CHAPTER 54
Kori’s reliefat not being discovered only lasted a moment.
Then a scream cut through the air, and her heart stopped.
The sound had come from the barn.
Mackenzie. That had been Mackenzie, hadn’t it?
The two men in front of the barn rushed inside.
As Kori watched, her heart slammed against her ribs.
She turned to Wyatt.
His jaw visibly tightened, and a muscle jumped near his temple.
He didn’t like this any more than she did.
“Follow me,” he mouthed. He put a finger to his lips, indicating they should stay low and quiet.
They moved quickly but carefully through the trees, angling toward the back of the barn.
They stopped where the trees came closest to the barn’s back wall.
Kori stared at the weathered boards twenty yards away and tried to think like a lawyer instead of a sister.
Rushing in would accomplish nothing. Worse than nothing—it would put both her and Wyatt in the same position as Mackenzie. Kori knew that.
But she hated the helpless feeling gripping her as she stood here while her sister screamed.
She leaned into a tree trunk and forced herself to breathe.
Please, Lord. You’ve moved mountains before . . . help us all in this situation now.
Wyatt watched as the three men filed out of the barn and crossed back toward the farmhouse. Mackenzie was no longer screaming.
His heart pounded harder in his ears.
He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
He tracked the men until the door to the farmhouse closed and the men were inside, out of sight.
Then he looked across the rest of the property.
A second building stood on the far side of the land. The old hotel Max had mentioned.
People moved in and out of the building. Most of them had guns at their waists.
These people were preparing for something.
He just didn’t know what.
But he had no doubt they’d be setting up a perimeter soon. When they did, Wyatt and Kori would be discovered.
That meant if they were going to act, then it needed to be soon.
“I’m going to the barn,” he whispered. “Thunder stays with you. You stay here. No matter what you hear, no matter what happens—you don’t move from this spot. Understand?”
Her jaw tightened, and he sensed the argument forming.
Before he could hear it, he said, “Promise me.”
A long beat passed.
Finally, Kori nodded. “I promise.”
He checked the yard one more time. The farmhouse door was closed. The shed window flickered with movement, but nobody had come out.
Sucking in a quick breath, Wyatt darted toward the barn.
