Free Rogue (Book 2) (The Omega Group) by Andrea Domanski Page A

reasoning—the
shooter chose to use tranquilizer darts instead of bullets—but she was less
optimistic. Regardless of their ammunition choice, someone had taken Carter by
force. In her experience, that kind of thing rarely had an altruistic motive.
    “So, where do we start?” As far as Mirissa could tell, they
really didn’t have any leads.
    Jackie was the only person to offer anything even resembling
a plan. “Our best bet is the Yavapai. The shooter at the airport when we landed
was definitely part of their tribe, and they did attack us last night at the
Havasupai village. That moves them to the top of my suspect list."
    “Mine, too,” Han said, all joviality gone. “Carter has a
history with them. It makes sense.”
    Myrine nodded. “All right. We’ll check them out first. Do we
know where they live?”
    “Yeah,” Han answered. “Kell gave us the location where
they’re staying. It’s not their home, but they’ve been there for a while.”
    “And Kell is …?” Myrick asked.
    “Kell Christner. She’s the park ranger who’s been
documenting everything that’s happened here,” Han answered.
    “She might be a bit of a problem, though,” Jackie continued.
“She’s taken a leave of absence from her job and is conducting her own
investigation. I don’t think she’s gonna back off.”
    Myrine thought for a moment. “All right. If she becomes a
problem we’ll deal with her. For now, let’s go find Carter.”

Chapter
13
    Gina Ankte wandered through the almost deserted forest of
their new, borrowed home. The Yavapai had been staying on the southern tip of
the Navajo reservation for months. Although she understood the generosity of
the Navajo’s gift to them, it didn’t go unnoticed that they were placed as far
from the other tribes as geography would allow.
    Being ostracized was something Gina was accustomed to. Her
tribe had been looked down upon for over a thousand years. If the legends were
true, they’d deserved it back then. Much to her dismay, in the centuries since,
they’d done nothing to earn back their rightful place. Their anger and
bitterness, passed down from one generation to the next, kept them focused on
revenge instead of rebuilding.
    And I’m doing the same thing. Alienating herself from
her tribe for the last five years hadn’t been a conscious decision. She’d
allowed her own anger and bitterness to consume her until it was all she had
left. And now I’m here again.
    Coming back to the canyon was the last thing Gina wanted to
do. She’d argued against the move since it was first discussed almost a year
ago but, as usual, her opinion was ignored. Her tribe, like many others, was a
male-dominated society. Women, although not considered outright inferior, were
relegated to specific roles. Making decisions that affected the entire tribe
was not one of those roles.
    Their healer had insisted they return after having another
one of his ambiguous visions. He assured their chief that this time Tochapa
would reward them with the shape-shifting power they deserved. That once and
for all, they would have their revenge.
    It didn’t seem to matter to the chief that those same words
had been spoken by their healer more than a dozen times in Gina’s lifetime.
They’d followed every one of his plans, mostly to the detriment of their tribe,
and ended up with nothing. Five years ago, when one of the healer’s plans
included her, she’d lost everything she’d ever cared about in one horrific
night.
    No. I’m not going to dwell on that anymore. I’ve spent the
last five years trying to put it behind me and I refuse to let that pain take
over now.
    That, of course, was easier said than done. Just being back
at the canyon had caused all of those feelings to come flooding back. She’d
even imagined seeing Carter at the airport yesterday.
    If there was one person on this earth that she didn’t want
to see, it was Carter. After what he’d done…
    A loud grunt to her left pulled her