Broken Trust by Leigh Bale Page A

green bills as proof.
    “Toni, where did you get these
pictures?” Mac spoke almost absentmindedly, seeming enthralled by the photos he
still held in his large hands.
    She barely spared him a glance as she
set a chair upright and straightened the rug. “Those are the photos Eric sent
with his letter. The ones I made from his flash drive. I printed them off
yesterday, just before I drove down here. Why? Is something wrong?”
    “Yeah, something’s very wrong.”
    Mac held up a photo of him posing
with Eric and another man Toni didn’t recognize. The scenery behind them showed
a mountain of red sand. The picture could have been taken anywhere in Iraq or
Afghanistan. The three men wore camouflage fatigues and looked like the best of
pals, smiling and happy as they flexed their muscles and clowned around.
    Toni’s stomach wrenched every time
she gazed at Eric’s lopsided grin. She missed her brother terribly. “What’s
wrong with that picture?”
    Mac’s jaw tightened. “All of these
hero shots of Eric and me were taken three days before the ambush. We’d just
found out we had leave coming, so we felt pretty happy. Later that evening, I
noticed Eric seemed upset. When I asked about it, he insisted it was nothing he
couldn’t handle on his own. He wouldn’t tell me, but I knew something was
wrong.”
    “So?”
    “This picture isn’t right.” He held
up the photo again. “This third man happens to be an intelligence officer named
Lieutenant Ryan Andrus. He worked with Eric on special projects, but none of
the rest of our team knew him at all.”
    Toni took the picture from Mac and
examined it. Andrus stood about three inches taller than Mac, his body gangly,
with bright red hair and a smattering of freckles across his cheeks and nose.
“Yes, I remember you mentioning Lieutenant Andrus to Agent Hooper earlier this
morning. But why is this picture a problem?”
    “I met Andrus for the first time
just one hour before the chopper picked us up for the mission.”
    “And?” Toni prodded.
    “And there is no possible way I
could have posed in this picture with him and Eric. That photograph has
obviously been altered to put all three of us together.”
    She hesitated, then rifled through
her purse one more time. She searched every pocket, scanning the floor for any
scrap of paper she may have overlooked. Her insides clenched and a sick feeling
settled in the pit of her stomach.
    “Oh, no.” Her throat tightened and
she could barely breathe.
    “What, Toni? What’s wrong?”
    She stared at him, fear burning the
back of her mind. “Eric’s letter. It’s gone.”
     
    Chapter Nine
     
    “Eric’s letter is the only thing
missing. Who would have taken it? And why?” Toni sat back in the rocking chair,
looking deflated and frightened.
    Mac wanted to say something to
soothe her, but knew it’d do no good. “I think we both know. Whoever Eric
feared must have followed you here.”
    “Do you think the man with road
rage last night and the person that trashed the cabin today are connected?”
    “I don’t know, yet. They may have
nothing to do with each other. But whoever was in the cabin may want Eric’s
secret file. The fact they took his letter tells me they knew what they were
after.”
    “But how could they know about
Eric’s letter, unless they saw him write it or he told them about it?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Her gaze locked with his and he saw
panic in her eyes.
    “Do you think whoever it is would
go to my house?” she asked. “What about my grandma and Cara? I’ve got to warn
them. If only we had cell phone service here. I’ve got to get back to Vegas.”
    She came to her feet, grabbing her
car keys. Mac waved her back. “Hang on. You can’t go anywhere yet. Your tires
were slashed. My folks will be back in a few minutes and then we’ll take the
boat across the lake. Even with this delay, we still should reach Clarkston
before our intruder. That’s the nearest town, and he’d have to pass