“Let’s gear up and check out the area,” Bran said. “Reese, you head north. Chase, you go south. We need to find the best place to cross.” He eyed his two brothers. “I’m not carrying any anti-venom, so try not to get bitten by a snake.”
Kenzie sat down to wait on a fallen log beneath the high branches of a yellow pine tree. She had spotted an abandoned campsite, a circle of downed logs around a long-dead firepit, and the men had decided to use it as their base of operations. The drone had safely landed to conserve the battery. It would fly once more when the men returned.
Kenzie prayed her son was actually inside the cabin and that Reese and his brothers would be able to bring him out safely. At the thought of Griff being hurt or killed, cold fear slid through her.Or Reese.Dear God, what if she lost them both?
Kenzie clamped down on the notion. The men were risking their lives to save her son. She had to believe in them, have faith that they would succeed.
Half an hour slipped past. She had no idea what was happening in the cabin. Or the swamp. The .38 revolver she’d carried in her purse now rode in a holster at her waist. Reese wanted her armed in case of trouble.
Kenzie agreed. When the men went in after Griff, they might need help. She intended to be ready.
A faint noise sounded and she rose as Chase walked back into the makeshift camp, his heavy leather boots sloshing through a puddle as he came toward her. Because this was only a reconnaissance mission, they had maintained radio silence. After the rescue mission was under way, she would be able to monitor communications and know what was going on.
Only a few seconds had passed when the bushes parted and Brandon appeared like a ghost out of thin air. He and Chase glanced around the camp.
“Any sign of Reese?” Chase asked.
Unease slid through her. “No.”
“He’s only a few minutes late,” Chase said, checking his heavy wristwatch. “Not time to worry yet.”
“I’ll go look for him.” Bran disappeared back into the foliage and Kenzie’s nerves inched up.
“You don’t think something’s happened to him?”
Chase shook his head, dark blond hair glinting in the late afternoon sunlight. “He’s determined to bring the boy out. My guess, he’s doing a little extra recon. Reese never was good at following orders.”
No, he was used to being in charge, doing things his own way. Kenzie fought the urge to follow Brandon in search of him, but she wasn’t a soldier and her movements might be spotted by the men on the other side of the creek.
Fifteen minutes later, Reese walked into the camp, followed by Bran.
“What happened out there?” Chase asked.
“I got close enough to the cabin to see at least two men inside.”
Chase grunted. “Next time stick with the plan. We need to work together if we’re going to pull this off.”
Reese cast him a mutinous glare. “I saw an opening and took it.” Then he sighed. “You’re right. Sorry.”
Bran slapped him on the shoulder. “You don’t win battles by second-guessing yourself. You followed your instincts and brought us some valuable intel. Now we know we’re facing at least five men.” He grinned. “Just makes it a little more interesting is all.”
Kenzie almost smiled. She liked Reese’s brothers. And she trusted them—the way she trusted Reese.
She looked over to see him walking toward her, his familiar long strides filled with purpose. Still, it was hard to imagine the man dressed head to foot in camo, his lean face covered in black grease paint, was Reese, CEO of a powerful Dallas corporation.
Or Reese the tender lover. This man was a woman’s secret fantasy, a true alpha male. It occurred to her that if things were different and Griff were safely home, she’d like to get to know this Reese, the formidable man he kept locked away.
Arousal slipped through her. What sort of lover would he be if his deeper passions were unleashed?
Kenzie shook the untimely thought away.
“Let’s review,” Bran said, pulling her back to the moment as he seated himself on one of the logs, clearly in military mode. They all sat down around the empty campfire, Kenzie next to Reese.
“Sit rep,” Bran prodded. “Reese?”
“From what I could tell, it looks like the road coming in from the north dead-ends at the cabin. That’s the way they came in and their only way out.”
“He’s right,” Chase agreed. “No exit south of the cabin. They can cross the creek on foot and reach the road on our side, but that’s it.”
