Chapter Thirteen
AFTER MAKING THE quick trip to Emma Montgomery’s childhood home, Cam monitored their surroundings from the picture window in the living room. Shouldn’t be long before his teammates arrived. He admitted to himself that he’d be more comfortable with men he trusted at his back.
He’d been right about David’s reaction to the bugs in Interrogation Room Two.
Ticked off was a mild description of his friend’s explosion.
He vowed to track down the culprit responsible for the listening devices, no matter how long it took.
When he did, the guilty party could expect immediate walking papers.
Cam frowned. Why would anyone plant bugs inside the interrogation rooms?
Anything the police learned in those rooms would be suspect.
Not only that, but he suspected the two bugs he found wouldn’t be the last ones.
It was just too easy to plant listening devices and scoop up information about future raids and planned busts all over the county.
No wonder the deputies had come up empty on their raids for the past few months.
No one had thought to look for electronic surveillance as a reason the usual tactics failed.
A sudden surge of energy and a loosening of his muscles signaled to Cam that his teammates were near. He turned away from the picture window and headed toward the kitchen.
Sedona looked up from Cam’s laptop. “Everything all right?”
“My team is here.”
“How do you know?”
He shrugged. Explaining the way his awareness shifted when they were near?
Impossible. He couldn’t explain without sounding like someone who didn’t have all his faculties.
Sometimes he wondered if he had it all together, but he had depended on those internal nudges to keep himself and his teammates alive. He wouldn’t doubt them now.
Sedona rolled her eyes. “It’s too difficult to put into words, right? Let’s try this. Why are you going to the kitchen?”
“The team won’t announce themselves at the front door.” They never had. Doing so on a mission was a good way to die. He still didn’t plan to die today, not when he was hours away from his first date with Sedona. “Want to meet them?”
Her smile was like the sunrise, bright and beautiful. “I’d love to meet your friends.”
He tugged Sedona to her feet and walked with her to the kitchen.
In case he was wrong, Cam signaled for her to wait in the entryway.
If this wasn’t Thunderhawk, she was to run and not look back while he took care of business.
He wasn’t worried that he wouldn’t be able to find her again. Finding people was what his team did.
Cam pressed his back to the wall and eased the curtain aside enough to scan the area. Nothing, just as he’d expected.
Seconds later, one shadow after another separated itself from the darkness of the woods at the rear of the house. They stopped twenty feet from the house and waited for an invitation to come inside.
Cam opened the back door and gave the signal his friends were waiting to see. He stepped back into the kitchen and waited, weapon up and aimed at the door until he was sure.
They entered the home in single file, silent, alert, and armed to the teeth.
Dario greeted Cam with a chin lift. “Sir.” The rest of the team followed his lead.
“Good to see all of you. Thank you for coming to help.”
“We couldn’t let you have all the fun.” Spencer, their medic, grinned, then shifted his gaze to Sedona. “Introduce us to the pretty lady.”
He squashed the sudden jealousy. Cam knew his men.
They’d shed blood for each other. Thunderhawk also knew how he felt about Sedona.
No way would one of his friends set his sights on her for himself.
“This is Sedona Hart. Tiger, these are my teammates.” He pointed at each one as he introduced them.
“Dario, Rhys, Spencer, and Isaac. Spencer is our medic.”
“Do the rest of you have specialties?”
Dario inclined his head. “I like to blow things up, ma’am.”
Sedona looked puzzled for a moment, then said, “Oh. You must be EOD.”
“That’s right. How did you know that?”
“Buddy, I’m a teacher. I read everything. You never know what questions kids ask these days, and I like to be prepared.”
Rhys went next. “I’m a spotter, ma’am.”
A moment passed before Sedona said, “Who do you spot for?”
Oh, yeah. Cam sighed. His woman was sharp. He had to give her points for that. Was he about to lose the best woman to walk into his life? When Rhys glanced at him, Cam gave a slight nod. Better to know now than fall deeper for Sedona only for her to dump him and stomp all over his heart.
“I spot for Cam and Isaac, ma’am.”
She rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m too young for you to call me ma’am. My students call me ma’am because we’re trying to teach them manners and respect for their elders. When you do it, I feel ancient. What’s wrong with using my name?”
“Not a thing, ma’am. Uh, Sedona.”
She shook her head, amusement lighting her eyes as she turned to Isaac. “So, you’re a sniper.”
“Yes, ma’am, Sedona. Sorry,” he apologized, holding himself at attention.
