Read Online Talon: Combat Tracking Team (A Breed Apart) by Ronie Kendig - Free Book Online Page A

glass as Jibril returned with a tray of drinks. He set them on the coffee table cuddled in the center of the sofas. “Here we go.” The ABA owner slowed as he set the tray down. As always, he didn’t miss a thing. “Is something wrong?”
    “Hot Shot here is getting cold feet.”
    The challenge soared through the air, and Aspen could tell it hit center mass. Dane rose. Aspen with him. “Hey,” she said, catching his forearm as she glared at Heath, “no baiting.”
    “You know, this was a bad idea.”
    “Why?” Heath held his ground. “Am I right?”
    Dane swallowed. “I don’t have cold feet.” He started for the door.
    “Then what’s the problem?”
    “I’m not doing this.” Dane shook his head and stomped toward the foyer.
    “Wait!” Aspen speared Heath with her fiercest glare as she rushed around the U-shaped sofa. “Dane, please.”
    Sunlight shot through the open door.
    She hurried onto the porch. “I want to talk. I need to know everything.”
    “Why?” He spun toward her. “There’s nothing that can be done. The government won’t go after him. They won’t even listen to me, though they’ve shoveled threats at me by the ton.”
    “What threats?”
    He snapped back into composure and lowered his chin. “Never mind.”
    “No. I won’t never mind. You have information about my brother and I want it.”
    “Why?” His brow furrowed, but those blue eyes shone through. “What are you going to do, Aspen? Go after him?”
    Indignation rippled through her and yanked her courage to the front. “If I have to.”
    “Be realistic. I’ve been there on a mission. Have you been there? Do you realize the temperature?”
    “This is Texas. I’m familiar with hot weather.”
    He let out a half laugh, half snort as his eyes closed, and he lowered his head again. “I meant the political temperature.”
    “Oh.”
    “They aren’t friendly to Americans. It’s predominantly Muslim. There’s an American base there, but that doesn’t mean anything except more trouble. If your brother was there, finding him is one thing. Getting him out of there is another.”
    “Why? What are you saying?”
    “I’m saying if he’s there, if he went missing—there are myriad possibilities. He could’ve been snatched. He could’ve been brainwashed or have amnesia. He could be—” Dane chomped his mouth closed, and his gaze flung to the trees.
    Aspen didn’t need him to tell her his thoughts. Because hers went there, too. “He could be a traitor.” Her next breath felt like it weighed as much as an MRAP. “That’s what you were going to say, wasn’t it?”
    “It doesn’t matter. This whole conversation doesn’t matter.”
    “Why? Are you saying my brother doesn’t matter?”
    “I’m saying we have no way to find him.”
    She squared her shoulders. “Are you saying you’ll go with me?”
    He blinked and shook his head. “Aren’t you listening to me?”
    “I have a team.”
    “Who?”
    “Talon—”
    “The dog?” The incredulity in his voice scraped over her spine.
    “Yes.” She practically hissed the answer. “Talon knows Austin. Better than anyone. He never forgets a scent, even the one of a purported coward.”
    Dane cocked his head, understanding her accusation. “You said he had PTSD.”
    “He’s getting better.”
    He ran a hand through his hair. The longer strands swung into his face.
“Getting
better doesn’t do us much good in hostile territory.”
    “Let her worry about that.”
    They both spun toward the door. Propped against the jamb, Heath had his arms folded again. The proverbial big brother look plastered on his face. No wonder Darci loved that man. Would Aspen ever find a man so protective and gentle, yet every bit the warrior?
    “She can worry about anything she wants,” Dane said, an edge to his voice. “But taking a damaged dog into who-knows-what—”
    “Please.” Aspen’s heart jammed into her throat as she caressed Talon’s head. “Don’t call him