Page 97 of Single Mom's Mountain Men
"Here's the plan," Mitch says. "We'll send Lloyd's men to meet Keegan at the diner. While they're doing that, Charlie and I will go rescue the girls. Text Keegan back and tell him you should be there in about an hour and thirty minutes. That should give us enough time to do what we need to do."
I nod and then set about sending the text.
Keegan sends me a kissy face back in response, along with an ominous,Don't be late.
Once I confirm receipt, Charlie and Mitch charge out of the room.
Before he goes, Charlie presses a kiss to my lips. 'We'll save them," he says. "I promise."
I nod and send a silent prayer for them as minutes later, their motorcycles zoom out.
Wes stays behind with me to keep me safe. Every thirtyminutes, he goes out to patrol the yard with a shotgun, just in case Keegan sends one of his men after us. Keegan doesn't text me again but neither do Charlie and Mitch and my tension climbs with every second that passes.
I wander around the house trying to keep myself occupied and then head to the kitchen. Maybe if I cook I can distract myself. I can make something for Wiley. He’s currently having the zoomies and he’s tearing up and down the front yard, before running into the forest. The girls will also probably be hungry when they come home too.
I don't allow myself to consider the alternative of them never coming home.
As night falls, I heard the door open behind me.
"I made baked potatoes today Wes." I turn around as I talk. "With ribs. Your favorite–"
The words instantly end in a horrified gasp.
It's not Wes standing behind me.
It's Keegan.
CHAPTER 34
Mitch
"Something is wrong."
Charlie mutters the words after our bikes rumble to a stop, about a mile down the hill. We're hidden by the trees and foliage, having taken a convoluted dirt road to the area. The warehouse, which is really just a blue container, sits at the top of the hill, barely in view.
This is as close as we can get without them spotting us.
As I retrieve the guns from my backpack and start setting them up, I wait for Charlie to finish his thought.
When full minutes pass without him elaborating, I finally snap. "This isn't the time to play mute Charlie. What’s wrong?"
He glances over at me while screwing the silencer to his rifle. We had managed to keep a few guns from our special ops days – standard issue M16A2 assault rifles replete with thirty round clips and several thousand rounds of ammunition – which had been carefully stored away, locked in one of the sheds. We also have a small but very deadly supply of M67 hand grenades, a few flashbangs (that make a big show oflight and noise for distraction purposes, but don’t actually cause any serious damage), our pride and joy of our collection – a Javelin FGM-148 hand held anti-tank missile launcher complete with half a dozen Javelin heat seeking missiles each of which could knock out an entire modern tank, and which we all agreed would not be required on this particular occasion – and a few other tools including infra-red night surveillance equipment, trip wires, and some additional bits and pieces we couldn’t bear to leave behind . Hopefully, we won't have to use it all, but we're prepared to.
"He told her to meet him at a diner, alone," Charlie says. "Do you think he trusts that she'll actually do it? I mean he gave her more than enough time to get help."
"What, you think it’s a trap?"
"I don’t know."
I bite my lip, considering it for a second.
Then I instantly press the Bluetooth device at my ear, calling Lloyd.
"Hello," the man answers.
"You guys at the diner?"
"Yup. We're opposite it. We didn't want to walk in and tip him off."
