by Elle James
Kujo and Special Agent Greenbriar turned and walked back the way they’d come. Six looked around at the people at the table, then turned and followed the couple out of the house.
Bastian finished his eggs and toast and carried his plate to the sink.
Jenna stepped up beside him and murmured, “Good morning,” as she laid her plate and fork in the sink on top of his. She lifted her chin and met his gaze with a twisted brow. “Did you sleep all right?”
He nodded, while every nerve in his body screamed for him to take her in his arms and give her a proper good-morning kiss. Somehow, he managed to contain himself. “Did you sleep well?”
Her gaze dropped from his. “I did.” For a moment, she stood in front of him.
God, Bastian wanted to take her into his arms and crush her body against his.
The moment passed, and Jenna turned and walked away.
What the hell was he doing? Was he punishing himself for the desire raging through his body?
Bastian followed Jenna out onto the porch where Greenbriar and Kujo waited.
“Hi, I’m Jenna. Bastian and I are going with you today,” Jenna said before Bastian could say anything different.
“I think the earlier the better,” Greenbriar said. “Hopefully, they won’t expect a drone to fly over their heads.”
“Is it very loud?” Jenna asked.
“Not very,” Ms. Greenbriar said. “But if they have anything going on in the camp, hopefully, they won’t notice.”
“How soon do you want to leave?” Bastian asked, ready to get out there, find the camp and stage a raid to find his father.
“We’re ready when you are,” Kujo said.
Bastian nodded. “Give us a few minutes to load the four-wheelers.”
Duncan stepped out on the deck. “Angus and Colin are going with you, too.”
“Good,” Bastian said. “We’re not trying to get close to them on the four-wheelers. We only want to get the drone close enough to locate them. Once we know where they are, we can go in on foot and see if they really are holding Dad hostage.”
“That’s the plan,” Kujo said. “And Hank’s got his guys on call, including me. We can be ready to go in less than a couple of hours.”
Bastian backed his truck up to the utility trailer while Jenna, Angus, Colin and Duncan brought the four-wheelers out of the barn. They loaded the four ATVs onto the trailer.
He cornered Jenna before she got into the truck. “I would rather you didn’t go.”
“Like you said, we aren’t getting close enough for them to hear us. We should be safe. Besides, I feel like I have some skin in this game. They’ve attacked me twice. I’m taking it personally. I want to know where the hell they are, too.”
“When we go into that camp, you’re not coming with us,” he said, his tone firm.
Jenna’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re not combat trained. You could slow or compromise the mission.”
She drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll give you that. But you have to promise you’ll give them hell for me.”
He held up his hand as if swearing in court. “I promise.” His lips quirked on the corners.
“Okay, then.” She leaned up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I don’t know what I did to make you mad, but I still like you.” She winked and ducked into the back seat of the truck.
Bastian’s lips tingled where she’d kissed him. He’d tried to keep his distance from her, but he could see it was going to be a challenge. It didn’t help that she was sexy and sassy. He admired that in a woman. She was strong and determined. It was then he realized that Jenna and Lauren were as different as two women could be. Lauren had been shy and content to let him make the decisions. She liked that he took care of her and made her feel protected.
Not Jenna. She’d gone through hell with her first husband and made it clear she could take care of herself.
Though Bastian and Lauren had made love, theirs was young, inexperienced sex. Lauren had been embarrassed to be naked in front of him.
Not Jenna. She’d been as excited and eager to get naked as Bastian had been, and she hadn’t cared that it was in a barn in a hay loft.
Angus claimed the driver’s seat, and Colin called shotgun. Which left Bastian the back seat next to Jenna.
They’d loaded the truck with rifles and handguns for each of them. Jenna had her handgun strapped to her beneath her jacket.
Kujo and Greenbriar followed them in the truck they’d brought with two four-wheelers loaded on the trailer they pulled.
“I don’t think it’s a great idea to go to the same spot on Black Water Road as we did yesterday,” Bastian said. “We want to get close to that area, but they’ll be expecting us to be there. I say we park the trucks out of sight on the main highway and take the ATVs in, but not too close.”
Angus nodded. “Makes sense.” He drove the rest of the way in silence. As they neared Black Water Road, they searched for a place where they could park both trailers out of sight. Finally, Bastian noticed a road leading off the main highway. They turned off onto the gravel road and found themselves in a large gravel pit, where they were able to turn the trucks and trailers around to face the road out.
Once they’d parked, they unloaded the four-wheelers and lined them up.
Greenbriar got the drone out of the backseat of their pickup and strapped it to the rack on the front of her four-wheeler. She tucked the remote control in her jacket pocket.
Kujo unfolded a map on the hood of his truck and oriented himself. He pointed at a position on the map. “We’re here,” he said.
Bastian leaned closer and studied the map. It was a contour map depicting the elevations, hill tops and some of the roads leading into the mountains. “The cabin they used to torture their victim is here.” He pointed at the road that led from Black Water Road to the cabin where Jenna had seen the blood, chair and battery. Then he pointed to the ridgeline beneath which was the hunter’s cabin their attackers had burned the day before. “We were here yesterday. I’d say the camp has to be really close to this area.” He drew a circle with his finger.
