Free Marrying Kate by Kimberly Rae Jordan

addresses he’d set up for contact with people who might have tips or warnings for him. He’d put off dealing with any of this while the more pressing issues of the children, the marriage and the finances had needed his attention. Now that he had time to think about it though, he was becoming concerned that should the wrong person hear that he was still alive, he—and now Kate and the kids—could be in danger. He just couldn’t take that chance.
    There were no significant messages at the one email address, but the next one had several different ones. He found a couple of pieces of junk mail, but one message was very serious.
    “ J-man: Something is going on…I think an attempt was made on my life. I’ve gone to ground to try and figure this out, but I’m worried that you may be at risk too. Cutting all ties for now, but be careful. I’m not sure who to trust…you need to be on alert. I will try again to contact you later. As I’m sure you know, not all is as it appears. Stay safe. P ”
    Philip. Jared tried to ignore the shiver of alarm that coursed through him. He quickly hit the reply button and sent a brief message back to him. He hoped Philip was on-line and checking his mail and would reply right away…and he hoped that one of the ties his former colleague had cut wasn’t shutting down his email address.
    Minutes ticked by. The phone didn’t ring and there was no new message in his inbox. Then a message appeared, but it wasn’t the one he hoped for.
    "Mail undeliverable. Address not valid."
    Jared didn’t like the feel of this. He was tempted to close his two email accounts since clearly Philip thought that they could be accessed by someone. His friend wouldn’t have shut down his email if he didn’t think it could be, or had been, compromised. He decided to just leave his in place for now, but went to another web site and set up a completely new address. He was just finishing the registration process when the phone rang.
    Jared grabbed it. "Hello?"
    "Jared! Good to hear from you, man!" Garth’s familiar voice came over the line. “How did the last mission go?
    " Not quite as planned," he replied. “You haven’t read the report on it yet?”
    “I was waiting for Keith to finalize it and pass it on.” Garth chuckled. “He hates paperwork even more than you do.”
    "Is this line secure?" Jared asked.
    "Yes it is, so feel free to talk," Garth assured him.
    Jared hesitated, wishing he’d read Philip’s message before he’d contacted Garth. He, Garth and Philip had worked together for over ten years. As the more experienced agent, Garth had trained him and Philip, had shown them how to be the best they could be. They’d been to hell and back together before Garth had moved on to the supervisor position. And now he had moved up the ladder even further. He had no reason to not trust the man, but Philip’s email had put him on edge.
    He had no choice though.  He needed answers and Garth might be the only one who had them.
    "Okay, first things first, I got an email from Philip."
    "You got a message from Philip?" Garth asked.
    "Yes, I haven’t checked my mail in a while but it was dated two weeks ago. I sent a reply to him but his mail account is closed."
    "He’s dead, Jared."
    "Dead?" Jared felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach. Philip had been the only other person besides Steve whom Jared trusted completely. They had started with the company at the same time and had gone on several missions together. "How did he die?"
    "A car accident."
    "A car accident?" Jared laughed without mirth. "Are you aware that someone phoned here and told Kate—my brother’s sister-in-law—that I had been killed in a car accident as well?"
    “What? Why would someone do that?”
    “I’m trying to figure that out. And I’d also like some explanation as to why—when Kate phoned to have someone alert me to the deaths of my brother and his wife—the message wasn’t passed on.”
    “I have no idea…had no