Cam realized Isaac expected Sedona to be like many others who had called all of them baby killers and mercenaries for hire to the highest bidder. Those same people spat on them when they came home from grueling missions that took everything they had to complete because failure wasn’t an option.
Sedona held out her hand and shook his. “Thank you for what you did to protect us all.”
Isaac stared. “You don’t hate me?”
“Why would I? I’m glad someone is doing the job so those who want to hurt us all can’t come here and kill innocents like my students.”
“I…thank you, Sedona.”
“You’re welcome.” She turned to Cam. “Where are the rest?”
“This is it.” Would she kick him to the curb for trusting her safety to a small team rather than bringing in an entire unit?
“Okay.”
Cam exchanged wary glances with his teammates, then refocused on Sedona. “That’s it? Just ‘Okay’?”
She held up one finger. “Actually, no.”
Here it comes. “Let’s hear it.”
Instead of talking to Cam, she included Thunderhawk. “Do any of you cook?”
The silence seemed as loud as thunder in the kitchen. Finally, Dario held up his hand. “I can hold my own, ma’am. I’m no professional chef, but what I fix is usually edible.”
“You’re hired as my helper.” She smiled at the others who were shuffling their feet. The relief on their faces was obvious. “The rest of you are on dish duty.”
Their expressions darkened.
“What is dish duty?” Spencer looked at his hands. “I can’t damage these magic hands.” He winked at her.
Cam glared at his friend.
“Tough, buddy. If Dario and I have to cook, the rest of you will clean up the kitchen and table afterward. If you don’t work, you don’t eat. Simple rule.”
“Man, Cam, she’s a tough one.” Rhys chuckled. “She reminds me of you.”
“You have seen nothing yet. Sedona can keep thirty kindergartners in line and make it look easy. We’re nothing compared to those munchkins.”
Sedona motioned to the table. “Sit down. Coffee will be ready in a few minutes, and I might come up with a meal if you’re hungry.”
“Anything easy, ma’am.” Isaac smiled.
“Sedona,” she corrected. “My name is Sedona.”
He glanced at Cam, who gave him a nod of permission, before he said, “Sedona, anything easy will be great. We’ve eaten and survived MREs. We’re happy with whatever you give us.”
“I hope my half-sisters will be as accommodating.”
“Half-sisters?”
She waved them toward the table. “It’s a long story.”
“We’ve got nothing but time,” Rhys said.
“We’ll get to a place where we don’t have time soon.” Cam measured out the coffee. “Did you catch anything on the Internet?”
“Plenty, and none of it’s good.”
He paused for a few seconds, then grabbed the carafe and filled it with water. “Let’s hear it.”
“There’s a posting on the dark web for The Collector.”
Cam stilled. “You’re sure?”
Rhys gave a curt nod. “Sorry, man. There’s no doubt. They’re asking The Collector to contact them for an HVT. The fee is negotiable.”
So, that’s how it would be, huh? If this man thought he would put his hands on Cam’s woman, he would be disappointed.
He had no intention of allowing anyone to take Sedona away from him.
The only way they’d be separated from now on was by Sedona’s choice, and he wouldn’t give her that option until she was safe.
“The fee is negotiable?” Sedona frowned. “What does that mean?”
“No limit on the fee.”
She swallowed hard. “Is that bad news?”
“It’s the worst thing they could have said.”
“Why? What does it mean?”
“They’ll pay any amount of money for The Collector to take the job.”
“And I’m the job?”
No one answered. They didn’t have to.
“What’s the plan?” Dario asked.
“What we always do. We protect what’s ours. Period.”
Spencer frowned. “Wait. What about Sedona’s sisters? The Collector isn’t above using them to get what he wants.”
“At the moment, none of them are in Maple Valley.” Sedona wrinkled her nose.
“Where are they?” Cam asked.
“Wherever they have been living. After what I’ve been through in the past twenty-four hours, I’m grateful they’re not here. I just met them a few days ago, but I don’t want them caught up in anything like this.”
“I understand.”
His teammates, however, exchanged puzzled glances. “We don’t.” Dario folded his arms across his massive chest. “How about letting us in on the secret?”
“This is a weird situation,” Sedona said.
“The short version is my mother was a serial dater and had children by five or six men. DNA results haven’t come back on the sixth girl.
Anyway, instead of bringing the girls home and raising them with a family member’s help, my mother, Laura, dumped the kids with child welfare wherever she had them, except for me.
None of us knew about the other sisters.
Good old Mom didn’t tell anyone, including her father, William Hart. ”