Page 80 of Holiday Hostage
Payton huddled against me, her entire body trembling.
I ran my hand up and down her spine. “It’ll be okay.” Somehow. Somehow. I’d make sure of that.
“It wouldn't be hard for him to track down the information.” Tucker ran across the kitchen and grabbed a hunting rifle from the rack near the back door.
“Especially for a man with no morals who wouldn’t think twice about breaking into someone’s confidential files.” Reed eased toward the broken window and attempted to peek around the corner that overlooked the woods.
“Can’t go that way. He has a line of men ready to take us out. Surprised they haven’t taken advantage of the broken window yet.”
My body tensed as my mind went into overdrive.
Why wasn’t he taking advantage?
Why blow out the window but not rush the opening?
I couldn’t make sense of it, and we were running out of time.
“Out the back.” I turned and nudged Payton ahead of me.
Tucker reached the door first since he’d been standing in front of it after taking the rifle off the rack.
He cracked it open and peered out.
“You better give it a look, Reed. You know what you’re looking for.”
Reed slid into the narrow space beside his dad and looked over the top of the older man’s head.
“Nothing.” A quick headshake said Reed felt the same way I did.
Something wasn’t adding up, but we couldn’t stay in the house.
We were sitting ducks here. “We have to make a run for the boat.”
Reed pulled Tucker away from the door. “I’ll go first.”
“Tarron, take Payton’s other side.” She was the only one of us without any kind of training.
And she was the most important person in our lives.
None of us would make it if she was injured or killed because we fucked up the rescue mission.
Tarron moved in beside Payton, and the three of us moved as a unit.
“I’ll watch your backs.” Tucker was the last out of the house, and he closed the door behind us. Years of habit, probably.
I grinned when I noticed, but it quickly fell into disbelief as the cold air stole my breath and a bloom of fire erupted from the dock.
Tarron cursed loud and long as a resounding boom shook the air. Sparks flew upward in a shower of light that rained down over the forest.
Payton shot a wide-eyed look at the sky. Her breaths came short and fast, and she clung to my shirt with both hands.
We stood on the back patio, the whole of Alaska stretched between us and freedom.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find you?” Jack Wilson stepped out of the trees.
The fire backlit his body, creating odd shadows that shielded his face.
He laughed and waved, then slipped into the dark.
