“I wanna learn to do what you do, Nova,” I confess. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. If I can help save another woman who is in mine and Freyja’s past situation, and help them escape, then I would be proud of myself. What do you think? Could I do it?”
“Yeah, Chaney. I think you could do it,” he says. “But it’s a dangerous life, and you’d need a lot of intense training and schooling. You can’t go out on a case until you have all of your certifications either. We’d have to get you bonded and insured. It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight, but if you’re serious about it, I’ll help you get there.”
“I’m serious about it,” I reiterate.
“Then we’ll get started on the paperwork and get you enrolled in classes,” he tells me as the door slides shut, cutting us off from him.
“Be safe,” I whisper, wishing I was out there with him watching over his and the other guys’ backs.
“He’s going to be okay, sis,” Freyja says, consoling me.
“He better be,” I state.
“You care about him, don’t you, Chaney?”
“More than anything, other than you,” I profess.
“Me too,” she acknowledges. “I don’t know a lot about love other than the feelings I have when it comes to you, but that’s a sisterlybond from what I’ve read and witnessed. What I feel for him is different, it’s more intense. Does that make sense?”
“It makes perfect sense because that’s how I feel too, sister.” Which is confusing for me because getting married and having babies has been Freyja’s dream, not mine. I always thought I’d live with her, help her with those babies and be a support for her and whomever her husband ended up being. Never did I believe I’d want the man part for myself. She can have all the babies, I’ll be the best aunt and second mom to them, but I have no interest in carrying and birthing one. A plan starts to formulate in my mind, and once I have the words organized in my head, I’ll share it with Freyja because it concerns her as well as Nova. I know she’ll jump onboard, but will he? That’s the million dollar question.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
NOVA
After the brothers arrived, we quickly rallied and got into our positions. Some of us are up in trees, a few are on the rooftop, and the rest of us are scattered along the ground, hiding in the shadows—which are plentiful considering I live in the belly of the woods. We aren’t sure who all he is involved with or who will be coming along with him, that’s all up in the air. From what Icer and Shade have observed, he’s been camping by himself, but that doesn’t mean that the brother we’ve discovered of his, who holds a high position within the FBI, won’t be helping him out. But then again, he may be covering his ass by staying out of it. Who the fuck knows? Either way, we’re prepared for every scenario. Icer even laid bear traps around every entry point to my land, how the hell he got his hands on them nobody knows, but we’ve all learned not to ask. It wouldn’t matter if we did, he’s like a damn caveman, he only grunts when we ask questions he doesn’t want to answer.
My com beeps in my ear with static before Riptide’s voice comes through. “We have movement on the east side, Indiana.”
“Got him in my sights,” Indiana replies. “He’s moving slowly, as if he’s injured.”
My heart is beating rapidly in my chest, the anticipation has my adrenaline running through my system. I’m edgy, and tense, something about this feels too damn easy. He’s evaded us so far, so why would he make it this easy to catch him? “I don’t like it,” I say into my mic. “Something about how he’s made himself an open target feels wrong.”
“I found blood at his last landing zone,” Icer tells us. His voice is monotone, robotic, which means he’s in what we call his ‘warrior mode’. In other words, we’re fixing to get nothing but one syllable responses from him until the enemy has been captured and is no longer a threat.
Shade picks up the story, stating, “It didn’t look like it was life-threatening, but he did stop along the way for bandages and antibacterial ointment. Icer and I tracked him to a convenience store and the clerk remembers him tending to his wounds in the bathroom. The reason he could recall him with clarity is because he made a mess and didn’t clean up afterward.”
“Doesn’t surprise me after seeing the state of his house,” I reply. “Jennings isn’t a clean person, he left that chore up to his daughters to do whenever he’d let them out of their cage.”
“He’s dragging his right leg,” Indiana advises. “He’s red and pouring buckets of sweat. I believe what we have here gentlemen, is a man who’s got an infection. His brain’s not firing on all cylinders.”
“Should we just take him down and be done with it?” LoneStar asks, sounding disappointed in the fact that he won’t be able to chase down his prey.
“Nah,” Riptide manically says. “I think after everything he’s done to his victims as well as his daughters, we should mess with his head a little bit.”
“Cat and mouse?” I ask, a frenzied grin on my face.
“It’s a classic game, but it does the job. Let’s make him paranoid,” Riptide suggests.
“If we’re going to play, make sure you’re keeping your heads about you and remember where Icer laid the traps,” Slayer states. “If you get caught in one of them, it’ll snap your damn leg off.”
“So stay clear of the outer perimeter, and you should be safe,” I add. “Keep him in the center of the field.”
“Ring around the rosies?” LoneStar chuckles. “My sisters loved to play that game, for once, I won’t be the monkey in the middle.”
“Kinda makes me wish I had one of Rio’s cattle prods,” Riptide muses.
