Chapter Thirteen
“We’re here,” Sarah breathed as she saw the lights of Warrior Peak come into view.
This was what she needed right now—that sense of safety, that sense of calm.
No matter how tempting it might have been to let the fear get the better of them, as long as they had made it to the lodge in one piece, everything was going to be okay. It had to be.
River turned the car off the main road and onto the connector road that led up to the lodge.
As soon as she made the turn, she pulled over to the side and shut off the car lights; all the women held their breath as they waited to see what the car behind them was going to do.
Sarah stared out the back window and, much to her surprise, the vehicle continued on up the road, without so much as slowing down.
Thank God. Maybe they had just been paranoid after all.
She felt a little guilty for letting her nerves get the better of her, but she figured she was way better off being safe than sorry when it came to all of this.
She didn’t want to take any chances or make it easy for anyone to get close to them.
Not when she knew what kind of danger was out there waiting for them.
Much as she wanted to believe they’d already had their fair share of turmoil these last few months, she knew that life didn’t work like that.
“Come on, let’s get up to the lodge,” Hannah said.
River turned on the car lights and they continued up to the main building.
As soon as she parked in the gravel lot, River turned off the engine, and they all headed inside.
Sarah could tell they were all lost in thought, wondering if they had been foolish in overthinking the possible threat, but it didn’t matter.
What mattered was that they were back now, and nothing was going to happen to them as long as they were here.
A few minutes later, as Hannah hung outside the front door with Sarah, Xavier’s truck rushed up the driveway.
Hannah breathed a sigh of relief, and she ran over to Xavier to give him a hug as soon as he stepped out.
He wrapped his arms around her tightly and surveyed the area, making sure it was safe.
“You guys alright?” he asked as he led Hannah back toward Sarah.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” Sarah assured him. “We just got a little spooked by some guys at the bar, that’s all. Thought they were following us, but whoever it was just continued down the road after we turned off. Guess they must be staying at one of the ranches nearby.”
“Maybe seasonal workers,” Xavier suggested as he pushed open the wooden door and led them inside.
“Maybe,” Sarah agreed, chewing on her bottom lip. If she was being honest, there was only one thing on her mind right now and it was Lawson. She felt as though she would only be able to get her feet under her again when he was close to her.
“Where’s Lawson?” she asked Xavier as she followed him. She tried to keep her voice neutral, but it came out a little more insistent than she had intended.
“He’s surveilling at a rest stop about thirty miles away,” Xavier replied. “Cade and Aaron were, too, but they’re on their way back now.”
“Why not him?” she asked, her stomach dropping.
She knew it was silly, that Xavier never would have been so calm if he thought Lawson was in real danger, but she hated the thought of him not being here with everyone else.
She was spooked and shaken, and she felt like his presence was the only thing that would ground her again.
“Hey,” he murmured to her, seeming to sense how worried she was. “He’s going to be okay. You know that, right?”
“I know that…”
“He’s tough as nails,” he reminded her. “And he can handle himself. Those guys who are going to run into him, they’re the ones in danger. Not him.”
Sarah thought back to what he said on the phone, that he wasn’t in danger, but the men he was up against were about to be.
She smiled slightly. She knew she should trust him on that.
She knew he was good at what he did. She’d watched him and the others training before and knew he could handle himself.
And yet, she still wished he was here by her side more than anything right now. Not exactly the right attitude to have, and she knew it was selfish, given how important what he was taking on happened to be, but she couldn’t help it.
They headed into the main greeting room and joined River and Bailey, who both looked tense.
Xavier assured them that Cade and Aaron would be back soon, and she could see the relief on both their faces.
She was happy for them, but she clutched her phone in her pocket, willing Lawson to call her so she could hear his voice and know he was fine.
Cade and Aaron arrived back a short time later, and the other women practically jumped on them in relief. Bailey scolded Aaron for not telling her about the mission they had been on, but Sarah could tell there was no real malice to it. Her face looked relieved and happy, not angry.
“Heard anything from Lawson?” Cade asked Xavier, his arm around River.
Xavier glanced over at Sarah, who shook her head.
“Just what Hannah relayed earlier,” he replied. “He had a couple of them approaching the truck.”
Cade’s jaw tightened. He was trying to contain his concern, but Sarah was attuned to people’s expressions and emotions because of her job.
She could tell he was worried, and that had her feeling even more panicked.
She tried to calm herself, digging her fingernails into her palm to ground herself, but it wasn’t working.
All at once, her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she let out a yelp of surprise. She was so on edge, the noise had really startled her. She practically ripped her jacket pocket trying to get it out before the sound stopped, and she stared down at the screen. Lawson. Thank God.
“Is it him?” Xavier asked, and she nodded, lifting a hand to the group and stepping away so she could take the call in private.
