But hell if he was going to let them take her. She might be heartbroken by the time this was all done, but he wasn’t going to let her mind and spirit be crushed by what they would do to her. And he knew agents were out here right now, preparing to seize the cabin and take Natalie in.
He stayed low, moving outward toward the higher ground that would give him the tactical advantage. If he had to guess, there were probably two or three agents out here for the arrest. Two who would knock openly on the door—especially since they thought they had another law enforcement officer inside who would help with the arrest—and a third who would stay hidden and make sure there were no surprises.
Ren would take out that third agent first.
From up on the ridge he could see the snowmobiles they’d used to get here, leaving them parked half a mile away to keep sound from traveling to the cabin. He would need to work quickly to disarm the first guy before the other two burst through the cabin door. And do it all without killing or seriously injuring the other law enforcement officers.
He spotted them—three just like he’d thought—as they were splitting off from one another. All three already had their sidearms out, which meant they were definitely taking this seriously.
Ren moved quickly in the direction the backup man had gone. He estimated he had about five minutes to disarm and subdue this one before the other two entered the cabin.
Ignoring the pain from his injuries and weakness from a day and a half ravaged by fever, Ren moved silently between the trees. He kept his own sidearm holstered at his waist. No matter what, this couldn’t become a shootout.
Ren knew these woods much better than the agents, and they weren’t expecting anyone to be out among the trees. Agent Three was looking in the direction of the cabin when Ren moved up behind him, got out his weapon and knocked him on the back of the neck.
The man crumpled to the ground without a sound. Taking out his handcuffs, Ren bound the man around a small tree, then used a ripped part of his shirt as a gag. He hadn’t hit him that hard; the guy was already groaning and would be awake in a couple of minutes.
“Be back with your friends in just a second, buddy,” Ren whispered, then ran toward the other two agents.
One had just peeked through the window to see what was happening inside the cabin, and was signaling to the other. Ren needed to get them far enough away that there wouldn’t be any chances of Natalie hearing them.
“Hey, fellas,” he called softly from behind them, Omega ID already in hand, praying this would work.
They swung around with weapons raised but he’d been expecting that. Ren kept his credentials out toward them, while raising a finger to his lips.
“Ren McClement, Omega Sector. Been waiting for you guys to get here for a while.”
They lowered their weapons exactly like he’d wanted them to do.
“McClement, what are you doing out here rather than in there with the suspect?” Agent One asked.
Suspect, not witness. Not informant. That confirmed everything he needed to know.
“We were told that Omega didn’t necessarily want us butting in,” the second man said, the look they gave each other clearly stating they didn’t care what Omega Sector wanted. The two law enforcement organizations were independent of each other, neither under the other’s jurisdiction. Generally, they were after the same bad guys and it rarely caused conflicts.
Today there would definitely be conflict.
Ren motioned them closer to him, farther from the cabin, and they came. When they got close enough, he stuck out his hand like he wanted to shake. “Like I said, I’m Ren.”
“Mark Jaspers,” the first guy said. “And this is—”
Ren didn’t wait for the second introduction. He grabbed Jaspers’s outstretched arm and yanked, pulling him forward and into a vicious punch to the jaw that knocked him to the ground.
Not-Jaspers witnessed it, and was in the process of pulling his weapon back out when Ren swung around and roundhouse kicked him, knocking the gun into the trees. An uppercut to the jaw had the other agent stunned and stumbling backward.
“What the hell?” Jaspers croaked from the ground as Ren grabbed not-Jaspers by the collar and threw him down next to Jaspers, pointing his Glock at both men. “What the hell are you doing, McClement?”
“Sorry, guys, but I’m not going to be able to let you take Ms. Anderson today.” There was no damn way he was calling her Mrs. Freihof.
“Are you in on it with her?” not-Jaspers asked. “Working with Freihof?”
“No,” Ren spat. “But neither is she. And she doesn’t know where he is. She’s running from him.”
Jaspers tried reason. “Why don’t you just let us take her in, make that clarification for ourselves? I’m sure if you’ve found it to be true, we will, too.”
“No offense, guys, but I’ve seen the tactics you use when questioning someone you consider to be hostile.” Never quite enough food, water, sleep. No bed. Sitting in hard chairs in windowless rooms for hours upon hours. Ren had never felt bad about it when it was someone who knew something that law enforcement needed to know in order to save lives.
But it damn well wasn’t happening to Natalie.
