Brom. Graham called him Doogan when others were around, mostly. He was one of the few Doogan allowed the privilege.

“Now.” Graham narrowed his gaze back at him. “What’s this about being at the top of Zoey’s list of potential first lovers?” He grimaced worriedly. “That’s not a safe place to be, my friend.”

Reaching into the light jacket he wore, Doogan pulled free a white envelope and handed it to Graham. “Perhaps this will explain things better. It’s from Director Bryce himself.”

“Why do I have a feeling this letter is just going to end up pissing me off?” Graham sighed.

With an inclination of his head and a wry smile, Doogan took the chair Graham had offered moments before and watched as the other man sat back down at the desk.

Propping his ankle on the opposite knee, Doogan turned his attention to the security camera as Graham opened the envelope and pulled the letter free.

As Graham read, Doogan watched Eli via the security camera placed behind the bar. The younger man sat at the bar, watching Kye in between glares at the camera.

Doogan was trying to be patient with the boy. He knew why Eli had a problem with him, just as Graham did. Because of it, he’d let the young agent get away with far more than he should have.

Eli refused to see the truth of the events that instilled that resentment in him. No matter the times Eli’s father had tried to make him understand, and no matter the attempts Graham had made, that resentment lingered.

“Oh, fuck,” Graham groaned as he finished the director’s letter. “Doogan, you don’t want to do this.”

No, he didn’t want to do it, but there was little choice at this point. Somehow, another agent had learned Harley was missing and was under the belief Zoey had killed him. Neither Doogan nor Director Bryce had yet to learn the agent’s source of information.

“If I don’t do it, then the assignment will go to Collin Westfield.” Doogan leaned forward as Graham’s eyes narrowed in surprise. “My own initial investigation revealed the rumor that Natches Mackay beat up Agent Harley Matthews aka Harley Perdue and demanded he leave town because of his cousin, Zoey Mackay. That’s the rumor here in Somerset. According to Westfield, he was contacted by an anonymous source who revealed that Zoey Mackay killed Harley, then somehow managed to hide the act. Rather than investigating, Westfield requested immediate arrest. The director refused the request, but that hasn’t stopped the agent from threatening to go over his head. If that happens and Zoey’s arrested, then all the hard work the rest of us have done since Timothy Cranston began courting the Mackay clan as DHS support is shot to hell.”

“Arresting any Mackay will start a war between a hell of a lot of powerful men and DHS,” Graham admitted. “The director will lose quite a few damned good agents as well. I can think of four of us right off the bat.”

“Five, just in case I wasn’t a consideration,” Doogan amended coolly. “The problem is, Westfield won’t care. That’s why I’m here myself, because I do care.”

Graham wiped his hand over his face, then stared back at him in disgust. “That letter.” He flipped the paper in contempt. “Orders me not to tell my wife jack shit, Doogan. That’s her sister we’re talking about.”

“And your wife’s baby sister doesn’t do a damned thing that your wife isn’t well aware of, Graham,” Doogan informed him mockingly. “Are you aware Lyrica knows Zoey is tortured by nightmares of killing Harley?”

Graham stared back at him in shock. “Not possible. Lyrica would have told me.”

“I stayed at Zoey’s last night and bugged her living area. I actually overheard the conversation this afternoon. Lyrica’s certain it’s some nightmare Zoey can’t distinguish from reality, whereas Zoey is convinced there’s more behind it. Incidentally, it would have happened before he was seen at Ziggler’s convenience store at the edge of town. But if Westfield ever gets so much as a whisper of that little nugget of information, then hell is going to explode at DHS as well as in Somerset.”

Graham shook his head. “Harley’s not dead. I saw him for about two minutes after I was released from the hospital last summer. He made the shot that killed Jimmy Dorne. That was months after he was seen leaving town.”

“He has to come in, Graham . . .”

“Good fucking luck,” Graham snapped. “He won’t even come in for Natches, and they were tight as hell. Hell, until he took that shot at Jimmy, no one had seen or heard from him since he’d disappeared.”

“Does Natches have any idea why?” Doogan asked him.

“None.” Graham shook his head, and he wasn’t lying.

As Graham tapped the letter against the desk, his expression creased with worry. “You’ll break her heart, Brom,” he said, meeting Doogan’s gaze again. “She doesn’t deserve that. She’s a good kid.”

“Better a broken heart than what Westfield would do.” He pinched the bridge of his nose wearily. “If he arrests her, he’ll send her straight to Gitmo or a black site outside the U.S. to be held before anyone can stop him. By the time Matthews showed himself and she’s released, she wouldn’t be the same. You know what would happen to her, Graham. She’d never be the same woman who was taken.”

“And if he tries it anyway?” Graham asked, knowing the war that would erupt if anything even approaching that scenario happened.

“Then he’ll receive a similar order to yours,” Doogan informed him. “This operation is top-level covert and under not just my direction but also my command. If he tries anything after that, then I get to kill him myself.” He stared back at Graham with icy determination. “And I will kill him.”

Collin Westfield’s vendetta against the Mackays was becoming a problem even the director was concerned with. It was getting harder and harder to block his bullshit and keep knowledge of it from reaching Dawg, Natches, or Rowdy Mackay. Their contacts in the law enforcement field were far reaching and went even deeper than the director knew. So far, between himself and Bryce, they’d kept the other agent contained. That wasn’t going to last much longer.

The Mackays’ strength, loyalty, and dedication to their county and country had changed the face of several once-suspected small, emerging family-backed militias. And not just in Kentucky. Those clans were now allies to the agency. If it appeared DHS was betraying the Mackays, then they’d lose far more than one family’s loyalty.

“Westfield’s not stupid, Brom. He’s already prepared,” Graham mused. “He wouldn’t have expected you to take the assignment yourself, though. He’ll be trying to figure out a way to work around you.”

Doogan drew in a heavy breath. “Be careful, Graham, because someone close to the Mackays is funneling information to him. Just before I headed out he went to the director with a request to come to Somerset to follow up on a contact’s report regarding questionable Mackay activities. Bryce set his ears back with an ass chewing that’s only going to hold him back so long.”

“You think it was Eli?” Graham’s fingers closed into a fist where one arm rested on the desk.

“Actually, no, I don’t.” Sitting forward once again, Doogan narrowed his eyes at the security camera to watch Eli edging closer to Graham’s sister Kye. “But someone’s trying to make it appear it’s Eli. His animosity toward me is well known, and Eli doesn’t always watch his back properly. Perhaps we should partner him with someone we trust. Someone who will watch his back.”

Graham sat back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling for several moments before straightening and nodding slowly. “I know who I can use. Eli’s assignment has been Zoey, but I’ve been thinking . . .”

“Take him off Zoey, Graham,” Doogan ordered him softly. “I’ll kill him if you don’t.”

Graham grunted in reply but shook his head. “I don’t think that’s how we want to do it.” He sat forward slowly, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “How much do you know about Eli’s interaction with Zoey?”