Lawson had cut him off when Xavier had tried to apologize and explain separately in a little more detail. He’d immediately said he understood. There had been a few times when Xavier and Lawson were at the agency that they had separate assignments with other agents. They both knew the rules: you didn’t share details if it wasn’t an operation you were directly involved with or had permission from the higher-ups to do so.
Xavier was positive that Lawson had several things he hadn’t been able to share with him during their time at the agency and since. Even though neither of them was active any longer, they both knew to keep their mouths shut about assignments from their time there.
However, Xavier still felt terrible about it because his secret had brought dangerous men to their door and put Lawson’s sister directly in harm’s way. Xavier wasn’t sure he’d be as forgiving if it had been the other way around. He knew he’d never get over it if something happened to Hannah because of him.
“How far away are you?” Lawson demanded, bringing Xavier’s thoughts back to their present situation.
“A few minutes,” Xavier replied, trying to keep his voice steady, though all he wanted was to slam his foot down on the pedal and race to Hannah as quickly as he could.
It was hard to believe she had been taken, but Sampson was smart. He knew exactly what he needed to do to get Xavier to come to him. Thanks to Jed and his time at the lodge, Sampson knew Hannah was the one weakness he could use against Xavier to guarantee he’d come running. She was the one person he would protect at all costs, no questions asked.
Lawson let out a growl on the other end of the line. Xavier knew he was going through similar fear with Hannah being his baby sister. They both had everything to lose if this went sideways.
Xavier frowned. “You’re sticking with our plan, right?” They were following behind, at a distance, in case Sampson and Jed had split up and one of them was watching the lodge. They’d wait a short time, then follow Xavier’s general direction, but coming up on the other side through the forest instead of the road.
“Of course I am,” Lawson muttered. “Wait until you get there, and then we’ll all close in and cut them off so there’s nowhere for them to go.”
“Right,” Xavier confirmed.
When Xavier had heard that Hannah had been taken, his first reaction was panic. He wanted to charge out to the location where Sampson was holding her and take them down in a fiery blaze, but Lawson had convinced him to wait. Make a plan and keep a level head.
He knew Lawson understood his urge to act. Of course he did, Hannah was his sister and he wanted her safe.
But Xavier knew Sampson too well to think he wouldn’t follow through on his promise to kill her if they didn’t play by his rules. If Lawson arrived before Xavier did, there would be hell topay. Sampson would take her out before Xavier had a chance to do anything.
That thought had a sick feeling coursing through his stomach and made his headache pound more against his skull.
After he’d calmed down from the shock of Hannah being taken, Lawson had sent Xavier to his office to wait for River to come check him over. He’d grumbled slightly because they’d be wasting time but knew it was for the best. He wouldn’t be any good to Hannah or himself if he couldn’t even stand up straight.
Turned out Jed’s beating had given him a slight concussion, several bruises and cuts over the top half of his body from that damn baton and had required sixteen stitches on the back of his head to close the wound. Xavier was achy and sore, and it felt like his brain was going to beat out of his skull, but he could see straight again.
While River was patching Xavier up, Lawson had called Cade to fill him in on everything and then gone to check on Sarah. Xavier felt horrible that her office had been trashed, too, and, more than anything, that she’d been traumatized. He was just glad she wasn’t physically hurt. He would have never survived the guilt of that. Looked like he had a lot more therapy coming his way to get rid of all these new demons that had arisen.
Aaron had gone with Bailey, after she arrived with a team, to process the two destroyed rooms and get statements. She had left not long before they did to head back down to Blue Ridge to fill in Sheriff Willis and put out an APB on Jed and Sampson. Xavier was reluctant to let her do that, but if they happened to get away, hopefully they’d be caught by being flagged in the law enforcement system.
He still couldn’t believe this had all happened. He should have done more to keep Hannah safe. He wished he would have locked down the whole damn place, if that would have protected her from these psychopaths. He should have dug deeper into Jedand asked him to leave the moment Hannah expressed any kind of doubt about him. But he hadn’t. And now, his worst enemy had gotten his hands on her, and Xavier was all too aware of what Sampson would do to get what he wanted.
There was no USB drive anymore, but that didn’t matter. Sampson was clearly crazed by the obsession of finding it. God only knew why he had chosen to come back now, but it didn’t matter, Xavier would take him on. He was going to get Hannah away from him and make him pay for what he’d done—to her and to their home.
He was going to end this for good.
He pulled the car to a halt at the edge of a forestry road that led into the woods. It had been unused for years, but there was dirt kicked up around the edges like someone had been there recently. Sampson? Jed? He had to assume it was one of them. Climbing out of the car, he glanced around, making sure he wasn’t being watched, but there was no one around him—no one he could see anyway. Good.
Above him, the nearly full moon hung in the sky, casting a bright light down through the trees. There was a stalled feeling in the air, like the forest was holding its breath waiting to see what would happen next. Xavier felt a bead of sweat running down his spine and the cold press of the gun tucked into his pants.
It had been a long time since he had carried a weapon, not since his days at the agency. It felt like a bad sign, like each step he took was carrying him closer and closer back to the life he left behind, full of secrets and lies and death and destruction. Goose bumps formed on his flesh at the thought of becoming what he’d been all those years ago.
But if that was what it took to get Hannah to safety—if he had to walk through hell to make sure she came out the other side of this—then he would do it. He had lost Max, and he refusedto lose the person who had finally brought him out of the dark place he’d been trapped in for such a long time.
Lawson would never forgive Xavier if something happened to her, and he knew he would never be able to forgive himself, either. He wouldn’t deserve forgiveness if something happened to her.
Leaves crunched beneath his feet, an eerie quiet filling the woods around him. His eyes scanned his surroundings as he tried to figure out where he was headed. Sampson had given him general directions but had kept it vague enough that they would have the jump on him if they wanted. He was going to do his best not to let that happen.
Suddenly, the sound of muffled voices caught his attention from deeper in the woods. He followed them, and a few moments later, he came to a clearing.
There, sitting in front of him, was the lifted Ford that had forced him and Hannah off the road. He stepped around it, and then, with a flood of relief, he saw Hannah.
She gasped as soon as she laid eyes on him from where she sat in the open side of a van.
