Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Rhett answers. “Hold high ground.”
“Copy.”
Another shot cracks from Cade’s position, and Boone pushes me lower as we head through the trees. “Head down.”
When we finally reach Rhett, I have the absurd thought that he and Boone look exactly alike in a deep way I’ve never seen. The way they plant themselves between me and danger, they’re more like barricades than men.
Rhett’s eyes flick to me for half a second. “Can you walk?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Then we move.”
Nobody asks if I need a minute, and I’m glad, because if I stop, I’ll start shaking.
Rhett leads us out, with Boone at my back, and Cade a shadow above us. By the time we reach the truck hidden below the service cut, my lungs are raw, and my legs are trembling. Boone opens the rear door and guides me in with a hand at the small of my back. Rhett stays outside, scanning the treeline.
Cade appears three minutes later and immediately looks for me.
When I tell him I’m okay, his eyes close for a second, then he turns to Rhett. “They knew her route.”
I curl my shaking hands into fists and look out the windshield as the men get in and Rhett drives us home.
CHAPTER 30
CADE
I keep seeing him at twenty yards. Every time I blink, the lead attacker clears the granite again.
Twenty yards from Wren. Twenty yards from putting his hands on her.
Twenty yards because I missed the angle.
By the time we get back to the cabin, I’ve replayed the approach a dozen times. Maybe more. The outcrop blocked the draw, but I knew that. We planned around it, but they used it anyway.
Rhett parks tight to the cabin instead of in his usual spot. Boone’s out before the engine dies, rifle in hand, eyes on the treeline. I step down on the passenger side and scan the cabin, then the other side of the property.
Wren opens the rear door before Boone can reach it. Her face is pale, but her head is up, and her eyes are clear. There’s dirt on her face and pine needles in her braid.
I want to touch her, but I don’t, because I might not stop.
Rhett comes around the hood. “Inside. You’re exposed.”
For half a second, I think she might argue, because Wren has a stubborn streak wide enough to show up on a topo map, and under normal circumstances, I admire the hell out of it.
These aren’t normal circumstances.
She nods, and when she’s inside, she stands in the middle of the space like she’s not sure she belongs there.
“Sit,” Boone says in a tone much more gentle than Rhett would have managed.
She takes a chair in the living room, and Boone kneels in front of her with his first-aid kit, checking her hands, wrists, arms, and legs. He asks her to track his finger with her eyes, and she gives him a look that would make a lesser man back off, but she does it anyway.
I turn away before the tenderness in Boone’s face guts me completely.
Rhett already has maps spread across the table.
“I’ll inventory,” I say.
He nods. “Weapons, ammo, medical, water, fuel, food. Seventy-two-hour minimum. Seven-day preferred.”
“Already have seven,” Boone calls over.
Rhett keeps his focus on the map. “Confirm it.”
Before I reach the hall, Wren says, “This is my fault.”
“No,” the three of us say at the same time.
Arms braced on the table, Rhett looks over at her. “Turner’s responsible for his actions, and so are his men. You’re responsible for doing your job, and you did it.”
“I led them to you.”
“You found what they were hiding,” I say.
Rhett straightens and takes out his phone. “No more fieldwork.”
Wren’s spine stiffens, and I brace for a fight, but it doesn’t come. After a long moment, she nods but doesn’t say anything.
“We’ll gather whatever you need,” Rhett tells her.
I’m glad she’s not arguing, but I almost wish she would, only so I’d know she wasn’t traumatized by what happened today.
Boone dabs something on a scratch on her arm, and I head out to check supplies.
Later, the three of us go over a patrol schedule. From now on, two of us will stay awake at all times, our radios will always be charged and on us, and the exterior lights will remain off unless triggered.
Working fast and quiet, with a rifle slung over my shoulder and a sidearm at my hip, I reset the trip sensors along the north slope and reposition two game cameras on the creek approach. When I go back inside, Rhett’s checking weapons and Boone’s inventorying medical supplies.
Wren’s standing near the kitchen counter with her arms wrapped around herself, and I cross over to her before I decide whether or not it’s smart. She looks up when I stop in front of her, and for a second, neither of us speaks.
There are things I should say. Boone would find a way to make her smile, and Rhett would lay out a detailed plan for her safety. I can only give her what’s been running through my head for the past several hours.