Chapter Sixteen #2
“He’ll be fine, Sunny. He’s smart and he knows how to handle himself,” Piper offered.
Sunny had no fight left in her. She knew that Piper’s words were just empty promises.
Sawyer and Lorna were standing in the hallway outside the room, watching the whole scene.
Tag let them both in, and Lorna rushed to help comfort Sunny.
She wished they would just leave her alone.
Hell, she wished they would let her go out after Aaron.
What if he needed her? What if he was on the side of the mountain, hurt, or worse?
Another sob racked her body as she thought about raising Sadie on her own.
God, she was going to marry him, and now that might never happen.
He just had to be safe—she couldn’t imagine her life without him.
Tag filled Sawyer in on everything that Aaron told him, even showing him the text from Reid that Aaron forwarded to his phone.
Sawyer called the new information to the FBI agents who showed up when they heard about the fire at the ranch.
Poor Norma Jeane had her hands full with directing everyone where to go.
Sunny could hear the older woman down in the main hall barking orders to everyone.
She secretly wished that she could be that strong, but right now, all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and wish this whole nightmare over.
“Shit, we need to figure out who else is in on this nightmare. Does Aaron have any guesses as to who would be working with Reid?” Sawyer asked, and Tag shook his head.
“Well, I’m going to head out to find Aaron.
Tell me where I need to look. Where were you two marking this afternoon?
I’ll take a few men with me.” Sawyer looked over to Lorna and nodded as if silently telling her that he’d be safe and not take any chances.
Sunny wished Aaron had confided in her or at least told her his plans.
But he took off on his own to save them all without considering her feelings.
Sunny stood up to pace while Lorna and Piper sat on the edge of the bed as if not knowing what to do for her.
“It would have to be someone on the security team,” she whispered to herself.
Tag and Sawyer watched her. “I’m right, aren’t I?
It’s a member of Norma Jeane’s security team.
” Sunny strode past Tag, not letting him stop her this time.
“Stay with Sadie, Pipe. I’ve got a rat to find and then I’m going to find my future husband and kick his ass.
” Sunny made her way down the staircase, Sawyer and Tag hot on her heels.
“You can’t do anything to help Aaron,” Tag barked. “He would want you to stay with Sadie and be safe.” He grabbed for her arm, but she shook off his hand, turning to face him, feeling full of fury.
“Well, I don’t give a fuck what Aaron would want.
I wanted Aaron to fill me in on his plan to meet with that crazy asshole.
He’s already killed Aaron’s friends and their families.
But my fiancé disregarded my feelings and went off to save the world.
So, I’m going to do what I can to help, whether he likes it or not.
We are a team now, and he’ll do well to remember that.
” Tag and Sawyer stood dumbstruck, watching her as if they didn’t know what to do next.
“I don’t know why you are still here,” she said to Sawyer.
“You need to go and get your team together to go out to find Aaron.” Sawyer still watched her like a deer frozen in the headlights of an oncoming car.
“Go!” she barked, and Sawyer jumped. He turned to leave, and she faced Tag, who was smiling at her like a goon.
“What in the hell are you smiling at, Taggart Harrison?” She put her hands on her hips and tried to look taller than her 4 feet 11 inches.
“It’s good to have you back, Sunny. I’ve missed that sass.” Tag pulled her into his arms, leaving her feet dangling in the air.
“Put me down.” She smacked his arm, and he released her. “Now, we need to find Norma Jeane and figure out who is working with Reid.” They searched for the main hall and found no sign of her. “She was here a few minutes ago; I heard her giving orders to her men,” Sunny said.
“Maybe she went into the kitchen to get a cup of tea or something,” Tag offered.
He took her hand and pulled her along with him.
The room was dark, and there was no sign of Norma Jeane.
There was no sign of anyone. Sunny started to panic—what if someone got to Mrs. Hobbs? She would never forgive herself.
“You all looking for Norma Jeane?” Clint’s gruff voice made Sunny yelp and jump.
Tag pulled her behind him, but she wasn’t having any of that since she couldn’t see around him.
Tag pasted a fake smile on his handsome face and nodded.
He squeezed her hand, and she was pretty sure that Tag was trying to tell her that they had found their spy. She gasped.
“You? You’re the one working with Reid? You’re the one who's been trying to hurt me and my family?” Sunny suddenly felt a murderous rage at the thought of Clint helping that madman.
She launched herself at him, only to be stopped by Tag’s arms holding her firmly in place. “Let me go, Tag!” she barked.
“Not on your life, Sunny. He has a gun.” Tag pulled her into his side, and she stilled. She didn’t notice a gun in her anger, but sure enough, Clint was holding one, and it was trained on them. “Shit,” she breathed.
Clint barked out his laugh, “I like your fight, honey. But maybe you should tone down your feistiness, just a bit. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to that sweet baby of yours.” Sunny gasped at Clint’s threat, and Tag growled, flexing his big fists.
