They turned at his approach and made room for him before the map. One of them produced a headlamp for him.
“Tell me you have something good,” he told them as he slipped it onto his head, “because someone needs to pay for that clusterfuck.”
“We have their camp, sir.” Derion, one of his top Agents, pointed to a spot marked on the map. Derion had been a possible replacement for Lucas before he’d met the multi-talented, and ultimately disappointing, Jackson. He’d just become the prime candidate again. “Three of our men followed their retreat. Instead of pulling out, they went in, set a perimeter, and hunkered down. We figured it may be a trap.”
Derion’s finger moved over the landscape features that led Alex to agree it could indeed be a deliberate attempt to draw his men in.
“But the way they packed up everything but the essentials and made the effort to hide their trail,” he shook his head, “it seems more like they’re waiting for someone before pulling out.”
Alex grinned. The bastards knew they couldn’t go back without Councilor Four’s grandson.
“They are. And it’s going to be a long wait.” He laughed softly.
“Really, sir?” Derion’s grin mirrored his.
“Yeah. Really.” He nodded with satisfaction and then leaned in, hands spread wide as he studied the map. He chewed his lip. “Work up a northern approach for me.”
“Over the bluff?”
He nodded. His attention briefly turned to Jackson, who hovered at the outskirts of the circle of men. Field maneuvers, maps, navigation, and ambushes were the young Agent’s specialty, but he had barely engaged. He wasn’t interested in their plans. Jackson really was already gone, and he planned to convince Lena to join him. Alex’s lips thinned.
Instead of dwelling on it, he outlined what he wanted from his men, pointing at positions on the map. “I want a clean sweep,” he concluded. “We’re taking out everyone but two.”
“Two, sir? Which two?”
“Any two. They’re going to be messengers.” He tapped the map. “Work it up.” Alex backed away. It was time to give the kid his new orders.
Derion nodded. He and his men closed back in around the map, talking fast and low.
Alex moved in close to Jackson, close enough to make the younger man feel threatened. He should feel threatened.
“You, with me, now.” Alex took Jackson’s arm and walked south along the road. He kept his voice low and clipped, telling Jackson what he expected in a tone that brooked no arguments.
Jackson threw him one startled look before he tucked his chin to his chest and listened.
Alex had to give him his due. When Jackson realized that not only did Alex know what he’d been attempting, but that the senior agent had twisted it for his own purposes, the kid didn’t react more than tightening his jaw.
You want to walk away from your duty post with me? You want to be by her side, keeping her safe, helping her carve out a place of her own for her girls at Fort Nevada? Okay. Done.
When Alex finished, he leaned in close, using his body as a threat again, to ensure Jackson had a full grasp of what he expected to get from the younger man.
“Do you understand? What you will do, now and until I give you direct orders otherwise, and what the stakes are for you if you don’t?”
Jackson finally looked at him then.
Alex had expected the resentment. He hadn’t expected to see a grudging respect from the kid after he’d outmaneuvered him.
“Yes, sir.”
“And you understand that you will keep her safe this time, and you will keep your fucking hands off of her?” At Jackson’s affirmative nod, Alex gave him a curt nod of his own. “I don’t give second chances often, Lee. Believe me when I say I’m not giving this one because I think you’ve earned it. I’m giving it to you for her. Now take a walk.”
He left the kid there, knowing the younger man would stay close enough to be ready to go when it was time. He’d do his job. He’d been conditioned his whole life to do it.
Alex glanced into each car as he passed, looking for Lena. He found her five cars back.
The water tank was out and open, and a wide puddle of dark water ran off to the side of the road. Lena, scrubbed clean of the bloody smears, leaned back against the rear tire looking up at the sky. At his approach, she turned to look at him, watching him walk. Even exhausted and probably pissed off, her gaze still moved over him like a caress.
He felt his body responding and took a deep breath.
What comes next is going to suck.
She squinted when he drew up to her, covering her eyes with her hand. “You wanna tone that light down?”
Instead of turning it down, Alex pulled the lamp off and set it on the ground beside her. The light flared up, brightening the area but not shining in her face. She dropped her hand.
He pressed hard on his lower belly for support and started to lower himself down beside her.
“Stop.”
He hesitated.