Denver breathed out. “Cobb understands.”
“No. He just understands revenge,” Heath countered. “That’s all he wants, which is why we’re going to beat him as well. He and Madison don’t have the same goals in this, and they’re not really working together. As kids, we didn’t get that. As adults, we can see how to beat them.”
Maybe. But Madison’s troops were well trained. It didn’t take understanding or awareness to pull a trigger, and that was the unfortunate truth. Denver had to come up with a way for everyone to survive. “I understand what you’re saying. How about I finish up with the Internet searches here, and then we have dinner and plan?”
“Sounds good.” Heath pivoted and disappeared, no doubt going to look for Anya.
Ryker pushed off the door frame. “As soon as you have a location, we’ll need to let the Montana contingent know. The more backup we have with this, the better.”
“Agreed.” For a full-blown fight against Madison and Cobb, they needed the Montana brothers. Denver returned to uncoiling some wires as both screens flashed land searches in rapid succession. When he looked up again, Ryker was gone.
Denver sat back, his mind spinning the entire conversation over. He didn’t have a right to keep himself from Noni in an effort to protect her in case he got his head blown off. Letting go of the past hurt in an odd way, maybe because it had been with him for so long—the guilt and the fear. Now that the time had come, he was ready and oddly calm. No fear. No guilt. Just determination.
Feelings for Noni, full and deep, welled up inside him. He couldn’t keep himself from her any longer. No matter what happened, he had to let her know how much she meant to him. She was everything to him, and she deserved to know it.
The left screen caught his eye, and he leaned forward, reading the text. A drumming sounded in his head. Grabbing the keyboard, he typed in a series of commands, reading each result with his breath heating. A fifty-acre parcel, purchased five years previous, stopped his typing. Noting the location, he hacked into satellite maps and scrolled through the last five years, looking for changes. For additions. A building. Then two more. Then large metal shops. And fencing. Then odd changes to the landscape. Finally . . . what looked like a training field.
Ryker appeared in the doorway again. “Hey. Dinner will be ready in a couple of hours. Homemade stew in a Crock-Pot.”
Denver took a deep breath and looked up at his brother. He could barely breathe. “I’ve found them.”
CHAPTER
34
After dinner of a truly delicious stew, Noni finished filling the clip of yet another gun—this one a 9 millimeter. Well, what she thought was a 9 millimeter. After a while the guns all looked the same. She sat on a bed in one of the many bedrooms of the ranch house that had come fully furnished in an overly strong Western theme.
First things first.
She looked around for another project. Tension hung throughout the house. How were they going to beat the sheriff, the psychotic doctor, and their trained soldiers? Denver and his brothers had been preparing for decades, but still.
Zara appeared in the doorway, her mounds of hair secured on top of her head and her pants somehow pressed. “You hungry? I made brownies for dessert.”
Noni forced a smile. “Thanks, but no.”
“Me either.” Zara’s shoulders slumped. “This is so stressful. I mean, I’ve known the moment was coming for a while, and here it is, but you know? It’s life or death.” She rubbed her chin. “Literally. I’ve used that expression before, but I’ve never really meant it. Not like now.” Concern fanned out from her eyes.
Noni nodded. The idea that any of those strong brothers might be killed cut through her. They were tough, but bullets were tougher. “I know.” She tried to find the right words. Also, Zara and Anya had folded her into the family, and she didn’t know how to express her gratitude. “No matter what happens, thank you. For, well, everything.”
Zara smiled, but her lips trembled. “Family is family, and tonight is going to go well. It has to.” The smile slid away.
“I know,” Noni whispered, steeling her shoulders.
“Okay. Stay strong, and that baby will be home by morning.” With an encouraging nod, Zara turned and continued down the hallway.
Seconds later, Denver stepped inside and shut the door. “Hi.”
Noni straightened. “Hi. Do we have a plan?” She’d watched him and his brothers pore over maps while on the phone with the family in Montana, nailing down entry points and a bunch of stuff that sounded like a raid on television. The Montana guys were already in the air for the two-hour helicopter flight. “Finally?”
Denver walked over to a pile of stuff he’d dumped in the corner when they’d chosen their bedroom at the ranch. “Yeah. Ry, Heath, and I are going in from the south while Jory and his brothers are coming from the north and fanning out. They’re dropping from a helicopter a few miles out and running, and we’ll park and do the same.”
“Won’t they see you coming?” Her breath felt chilled in her lungs.
“No.” He dropped his jeans and pulled on a pair of black cargo pants with what looked like a lot of pockets. “The snowstorm has increased, which will give us cover. If we leave vehicles miles away and go on foot, we should be okay.”
It would be freezing. “What then?”
“We have the plans of the entire compound, and we’ll breach from every direction. The baby will be in the main building, and we’ll get her to safety first. That’s the main priority.”