“You don’t fucking touch that baby. You want to hurt someone, you hurt me.” Tag stepped in front of Sunny, blocking her from the path of the gun.
“Tell you what, big guy, my orders were to kill Aaron’s family.
I’m betting that includes you, so after I finish with his woman and kid, you can be next.
” Sunny peeked around Tag and saw that Clint was holding up zip ties.
“How about you two accompany me upstairs, and we can take care of the rest of your little group?” Tag shook his head.
Sunny knew that if they got upstairs, Piper would put up a fight about being bound.
It would bring up too many painful memories of her parents’ deaths.
She knew that Tag wouldn’t let that happen, and she was glad for it.
She didn’t want Clint anywhere near her daughter either.
“Why are you doing this, Clint? How are you connected with that fucker Reid?” Clint laughed at Tag’s questions.
“He is a fucker, isn’t he? But that means nothing to me—we are brothers.
We served in the same unit together in the Army.
He’s the only family that I have, and I’m his.
We have a bond that no blood brothers will ever have.
We’ve been through hell and back. He saved my life on more than one occasion, and I owe him, so here we are.
” Clint gestured between where they stood and his place in the doorway.
Tag was still holding Sunny’s hand, and he was squeezing her fingers so tight that she wanted to tell him to cut it out.
She was trying to think of a way to distract Clint long enough for Tag to take him down.
Every minute that they wasted listening to his misguided allegiance to a madman was one more minute that Aaron was alone with Reid.
She just hoped like hell that Sawyer would be able to find Aaron before Reid did.
Sunny didn’t want to think about what Reid wanted to do to Aaron or her and Sadie, for that matter.
“So, the plan is to just kill all of us because you owe Reid? This will square you with him?” Sunny asked.
Tag continued to squeeze her hand, and she realized that he was trying to tell her something.
Sunny watched as Piper quietly rounded the corner and made her way into the kitchen to stand behind Clint, holding a cast-iron frying pan in both of her hands.
Sunny couldn’t help her gasp, tipping Clint off that something wasn’t quite right.
But before he could turn around, Piper swung the frying pan as if swinging a bat, hitting Clint square in the head.
The gun discharged with a flash, and Sunny felt a white-hot pain dart through her upper arm.
Before she knew it, Tag had her in his arms and was carrying her into the living room to lay her on the sofa.
“He shot me?” Sunny’s arm felt heavy, and the pain seemed unbearable. She could hear Sadie crying from the upstairs bedroom and Lorna’s soft voice soothing her. She breathed a sigh of relief knowing that her daughter was safe.
“Pipe,” Tag took the frying pan out of his wife’s hands and gently sat her down on the sofa, next to Sunny.
He took off his shirt and wrapped it around Sunny’s upper arm.
“I need you to put pressure on Sunny’s arm, right here.
” Piper did as Tag instructed, and he went back into the kitchen.
Sunny could hear him rustling around, and then he dragged an unconscious and bound Clint from the hallway and laid him in the corner. Piper was shivering next to Sunny.
“Did I kill him, Tag?” she whispered.
“Naw, honey. You just knocked him out cold. Good shot by the way. If Sunny had stayed behind me, she would have been fine too. But our little Sunny can’t take a hint.
” Sunny giggled at Tag, causing pain to shoot up into her shoulder, and she groaned.
“I’m going to hunt down Mrs. Hobbs. You two stay put.
” Tag ran up the stairs to the bedrooms and searched everyone until he found poor Norma Jeane tied up in a guest room closet.
She fussed at Tag to let her be, that she was fine, but Sunny could tell that she was a little frazzled.
“Oh, my goodness, Sunny, are you all right?” Norma Jeane took the shirt from Piper to take over caring for Sunny’s wound.
Tag pulled Piper into his arms, comforting her.
Sunny ached for Aaron; he should be here with her, holding her.
She was worried that he would never be that person for her, the one to comfort her and tell her that everything was going to be all right.
She couldn’t decide if she was pissed that he took off on his own, leaving her out of his plans once again, or if she was worried that he wouldn’t make it back to keep his promise to marry her.
She tried to sit up, but Mrs. Hobbs held her in place.
“No, honey. You need to have that arm looked at. An ambulance is on the way. Where’s that handsome fellow of yours?
” At the mention of Aaron, Sunny burst into tears.
Piper explained to Norma Jeane what happened, and by the time she finished with the story, the EMTs were working on Sunny’s arm.
They wanted to take her into the hospital, but she refused.
It was a superficial wound; the bullet just grazed her.
They gave her a few stitches and bandaged her arm, telling her to have it looked at in the morning.
That was fine with her; she was going to find Aaron, and then they were going to have a long talk about how a team works.
If they were going to get married, he needed a crash course on how to communicate, and she would be happy to be the teacher.