“Don’t lose hope.” Kayden’s words penetrated the fog in Cody’s head.
“I fought hundreds of battles in my time as a Delta Force operator, and I learned to switch off the part of my brain that felt fear. I learned to keep a calm head. But right now, I feel the fear like a burning in my lungs. A fist around my heart, squeezing.”
The feeling was indescribable. Like he was helpless to soothe the pain and panic.
“Because this is personal,” Kayden said quietly. “This is the woman you love.”
Yeah, hedidlove her. Somehow, in such a small amount of time, she’d burrowed into his heart, and now losing her felt like losing a part of himself.
“But when we get there,” Kayden continued, “you need to keep a clear head. If that’s not possible, leave it to us. Eastern’s already breaking enough rules by letting us come along.”
Cody’s hands fisted. There was no way he was leaving the task of finding Harper up to others. “I’m going in.”
“Okay, but—”
“Kayden—I’m going in. I’ll be fine.”
“Fine, as in you’ll let Eastern arrest her father, rather than point-blank shoot him?”
His fingers tightened around the butt of the gun in his hand. “As long as Harper’s okay.”
Kayden sighed as he pulled into a dirt driveway. An old two-story clapboard house came into view. The paint was peeling and the plants outside were either dead or overgrown. It looked exactly like what it was…an old farmhouse that hadn’t been lived in for years.
The car hadn’t come to a complete stop when Cody was out and running. Before he could reach the door, Kayden grabbed his arm and tugged him to a stop. “Don’t be an idiot! We wait for backup and we enter through different points. Got it?”
Eastern’s sheriff’s car pulled up in the drive, and he and Liam climbed out, both armed with Glocks.
“Cody, you enter through the back,” Eastern directed. “Liam and Kayden, through the sides. I’ll go through the front. If we don’t immediately find anyone, Liam and Kayden take the second floor, and Cody and I will search the first floor.”
Cody nodded and moved around the side of the house. When he reached the back door, he wasn’t surprised to find it locked. He pulled the small picks from his back pocket, something he’d always carried with him on missions and still kept in his wallet. It didn’t take him long to pick the lock. Then, silently, he entered a kitchen.
He systematically moved around the space, opening all the cabinets that were big enough for a person to hide. Every one of them was empty, bar a few cups, plates, and food items.
When he stepped into the hall, he saw Kayden and Liam silently making their way up the stairs, as Eastern stepped through a busted door below the staircase that was barely hanging on by its hinges. He guessed it led to a basement.
Cody turned and walked down the hall quietly. The first room seemed to be storage. Boxes were scattered around inside, all closed and sealed. Keeping his gun raised and back to the wall, he cleared the room, checking behind the stacked boxes.
When the space proved empty, he entered the next one. A bedroom with a big double bed in the center and a wardrobe against the far wall, next to the window.
The bed frame went all the way to the floor, so there was no way anyone could hide underneath. He circled the bed, stopping in front of the wardrobe. Weapon raised, he quickly pulled it open…
An arm swung out, the hand holding a bloody nail pointed right at his chest.
Cody grabbed her wrist before she could make contact. “Harper!”
Her eyes widened, tears filling them before the nail slipped from her grasp and she flung herself against his chest. “Cody!”
He gripped her so tightly, he wasn’t sure she was capable of taking in air. He breathed her in, both of them shaking.
She was here. And she was alive.Thank God.
When they finally parted, he growled at the dark bruising around her left eye. “Where is he?”
Fear tightened her expression. “I don’t know! He locked me in the basement, but I found a nail and stabbed him before running.”
Cody opened his mouth to respond when a flicker of movement from the doorway caught his attention. Immediately, he dove over Harper’s body, sending them both to the floor behind the bed.
A bullet hit the wardrobe, right about where they’d been standing.
