Page 18 of Edge of Danger

Tessa’s stomach flipped. They were there for her, probably having traced her phone in the short time she’d used it. Wanting to be available for her son, available for Brax, had led them to her. It hadn’t felt like it at the time, but her smashed phone had been a blessing in disguise. What if she had left the phone on?

She gasped softly as Walker stirred in his car seat. With one eye on the men outside, she lowered the seat to the floor, unlatched the straps, and clutched him to her chest. “Shh, baby,” she whispered, holding him close, hoping her heartbeat and contact with him would keep him quiet.

Holding her breath, holding her baby, she watched the men. She was afraid to move or even breathe. One of them tried the door again and examined the lock before pulling hard.

Finally, they muttered a few vile words and stalked toward a nondescript car. Just as she had with Brax, she watched the taillights disappear into the night and she was able to breathe easily again. “Thank you,” she whispered into the otherwise silent room.

Her knees wobbled as she made her way to the break room. There were no windows there. They would be safe. Nobody would be able to find her here. Nobody would be able to take her son away.

Chapter Seven

What had he been thinking, kissing Tessa like that?

That was hardly what Brax needed to be worried about on the way to the trailer where Nick Lomax’s girlfriend lived with their three-year-old son.

No, Brax should have been thinking about the case. About surrounding the trailer and getting Nick to go with them before anything hit the fan.

Especially with a woman involved. Not to mention a little kid.

Yet kissing Tessa was all he could think about as he’d sped out of town toward the rendezvous point. He tried to tell himself he’d been distracted, in a hurry to meet up with the guys. That it was important that Nick didn’t feel threatened, and Brax was always best in situations like this.

But the lips that were supposed to coax Nick out of the trailer still burned from the sweet, innocent kiss he’d pressed to Tessa’s forehead like any dutiful husband leaving his wife and child at home before heading to work. That should bother him. So why didn’t it?

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. How was he supposed to concentrate on helping Nick out of this situation without his family getting hurt if he couldn’t stop thinking about Tessa?

What if she quit because of this? He’d stepped over the line. Not too far, but far enough. Assuming a sort of intimacy they didn’t share.

He wouldn’t have blamed her if she wanted out of their arrangement. Like it wasn’t bad enough he’d called her at two in the morning and pulled her out of bed. Like he wasn’t already making her life difficult.

He made it to the meeting spot roughly a half mile from the trailer park.

“About time you showed up.” Weston gave him no time to defend himself before gesturing to the tablet Chance held. “We were discussing how we plan to surround the place.”

“I’ll take point,” Brax decided. “If I’m going to be the one to talk him out of there, that’s where I need to be.”

“I’ll flank on the right, Luke on the left,” Weston announced. “Chance, you take the rear in case he decides to escape through a window. Keep eyes on the structure—some of them have doors in the floor. He could slip out and try to make a run for it while we’re all focused on the front.”

“Everything okay?” Luke caught Brax’s eye before hitting him in the face with the beam of his flashlight.

“I was okay before you blinded me.” Brax held up a hand in front of his face. “I’m fine. I had to take care of things with Walker first.”

“Right. Of course.” Weston sounded apologetic, at least, though he didn’t offer any true apology for his remark. Not that Brax expected one.

It was nearly a quarter to three by the time they rolled to a stop and exited their vehicles alongside the fence that defined the trailer park’s boundaries. Keeping his flashlight low, Brax kept an eye on the windows as they approached their target.

“We don’t know whether the girlfriend and kid are inside,” Chance reminded them through the comm system as he took his place behind the trailer.

Brax would’ve bet on it. There were toys in front of the trailer. An inflatable kiddie pool. And a car parked close by. The entire family was probably in there.

He kept this in mind as he crept to the door, waiting for visual confirmation that his brothers were in place before banging his fist against the metal. “Nick Lomax. Come on out.”

It was important to keep his voice strong, firm, but low enough not to shock or startle Nick—or the neighbors, who if they chose to get involved could complicate things.

A light went on in the rear. The sounds of tight, frantic whispering filtered out through the screened window.

“Nick, we’re not here to hurt you or your family. But you can’t keep running. You know you’ll get caught, and it’ll be that much worse for you when you do. Don’t put your family in harm’s way like this.”

There was movement inside. A lot of it. Things getting pushed around, doors opening and closing. The man wasn’t exactly skilled at making a silent getaway.

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