*
They made it back to Foxworth in one piece. The minute that Travis saw their faces, he sounded the alarm.
“We have to leave, don’t we?” he said sharply.
“Yup.” Sloan didn’t have time to explain, so he barked out orders instead. “We’re going to Connor Mackenzie’s camp. Rylan, there’s a sat phone in Reese’s war room. Let him know we’re coming. Sam and Davis, you two go door to door. Trav, grab Randy and get all the trucks, cars, and bikes gassed up and ready to go. We’re gonna roll out in thirty minutes.”
He didn’t wait to see if everyone obeyed him. He had stuff to do.
A minute later, he was on Nash’s motorcycle, speeding out to Scott and Anna’s homestead.
Scott met him on the porch. “What’s going on?” the older man asked in concern.
“There was an ambush at the Enforcer station,” Sloan explained. “They took Reese, and soon they’ll be sending Enforcers to wipe out the town.”
Dressed in a heavy barn coat thrown over a long pajama gown, Anna appeared in the doorway with a mug of something steaming and hot in her hands. Sloan accepted it gratefully and chugged the coffee down, not caring that it burned his tongue or his tonsils. He needed the energy kick.
“We’re not leaving,” Scott informed him.
He closed his eyes for a moment, searching for patience and finding none. “Goddamn it, Scott. We leave in thirty minutes. Grab a chicken and some clothes and let’s go.”
Scott’s only response was to wrap an arm around his wife. “This is our home. Let the Enforcers come. We’ve got the cellar under the barn and thirty days’ worth of food. I’d invite you to stay but I suspect you’d be insulted by that.”
He dragged a hand over his forehead. If Reese and Rylan were standing here with him, he’d probably trample the older couple on his way to that cellar. But Reese wasn’t here, and he was going after her the moment he made sure her people were safe.
“They took her,” he choked out.
Anna’s eyes flared with sympathy. “I’m so sorry, Sloan.”
“We’re getting her back.” He stared stonily at them, daring them to contradict him with reason and facts.
Nearly eighteen hours had passed since Reese was taken.
The Foxworth force wasn’t at full capacity.
Even if it was, the chopper would only be able to take a team of ten or so to the city.
The only reason Hudson had been saved this summer was because of someone on the inside—her brother Dominik. Connor had admitted there was no way they could’ve rescued her without Dominik’s help.
“If anyone could bring her back, it’d be you,” Scott agreed.
Safe room or no, Sloan didn’t like leaving these two behind. When Reese had asked him to make sure Foxworth was secure, she’d meant all of their people. Not all of their people minus Scott and Anna.
“They’ll come for you,” he warned.
“Let them.” Scott’s voice rang with confidence.
“We don’t want you to die out here.” He kept saying we like Reese was standing right beside him, and it killed him each time he remembered that she wasn’t.
“We’re together,” Anna said, leaning against her man. “This is our farm and we want to stay. You don’t need to save us. Go save the others—it’s what Reese would want.”
He didn’t have time to argue with them anymore. He handed the mug back to Anna and drew her against him so he could press a kiss against her forehead. “Be safe, then.”
“You’re making the right decisions,” she called after him as he turned to go.
He looked over his shoulder. “You don’t even know what those are.”
“They’re the right ones, Sloan. You trust in that big heart of yours. It hasn’t led you astray before and it won’t now,” she said with a conviction that Sloan didn’t feel.
With one last look at the older couple, he climbed on the motorcycle and then sped back to town, where he found that all of vehicles were loaded and ready to go. Some had already left under Nash’s tired direction, Randy told him when he reached the courtyard.
Sloan clapped the teenage boy on the shoulder. “All the kids out?”
Randy nodded. “All of them. Christine and Bethany are taking charge. We put them all in the same truck and it left about ten minutes ago with Trav in the driver’s seat and Cole protecting them.”
“Good man. You’ve got everything?”
“Yep. We’re just waiting for you to get your things . . . and Reese’s.”
Sloan had to wait a beat for his throat to accommodate the sudden lump. “Give me five and I’ll be ready.”
Randy lowered his voice. “Con’s man is up there.”
“Rylan?” Sloan glanced up at the second story of his and Reese’s building, but Reese’s bedroom was in the back.
“Bethany asked him to gather Reese’s stuff,” Randy said awkwardly. “I hope that was okay.”