Page 10 of Lone Star Protector

Malley rattled off his phone number, and Nash gave a verbal command to Oz to put it in his contacts. Then, Nash hurried toward his SUV to get those vests.

Part of him wanted to stop moving and just continue to think this through. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to come up with anything that wouldn’t involve Caroline being tucked away and out of harm. If she was with him, she could be a target, and the same could be said if she wasn’t with him.

Praying this was the right thing to do, Nash came back with the three vests, and Caroline, Ruby, and he quickly got them on.

“Oz, is there an update from the drone?” Nash asked.

“No further sighting of the suspect,” Oz supplied.

Nash took out his backup weapon and handed it to Caroline. “Best not to take a knife to a gun fight, huh?” she remarked, sheathing her knife.

“Something like that,” Nash muttered. “Stay low and behind me. If things go wrong, get down. Repeat that last part to me.”

She didn’t huff, but it was close. “If things go wrong, get down. And what will you do?” Caroline tacked onto that.

“I’ll neutralize the threat,” he said.

He was aware that sounded cocky, but it was true. It was something he’d had a lot of experience doing first as an Air Force Combat Rescue Office and then working for Ruby. Normally though, he worked alone or with another trained operative who didn’t happen to be his boss.

Or the attacker’s target.

Both of those things were only going to add to the tension, and the stakes, of this search.

Hurrying to get them out of the open, Nash led the way toward the woods with Caroline behind him and Ruby at the rear. All were armed. All were ready.

Hopefully.

“Don’t you dare hurt my husband,” Jordana shouted.

He didn’t know whose groan was the most intense. Ruby’s, Caroline’s or his. But hearing the woman’s voice was a reminder that he needed to do a deeper dive on her so he could figure out if she had a part in what was happening now. Because everything she was saying and doing could be an act. A distraction to allow her husband to have another go at Caroline.

“Oz, continue drone surveillance,” Nash instructed.

He needed that recon to detect anyone near them so he’d have a heads up, and they wouldn’t get ambushed. Of course, it was possible Bodie had already spotted the drone and was staying out of sight and behind cover.

But to get to Caroline, he’d have to show himself.

Nash breathed just slightly easier when they finally made it out of the clearing and into the woods. Not merely a cluster of trees either. These were actual woods, choked with towering live oaks, cedars, and redbuds. They were thick enough to create a canopy that shut out enough of the sunlight to affect visibility.

They kept moving, stepping over dead leaves and sticks and dodging the underbrush that scratched against them as they passed. Behind him, he could hear Caroline’s breathing. On the fast and heavy side. No surprise there. Despite wanting to dole out some payback, she had to be scared.

Ruby was probably feeling a whole bunch of that fear, too. Even though Caroline and she technically weren’t close, this was still her child. A child in the potential path of a killer.

“Drone has detected someone,” Oz said in his ear. “Approximately twenty feet ahead at your two o’clock.”

Nash automatically shifted a little to the right. But he didn’t see anyone. “Is the target moving?” Nash whispered.

“No,” was Oz’s reply.

So, Bodie was lying in wait. The coward’s way.

“Stay crouched down,” Nash whispered to Caroline.

He headed further to the right, hoping to come up on Bodie from the side. Of course, Bodie would almost certainly be able to hear them coming. Might be able to see them, too, but Nash didn’t want to go at him head on, not with Caroline in the potential line of fire.

Caroline made a soft gasp that had his heart crashing against his ribs, and Nash whipped his head around to look at her. However, her attention was on the ground where he saw a copperhead slithering away.

Hell.

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