Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3)

“Not really,” she said, trying to disguise her flustered reaction to his blatant admiration. “It’s logical that they would revert to their previous names. That way, they could stay hidden from those searching for connections to Dr. Lowman, while their family could still contact them.”

“Did you locate them?”

She nodded. “Yesterday I got a hit on his wife, Jessica.”

The sense of hope returned at her low words. “What sort of hit?”

“An address in Omaha.”

“If you knew where she was, then why did you insist on staying at the base?” he demanded, still aggravated by the thought of her taking such an outrageous gamble with her life.

“Because her apartment contract shows that she lives alone.”

“That doesn’t mean that her husband isn’t there.”

“No, but it seems strange to risk getting tossed from her apartment when she could have put down a fake name for her husband,” she said. “So this morning, I ran a trace on her place of employment.”

“Where does she work?”

She pointed toward the tablet. “She’s a nurse at the Great Plains Home of Tranquility.”

He studied the brick building. Once again, he was struck by how isolated it was.

“It sounds like a spa,” he said.

“Nope. It’s a mental institution,” Mira corrected. “And her employment files reveal that her brother is a patient there.”

He lifted his gaze to meet her eyes that had darkened with excitement.

“Do you think the brother has information?”

She smiled. “Jessica Medlen doesn’t have a brother.”





Chapter 5


George Markham watched as Donaldson paced the office that was as pretentious as it was oversized. He had a theory about men who had big offices. It was to compensate for a lack of genuine balls.

Something he never had to worry about.

Which was why he was leaning against the edge of the desk as his companion was red-faced and twitchy. He had confidence they’d find the missing computer bitch. And if they didn’t…

Well, he was going blame the entire fiasco on the Colonel.

He was the one who’d insisted that they bring Mira Reese to this base instead of staying at the SAU headquarters in Boulder. And he’d assured Markham that the security system was impenetrable.

A young man in a starched uniform stepped through the open doorway, snapping a salute as Donaldson turned to glare at him.

“Well?” the Colonel demanded.

The young soldier paled. Clearly, he was there to offer bad news.

“We did a complete sweep of the base. She isn’t here.”

Donaldson clenched his hands. “Did you check the silos?”

“Yes, sir. Even the abandoned ones.”

Markham rolled his eyes. Why would the woman sneak out of the office and then hide in one of the missile silos?

“What about the security tapes?” Donaldson pressed.

When they’d returned to the office after a long, too leisurely dinner, it was to discover that Mira Reese was missing, and the computer system completely shut down. Nothing they did could retrieve the information from the hard drive.

In fact, each time they tried, they only caused more damage.

“Whatever happened to the computers also affected the cameras,” the younger man said.

Donaldson’s breath hissed between his teeth. “So they’re worthless?”

The man lost another shade of color, and his gaze lowered. “Yes, sir.”

There was a tense pause, as if Donaldson were trying to restrain his urge to smash the poor soldier in the face.

“Get the dogs,” he at last snapped. “I want four separate search parties.” He lifted his hand to point toward each corner of the office. “North. South. East. West.”

The soldier gave a nod, eager to be away from his furious commander.

“I’ll get it arranged at once.”

“Don’t come back without her,” Donaldson warned in dark tones.

The soldier saluted, backing out of the room and closing the door with a firm snap. Markham’s lips twitched as he heard the sound of footsteps scurrying down the hall.

Markham might not be intimidated by Donaldson’s bluster, but obviously, the Colonel’s small army was easily bullied.

“Dammit.” Donaldson whirled on his heel, slamming his fist into the open palm of his other hand. “If she’s with one of the animals, we’ll never find her.”

Markham stiffened. He’d just assumed that Mira had discovered whatever she was looking for on the SAU’s private network and done her vanishing act.

Now he studied his companion with a deep frown.

“What makes you think she didn’t do this on her own?”

The Colonel flashed a patronizing smile that made Markham want to pull the Glock he had strapped to his ankle. Then, the pompous fool strolled across the office to open the window.

“I assume that she destroyed the computers and security system, she’s the expert, after all,” he drawled. “But there’s no way she did this.”

Reluctantly Markham crossed to study the gouges that had been dug into the windowsill.

Claw marks.

Biting back a curse, Markham forced himself to turn back to study the office. Shit. He should have done a more thorough inspection of the office the minute he’d realized that the computer woman was gone.

Now he had to act as if Donaldson hadn’t managed to outwit him.