Kujo took over, pointing at the map. “We can take this gravel road as far as it goes. Once we find a decent clearing, Molly can launch the drone and do her thing.”
Once they were all in agreement, they strapped on their helmets and drove down the side of the highway until they found the gravel road leading into the forest.
Kujo took the lead, followed by Greenbriar, Angus, Bastian and Jenna. Colin brought up the rear. Six ran alongside Kujo, keeping up easily as the four-wheelers had to move around fallen trees and ditches.
For several miles, they wound through the trees on what once might have been a logging or old mining road. The road was narrow, and in many places, not much more than a trail.
At one point, Kujo stopped, pulled out the map and reoriented. Six laid down at his side, panting.
Bastian was surprised they hadn’t gotten any farther than they had, but then, they were in the woods and traveling on an overgrown road.
After a few minutes, they mounted up and continued climbing. When they came to the top of a hill, the trees opened up into a small clearing, exposed to the sunshine and blue skies.
Kujo stopped his ATV on the edge of the clearing. The others followed suit, leaving the center of the clearing free for Molly to launch her drone.
As soon as she had the drone on the ground, Greenbriar pulled the remote control out of her pocket and switched it on. Moments later, she had the drone hovering off the ground, rising into the air. She stared at a small video screen displaying what the drone could see from its vantage point in the sky.
Angus, Colin, Jenna and Bastian gathered around Greenbriar as she maneuvered the drone up over the trees and escarpments, slowly flying it over the hills and valleys to the southwest.
“See anything?” Kujo asked as he bent to scratch behind Six’s ear.
Greenbriar shook her h
ead. “Nothing yet. But then, the screen is really small. The good thing is that it’s sending signals back to Swede with the GPS coordinates of positions where the camera is pointing. Back at the White Oak Ranch, Swede can go over the footage and enlarge the images. They’ll be able to see more than we can.”
She worked the drone for the next thirty minutes, maneuvering it back and forth over the terrain.
“Gotta bring it in,” Greenbriar said. “The battery is getting low.” She shifted the controls, bringing the drone back in their direction.
“How far out is it?” Jenna asked.
“About three kilometers, getting closer,” the FBI agent said. “We should be able to see it when it’s within about a thousand feet of our location.” For the next few minutes, they watched the images the drone was creating.
“Look for it,” Greenbriar said, her gaze turning from the screen in front of her to the sky.
Bastian looked, but couldn’t see the drone, even though he could hear the buzz of the little engine.
She pointed. “There. Over the top of the really tall pine.”
Bastian looked again. This time, he saw the drone moving toward them. At that moment, the sound of motorcycle engines roared in the distance, and an awful thought occurred to him. If they could see the drone, couldn’t others?
“I think we have company,” Kujo said. “Mount up.”
“I’m not leaving without my drone,” Greenbriar said.
“Leave it,” Kujo said. “Swede already has the images.”
“I’m not leaving without my drone,” she repeated.
Bastian turned to Jenna. “Get to your ATV.”
She hesitated. “I’m not leaving without you.”
“I’m coming, but I’ll provide cover while Greenbriar brings in her drone.”
A shot rang out. The drone shuddered in the air, and then dropped like a rock, crashing into the trees.
“Time to go.” Greenbriar shoved her remote control into her jacket, slammed her helmet over her head and ran for her ATV.
“Go!” Bastian yelled. “I’ll cover.”
While the others ran for their vehicles, Bastian took longer, backing his way to his four-wheeler, keeping a vigilant eye on the forest in the direction from which the engine noise emanated.
“Bastian!” Angus cried out. “I’ve got you covered now. Mount up.”
Bastian turned and raced toward his ATV. The others had already left the clearing, Jenna trailing the rest and Angus on his four-wheeler, holding his rifle at the ready.
Bastian flung his leg over the seat, crammed his helmet on his head and quickly buckled the strap beneath, while pressing the starter switch.
“They’re here!” Angus yelled and fired a warning round over the heads of the bikers and four-wheeler riders racing toward them from a couple hundred yards away.
Pressing hard on the throttle, Bastian left the clearing, following Angus into the woods and back along the logging trail behind the others.
Shots rang out from behind them. Bastian leaned low over his four-wheeler, praying their pursuers were too far away to hit anything.
Ahead, he could see Jenna, flying over the rugged terrain, much faster than was safe, but not fast enough to stay ahead of the men pursuing them for long.
Six streaked through the woods, far ahead but falling behind Kujo. He took shortcuts the ATVs couldn’t, leaping over fallen tree trunks and ditches with ease.
Bastian held on tight, desperate to catch up to Jenna. He debated stopping where he was and setting up a defensive line with Angus to hold off the attackers until the rest of their party could get to safety.
He shot a glance toward Angus. His brother flew through the woods like a bat out of hell, hanging on to the handlebars as the four-wheeler bumped over the rugged terrain. All of his focus seemed to be on remaining upright on the ATV. How would he get his attention if they needed to stop and set up defense?
Bastian returned his attention to the woman on the ATV in front of him just in time to watch in horror as Jenna’s ATV hit something solid. Her four-wheeler came to an abrupt and jarring stop. Jenna flew over the handlebars, did a complete flip and landed on her back in the brush.
