“You can’t just march into the fort without a plan.” But like Jason, Sam mounted his horse with the others rapidly following suit. His eldest brother wiped away the blood from his face.
“I have a plan. I’m going to get Olivia and then I’m going to kill Stanley.” Not necessarily in that order. If she’d been harmed…
The roar in his mind threatened again and Jason cut it off. He needed control, absolute, unforgiving, unflinching control.
“We’ll get her back,” Cody promised with a gesture to Mariska and his mate rose. She shook and trotted after him. Jason spared the others a glance. They were all a little bloodied from his earlier outburst, but every single one checked their weapons, mounted their horses and wore expressions ranging from hard determination to anger.
“Shane, take Ben, go back to Haven and stay there.” Cody glanced at Buck. “Delilah is there, tell her what happened. Tell her no one comes into Haven and no one goes out.”
The younger man cut a glance at Jimmy, but the sharpshooter nodded his assent. “Agreed.”
Buck added his own nod. “Tell Delilah this is one of those times. She’ll know what to do.” They’d prepared for the possibility of future battles—it was inevitable. Among their number, they counted several martial gifts and Delilah could end a battle before it started.
Catching the younger boy’s hand, Shane lifted him up into the saddle with him. “We’ll be waiting for all of you.” The sixteen year old understood.
They were going to war.
* * *
It had been the longest ride of Jason’s life, but he refused to take the slower path and trusted his brothers and the others to keep up with him as they took the harder trail directly down the rock canyon and back up again. Most wouldn’t know where the paths were, but he trusted their horses and his knowledge of the ranch.
Reining in at the tree line, he studied the fort. Construction had been completed. The walls stood over fifteen feet and in addition to the men on the ground just inside, four others patrolled the upper ring.
“How are we planning to do this?” Jimmy voiced the question on everyone’s minds—everyone but Jason’s.
“Give me five minutes, then follow.” Jason stripped his rifle out of the saddle holster and tossed it to Micah. His gunbelt followed.
Sam caught the horse’s reins. “You are not going in there unarmed.”
“Brother, I’m never unarmed. Follow in five. Find Olivia and get her out. I’ll take care of the rest.”
No one said anything for a long minute and Jason read the indecision in Sam’s eyes. He did not want Jason to have to kill. What he didn’t understand—or maybe it was that he refused to understand it—Jason had crossed that line a long time before. He’d never had a better reason to kill than for his wife. “She’s in there, Sam. I’m not asking for your permission or approval. All I’m asking is for you to get her.”
“We will,” Cody answered when Sam’s jaw flexed, but he said nothing. His brother finally released the reins and Jason gave the gelding’s sides a tap. If Sam couldn’t handle what he was, then they would deal with that later.
After Olivia was safe.
As soon as he cleared the trees, he had the attention of the sentries. Jason waited until they recognized him and swung open the gates before locking eyes with the first. Mental tap delivered, he’d already locked gazes with the second before the first man slumped. All four sentries went down before he’d passed fully into the courtyard. The fort held over a hundred men. He swept the twenty or so working around the yard and they toppled into unconsciousness.
Dismounting, he dropped the gelding’s reins and headed straight for the colonel’s office. A young private chose that moment to exit and his eyes widened at the slumped men all over the ground behind Jason. He fumbled for his gun, but it took Jason only a moment to lock onto his mind. When he found nothing but babble, he put him to sleep, too.
Stepping over the man, he scanned the building. The colonel was in his office with…
“Where the hell is my daughter-in-law, Miles?” Jed’s voice held a dangerous edge few ever heard. Jason pushed the door open and found his father standing opposite Stanley, a gun in his hand and an unforgiving look on his face.
Stanley held a tumbler and he glanced from Jed to Jason and back again. “You won’t need that gun, Jed. I merely wanted to have a conversation with your son.”
“By walking onto my land and assaulting his wife?”
