“Almost,” said Gabe. “I want to request a new DOJ agent be appointed to the joint task force to replace the fallen agent, Matt Dryer.”
“Easily done,” said Tully.
“And,” said Gabe glancing first to his brother and then to Cassidy. He held her gaze as he spoke. “I request that Luke Forrest and Cassidy Walker be assigned to Black Mountain to assist in our investigation and report back to the joint task force.”
“No,” said Clyne.
Gabe turned to his elder brother as the two faced off. Clyne was slightly taller. Gabe slightly broader.
“I am required to notify tribal council of the presence of federal authorities on the reservation. I am not required to obtain their permission. This is your notice.”
Clyne’s teeth locked and his jaw bulged. Cassidy had to force herself not to step back. If the man could summon thunder it would surely have been rumbling over his head.
“Perhaps an agent other than Walker?” suggested Tully.
Gabe shook his head, his gaze still locked on Clyne. “Her.”
Cassidy swallowed. She didn’t understand why Police Chief Cosen would make such a play when his brother was against it. Her boss looked leery as well, likely because he now knew of the custody battle boiling between them. But she wanted the assignment because she wanted to continue her investigation and there was only so much she could do from Phoenix when the main player, Manny Escalanti, never left his nest on Black Mountain.
But why would Gabe Cosen want her? It didn’t make sense and she suspected a trap. Was he trying to gain some advantage in the adoption battle? If so, she couldn’t see it.
Clyne now leaned toward Gabe with a hand on his hip, which was thankfully clear of any weapon. Gabe settled for folding his arms over his chest and smiling like a man who knew he had won this round. Cassidy didn’t think it was over, because Clyne looked like a bull buffalo just before a charge.
Their uncle Luke Forrest stepped between them, placing a hand on the shoulder of each brother.
“It won’t be so bad,” he said to his nephew. “Just like I’m visiting. And I sure won’t mind sitting at your grandmother’s table a time or two.”
Tully glanced at her with an open look of assessment. She thought he was trying to puzzle this out as well and had also come up empty.
“All right, then,” said Tully and pointed at Cassidy. “Agents Walker and Forrest, you are reassigned to Black Mountain until further notice.”
Clyne glared at her and her wide eyes narrowed to meet the challenge in his gaze.
“Yes, sir,” she said.
“But why would he choose me?” Cassidy asked.
“Damned if I know,” said Tully. “Because you saved his brother’s life?”
Her partner, Luke Forrest, spoke up. “Don’t you see a conflict of interest here?”
“It’s Chief Cosen’s call,” said Tully. “One thing I know about Agent Walker is that she does her job. She proved it again today.”
She couldn’t tell if he was proud of her or still annoyed. But it was true. If she wanted Clyne Cosen dead, that had been her chance.
“Yes, sir.” It was automatic, her response. Inside her head she was shouting, No! But that was the voice of emotion. The one that she ignored whenever possible.
“Walker. Forrest. You are assigned to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.”
“Yes, sir.”
Cassidy groaned. She didn’t need to be on another committee. Especially one made up of state, local and federal authorities. What she needed was to be in the field. They’d been getting close to Ronnie Hare and that bust might be all she needed to gain her transfer.
“Since you are Apache, I expect you to be able to do some recon and find out if there is anything going on up there that would lead someone to take a shot at Tribal Councillor Cosen.”
“Yes, sir,” said Agent Forrest.
Her daughter. The basketball game that she’d promised she would attend.
“I need to make arrangements for my daughter.”
“Go on, then.”
Clyne’s scowl deepened.
Cassidy moved to the far side of the room to make a call to her mother-in-law. After Cassidy’s husband, Gerard, had been killed in action, Diane Walker had moved west to help her pick up the slack. Cassidy had no family of her own, and Gerard had been Diane’s only child. She made the call, apologized and disconnected. It was not the first time she had been unexpectedly sent on an assignment. It was the first time that that assignment was challenging her custody in federal court.
Cassidy glanced back to the waiting three men. She had one more important call to make to Amanda, the only thing more important than her job.
“Hi, pumpkin. You at school?”
“Mom, school ended hours ago. I’m at the rec center. The game. Remember? Where are you? Warm-up is almost over.”
She glanced at her watch and saw it was nearly four in the afternoon.
“Right. You all warmed up?” she asked, turning her back on the men.
“Where are you?” asked Amanda.
“I’m still in Tucson.” Her daughter groaned. “Grandma is on the way.”
“Oh, Mom!”
“Listen. There was some trouble. You’ll see it on the news.”
“Mom?” Her daughter’s voice was now calm. Unlike some of her fellows, she had never hidden what she did from her daughter. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, fine. But I’m still in Tucson.”
“Did you see my brothers?”
She glanced to Gabe and then to Clyne. “Yes.” She gripped her neck with her opposite hand so hard that her back began to ache.
“I want to meet them!” Her daughter’s voice filled with longing.
“Maybe soon.”
And maybe forever. Cassidy’s heart ached low down and deep, reminding her of a pain she had not felt since she’d discovered her husband had been killed in action.
She needed to get them out of Arizona. If only that would work. But she knew that moving wouldn’t protect Amanda from one particular threat. The ICWA, Indian Child Welfare Act. Sovereign rights. Tribal rights.
“Are you listening to me?” asked Amanda.
“What was that, pumpkin?”
“I asked if you will be back in time for Saturday’s game?”
She glanced to Clyne, the newest of the tribal council and enemy number one in her book. Oh, if she could just find something to bury them but all she’d come up with was something ancient on the third brother, Clay. She stiffened. A brow arched as she looked at Clyne, who narrowed his eyes at her.
“I’ll try, pumpkin.”
“Oh, Mom!”
From the phone, Cassidy heard the sound of a scoreboard buzzer.
“I’ve got to go.”
Cassidy pictured her in her red-and-white basketball uniform, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, her lips tinted pink from the colored lip gloss her daughter