Chapter 5
Pouring rain ran down Wyatt’s windshield, the wipers clearing the surface only for a moment before it was obscured again.
He was on his way to meet Teslyn, but he couldn’t help feeling he was driving in the wrong direction.
Everything that mattered was in his rearview mirror, yet here he was, driving to a rental house while Hawk, Ralph, and Jax walked into the fire on the Steele mission without him.
He squeezed the back of his neck, the tension in his rigid muscles refusing to give way as his call rang and rang through his truck’s speakers.
“Goddamn it.” He couldn’t get Razorback on the line.
He’d made a half dozen phone calls, but no one was able to tell him more than he already knew: Razorback was out of the country and could not be reached.
Anything Wyatt was going to learn about the woman, he’d have to find out for himself.
“Keep digging. Check out the mom in more detail, anything that might make her a target. I don’t want to have to rely on Teslyn for information.”
“You got it.” Logan hung up.
The orange lights of an AMBER alert sign glowed up ahead, and as he passed it he made a mental note of the missing perpetrator.
Child abduction, red Jeep Cherokee with Texas plate EH5 7G3.
He fixed the tag number into his memory.
There was no worse kind of criminal than someone who would harm a child, and if he could do anything to aid the authorities, he’d be all too happy to oblige.
The closer he got to the safehouse, the more the storm intensified. He wasn’t one to believe in omens, but he had a nagging feeling in his gut that told him this woman wasn’t what she seemed.
Or maybe you’ve just become a cynical old shit who can’t believe there are still good people in this world.
Three tours in the SEALs would do that to you.
He’d seen the worst of humanity and served with some of the best. He was honored to have fought for his country, but he was no longer a man who put much stock in the goodness of humanity.
Most people were a mixture of good and bad, light and dark, integrity and shame, himself included.
He’d done things he was proud of and things that haunted his dreams in the depths of the night.
Still, he had a good life. A job he loved, a black Labrador Retriever puppy named Jett, who thought Wyatt was the best guy in the world. And if sometimes he felt like something was missing, he chalked it up to a life spent doing something more important than focusing on his own happiness.
He loved his country. He loved fighting for right over wrong, for protecting the underdog, for valuing freedom more than he did his own life. And if that meant he was a thirty-five year old guy who trusted no one outside the brotherhood, then that was alright with him.
And what about this woman Razorback had sent to him? He frowned severely. He was determined to learn everything he could about her as quickly as possible.
He took the exit for the safehouse as lightning lit up a swirling sky. “Who are you, Teslyn McGregor?” He made the final turn on his GPS and pulled into the driveway of the safehouse, directly behind a red Jeep with Texas plates, the tag number searing into his retinas.
EH5 7G3.
He pounded his fist on the steering wheel and cursed colorfully. He’d just driven hundreds of miles to help this woman, and she was wanted for kidnapping. He pulled out his cell phone to call the authorities and turn her in, his finger hovering over the phone icon.
If he made this call, the police would be all over Teslyn and Ivy in a heartbeat. There would be no opportunity to take it back, no way to make sure he’d made the right decision.
He recounted what he knew from his brief phone call with Teslyn. The police were after her and her sister. Powerful people, possibly law enforcement. Someone set fire to her mother’s trailer. Was it possible that someone was Teslyn herself?
He frowned. Or, if her story about powerful people and law enforcement involvement was true, whoever set fire to the trailer might have reported the kidnapping as a way to track the sisters down, not because of any wrongdoing on Teslyn’s part.
If that was the case, calling the authorities would lead them right to her.
Or she could be a liar.
Without talking to Razorback, he had no idea who he was dealing with, or of what she was capable. The cell phone rang in his hand. It was Logan again, and he answered it. “What’s up?”
“You’re not going to believe this.”
“Teslyn’s wanted for kidnapping her sister,” said Wyatt.
“And arson,” added Logan.
“They think she burned down the trailer?”
“Yep. Look online. It’s all over the news. They’ve got state police out searching for her, roadblocks, you name it.”
“I wonder if she made it into Alabama without getting caught. Goddamn it, what did Razorback get me into?”
The line was quiet for a moment. “Are you going to turn her in?” asked Logan.
He hesitated. Razorback had sent this woman to him, but that alone wasn’t proof of her innocence.
It was entirely possible he was on the wrong side of justice this time around, and he needed to find out the truth before he took this too far.
“Not yet. She doesn’t know I saw the AMBER alert, and I’m not going to tell her.
Hopefully Razorback gets back to me soon and I can figure out what’s really going on here. ”
Wyatt hung up and climbed out of his truck, cool rain falling in the soft light of the predawn sky. He took in the breadth of the log cabin. It was a rental, not an official safehouse, but it would provide them shelter and anonymity for as long as they needed it.
A woman stood at the wide picture window, her body silhouetted from a golden glow behind her, and he swore he could feel the tension in Teslyn McGregor all the way from where he stood.
He held up a hand in greeting. “You’d better fucking be telling me the truth about that kid,” he said, knowing full well she couldn’t hear him.
“Or I will tear you apart with my own two hands.”