Jason tensed. He recognized that tone and, to his credit, so did Stanley. Jed Kane ruled his ranch with a fist of iron velvet. Most discounted his rules and rituals for his grief over the loss of his wife, but they recognized that the law on the Kane ranch had always been, and would always be, what he handed down to his sons. Stanley had made a dangerous error.
“It’s all right, Pa.” The last thing Jed needed on his conscience was the death of another old friend. “I’m here. You can take Olivia home.” Jason never took his gaze off Stanley. The man kept three guns on himself at all times, including a small derringer inside the sleeve of his dark blue uniform jacket.
“Have you found her?” Jed didn’t take his attention off Stanley.
“No sir, but she’s here. The colonel arranged for a distraction in town. Is the doppelganger here as well?” God help you if that bastard is anywhere near Olivia…
Stanley jerked when Jason’s mind crashed into his. In all their years working together, Jason had respected the older man’s privacy and the colonel had believed himself safe from intrusion. He was wrong.
Where is she?
The temperature around him plummeted. Beyond the office, he heard the sounds of the others arriving. Horses thundered into the yard, and a wolf snarled. Confident they would find Olivia, he focused on peeling back the information he wanted out of Stanley’s mind.
“You have to understand, Jason.” Stanley didn’t bother to plead his case to Jed. He’s really going to kill me… The orphaned thought drifted across the colonel’s mind and his face paled.
“I understand exactly.” You thought I needed a lesson. It was all there in his mind, his “reasons” for abducting Olivia. You wanted to point out that she is a vulnerability and, if not for her, I would continue my work. I understand completely.
The doppelganger had been released with an offer to trade his services for freedom. Ryan had promised to bring them information on MacPherson. Stanley had decided the information was worth the risk the man posed to Jason’s family.
“Well, I don’t understand it.” Jed’s tone hardened. “You had my son working for you without my permission. What exactly did you have him doing that you thought taking his wife was a negotiating tactic?”
“Pa…” Jason split his attention.
“Be quiet, Jason.” The implacable order cut him off. “I want to hear from my friend here, one of my oldest friends, why he used my son.” A faint tremor shook Jed’s hand and reflected in his voice. It was so minute that if Jason hadn’t known his father so well, he might have missed it.
Jed was furious. My son, you son of a bitch. He’s mine. What did you do with him?
Do you want to tell him? Or should I? Stanley’s cool smile irked Jason and it was in that split-second of confidence that he found the information trail he wanted.
Micah, Sam, Olivia is in a cell behind the bunkhouse. His brothers both acknowledged the thought. The need to go to her tore through his desire to end Stanley and protect his father. If the colonel dropped dead in the next thirty seconds, his father need never know…
“He remains the most useful tool we’ve ever had in our war, Jed.” With a confidence no one should ever possess, Stanley placed his hands on the desktop. “He’s eliminated threats we would never have even identified without his peculiar set of talents.”
Our war? The thought confused Jason and he glanced at his father. Jed didn’t look at Jason, but shook his head at his friend. “You should have told me. I would never have allowed it.”
“It’s why I didn’t tell you,” Stanley said. “You’re a good soldier, Jed, but you put family before country and the safety of everyone else. You knew the threats, you knew how dangerous MacPherson and his kind could be, and you were willing to do everything necessary to support the cause because you didn’t know your children were involved. Jason understood the need, and he did his duty.”
When Jed didn’t dispute the charge, Jason actually felt like the world shifted beneath him. His father had been a part of Stanley’s campaign? The desire to understand warred with the desire to protect his father’s privacy. What secrets had his father been keeping?
“You took an innocent boy…”
“…Pa, he didn’t turn me into a killer.” Jason pointed a finger at the colonel. “Be silent.” Not waiting for his response, Jason took control of his muscles, applied pressure in his mind that had the army man locking in place. “I did that.”
“You would never have done that if I’d known…”
“He wasn’t alone in lying to you,” Jason admitted. “I chose to keep the truth from all of you. Just as you chose to keep your knowledge of all of this from us. You knew about the Fevered, long before Scarlett or the bank robbery…you knew.”
