Special Forces Father - By Mallory Kane Page 0,47

bag before hoisting it over his shoulder. When he came back into the living room, she was still standing in the same place, but her head was now bowed and her eyes were closed.

He walked past her to the front door, then turned around. “Kate, you’re telling me to leave, but I swear to you, I am not walking out on you.” She didn’t react. “Damn it, Kate. Look at me.”

Slowly she raised her head and met his gaze. Her face was awash with both a profound sadness and a steely determination.

“I am not walking out. I’ve got this phone, and you’ve got the number in yours. Call me and I promise I will be here before you hang up the phone. That is my solemn promise to you—on our son’s life.”

Travis didn’t miss the irony of declaring to Kate that he was not walking out on her in one breath and in the next, turning around and leaving. But he’d told her the truth. Even if she never wanted to lay eyes on him again, he was not going to leave her to face the kidnapper alone. He would be right here, watching her, making sure she was safe.

She had hit him where it hurt, with those comments about him walking out. He hadn’t realized until she’d said it, but that was exactly what he’d done—twice. He certainly had not forgotten the first time. She’d brought up marriage and he’d reacted with such immediate anger, he’d scared not only her, but himself. So he’d done what his older brother Lucas had hounded him about for years. How many times had Lucas said it? You ought to join the military, Trav. They’d whip that anger right out of you.

The army and later Special Forces had given him confidence, skills and a deep understanding of his physical, mental and emotional self. Above all, they’d taught him to channel his anger into a different, more helpful energy and to use that energy to maintain an ironclad control in order to beat every enemy. Lucas had been right.

Now he had to draw on every bit of that control to save his son and keep Kate safe, whether she wanted him to or not. He didn’t know what she was planning to do, but he did know that he wasn’t about to let her deal with the kidnapper alone.

Sitting in his car in front of her house, he dialed Dawson’s number. When Dawson answered, he said, “Have you got a vehicle I can borrow?”

“I’ve got several. What do you need it for?” As usual, Dawson was prepared for almost anything.

“I need something that won’t stand out in Kate’s neighborhood. I’m going to be watching her house. I’m afraid she’s made some kind of arrangement with the kidnapper.”

There was an almost undetectable pause on the other end of the call. Then Dawson said, “Sure. In the parking lot next to the warehouse where we met, there’s a late-model white van. There are various magnetic signs inside, along with a couple pairs of coveralls and a few other items. Use the large magnetic sign that says City of New Orleans. If you wear the white coverall, maybe a Saints baseball cap and sunglasses and carry a clipboard, you can hang around all day. If somebody asks you what you’re doing, tell them you’re assessing the need for house numbers on the curb in front of the houses.”

“Not bad,” Travis said. “It’ll take me a while to pick up those things.”

“No need. They’re in the van. The coverall fits me so it’ll be okay on you.”

“Great. Where are the keys?”

“Upstairs, in the cabinet over the microwave.”

“Thanks, Dawson.”

“No problem. Listen, we’re almost ready to make the call to the kidnapper. Dusty has altered the data that will be sent to the kidnapper’s phone so that he’ll think the call is from Whitley. But we’ll only have one chance, and it’ll be a slim one, because as soon as he realizes it’s not Whitley, he’ll hang up and won’t answer again. So we have to plan when we want to make the call. Dusty is tracking the GPS coordinates of the phone. As soon as he answers, she’ll triangulate the signal.”

“What do you think?” Travis asked. “Should we get the police involved?”

“Not officially. I’ll talk to Ryker and fill him in. See if he’ll work with us unofficially. Lucas already knows about the situation. He just doesn’t know you’re involved. With the two of them, we’ll have the city