“Isn’t it?” His tone was packed with misery and self-loathing. “No matter what I do, no matter how long I’m out, death and violence follow me.” His voice cracked on the last word, and Alex felt a small fissure open up in her heart.
“You can’t be guilty of something you can’t control,” she assured him quietly. “As for death and violence following you…it followsallof us. Just ask the victims of mass shootings. Ask anyone who’s been mugged or raped or beaten for being a little different. It’s a violent world, Mason.”
“Those things you’re talking about are different,” he insisted, his voice full of misery.
“How so?” she challenged. “Innocent people get targeted by evil men with diabolical axes to grind every day. Just because you spent most of your adult life fighting for your country doesn’t mean—”
That’s as far as she got before a bloodcurdling scream rent the air, raising every hair on Alex’s head. Whipping around, she saw Chrissy stumbling toward the trail that snaked through the trees toward the back of the island. Wolf’s name was a desperate cry on her lips.
Alex blinked and then quickly realized Doc and Romeo had materialized from the tree line. Which meant…
Oh god! Oh, no!
“Chrissy!” she shouted, breaking into a sprint after the woman, her heart broken at the thought of what must have happened to Wolf.
Alex wasn’t professionally trained in the nuances of the human brain and how it dealt with trauma, but she knew Chrissy would be better off never seeing whatever awaited her at the back of the island.
Thud, thud, thud!The sound of the men’s footfalls on the sand as they quickly fell into step behind her matched the pace of her lungs as she ran after Chrissy.
“Chrissy!” she screamed again. But Chrissy didn’t miss a step, kicking up great plumes of sand as she continued to dodge and dart up the trail.
“We put out a Mayday the moment we heard the first shot. Didn’t you hear it?” Doc demanded of Mason.
“My fucking walkie-talkie died,” Mason replied, sounding as if he was hot on Alex’s heels. “We gotta get better comms.”
“Damn.” Doc panted with exertion. Then, “Sorry we didn’t help sooner. By the time we were halfway to investigating the shot, we saw the masked ass clowns skulking toward the house. Once they started rounding up everyone in the front yard, we figured we should wait until—” He cut himself off. “Jesus, none of that matters now. Wolf, man.” His voice broke. “Wolf.”
“I know,” Mason chuffed, and Alex couldn’t bear it.
To hear these men, the toughest sonsofguns she’d ever know, choking back tears was too much. Her own eyes filled.
Stepping to the side of the trail, she pressed a hand to the stitch in her side. “Go!” she told them. “Stop her before she sees him!”
Chrissy had legs like a gazelle. Alex’s little stumps had no hope of catching her.
Doc blasted past, his strides eating up the trail. Romeo was almost as quick. But Mason stopped to place a hand on Alex’s shoulder.
Sweat slicked his forehead. “Y’okay?”
“Fine,” she assured him around the Texas-sized lump in her throat. “Go. I’ll catch up.”
He hesitated. Then, with a determined dip of his chin, he gave her arm a squeeze and sprinted up the trail.
Once she caught her breath, she jogged the remaining distance. The entire time, she thought of Wolf. His cheesy quotes. The way he sang the wrong song lyrics. How he’d made her laugh the first time she caught a fish and was too scared to take it off the hook.
Such a good man, she thought, wetness making her vision swim.
She stumbled to a stop when she reached the end of the trail and saw her friends not crouched around Wolf’s body, but huddled behind a stand of trees. Her chin jerked back in consternation when Mason stepped onto the beach, the AR-15 and handgun he’d snatched off the dead Iranians both held high in the air.
What in the world?
Scrambling up behind the group, she touched Doc’s elbow. Just his elbow since his rifle was up and at the ready as he sighted down its length. “What’s he doing?” she whispered.
“Either something very dumb or something very brave.” Doc’s reply came from the side of his mouth. “I’ll let you know which once it’s all over.”
“Oncewhat’sall over?” The note of desperation in her voice matched the hard kernel of fear that had put down roots in her heart.
“Oh, Alex!” Chrissy clasped her wrist in a desperate grip. “He’s alive! Wolf’s alive!”