“Yes,” Jed admitted, but his aim didn’t waver. “I knew from the first time I met MacPherson. I admit to being fascinated by the man’s abilities and to what he and his kind could do. As God is my witness, I never agreed to his attacks on others or the power he was determined to accumulate. I thought when you and Kid survived unchanged—” He stopped speaking. “But you weren’t unchanged. Stanley knew it.”
Jason had always wondered how Stanley figured it out. He’d half-believed his own behavior had given it away. When he was a younger man, it had been harder to disguise the affect that the thoughts of others had on him. “It’s not your fault, Pa.”
“If you lied, Jason, it’s because I lied to all of you. A man stands up when he’s made a mistake. I taught you to be a liar. Then, I let this son of a bitch use you…”
“No.” Something inside of him let go, a fear he hadn’t even realized he’d held onto all of these years. The fear that his father had somehow known and hadn’t cared because he’d always let Jason go, always believed Jason’s stories, no matter how ridiculous they’d seemed to Jason. “You didn’t.”
“Why the hell are you standing there silent, Miles? I want a damn explanation.”
“Jason, we have her. She’s cold and a little groggy, but alive and well otherwise.” Sam stepped into the room and the tension in Jed’s shoulders relaxed. “Pa?” Surprise filled his oldest brother’s voice.
“Take Pa home, Sam.” Jason stepped between his father and the colonel. Jed lowered the gun immediately. “Pa you need to go home.”
“Not until I have the rest of the answers…”
Meeting his father’s gaze, he gave him a small smile. “He can’t answer you, Pa. I won’t let him.”
“What?” The answer rattled his father and his brow furrowed. “Jason, you go take care of your wife. I’ll handle this.”
“No, sir.” That Sam echoed Jason’s response seemed to startle their father.
Jason continued, “Pa, you don’t want these answers and you don’t deserve them.” The wounded look in his father’s eyes told him he didn’t understand. “They’ll only hurt you further. I know you had nothing to do with the choices I made. The burden of those fall to me—and to Stanley. What happened cannot be undone and you only hurt yourself continuing to press this. Let it go, Pa. Let me handle this…” He’s not going to go willingly, Sam. Would his brother understand the question?
Sam did. Can you make him go without hurting him?
Yes. Jason put a hand on his father’s shoulder and slipped into his mind, avoiding his conscious thoughts as carefully as he could. He planted the command and let it filter out on its own before retreating to his own mind.
“Jason—” Jed paused and he blinked once, a dazed look coming over his face. “I need to head back to the ranch.”
“Go on, Pa,” Sam reinforced the command. “I’ll look after Jason.”
Jed left without another comment. The command would hold long enough to get him away and hopefully he’d forget what he’d learned. Jason hated that he’d done it, but the whirl of his thoughts—the idea that he’d betrayed Molly, betrayed his sons—would tear him apart. His inaction, he believed, made him complicit.
It wasn’t Pa’s fault, he told Sam.
“I know,” Sam replied quietly. “Release the colonel. I have a question I want him to answer.”
She’s really all right? The part of his mind remained quiet, but if she were groggy…that might explain it.
She is. Go see her. Jason wouldn’t leave his brother with the colonel.
“Release him,” Sam repeated. Jason withdrew from Stanley’s mind, maintaining only a tacit level of contact.
“What are you going to do, Marshal? Arrest me? I’m a colonel with the U.S. Army. I did what was necessary.” His bluff was a lie. Sweat dripped down his face, but under Jason’s watchful attention he kept his hands away from his weapons.
“You helped Scarlett.” Sam’s voice was calm. Almost too calm and Jason frowned. “You helped Pa strong arm the judge and make sure the charges were dropped. You cultivated friendships with her family and she trusts you.”
“None of that is a question.” A muscle ticked at the corner of Stanley’s right eye.
“Were you planning to use her as you used my brother? Fostering that relationship until the day you needed her to do something for you?”
