Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Noah
I walked over to the window for what had to be about the hundredth time. Jackson had assured me that the men couldn’t get out of the woodshed, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that they would find some way out and come after us. I looked out, but the door was shut, the padlock still in place.
“How much longer will it be before they get here?” I asked as Jackson stepped up beside me.
“They won’t be long now.”
I let out a sigh. “I still can’t believe they found us.”
“Whoever this guy is, he has a lot of resources at his disposal, but so does Three Bears Tactical. We won’t stop until you’re safe, Noah.”
I gave him a smile and then looked back out the window. I knew he meant what he said, but I wasn’t as sure as Jackson was. Not that I didn’t believe they would try their best, but if this guy was as rich and powerful as Wolfe said, I wasn’t sure I would ever be safe.
A little bit later, I went back over to the kettle to refill my cup when Jackson announced that his proximity alarm had alerted him that someone was there.
“Is it them?” I asked.
Jackson went to the front window and looked out. “Yeah, it’s them.”
Hawk came through the door first, Gator right behind him. They both swept the cabin in one look, the way I’d noticed all the Three Bears guys did when they entered a room. They cataloged everything before their eyes landed on Jackson.
“Everyone good?” Hawk asked.
“We’re good.” Jackson nodded toward the back of the property.
“Two hostiles secured in the woodshed around the side. One with a GSW to the shoulder, the other has a headache he’ll be feeling for the better part of a week.
We need to know who they were working for, so you guys will have to question them.
Then I’m sure Wolfe will want Chance to send someone to collect them. ”
Gator’s gaze moved past Jackson and found me at the counter. Something shifted in his expression. “Julius is going to be glad to see you,” he said.
“I’ll be glad to see him, too. I miss him and that crazy bird of his.”
Hawk’s hand landed on Jackson’s shoulder. “We can take it from here. We came to bring him back to HQ, and you get back to your vacation.”
“No,” Jackson said.
Hawk blinked. “No?”
“I’ll take him.” Jackson’s voice was even. “You brought the armored SUV?”
“Yeah,” Gator said slowly. He was watching Jackson the way you watch someone when you’re working something out. “It’s out front.”
“Good. I’ll take Noah in that.” He paused. “You can take Blackbird back.”
Silence.
I looked between the three of them, not entirely sure what I was seeing. Gator turned to Hawk with a grin already forming. “Did he just say we could drive his car?”
Hawk pressed his lips together like he was physically containing a reaction. “I believe he did.”
“I’d like the record to show,” Gator said, turning back to Jackson, “that the last time I asked to borrow Blackbird, you told me you’d sooner run the camp’s obstacle course in your bare feet on a hot summer day.”
“And before that,” Hawk added, “I believe the phrase over my cold dead body was used.”
Jackson held out his keys, but neither of them moved. They just looked at him, and then they looked at me, and I understood all at once that I was the reason neither of them was surprised. They weren’t teasing him about the car. They were really teasing him about me. My face went warm.
“For the record,” Hawk said, taking the keys slowly, “she’ll be treated like she’s made of glass.”
“She’d better be,” Jackson said.
Gator shook his head, still grinning. “Historic day. I want it noted for posterity.” He glanced at me with something warm in his expression that he didn’t make a big deal of, which I appreciated.
“Crowe, why don’t you go outside with Hawk and get him all updated on the situation. I’ll stay in here and help Noah pack up some snacks for the road since I’m sure you won’t want to stop.”
Jackson looked at Gator and then at me, and I could tell he was thinking about arguing with him.
Both men just stood there and watched him, waiting to see what he would do.
Gator was so laid-back and fun that it was hard to remember that, sometimes, he was a part-owner of Three Bears Tactical and was actually Jackson’s boss.
Not that I thought that would’ve mattered to Jackson if he had something to say.
He didn’t, though. Instead, he just looked at me.
“I’ll be back in just a minute. Be sure and take the tea with us in case there isn’t any in the apartment for you for tomorrow morning. ”
I nodded, and he went out the front door with Hawk. I turned back to look at Gator. He stepped closer and wrapped me in a hug. “Seriously, I’m glad you’re okay.”
I sank into his hug for a second and then took a step back. “It was terrifying.”
He chuckled. “Which part? Crowe showing up at your job? Realizing they’d found you? Them breaking into your apartment? The car chase? Them showing up here?”
“I know, right?” I said with a smile, but then I sobered. “Honestly, all of it, Gator. It was all terrifying.”
“Yeah, but you have Crowe watching over you. He’ll keep you safe, but if you aren’t okay with that for any reason, Hawk and I will put you in that tank out there and take you straight to HQ.”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay with it?” I asked.
“Absolutely no reason at all. Crowe is one of the best. That’s why we have him teaching all the classes, but I just wanted to make sure you knew you have options.”
I chuckled. “Do you really think he would let me leave without him?”
“Not without a fight,” Gator said with a grin.
“Well, it’s a good thing I don’t want options then. I’m happy to ride back with Jackson.”
“I figured you were. So let’s get you some snackage packed up.”
Crowe
I did need to brief Hawk, but I didn’t think that was what this little show of separating me and Noah was about. We were both about to get a talking to. Sure enough, Hawk barely waited until the door closed behind me to start.
“So, you and Noah?”
I turned and looked at him. “Not yet, but maybe.”
He nodded. “He’s a great guy, Crowe, but he’s carrying around a shit load of trauma.”
“He is, but he’s seeing a therapist to help deal with that.”
“He looks really good, healthy, I mean. I just want to make sure you’re prepared for the shit that might creep up.”
“I like to think I am, but who knows. What I do know is he’s one of the strongest men I’ve ever known.”
“Mika seems to think so, too. He’s always saying how amazing he thinks Noah is after they talk.”
“Yeah, he was starting to put all this behind him and build a life in Houston. I hate that he has to deal with all this.”
“I do, too, but Kat’s on it, and she’s going to figure out who this guy is so we can deal with him.”
I liked Hawk’s confidence, and I’d tried to portray the same attitude for Noah’s sake, but I really wasn’t sure how we were going to put an end to this for him. I just knew I wouldn’t rest until we had.
“So what do you know about the two guys you have stashed in your woodshed?”
“Not much. They’re professionals, and if they managed to track us here to this cabin, they’re pretty good at their job. That and they seem determined to get Noah, but that’s about it.”
“Well”—he rubbed his hands together—“don’t worry about it. By the time Gator and I are done with them, we’ll have the information we need.”
“Good to hear it.”
“Now tell me what happened here so I can deal with the feds Chance is sending.”
“Noah and I were in the cabin, and we heard the drones.” He didn’t need to know what we were doing when we heard them.
“I called Kat to make sure they weren’t ours.
I didn’t think they were, but I didn’t want to scare Noah if they were.
When she confirmed they weren’t, I knew we didn’t have much time. ”
I stopped and took a deep breath, preparing myself to say what came next. “I had him hide in the cellar, Hawk. The cabin’s small, and there aren’t any good hiding spots except for that cellar. He was held captive, locked in a basement, and I pushed him to go hide in a fucking cellar.”
Hawk reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Hey, you kept him safe, and he seems fine.”
“He’s handling it better than I am. Hawk, when I came back down those stairs to get him, he was hiding in the corner—”
“I mean, I would think that would be the natural response to something like this after what he’s been through,” he interrupted.
“No, let me finish. With a gun pointed at the door.” I let out a wry chuckle. “He was squatted down in a ball with a gun pointed at the door, ready to blow away anyone who came down those steps to hurt him. He’s made of strong stuff.”
“Sounds like he could be a handful.” He clapped me on the back. “Why don’t we get this shit resolved so you can find out?”