Chapter 2
EVERYONE CROWDED into the tight confines of the RV Mac and Hannah called home at the moment. The mated pairs sat together. Liz Lightfoot cuddled a squirming Micah as her husband, Michael, snuggled her close to his side. The toddler wasn’t happy about being stuck in his mother’s arms.
Annie Donaldson laced her fingers across her chest from the safety of Sean’s lap. Her son, Cody, sprawled at her feet next to Liam. Sally Keegan watched as Danny bounced their baby daughter on his knee. Jacey Randolph sat on the kitchen countertop, Nate Connor at her side. Rudek Tornjak and his new mate, Isabelle Fontaine, occupied the bench on one side of the booth-like table. Hannah sat across from them.
Mac surveyed the group. His pack. His family. He would die for these people. More important, he would kill for them. Had, in fact. Normally, Sean would be making wisecracks, but even he recognized the serious nature of Mac’s announcement.
“I got a call this morning. I had Sean trace it.” The Wolves exchanged glances but didn’t speak, waiting for Mac to continue. “I haven’t returned it.”
“It came in on the back-up number.” Hannah had a way of assessing situations and getting to the point.
“Yes. From Gallup, New Mexico.”
“Who?”
Mac shook his head in answer, his gaze centered on Hannah. “I’m not sure.”
“But you suspect who it is.” She pressed, watching him through narrowed eyes.
“Yes.” He spent the next five minutes explaining the situation, along with the inherent dangers if he and Sean were wrong about the caller’s identity. “When we decided to pull out of DSS and go off the grid, we agreed to full disclosure when anything came up. I haven’t returned the call. I won’t if the rest of you say no.” His chest constricted as he said the words. He had made some promises—promises vowed way back when, one soldier to another. But he’d also made promises to the people in this room.
“You don’t have a choice.” Hannah spoke up first.
Wanting to argue with her, Mac inhaled but she cut him off.
“If it is First Sergeant Carter and he needs help, you have to call. If someone is using him to get to us, we need to know.” She rubbed her fingers across her forehead. “I don’t see him giving us up, Mac. Not unless it’s really bad.”
“She’s right, bossman.” Sean added his voice to the discussion. “I think you’re right that this is about one of Nakai’s daughters. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be sitting here now. We stood there at his memorial ceremony and made the same promise to his family you did, Mac.”
Rudy’s gaze swept across the room. “Nakai? This is the older Wolf who was with you when the team rescued me in Serbia?”
“Yes.” Michael’s quiet voice stilled any response from the others. “When we went to Nevada to shut down the lab there—the one Nate escaped from—Nakai went with us. He sacrificed his life so we could get away and return to our mates.”
Liz elbowed him in the side. “We were right there with you, Michael. Nakai saved all of us. If someone in his family needs us, we should help.”
Annie lifted a shoulder in a slow shrug. “That happened before my time, but family is family and if the guy who called and the gal you’re talking about is family, then you gotta do whatever it takes.” She dropped her hand to ruffle Cody’s hair. “Y’all took us in. Made us family. Sounds like this Sergeant Carter fella and Nakai’s daughter already were. Y’all do what you do best. Help them.”
Hannah raised her chin, her gaze fixed on Mac for a long, unblinking moment. Then she dropped her head in a short nod. “Liam, will you take Cody and Micah outside?” She didn’t give him a chance to argue. “Now, please.”
Muttering under his breath about being old enough to stay, Liam still carefully took Micah from Liz and hitched the little boy on his hip. Cody headed for the door and held it open. Once the kids were outside and the door shut, Hannah issued the order. “Make the call.”
After ten rings, the call went to an old-fashioned answering machine. A canned voice said, “Leave a message.”
“Wrong number.” Mac hit the off button on the cell in his hand. Thirty seconds later, the cell rang. He accepted the call but didn’t say anything.
“It’s Carter. I need your help.”
“Are you secure?”
The man on the other end hesitated. “No, but there’s nothin’ else can be done. Damn sure wouldn’t call if the lady was anybody else. And wasn’t so desperate.” His anger vibrated through the phone’s tinny speaker.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nakai’s granddaughter. She’s missing.” The man on the other end heaved a deep sigh. “She’s not on reservation land so the Navajo Police won’t do shi-nuthin’.”
Hannah slid from behind the table and stood next to Mac. “First Sergeant, it’s Hannah McIntire. Where and when did she go missing?”
“South. About a week ago.”
“No one has heard from her?”
“They think her husband has. Maybe.”
“Did he do something?” Hannah’s voice whipped out cold and sharp.
“Naw. Don’t think so anyway. Family doesn’t think so either. He…his job. We think it might be the reason. Stupid prick won’t ask for help, though.”
Sean shifted Annie off his lap, grabbed a laptop and had a window open, his fingers flying across the keyboard. In moments, he turned the screen so everyone could see the social media page. Honi Hosteen Montoya, married to David Montoya. She was a pretty girl, with dark, expressive eyes and long, black hair like her grandmother’s.
“I didn’t want to call when Tiva came to me. But there ain’t no one else. I’m sorry. Especially with Christmas so close.”
Mac’s gaze collided with Hannah’s but he couldn’t read what was in her expression. He hesitated to commit, but his wife took the decision out of his hands when she asked, “Where?”
“You know where this call comes from?”
Glancing to Sean, Mac replied as the other man nodded. “Yes.”
“Get close and I’ll find you.” Dead air whispered from the speaker.
Sean’s fingers continued to fly across the keyboard. “Crap.” He glanced up. “Honi’s husband is a Border Patrol agent.”
Hannah held out her hand and Sean passed over the computer. Sitting at the table, she opened an email account and typed out a message.
“Do you trust him?” Mac watched over her shoulder.
“No, which is why this is going encrypted and routed. By the time he can trace the IP address, Sean will have altered it.” Hannah glanced up. “Right?”
“Absolutely.”
As Hannah typed out a message to Trece Morrison, all-round computer whiz and former colleague at the Defense Security Service, the men gathered to make preliminary plans.
“I don’t want to leave the girls unguarded, Mac.” Danny eyed Sally, who’d pulled out a yellow legal pad and was taking notes as the other wives worked up a to-do list.
“Perhaps Isabelle can ask Antoine to come.” Rudy was easier with that idea than the others. Though a Wolf, Antoine was also Izzy’s uncle. The others would have to swallow their jealousy over an unattached Wolf around their mates.
“We need to notify Harjo.”
Mac glanced at Lightfoot. Joshua Harjo, their former commanding officer, and his bride, Amy, were back in Oklahoma visiting Harjo’s grandfather, Atosi Goforth. The old man had been admitted to the hospital after a severe heart attack. Harjo and Amy managed to sneak into town and the hospital, with the help of his cousin, George Goforth, chief of the Chickasaw Tribal Police.
“I’ll call him, Mac. We worked out some smoke signals before they left.” Lightfoot winked and pulled out a hand-held ham radio. He wandered toward the back of the RV, speaking softly into the radio.
Hannah joined the knot of men, her expression grim. Mac’s brows furrowed. “That was quick.”
“Montoya was undercover on a joint DEA operation. They took down a major player in one of the cartels. I figure the cartel took Honi either to trade or in retaliation.”
“This may not be a fast in and out.” Sean shifted his attention to the women and dropped the level of his voice. “We might not be back in time for Christmas.”