Page 49 of Lone Star Protector

Bodie could maybe make this work.

“Here’s the deal,” Bodie went on. “Caroline has to come right now. I don’t want to give Slade or somebody else time to get here. Be at the gate in five minutes, or I start stabbing holes in Caroline’s mommy.”

With that, the taunting and goading were apparently over because Bodie ended the call.

Caroline practically jumped out of the chair. “We can use some of Slade’s equipment,” she said right off the bat.

Nash was already heading to the supply room, and he handed her a Kevlar vest. “Remember, this doesn’t stop a head shot. This might.”

He handed her a helmet. Not the bulky kind but an experimental model that one of Ruby’s techs had designed. It was lightweight and didn’t cut down on visibility nearly as much as the regular ones.

“You’re wearing one, too,” she insisted. “Of course, Bodie didn’t say you had to come with me…” She stopped when she obviously noticed his quick glare. “But you’re going.” She stopped again. “Thank you for that. But don’t get killed, okay? Just don’t get killed.”

“Right back at you.”

And because he thought they both needed it, he kissed her. Nothing long and deep since those minutes were ticking away. But he made the kiss count.

Then, he hoped it wouldn’t be their last.

“Grab whatever weapon you think you can use,” he instructed when he eased away from her.

She did. Caroline stuffed a Sig Sauer in the back waist of her jeans and took a Glock that she gripped in her hand.

“I have my knife,” she said, tapping the holder on the outside of her boot. “I’m betting Bodie will have one, too.”

Bodie would. No doubts about that. The asshole was going to try to recreate the attack from eighteen years ago.

Nash grabbed another Glock to go with his primary and backup guns, and he shoved both a smoke bomb and a tear gas canister into his pockets. Then, he checked the time.

Three minutes.

They went to his SUV just as Nash’s phone rang. “Slade,” he told her, and he took the call while he drove out of the garage.

“What’s going on?” Slade immediately asked.

“Bodie has Ruby. He’s at the gate of your lake house, and Caroline and I are heading there now.”

“Wait for me,” Slade insisted.

“Can’t,” Nash let him know. “Bodie gave us five minutes, and we have just enough time to make it.”

Which had no doubt been a key component in this plan. Bodie hadn’t wanted them to be able to come up with a way to stop this.

Slade cursed. “I’m on the way. I’ll be there in ten.”

Nash knew that wouldn’t be soon enough. Well, not unless they could stall Bodie. But Bodie would no doubt be anticipating just that and would want to act before help arrived.

He ended the call with Slade and drove to the gate, a trip that seemed to fly by at lightning speed. But it’d eaten up all but ninety seconds of the deadline. Not enough time for him to do much, but he gave Caroline one critical instruction.

“If shots are fired, get down,” he told her.

“You’ll do the same?” she asked.

He considered lying but decided she wouldn’t believe it anyway. “No. I’ll return fire, but I’ll need you to get down so I don’t have to worry about watching you and whoever’s shooting at me.”

Spelling that out was slathering her with guilt. But maybe it would work to keep her alive. Of course, even if she did get down, that wasn’t going to stop him from worrying about her. Down didn’t mean she’d have adequate cover to stop her from being shot.

She sighed but didn’t argue. No time for that either. The moment he stopped, he used the code to open the gate. They got out and started toward a showdown that was eighteen years in the making.

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