Free Sanctuary Lost WITSEC Town Series Book 1 by Lisa Phillips Page A

thirty-five.”
    “There is no way…” The major general’s rant
dissolved into rambling.
    John folded his arms, liking this woman even
more. “So she made it from one end of town to the other in fifteen
minutes and got herself two flags.”
    The major general’s craggy face turned red.
“I would have been notified!”
    “Because things always go the way you planned
in battle?” John shrugged. “Sometimes a new enemy crops up, one you
weren’t expecting. It would be a shame to let her get the jump on
both teams and get away with it, wouldn’t it?”
    The major general rubbed the palm of his hand
across his girth, which was covered with a wool vest. “Not under my
command!” He turned to the pentagon woman. “Call all troops back to
the command center. I want all intel before we mobilize the teams
to retake the flags.”
    She snapped straight. “Yes, sir!”
    Five minutes later both teams poured into the
Meeting House. Dan and Bolton both strode over, but not without
glancing sideways at each other. Bolton was the first to talk.
“Whose idea was it to have a team C?”
    John studied the man’s dark features. He’d
seen him somewhere before but couldn’t place where. Likely it was a
law enforcement connection; DEA by the look of the man. He seemed
the type to infiltrate drug cartels and bring down their empires
while simultaneously winning the heart of the cartel boss’s virgin
daughter.
    John didn’t trust him at all.
    He was going to have to do a serious amount
of reading in the next few weeks if he was going to get to the
bottom of who each of these people were. And that was the
short-hand route. It would take too long to meet each individual
person and determine the threat level of them living in this town.
He had to know what they were capable of if he was going to decide
whether to trust them with the formative years of Pat’s life.
Because there was no way John could shelter the kid from a whole
town.
    Bolton chewed out the major general on his
lack of sharing. It appeared Bolton didn’t know the old man had no
clue what was going on, either.
    Dan glanced aside at John. “The truck start
okay?”
    “A little slow on the uptake but once it got
warmed up it was happy.”
    Hal leaned toward them. “Sounds like my kind
of woman.”
    John burst out laughing, as did Dan, but the
farmer didn’t seem to find it quite as funny. Bolton glared at
them. “Do you mind?”
    John stared at the man and tried to remember
any big cases or busts but he’d been undercover for a year, which
put him severely out of the loop on that stuff. He glanced at each
of the men. “Any of you seen Deputy Palmer? He was supposed to be
in here tonight, supervising.”
    The men glanced at each other.
    “Care to share?”
    Dan was the one who spoke. “Palmer’s not a
bad guy. He’s just a little…exuberant. Probably wandered off to
give someone a citation.”
    “He said he’s lived here all his life. Does
that happen often?”
    “I’m a native, too.” Dan shrugged. “Palmer
and I went to school together. The guy never met a rule he couldn’t
follow.”
    John smiled. “Anyone else feel like weighing
in?”
    Bolton sniffed and turned away. Hal said,
“He’s fine enough. For a young un’.”
    “All right.” John motioned to the map on the
table top. “So what’s the plan for team C?”
    The major general lifted his chin.
“Intelligence indicates it was the same woman who took both
flags.”
    Dan said, “So who is she? You saw her,
sheriff. Any idea who it is?”
    John had a fair idea, but he wasn’t going to
give them everything. These were the kind of men who had to figure
it out for themselves instead of having him take half the fun out
of it for them. Besides, he could be wrong. “I’ve met maybe a dozen
people in town. I couldn’t say for sure who it was in your barn.
Slender. Five-seven. Hair was covered, dressed in all black. Dark
brown eyes. That’s about it.”
    “Great.” Bolton rolled his