His heart slammed against his ribs, and the rest of the world around Bastian grew fuzzy and out of focus. He couldn’t think about the attackers behind him. All he cared about was the woman ahead, lying motionless on the ground.
Chapter 11
Jenna lay stunned. Her helmet had been knocked off and the breath knocked out of her. For what felt like a long time, she couldn’t move. She stared up at the light peeking through the canopy of leaves. Her vision swirled. Blinking seemed to help bring her back into focus, so she blinked some more.
“Jenna!” a familiar voice called out to her.
She couldn’t turn to see who was calling out to her, but she knew it was Bastian.
Her heart swelled. When she opened her mouth to respond, nothing came out. A gray fog crept in at the edges of her vision.
Air. She needed to breathe.
Then, as if her body suddenly remembered how, her lungs kicked in and pulled in a massive gulp of life-giving oxygen.
Jenna gasped.
An ATV came to a skidding stop beside her, and Bastian threw himself off onto the ground where he knelt beside her. “Jenna, sweetheart. Talk to me.”
“Bastian,” she whispered.
His hands swept over her legs and arms. “I don’t feel anything broken, but that doesn’t mean anything. What hurts? Can you move?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t tried.” Jenna moved her fingers then her toes. Then she tested the rest of her body, limb by limb.
About that time, she remembered they were being chased. Jenna jerked to a sitting position, her eyes wide. “What happened?”
She turned her head right and left.
Angus, Colin, Kujo and Special Agent Greenbriar had set up a semi-circle perimeter around her and Bastian, each positioned low to the ground, using the trunk of a tree for cover. The German Shepherd lay on the ground beside Kujo. They’d abandoned their four-wheelers and lay in the leaves, rifles in hand, aiming at the men in the distance, approaching them on bikes and ATVs.
“Get down,” Bastian said.
Jenna dropped back on the bed of leaves.
Bastian threw his body over hers.
“No. You can’t use your body as a shield,” she wheezed, crushed by his weight, unable to shove him off.
“Shh,” he said. “If you promise to stay down, I’ll move.”
“I promise,” she said.
Bastian rolled off her, low-crawled to his four-wheeler, reached up and pulled his rifle from the scabbard. Then he low-crawled back to where Jenna lay. “I need you to stay low and behind the four-wheeler.”
She shook her head, the fog clearing with the threat of danger. “I have a gun. I can help.”
“You’ll help more if you do as I say. You might have damaged your spine, moving could aggravate the injury.”
“I’m okay.” She wiggled her body, stretching her back. “See? And I have a gun. I can help.” She took her handgun from the holster and rolled onto her belly. She was sore, but unharmed.
He snorted. “There’s no talking sense into you, is there?”
Jenna frowned. “Not when we’re outnumbered, and we can use every gun available.” She nodded toward the others. “Let’s join the team.”
Bastian’s lips thinned.
“You might as well give in,” she said. “We don’t have time. And if you leave me here, I’ll follow anyway.” She got up on her hands and knees, pushed to a low, hunkered-over position and ran toward the others.
Bastian caught up and ran with her.
When she came online with the others, Jenna dropped to the prone position next to a tree and aimed her handgun at the oncoming bikes.
The bikers out front burst through the trees, heading straight for their defensive line.
Jenna held her fir
e, knowing her handgun couldn’t accurately hit anything as far away as they were. She counted eight aggressors.
The others let loose a volley of bullets, bringing down the lead riders. The other six slowed.
“We have their attention. Fire at their tires,” Angus called out.
One of the men held up his hand and inched forward on his four-wheeler until he came abreast of one of his downed comrades. He leaned over, grabbed the man’s outstretched arm and hauled him up and onto the back of his four-wheeler. Then he turned and drove off into the woods.
The five riders remaining upright revved their engines as if trying to decide whether to charge them.
Finally, one of them eased forward to the man lying motionless on the ground. He nudged the body with his toe. It didn’t move.
The man on the four-wheeler turned and raced away, the other four riders following him.
Jenna breathed a sigh and slumped against the ground. Thank God they’d brought as many people as they had with rifles that had such good range.
“Bastian cover us,” Angus called out.
“Roger.” Bastian trained his weapon in the direction the bikers had gone.
Angus and Colin climbed on their four-wheelers and rode out to where the body lay on the ground.
Angus dropped down beside the man, checked for a pulse and shook his head.
“Is he dead?” Jenna asked, straining to see what was happening.
“I think so,” Bastian answered, his gaze going past his brothers.
Jenna shifted her glance, studying the distance, watching closely in case the aggressors decided to swing back and attack from a different direction. Bastian’s brothers were out in the open, exposed.
They draped the man’s body over the seat of Angus’s four-wheeler. Angus climbed on board, standing behind the body, and drove the four-wheeler back toward the trail.
Kujo and Six remained in their prone position. “Molly, Bastian, Jenna follow them. We’ve got your back.”
Jenna looked again in the direction the riders had gone before she rose and ran back to where her four-wheeler rested, the front end smashed into a brush-covered fallen log.