“Lawson?” she answered, her voice a little shaky.
“Hey, Sarah,” he replied. He sounded calm, and the soothing tone eased some of the tension in her. His voice was the best balm to her nerves right now.
“You guys okay?” he asked her. “You get back to the lodge?”
“Yeah, we’re here now,” she assured him. “The guys who were following us…well, they weren’t following us. They carried on up the road after we pulled in. I guess we were just being jumpy, I’m sorry—”
“Hey, you’ve got nothing to be sorry about,” he promised her. “It’s better to be safe. The stakes are high right now and we’re all on edge. I’d much rather you were too cautious than anything else, you hear me?”
She smiled. He was so damn sweet. Even when she felt silly for making such a fuss, he was there to ground her, remind her that she was right to look out for herself.
“What about you?” she asked him. “When are you going to be back?”
He sighed, and suddenly his voice sounded tired. “It’s going to be a while,” he warned her. “Tell everyone not to wait up.”
“Really?” she asked, trying not to let the disappointment sound in her tone. She didn’t want to spook him or act entitled, but everyone else had their person right now. She didn’t know exactly where they stood, relationship-wise, but she knew she wanted him there with her.
“I have two of these bastards in custody,” he told her, and she could hear the proud grin in his words.
“You do?” she gasped.
“Yeah, the ruse worked and I nabbed a couple of them at the rest stop,” he explained. “Some of the sheriff’s men went up there to bring their car back down and they searched it. Found enough in there to keep them locked up for a while. Hopefully, as long as it takes to get to the answers we need.”
Sarah heard the pride in his voice, and he had every right to feel that way. One step closer to taking down these men was exactly what they needed right now, even if it meant he was going to be at the police station all night.
“You going to be okay?” he asked her gently.
“I’m going to be fine,” she promised him. “Everyone else is back and safe. I’m just anxious to see you. All that talk of missing women was just…surprising and unsettling.”
“I understand. It’s unsettling for all of us,” he replied. “You just need to stay there and get some rest. Hopefully, this will all be over soon.”
“I can tell how tired you are, Lawson. Are you sure you can’t come back soon?” She hated the needy tinge in her voice but she still felt off and she was concerned about him.
“No,” he said, sounding regretful. “I have a lot to deal with here at the police station. I don’t want to leave until I know we have everything under control. Let the others know what’s going on, okay?”
“Sure, I’ll tell them,” she agreed. “Just…don’t push yourself too hard, okay? You take care of yourself.”
“I will,” he promised her softly. He lingered on the line for a moment, as though there was more he wanted to say. She knew how he felt.
All the stress from what had happened earlier in the night was still rushing around her head, and she knew she wasn’t in a good state to be blurting out anything that might cross the line this early on in their budding relationship.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” he told her finally, and she bid him farewell, listening until he hung up the phone.
She stood there, phone pressed to her ear, recalling Lawson’s voice, and holding it in her memory. She couldn’t wait until she could see him again, give him a hug. To know for certain that he was as good as he claimed.
Sarah was ready for all of this to be over, to be able to move forward and figure out where they stood with each other. To be happy.
Together.
“What’s going on?” Xavier asked her, snapping her back to reality.
“He’s got a couple of the guys in lockup,” she explained as she tucked her phone back into her pocket. “He said they got enough evidence from their vehicle to keep them locked up for a while. So that’s good news, right?”
“That’s great news,” Xavier replied, breathing a sigh of relief. “I was worried that we were going to get them and they wouldn’t have anything incriminating on them.”
“You didn’t have a plan in place?” Bailey asked, her eyes widening. She was a cop, so, of course, she was stressed at the thought of them not having something ready to go, but Sarah put a hand on her arm, trying to calm her down.
“It’s okay,” she reminded her. “They’re in custody. That’s all that matters.”
“We had a plan,” Cade offered. “We just had no way of knowing if whoever we caught would have anything illegal on them to keep them in jail.”
“Come on, you guys need to get some rest,” Aaron interrupted whatever else Bailey might have said, grabbing her hand. She glanced over at him, obviously still a little doubtful about the approach the guys had taken, but what mattered was that they had gotten the result they wanted.
Even if the guys should have been more careful in the way they went about it, two of Granger’s men were in jail right now, and they would be able to get information out of them.
Or, at least, that was what she hoped.
Sarah headed back toward her cabin, counting out her footsteps, the stars still glittering in the night sky above. She knew she was going to have a hard time getting to sleep without Lawson back on the property, but she had to trust he knew what he was doing.
He was good at his job. Always had been. He could handle this.
Even if there was something nagging at the back of her mind, telling her that this Granger person and his organization were worse than the men they had taken on before. And she hoped she never had to find just how right she might be.