Page 135 of Severed Rivalry
I wasn’t lying when I told Sariah we didn’t have money like Christian and Ayla. At any other time, I’d note how lush the interior of this plane is, or how I bet the local pro football players don’t ride in this style.
Instead, I gnaw the inside of my cheek until I taste blood, because at least then I know I’m alive so there’s still hope.
Once buckled, a staffer closes the door and takes a seat out of the cabin. We’re told about liftoff, though the whine of the engine and the force of acceleration would’ve notified us had they not.
“Okay. What do we know?” Fitz is the first to speak.
I open my mouth but it’s Liam who speaks, laptop in hand, still typing. “Tail C25G88 is a craft registered in Canada. Wild because it should make travel here more tenuous, but it does mean that records are slower to be produced.”
I don’t care about the plane unless it can magically protect my girls. I spin a finger, telling him to move along.
“The flight is two hours and four minutes wheels up to wheels down from here to Pierre. From Golden, it’s seven minutes shorter. One hour and fifty-seven minutes. They took off fifty-three minutes ago.” He sets a sixty-four-minute timer on his phone and lays it between us all. “Here’s how long until they land.”
I stare and my stomach roils. I haven’t been this nauseated since Sariah told me why she worried about Renée. I’m not proud of that moment. I’m not embarrassed by it either. But I do not want a repeat.
“This craft moves a bit faster than theirs so we will shave our airtime, but not enough to beat them there. What we need is a strategy so the moment we touch down, we are working the plan to get your girls home.”
“Where are they headed?” Fitz asks.
“I don’t know.” My shoulders might as well have a permanent place at my ears. “She told me South Dakota but never where. There’s a lot of land to cover.”
“Has she ever mentioned reservations?” Ren asks.
“No. Why?”
“A lot of South Dakota is native land. If they’re on a reservation, we”—he looks around—“have less legal standing. Tribal law trumps state, so we’re at a disadvantage if something goes down.”
“Pros and cons?” Liam cuts in. “Different governance. Different social customs. What happens there, stays there. Fortunately or unfortunately. With all you know, do we include the tribal territories or eliminate them?”
“How much land are we talking?”
Liam taps away at his keyboard. “Twelve percent. Not much in a huge state, but—” he pauses. “Pierre is a good hint. We’re not talking Rapid City or Sioux Falls. I think we can assume the middle of the state and work our way out. And we have the trackers. Decide now, brother. If those get separated, who are you going after? Who are we going after?”
I look around the crew. Men I trust. Men who would go down swinging against injustice. My sister who would go full redhead on anyone who got in her way.
Think, Murphy.
On the one hand, Sariah has never been rescued a day in her life. She’s always had to save herself. I promised to protect her, and it should be me.
On the other, if Renée is in danger, loving Sariah means saving her daughter. She herself said she couldn’t live with herself if something happened to Renée.
“Renée first.” It kills me to say it, but loving her mom means knowing whatshewould choose. “Then Sariah. Then Rosie.” I close my eyes and say the cruelest thing ever to leave my lips. “The other girl last if it comes down to that.”
Ayla drops her head. Her posture is exactly how I feel. The men, though… they get it.
“If we separate, you save the first one you come upon,” I add, hoping that redeems me.
Ren and Fitz eye each other before Ren continues, “This is an incursion. If you’re okay, we’ll lead when we acquire the target.“
I nod. I don’t care who and I don’t care how. I care that my girls are safe and my family comes back whole.
“You need to know this guy’s M.O.” My voice is steel. I fight to tamp down my rage. “We’re walking into a religious cult.”
The men’s faces go hard, while shock is written all over Ayla’s countenance.
“Their leader believes in purity in the extreme. There will be women there and girls who are kept for breeding.” A growl meets my ears, but I push on. “They circumcise”——the word spits from my mouth like a bullet from a gun——“the girls so they don’t seek pleasure.”
“What the fuck.” Liam says with lethal snarl at the same time Ren spits, “Fuck.”
