“They won’t stop,” I said, my voice stronger now. “I believe they killed my father’s partner when he wouldn’t give them information. They hurt people who tried to help me while I was hiding. They’ll tear this town apart looking for me if they have to. They don’t care if anyone else gets hurt.”
Silence fell over the table as everyone processed this information. I watched their faces, expecting to see fear or regret, second thoughts about getting involved. Instead, I found determination, and it shocked me. Not one of them looked like they wanted to back down.
Grannie, who had been quietly stirring her tea, spoke up. “Well, that settles it then. We’ll have to be smarter than they are.” Her matter-of-fact tone made it sound like outsmarting a criminal syndicate was as simple as planning a church bake sale.
“Alright.” Dungar lifted a pen over a pad of paper to take notes. “First, we’ll need to involve other law enforcement. While I’m confident we could handle this alone, and our treaty gives us quite a bit of leeway to do so, this is bigger than orc business. I’ll reach out to my contacts and let you know what they say.”
“I’m sure they’ll want to be involved,” Tark said.
Dunger nodded. “It may take them a few days to get back to me with any sort of plan, which means we’ll need to handle things here until we have something in place. Let’s talk precautions.” He tapped his right tusk with the tip of the pen. “Until we know more about what we’re dealing with, we keep it simple. Allie doesn’t go anywhere alone—always with Hail or one of the brothers if Hail’s not available. We keep an eye out around town, check in with each other regularly.”
“I can swing by the pottery barn each morning,” Greel said. “Make sure things look normal.”
“I’ll make sure someone’s always watching Main Street during business hours,” Ostor said.
“And we all carry our phones,” Tark said. “At the first sign of trouble, we call for assistance.”
Dungar nodded, making notes. “Simple and smart. We’re being careful, not paranoid.”
The casual way they divided the tasks impressed and humbled me. These males were organizing their entire lives around keeping me safe.
But Holly was frowning, her mind clearly working through the logistics. “Wait a minute. How are we going to guard every building in town? We’re running an active tourist operation here. People are coming and going constantly. If everyone’s spread out, guarding, there’s no one to give the tourists the experience they come here for.”
“She’s right.” Jessi’s glance took in all of us. “Regular surveillance could look suspicious. Tourists will notice. They’ll gossip. The bad guys will hear.”
Greel grunted his agreement. “We could close down the town.”
“That’s not a bad idea. We could close until this is finished.” Dungar scratched the back of his neck.
My stomach dropped. I’d been so focused on the protection they were offering that I hadn’t considered how impossible this would be. I wouldn’t allow them to guard me if that meant destroying what they’d built here.
“No.” The word burst out of me. Everyone turned to look my way, and it was all I could do not to cringe under their stares. “I mean, you can’t close the town because of me. You’ve worked hard to build this place, and there are people depending on the income. Tourists who’ve planned vacations, staff who need their jobs…”
“It’s only a-a business,” Hail said. “We can re-re-rebuild when this is over.”
“But it’s your dream,” I said. “All of your dreams. I can’t be the reason you have to halt everything you’ve worked for. That could cause irreparable damage.”
Aunt Inla reached across the table to pat my hand lying on the table. “Dreams are replaceable. You’re not.”
The kindness in her voice made my throat close off, but I shook my head. “There has to be another way.”
Hail looked around at his brothers. “What about my-my-my ranch house?”
“Continue,” Dungar said, tapping his pen on the paper.
“It’s isolated, away from town. Open ter-ter-terrain all around it. W-w-we can see anyone coming from cliks away. Only one location to-to…defend effectively. We know every bit of that property. If we hid there…”
Hide?
Becken straightened from his position against the counter. “That’s actually not a bad idea. Much more defensible than trying to cover the whole town.”
“And it would let us keep the town open,” Holly said, her face brightening. “No one would suspect a thing.”
“Plus,” Tark said. “They’ll search, but if they don’t find Allie or see her anywhere, they’ll think she left town. When all the while, she’d be in hiding. Especially if we make it look like business as normal in Lonesome Creek.”
Dungar was already taking notes. “We could rotate guard duty out there. One brother on watch at night, while Hail covers the days. The rest of us will maintain regular operations in town.”
“Perfect,” Ruugar said.
