ s best interest at heart, despite coming off as an unrelenting asshole at times.

“ I ’ m going to make this short and sweet. As of right now you ’ re all not Texas Heat Recons. The bureau has disassembled the team until further notice. The ambush has caused an uproar in the ranks.”

Sharp narrowed his gaze, half listening to the others ’ curse and groan.

“ The team is being disassembled?” Sharp ’ s gaze automatically fell to the paperwork falling out of the folder. “Like it’s our gawddamned fault we got hit.”

“ The orders are for the team to disassemble until we can get to the bottom of what happened out there—how we had four of the team ambushed and gunned down. Your safety is a concern and your identities are compromised.” Delta had a great poker face but Sharp noticed the muscle twitch in the captain ’ s solid jaw.

“ What the fuck do you mean? Don ’ t give us some political bullshit that anyone at the bureau gives a rat ’ s ass or a modicum of concern for our safety.

They ’ re just fucking afraid of this shit blowing up in their faces.

” Bear banged his fists down onto the table, spilling his coffee over the rim of his paper cup.

“ Now ’ s the time we should be sticking together and finding the assholes who did this to our team. ”

Delta rubbed the tension from his forehead. “ I ’ m not at liberty to tell you—”

“ That ’ s exactly the kind of political bullshit Bear ’ s talking about,” Arrow bit out.

“ We have the suspects in custody. They ’ re being detained and debriefed,” Delta said, looking more agitated by the second.

“ Knights Alliance?” Sharp asked.

“ They ’ re not doing much talking but they have the cartel brand.”

For anyone to be a member of the Knights Alliance they had to accept a permanent branding on their skin that showed their commitment and loyalty to the cartel.

“ I don ’ t know why you just didn ’ t give us the names and let us hunt them down. We know the fuckers will get three hots and a cot,” Grimes muttered, rapping his knuckles in frustration on the table.

“ You understand there ’ s a process. I don ’ t need to school any of you on that policy.” Delta groaned. “ I know this isn ’ t the news you wanted, or expected—”

“ This isn ’ t news at all. This is stripping us of the right to enact justice.” Arrow ’ s voice boomed across the room, nearly rattling the tinted window.

Delta dragged the plastic chair back to the table and sat down cautiously as if the chair might break under him.

“ These are not my orders, agents. If it was up to me, I ’ d be fighting right alongside you disposing the world of the cowards who do things like this, but the bureau is firm on this.

They ’ re preventing a bloodbath that they can ’ t clean up. ”

“ Four of our men were shot and left for dead. Two are still laid up in hospital beds. Sharp and Hawkeye are sitting here nursing bullet holes and you ’ re not only telling us we ’ re ordered to stand down but we ’ re also being told that our unit is dismantled?

” Most days Grimes could be described as logical and calm, but today, he looked like he could bite a nail in half.

“ Sounds like the brownnosers have a lot of secrets outside of Texas Heat. Even if you have suspects in custody, they aren ’ t the ones who made the orders for the ambushes. ”

“ I don ’ t need to remind you of this but you ’ re a recon team, covert ops.

There ’ s no paper trail or digital trace of Texas Heat anywhere on the books.

It might not sink in too well right now because you ’ re all pissed, but every cartel we ’ ve had a hand in infiltrating, every crime boss we ’ ve laid to rest, we ’ ve made enemies.

This team wasn ’ t created to be vigilantes.

We were created to follow orders, do the missions, and disperse until the next order comes in.

There are a lot of people in danger if one of you fucks up and Texas Heat is exposed.

And yet, we ’ re bound by political restraints just like every other goddamn recon team ever mobilized. ”