her right hand? It was almost like she didn’t want to be married anymore.
“All for the best,” Carolyn repeated Nicole’s words. “What does that mean?”
Dylan’s face was pale. His hands drew into fists. “She’s an optimist. Always thinks things are going to be great, even when the odds are against it.”
Was he talking about Nicole’s desire to have a baby? The struggle they’d gone through trying to get pregnant? “What does that mean to you?”
“You know me, sis. I always look for problems, trying to anticipate what might go wrong.”
“It sounds like Nicole is telling you to have hope. Tonight, we’ll pay the ransom. She’ll be back here where she belongs, hanging Christmas decorations and wrapping presents.”
“Maybe,” he conceded. “But we still haven’t gotten a call from the kidnappers telling us where to deliver the ransom. We still don’t know where and how Nicole will be released. I see the glass as half-empty.”
A lot could go wrong. They all knew it.
The trick was to make it through today into tonight. The long hours stretched in front of her like an eternity.
Carolyn went into the dining room and grabbed a cell phone that wasn’t connected to anything else. She pressed in a number that she knew by heart.
When the phone was answered, Carolyn spoke four words that she’d never said before: “Mom? I need you.”
Chapter Twenty
Burke hardly recognized Corelli without his tie and suit jacket. Wearing a bulletproof vest and a heavy jacket to ward off the night chill, the computer expert had positioned himself behind a bank of computer screens inside an FBI van. His job for the assault on the SOF compound would be communications.
Burke squatted beside him, cramped by the small space inside the van. “You know, Corelli, I’m still not sure you should leave the ranch house.”
“I trained Dylan on how to work the phones. He’s a smart guy. He can handle it.” For proof, Corelli touched a button on one of the monitors. “Dylan? How’s everything at the house?”
“Quiet.” The answer came through, loud and clear.
“Is Carolyn there?” Burke asked.
“Hi, Burke. What’s up?”
The sound of her voice made him want to turn around and go back to the ranch. He didn’t like leaving her and Dylan there with only the cowboys and Sheriff Trainer for protection.
“We’re waiting,” he said. “It sounds like Logan and his boys are planning their meet on the Indian Trail any minute.”
At this time of year, sundown came early. Right now, it was almost dark.
“We’re waiting, too,” she said. “For the ransom delivery call. Corelli is going to keep us posted, right?”
“Right,” Burke said. “The same goes for you and Dylan. Let us know about any calls.”
“Burke.” She spoke his name softly. “Be careful. Please.”
“Back at you.”
He didn’t repeat his warning that neither she nor her brother should leave the ranch house to deliver the ransom until he’d returned. He’d said those words so many times today that they should be permanently etched on that highly intelligent brain of hers.
She knew the risks. More importantly, she understood that a coordinated ransom delivery had a far greater likelihood of success than a half-baked effort from her and her brother.
Bottom line, he hoped the ransom would never need to be paid. Once his force got inside the SOF compound and searched, he hoped to find Nicole. At this point, that hope was paper-thin. Though Nicole had twice signaled them that she was at the Circle M and Burke was relatively sure that Logan made the second ransom call to Carolyn’s phone, the kidnapping hadn’t been mentioned on the bug in Logan’s trailer office or in any e-mail correspondence.
“They’re on the move,” Corelli said.
Earlier today, three heat-sensing cameras had been placed at strategic locations to monitor activity inside the compound. One focused on the front gate. Another showed the western route that Burke and his men would use to enter the Circle M. A far-range scope showed the compound buildings, including Logan’s trailer and the bunkhouse where the women and children spent most of their time.
Like the bugs and computers, these cameras showed no clue about Nicole’s whereabouts. She might be mingled with the other women. Or she might be somewhere else entirely.
“Two trucks,” Corelli said. “Driving toward the front gate.”
The greatest threat to their rescue operation came from Logan’s surveillance cameras. Very likely, he’d leave a man behind to monitor those cameras, which would show the approach of Burke and the seven men working with him.
The first order of business—Burke’s job—was to pin down