Justice for a Ranger

Hell must have finally frozen over in Justice, Texas. That was the only explanation for the phone call requesting his services from his half brothers, Lieu-tenant Zane McKinney and Sergeant Sloan McKin-ney, both Texas Rangers. As was Cole, but they had never met or asked for his help on a case before. Not him--the bastard, bad-boy brother they all hated. Cole traced a proud finger over the silver star he'd earned through his own blood, sweat and tears. He was a sergeant now himself. He'd made the grade with no help. No financial support or fancy education. No loving, doting parents. Not like Zane and Sloan. A bitter laugh rumbled from deep within his gut as he threw his clothes into a duffel bag, stepped into the hot sunshine and climbed on his Harley. Dammit. He'd been ordered to leave his current case behind, come straight out of the trenches where he'd been working a lead on a smuggling ring along the border, to assist in Justice. Of course, his half brothers must be desperate to exonerate their father, to finally free him of the mur-der charges that had hung around his neck like an al-batross the past sixteen years.A murder investigation that had been revived because Sarah Wallace, daugh-ter of Lou Anne Wallace, the woman his father had slept with and had been accused of strangling with her own designer purse, had just been murdered in the same hotel room, in the same manner. And most likely by the same person who'd killed her mother. Bitterness swelled inside Cole as choking as the insufferable summer heat. Did his brothers actually think he gave a damn about the outcome? That he'd come running to team up with them to save their fa-ther because he wanted to see Jim McKinney's good name restored? Jim McKinney--the father who'd abandoned him and his mother. The father who'd never acknowl-edged his existence. The father who had been noth-ing more than a sperm donor on his behalf. The man who'd broken his mother's heart. Barb Tyler had never married after her short af-fair with Jim McKinney. She'd claimed Jim had ruined her for another man. And she'd taken that love with her to her grave no more than a year after Jim McKinney's arrest. If Cole hadn't known bet-ter, he'd have thought she'd died of grief for the man's lost reputation herself. He hated Jim for it. Still, he was a Texas Ranger. Part of the most revered, effective investigative law enforcement agency in the world. And he was damn proud to be a lawman. God knows he'd been on a crash course to jail himself when Clete McHaven, the rancher his mother had cooked for, had caught him trying to steal from his ranch and had made him work off the debt or go to the pen. He scrubbed a hand over his three days' growth of beard stubble, knowing he looked like hell as he strapped on his biker's helmet, cranked up the Harley's engine and tore down the driveway. Dust and pebbles spewed from his tires as he careened onto the highway. Anger and determination had him pushing the speed limit. Not that he was in a hurry to see the long-lost family that had cast him aside as if he was a leper. But he had a chance to prove that a real Texas Ranger didn't need book education or to be a good ole boy. That his tracking skills had earned him a spot as a top-notch lawman. He had no intention of begging for accolades from the McKinneys, of trying to worm his way into their snotty huddle. Hell, he didn't need them or their ap-proval. And he would not play favorites in the investi-gation. Jim McKinney had been a bastard who couldn't keep his pants zipped. And although he'd never been convicted of murder, if he had killed Lou Anne Wallace and her daughter, Cole would find out. Then he would snap the handcuffs around his wrists and haul him to jail where he belonged. And he wouldn't think twice about who suffered when he did. TO SOME PEOPLE GOING HOME meant rHerron, Rita is the author of 'Justice for a Ranger ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373692446 and ISBN 0373692447.