Stanley’s answer registered a split second before Jason realized Sam’s intent. And Jason locked his brother and the colonel in place, dividing his attention with every ounce of his control. No, Sam. You can’t be the one who kills him, he told him regretfully.
Don’t, Jason. I told you we would never allow you to be our killer.
It’s not about being allowed. I can make it look natural. If you shoot him, they will investigate and I’ll have to kill every man in this fort—make them all disappear or wipe them entirely so that no one ever looks in your direction.
Sam’s eyes registered his shock.
Yes, I would do it. To protect you, Scarlett, Molly, Olivia, there is no limit to how many I would kill to see you all safe, but we need only eliminate him.
You shouldn’t have to do it for us. His brother’s expression pleaded with him.
You were planning to shoot him to save me and to save Scarlett. It wasn’t a question. It’s what brothers do, Sam.
When Sam didn’t argue, Jason released him. His older brother took a step toward him. “Do what you need to do. I have your back.” Crossing the moral line had its costs, but Sam spared the colonel a look. “May God have mercy on your soul because the Kanes have none left to give.”
You can’t kill me… Stanley’s mental voice shook. Do you have any idea—? Jason wasn’t interested. He plowed through his mind and took the knowledge the man wanted to offer. His lists of contacts, the Fevered he’d cultivated into working for him, and the places he’d found them. So many names, so many places—and some he’d managed to secret away before Quanto found them. The depth of his actions sickened Jason. Why had he never looked before?
The colonel made a choking noise, but Jason continued to plunder, stripping away every last fragment, including the information he’d given Ryan on a route to avoid Kane land and head north. When he was finished, he withdrew a fraction and met Stanley’s frantic eyes. You should have accepted that I would take my family’s side and not pressed this. Touching Olivia was your last mistake.
You’re only lucky I didn’t kill h— The last word died in the cascade Jason set off in Stanley’s mind. A choked gasp rattled from his lungs and blood poured from his nostrils. Withdrawing swiftly, Jason kept one mental finger in place and then ordered the man’s heart to stop beating.
He collapsed over his desk as though someone had simply cut the st
rings holding him upright. Jason staggered back a step, and Sam braced him.
“He’s dead?”
Jason nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak. The matter settled, the only thing he wanted was Olivia. “Did they get her out?”
“Yes. Come on, we still need to get you out of here unseen.” Sam’s expression tensed, and Jason closed his eyes, gathered together all of his energy, and nodded.
“Don’t worry, no one will see us.” Occluding them from view gave him a headache, but the promise of Olivia waiting for him at the edge of the woods sustained Jason all the way to their horses. The soldiers on duty had woken and seemed confused, but Jason swept through and erased the memory of collapsing. It was too fresh and new to have dug deep, even as he wiped them from seeing he and Sam trot out.
Once in the woods, he let go of the last mind and sagged in the saddle. Icy sweat dripped down his spine and the dark roar in his mind roused the minute he spotted Olivia cradled in Cody’s arms. The wolf gave him a gentle look. “She’s asleep.”
The moment Jason was near enough, the wolf released her to Jason’s arms and he cradled the tiny, fragile being that held every scrap of his heart. Dark shadows underscored her pale face and dirt smudged her cheek. Her fingers were bloodied at the tips, and she’d torn several nails. His Olivia had fought. She snuggled into him and a tremor rattled through him. He would never let her go again.
“Micah went with your father,” Buck told Sam. “The colonel?”
“Won’t bother any of us again,” Sam answered without apology or hesitation. “Let’s get these two home.”
“What about Ryan?” Jimmy asked, but he—like the others—fanned their horses out around Jason. He wouldn’t have to keep watch around himself for any threats. They were boxing him in their midst, protecting Olivia. Protecting him.
She made a small sound and he brushed his lips to her forehead. “You’re safe,” he told her in the softest voice he could manage. “No one will ever take you again.”
Wanted: Fevered or Alive Page 26
