“Brady’s heading there now,” I told Nick and looked down at Addy. “You trust me?”
“Yes.”
Strong and sure.
Thank fuck.
“Brady’s gonna take you to your mom.”
“Okay.”
“Strong, Addy. Stay strong. Your dad is a tough son-of-a-bitch. Trust me he’s gonna be fine.”
“He was…I saw…”
Yeah, she saw all right. She saw her dad tied to a chair, bloody. Belview was gonna pay for that as well.
“Nothing’s gonna break your dad. Believe that. By the time we get there, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s waiting for us outside bitching about needing a ride.”
“Okay.”
Brady was standing close waiting to go, so I had to make this quick for a variety of reasons, one being I lied my ass off—Jasper wouldn’t be waiting, and the gunshot to the thigh worried the fuck out of me.
“I love you, Addy.”
“Love you,” she mumbled.
Reluctantly, I passed a still-limp Addy to Brady and they wordlessly walked away. No one spoke until the door closed behind them. Then they waited another two beats before Jason let out a sound near as hideous as his sister’s.
No one said a word and a son battled his emotion. Once he beat it back, his gaze sliced through each man in the room, and on an angry growl, he announced:
“That motherfucker is mine.”
No one argued. But we were all thinking the same thing. Belview was fair game. The objective was to get Jasper out breathing, and not a man in the room would hesitate to take out Belview.
“Gear up!” Carter shouted and prowled out of the gym. And the rest of us followed.
Dylan wasted no time finding the address and we wasted no time driving the thirty miles to Cherokee Lakes. The south and west side of the lake was packed with waterfront houses. The north side was sparse and the east side, no houses. Belview’s family owned a cabin and forty acres—no waterfront but tucked back into the forest.
It had taken us longer to trek back to the cabin than it did to drive the thirty miles.
Matt and Luke had radioed they were in position. Luke lucked out and found a tree stand a hunter had left behind that made for an excellent sniper perch. Matt didn’t, and had to find a tree he could climb that gave him the vantage point he needed and a branch he could sit on. He’d done that and now they were both ready.
Logan, Carter, and Nick were coming in from northwest of the property. Drake, Jason, and I took the east. We’d fan out when we hit the cabin. Our pace was slow-moving—Belview might be a dickhead but he wasn’t a stupid one and he was well-trained. Not only that, we had to watch for booby traps—which if it were me I would’ve set many, and they would’ve been the kind that goes boom. Carter had found one and he’d spotted a deer camera. Which was another issue—Belview could have eyes throughout the woods or they could be left behind by hunters. Either way, none of us wanted to be digitally captured trespassing and stalking through the thick trees and underbrush.
“I don’t miss this part,” Drake complained.
“Which part is that, princess?”
“The bugs. Mosquitoes are biting the fuck outta me and it’s not even dusk.”
“I second that,” Carter said through my earpiece. “And sandfleas. Don’t miss those little fuckers.”
I didn’t miss those fuckers either.
“They liked you, Church. You must taste sweet,” Luke added.
“Yeah, that’s what my wife says,” Carter quipped and Jason growled.
“Jesus, can we focus?” Jason snapped.
I wasn’t sure if his angry response was from hearing Carter make a joke about Delaney, or if Jason was wound too tight. Probably both.
“Easy, Jay. Everyone’s focused.”
His eyes came to mine, and much like his sister’s, they were cold. But his were not dead, they were ablaze with fury.
“My dad—”
“No. Not your dad. Your objective. Clear that out of your head now. Jasper means something to all of us but we’ll do him no favors if we let emotion take over. He’s the mission. That’s all.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Then sit your ass down here and wait for us to come back for you.”
“What the—”
I stopped, which meant Jason and Drake did, too.
“Ice, Jason. You have to shove everything else out. Jasper Walker is being held hostage. He has a round drilled through his thigh, he’s losing blood, and he needs medical attention.”
“Trey,” Drake’s low voice rumbled from beside me. “Have a care.”
“I am. You know I’m right. We have one objective, secure the package.