Page 86 of Even if You Fall

But all their words kind of melded together as I scrambled off the couch and tripped over my shoes and bag, only to be caught and deftly shifted behind Adam as he and the other four Shadow members advanced on the strangers like the well-trained unit they were, guns drawn.

“Really?” one of the strangers asked, his tone a dark rasp that had chills racing down my spine.

“What are you doing?” Cameron seethed from where the Shadow crew had stopped at some invisible boundary, never lowering his gun.

“Thought you asked for help,” the same man said. “If I was wrong...”

“So, you just show up unannounced?” Cameron demanded. “How’d you get in here?”

“Look,” one of the other strangers began, “either we’re all talking with guns, and this is gonna get fun fast, or we’re just talking.”

Tension pressed down around us as seconds passed before Adam and the rest of the team straightened. Once Adam’s gun was in the holster at his hip, he reached back for me. Gripping me tightly in obvious relief before he shifted me around to his side.

Searching my face, he asked, “You good?”

I didn’t even try smiling. It wouldn’t have mattered. I knew he could feel the tremors racking my body. “I don’t know,” I told him honestly as Cameron continued speaking with the strangers. “Who are they?”

He drew in a deep breath like he was preparing to answer, only to slant his head and give me a look like he wasn’t sure he knewhow. “A group from North Carolina we use every now and then.”

“‘Group,’” I echoed suspiciously as my gaze slid back to the men.

Two of them were identical. One was giving Cameron a run for his money on the wholeGorgeous-Viking-Gianttitle. And the last...he was just absolutely terrifying, but I couldn’t pinpoint why. He was strikingly handsome, but there was something about him that screameddangerin a way that was real and unsettling.

“They, uh...” Adam dipped closer to whisper, “Their company’s calledARCK. They’re private security but specialize in helping women in bad situations they can’t escape from, which is what we’ve used them for. However, we’ve...” His stare darted toward them, studying them for a moment, before shifting back to me. “Because of the way they are and the way they do things, we’ve wondered about them. Briggs thinks they might be like the Wreckers.”

Ice splintered through my veins when I realized what he was implying. “And youwork with them?” I hissed.

“They do a lot of good,” Adam said with a shrug. “They can also do things we can’t. Mostly because they care about the legal system even less than we do.”

“I can hear you,” one of them said, making my head snap that way to find the terrifying one watching us. When he continued, I realized he was the person Cameron and Adam had been talking to on the drive to the airport—the guy who made Asher sound like a kid on Christmas morning. “If any of you were that worried about us, you wouldn’t keep calling.” Without waiting for anyone to respond, he focused on Cameron and continued with whatever they’d been talking about. “We’ll head out now. Maverick will stay here.”

Cameron drew in a breath that showed every one of his reservations, but he just released it with a, “Yeah, all right.”

All four of them walked toward the front with Cameron trailing after them, but one of the twins came back soon after and slid a backpack off his shoulders. “Where can I set up?”

No one answered right away, but Gray eventually asked, “So, when he said your wife wastaking care of thingsfrom North Carolina...” Bringing up a part of the conversation Adam and I had missed.

“We thought you were handling everything from there,” Adam added. “That was the implication.”

The twin—I’m assuming Maverick—just gave a subtle nod. “Hard for my wife to find people on a time crunch when this family you’re dealing with has skilled hackers to cover their tracks.”

“Which is where the trackers come in,” Beau said doubtfully, causing Maverick to shoot him an arrogant and amused look.

“Think what you want. My brother’s a bloodhound,” he said in complete sincerity. “If this girl isn’t on a plane yet, they’ll findher. Now,” he added as he slipped a laptop out of the backpack, “where can I set up?”

Cameron walked back into the room in time to gesture for Maverick to follow him, only to stop before he made it out of the living room. Twisting to look at the twin, he asked, “Howdidy’all get in here?”

Maverick lifted a shoulder. “Figured you’d know it isn’t all that hard to get into places.”

One of Cameron’s eyebrows ticked up. “I had the alarm set.”

“And my wife has probably already restored power to the system,” Maverick said like he wasn’t sure why this was a conversation they were having. “She’s watching the cameras here too, so we’ll know if anyone shows up.”

“That answers what I was asking,” Gray murmured.

“Maybe let us know whenever any of y’all show up,” Cameron said, ignoring Gray, then pointedly added, “Beforesuddenly appearing in the house. Y’all are lucky most of us had already met half of you and had just been talking about your role in this. We wouldn’t be having this conversation otherwise.”

I was amazed and wholly disturbed that Maverick just stared at Cameron, completely unaffected by what he was saying. Then again, the ARCK people had casually stood there as five people—four of whom were Special Forces—advanced on them with guns drawn. I couldn’t imagine anyone being so indifferent in that situation.

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