“And then they left.” Jamie shook her head, visibly confused. Amazed. “I thought for sure they’d kill us. But they just left.”
“We didn’t stick around after that,” Lennox said grimly. “I don’t care what that bastard lieutenant promised. He has our location now, and I’m not dumb enough to believe he won’t send a cleanup crew to take us out. So we packed our shit and took off. We were headed for Foxworth when we ran into your boys on the road.”
Connor took a deep breath that burned his lungs to ashes. “Knox probably took her back to the compound.” He gnawed on the inside of his cheek. “We have to get her back.”
“The city is nine hundred miles from here,” Xander reminded him. “We’re looking at a fifteen-hour drive, and that’s not accounting for roadblocks or fuel stops.”
“You don’t happen to have a chopper lying around here, do you?” Lennox said dryly.
“No.” Connor cursed. “But we both know someone who does.”
“Reese.” Rylan’s expression lit up. “Wait – you’re saying we get Hudson back and I get to pay a visit to Foxworth? Fuck yeah.”
Fuck no, more like it. The reigning queen of Foxworth did indeed have a helicopter. It was a military chopper abandoned after the war, designed for speed. It’d get them to West City in five hours or so, cutting their travel time in more than half.
Unfortunately, Reese wasn’t one to hand out favors at the drop of a hat. “She won’t let us use it,” Connor muttered. “It’ll cost her too much fuel.”
“You’ll owe her big,” Lennox agreed.
Yes, he would. But he was willing to pay the price. He’d give Reese whatever the hell she wanted as long as it meant having Hudson safe in his arms again.
Speaking of his arms, Hope was struggling to get out of them, straining her head in Pike’s direction. Connor thrust the wet ball of fur into Pike’s arms, then swept his unfocused eyes over the group. They were all staring at him, waiting, as if they expected him to make a decision, issue an order.
Jesus, he wasn’t even capable of reciting the alphabet right now, but somehow he got his brain into gear and found his voice. “Kade, take Lennox and the girls to the cabins Hudson cleaned out. Ry, you need to get to Foxworth.” They’d have to pass through Foxworth on their way to the city, but he might as well send Rylan there ahead of them to butter Reese up. Maybe this time she’d actually fall for his charm.
“Pike, you’re on first watch. We need to guard the camp in case there are still Enforcers in the area.” His tone went deadly calm. “Xan?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re going inside and getting that comm system working, or God help me, I’ll —”
“Already done.”
Connor blinked. “What?”
Xan shrugged sheepishly. “I got the program running three days after Hudson told me about it.”
His mouth fell open. “You did?”
Xander nodded.
“You…” Connor blustered, shock and anger warring for his attention. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me? And what the hell were you doing yesterday when I sat beside you for hours?”
“Well, ah… I wasn’t doing anything. Just messing around with an old program I’m recoding.” The other man shrugged. “And I didn’t tell you because I was trying to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life.”
The anger won out.
Combined with the overwhelming worry for Hudson and the bone-deep shame over what he’d done to her, his blood coursed with a lethal cocktail that had him grabbing Xander by the collar. “A mistake? Because I’m trying to find the man who killed everyone I ever cared about?”
Xander was unfazed by the death grip on his shirt. “You’ll be shot down if you get within five feet of him, Con. Do you really think your wife would have wanted you to die avenging her?”
He released Xan, stumbling backward with a grumble. “You still had no right keeping that from me.”
“I made a decision I felt was best for the group.”
Xander was mocking him now, and Connor would’ve slugged him in the jaw if they didn’t have more important issues to deal with. He jabbed a finger in the air, inches from Xander’s nose. “I’m kicking your ass for this later, Xan. I mean it.”
The man’s lips twitched.
“But it’ll keep.” He broke out in an urgent stride toward the lodge. “Right now I want you to load up that comm program so we can figure out a way to get my woman back.”
Her quarters were untouched. Unchanged. Hudson looked around the spacious room, with its huge bed and cozy sitting area, and it felt like she’d never left.
“Look at me, you little bitch!”
A strong hand forcibly yanked on her hair, reminding Hudson of why she’d left.