Ultimate Cowboy Read Online Free PDF Page A

sorry.”
    “Julie dear,” her aunt said in that tinny voice that told Julie her aunt had given up a long time ago.
    “I mean it,” she said. “Uncle George, you may think you can hide what you’re doing, but I have my sourcesnow. If you hurt her, I’ll find out and I’ll be back.”
    Then she turned around and strode back to her car.
    Her uncle’s foul mouth spewed obscenities as she climbed into the sedan, but she ignored them and sat for a moment watching the house.
    For the first time all day, relief spilled through her and she smiled. Maybe Brody still hated her. Maybe he always would.
    But she wouldlove nothing better than to haul her uncle in and put him in jail. She actually hoped he would pull something right now and give her a reason to arrest his sorry ass.
    But the house was quiet, and a few minutes later, her aunt walked out onto the front porch and gave her a wave. It was the first time she’d seen her aunt smile like that, and she realized she’d made her point.
    So she shiftedinto gear and drove away.
    Her cell phone was buzzing as she pulled onto the main road. She glanced at it, thinking it might be Aunt Mary or Brody, but it was her chief instead.
    “What’s up?” she asked.
    “You know that other kid in the robbery in Amarillo?”
    “The boy with the one we think is Will Bloodworth?”
    “Yeah. We may have an ID on him.”
    Julie’s heart stuttered.An ID might lead to an address. “And?”
    “It’s not good,” he said. “We think his name is Tray Goodner.”
    “At least you have a name. Where does he live?”
    “That’s just it. Tray Goodner disappeared from a neighborhood park five years ago.”
    A shiver ran up her spine. “You think he and Will were both abducted?”
    “It looks that way.”
    Julie’s head spun. “Good God. What if theunsub who’d kidnapped them had also kidnapped Hank Forte?”
    * * *
    T HE NEXT TWO days seemed like years to Brody. As he rode to the stables to meet the group of teens he was working with today, he kept replaying the conversation with Julie in his head and berating himself for being so rude.
    She was right. He’d been a jerk. But seven years of not knowing what happened to his brotherand imagining the worst had stretched his patience to the limits. The pictures of Will robbing that store taunted him.
    There had to be a good explanation. Will had been forced to steal to survive.... Maybe he’d been living on the streets and had to join a gang to keep himself safe....
    He checked his phone log for messages, but there was nothing. Dammit, he’d been such a jerk that Juliemight have decided not to call him if they located his brother.
    The horses kicked up dust as he crossed the pasture, and he steered the quarter horse into the pen. Andrew Cogburn, the twenty-year-old counselor he’d assigned to this trio, threw up a hand in greeting.
    The horse they’d just brought in to work with kicked and whinnied, obviously unhappy to be trapped in a pen.
    Brodyled his horse to another stall, dismounted and patted his side. “Take a break, Chester.”
    He glanced at the three boys. Fifteen-year-old Hudson “Huddy” Liverby had recently joined the BBL after being sent to juvy for carrying a knife to school. Fourteen-year-old Royce Canton had come with his little brother Tory at the advice of a school counselor who said they were both grieving over theirfather’s recent death. And Seth Tsosis, a twelve-year-old from the reservation, had arrived after his mother had written Brody begging for his help. Seth was having trouble with bullying at school because of his small stature.
    “Hi, guys,” he said as he approached them.
    Huddy scowled, his bad attitude obvious, while Royce seemed interested in watching the stallion bucking in the stall.Seth hugged the edge of the fence as if he was afraid.
    “I see you’ve met Lightning.”
    “He’s mad, ain’t he?” Royce said, wide-eyed.
    Brody chuckled. “He sure is.”
    “You ever ride him?” Seth