“Does Tori know what’s going on?” Capshaw asked quietly.
The four newest recruits were glancing between the more senior members of DSS, clear question and confusion in their eyes. They hadn’t been working for DSS when Tori was kidnapped and brutalized. None of them had. DSS had been formed in the wake of her abduction. It was Caleb’s vow never to leave his family insufficiently protected again. But those who’d hired on from the beginning, and then after Caleb damn near lost Ramie when he’d vowed to hire even more, and only the best, all knew the horrific ordeal that Tori had gone through. They also knew what Caleb had forced Ramie to suffer when he’d given her no choice but to use her psychic tracking abilities to find Tori before it was too late. As a result, they were all fiercely protective of the youngest Devereaux sibling and only sister.
Isaac sent the four men who’d hired on right before Lizzie had taken a leave of absence and gone rogue a quick look that said he’d explain it to the others later. They needed to know about Tori because they needed to treat her with extreme care and not inadvertently do anything to incite a panic attack.
Dane’s expression hardened. “Tori will know only what she needs to know. There’s no reason to cause her any more trauma than I have to. The dreams have been eating away at her night by night and right now she’s operating on fumes and sheer willpower. I’m going to make damn sure she gets the rest she needs even if I have to sedate her. Caleb coddles her too much and is too quick to believe her when she says she’s okay because he wants her to be okay. I know she’s fucking out of gas and on the verge of collapse, and I’m not going to stand by and allow her to slowly kill herself.”
His words were angry, but there was a slight shake to his voice that Isaac could remember hearing only one other time. When Gracie had burst into the DSS offices with a letter from Lizzie, who was supposed to be on vacation, that was a goodbye and admission of a suicide mission all in one. Dane had been so shaken that he hadn’t been able to stand after reading the letter and had collapsed into his chair. He looked a lot like that now, except there was grim determination in his expression.
“I want to get back to Jenna,” Isaac said. “I don’t want her waking alone. She was deeply shaken by the news footage, and at some point I’m going to have to tell her why we’re staying here and why everyone else is splitting up.”
He dragged his hand through his hair, suddenly exhausted by the weight of his worry and fear for his angel.
“We’ll rustle up something for dinner,” Zeke said in a quiet tone. “We’ll do our best to cheer her up and give her a good time. Maybe get her mind off all the shit being thrown at her just for a little while.”
“Appreciate that,” Isaac said sincerely. “We’ll be out later when I know Jenna is up to facing a room full of people.”
TWENTY-ONE
ISAAC eased into the bedroom, his eyes going to the bed where Jenna lay as he quietly closed the door behind him. Her back was turned to him and she was curled inward, her knees drawn slightly into her body. He wasn’t going to wake her yet. She needed the rest and what he needed was simply to be close to her, touching her, holding her in his arms so he could immerse himself in her beauty and light and all the worry, stress and fear could fade away just for a little while.
This was a mission unlike any he’d ever faced before, and not just because he had such a personal stake in it. Always before, no matter how dire the circumstances, even at the lowest moments when one of the wives was in extreme danger and facing seemingly impossible odds, Isaac had approached the plan, the resolution and the rescue, with calm confidence, certain of their success. He’d never doubted for a moment that Ari would be found and that the extremist group who’d abducted her would be taken out in a coordinated, methodical fashion.
When Lizzie had gone missing while on Gracie’s protection detail when Zack had abruptly left in what would later be revealed to be his mission to exact vengeance for the horrible wrong done to the woman he’d loved for half his life, Gracie had stepped up and enlisted the aid of Ramie and Ari, and though at the time, Isaac had nearly lost his damn mind when the women had showed up at the safe house where Gracie was being kept, he’d known then, as he’d known with Ari’s rescue, that they’d find Lizzie in time to save her.
But now? This was bigger than anything he’d ever dealt with in his time with DSS. The threat of the cult had been removed, much to his relief, but Jaysus had a veritable army at his disposal and allies who owed him more favors than they could possibly repay. That was the way the drug lord operated. He collected favors and when he called them in, those who owed him didn’t dare refuse to do whatever he demanded of them. He was ruthless and valued no life save his own. Every single one of his men were expendable. They gave him their absolute loyalty. He gave them absolutely nothing in return except the hope that he wouldn’t one day turn on them for no other reason than to amuse himself or prove some point only he understood.
DSS was the best at what they did. Isaac would choose to work with any one of his teammates any day of the week. He trusted them implicitly and he’d give his life for them. But they were vastly outnumbered and outgunned. Jaysus had unlimited resources and while Dane was one wealthy, crafty son of a bitch who made sure DSS was better outfitted than any security agency in the entire country, for the first time they were facing someone with more power, influence, ability to intimidate, money and weaponry.
Now when it mattered most, when the success of the most important mission of Isaac’s life was necessary to his survival, he couldn’t conjure the same absolute confidence he’d felt in all the previous missions he’d taken part in.
He stood at the edge of the bed, staring at the mass of white-blond curls in disarray over the pillows, and felt the stirrings of something that horrified him and made him question everything about the man he thought he was. Panic.
He held up his hands, staring down at them in disbelief as they shook violently. Fear knotted his stomach and his throat until he wanted to throw up to alleviate the wretched anxiety paralyzing him.
A small movement caught his attention, diverting his focus from the savage assault of emotions systematically taking him apart and rendering him useless. He frowned and leaned closer, wondering if he’d imagined the slight tremor of Jenna’s shoulders.