Chapter Eighty-Four

With a plan in place, they all headed out en masse. Dane was proud to be part of Phoenix, which truly treated each other like family.

Angel had secured a new ID for Lena so she was able to fly. They all took the next flight to LAX. Once there, they rented a house and obtained a shit-ton of weapons and ammunition.

Thorne was in constant contact with everyone…when he wasn’t taking care of John.

The furnished house had three bedrooms. Angel immediately turned the dining room into a command center, and started showing Samantha how to operate the satellite feeds and the domestic communications.

They didn’t have much time—the freighter was due to arrive the next evening. Once it was loaded with Viktor’s cargo, they expected him to jump on his yacht and flee.

What they didn’t know was if Kenzie would be part of the cargo on the freighter, or if she would be travelling on his personal vessel. Or maybe she wasn’t there, at all. Maybe she’d already been sold or shipped off elsewhere.

Dane looked over at Lena, who stood back from the hustle and bustle of the team. “It’s going to be okay,” he told her. “If she’s there, we’ll get her back.”

Lena’s eyes filled. “And if she isn’t there?”

“I promise we won’t stop looking for her.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

“I really wish I hadn’t hit you over the head with a bottle,” she murmured into his chest, making him laugh.

“When this is all over, I’ll use that guilt whenever I want to get my way.”

Her smile was strained, but at least he’d gotten a smile from her. She was so tense, he worried she would snap at any minute.

“Come on,” he said gently. “We’ve done everything we can. Everything is in place, we can’t do anything more until tomorrow evening. Let’s go up to bed.”

She nodded and placed her hand in his when he offered it to her.

They’d taken the room at the end of the hall, which was the smallest. The other two rooms had queen-size beds, while this one was only a full.

He didn’t mind sharing a small bed with her. They slept close together, anyway.

She sat on the bed and flopped back with a deep breath.

He bent to take off her shoes, then pulled her back up to a sitting position so he could take off her shirt. She helped get her pants off, and he handed her one of his T-shirts. Before her body was covered with the clean cotton, his own body reacted to the sight.

Stripped down to his boxers, he pressed her back onto the bed and kissed her. When his cock lurched against her, she gasped.

“Just ignore him,” Dane instructed with a wry smile. “He has misinterpreted the situation. Usually when I get in bed with a beautiful woman, it’s his turn.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Can you tell him I’m sorry for the confusion?”

“He understands. Roll over. I’ll give you a back rub.”

She did as he asked and sighed as his hands moved over her. “I don’t deserve this,” she murmured.

“It’s just a back rub.”

“No. I mean I don’t deserve to have your team put themselves in danger—for you to be in danger—because of me.”

He gave her a sincere look. “We do this all the time for people we don’t even know. Sometimes for people who are complete assholes. There’s nothing worse than protecting someone who should be going to prison, but is in WITSEC because they can put away a bigger fish. But with Mackenzie? It’s a no-brainer. We want to help.”

He paid special attention to massaging her butt muscles when he worked his way down there, then moved back up.

“Tell me about your daughter,” he said, so she could stop worrying for just a little while.

Lena thought for a moment, letting out an emotional sigh. “She’s small for her age. She looks a lot like I did when I was little.”

He smiled. “So, beautiful, then?”

She laughed and went on. “She swims like a fish, and once you get her into the pool it’s hard to get her out without a fuss. Usually she’s well behaved, but a few months before she was taken, she’d picked up a smart mouth from a kid at daycare. She told me she hated me, but when I cried, she apologized right away. I remember thinking at the time it was the worst thing that could happen—to have my daughter tell me she hated me. But it’s not.”

“No. I’m sure it won’t be the last time she says that, I’m sorry to say. I hear teenagers tend to use the sharpest weapons at their disposal.”

She let out a long breath. “I hope I get the chance to have to deal with my daughter telling me she hates me. How ridiculous it sounds to say that.”

“I understand.”

“I’m so sorry you can’t be with Tobey.”

“For some reason, it’s a lot better now that he knows I’m alive. I feel like he’s less likely to forget me that way.”

“That makes sense.” She was quiet for a spell, and when she spoke again, her voice was soft and slow with exhaustion.

“Kenzie is kind. She always worries about people. Once we saw a homeless person on the way into the grocery store, and she wanted to get her something to eat. She picked out a meal and gave it to the woman when we were leaving. In the car, she asked if we could go back the next day to take her a sandwich.”

“Did you go?”

“I thought she’d forget, but she didn’t. But the woman had moved on when we got there…”

Lena’s story drifted off, and her breathing slowed. She was asleep. He softened his touch and covered her with the blanket and turned off the light before pulling on his jeans and going out to the living room where the team was gathered.

“Is she sleeping?” Samantha asked with a compassionate frown.

“Yeah.”

Angel shook her head. “I can’t imagine what she must be going through. If someone took my son and threatened his life, there would be hell to pay,” she said fiercely.

Dane didn’t doubt that for one second.

“What happens on Tuesday?” Garrett casually asked.

“Tuesday?” Puzzled, Dane looked around at the others. Today was Sunday. They would be raiding Viktor’s home tomorrow evening. Tuesday was…nothing. Tuesday it would all be over.

“Oh.” He understood now. They wanted to know what he was planning to do when this was over. “You mean me and Lena.”

Everyone nodded.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “We haven’t talked about it yet. It’s always seemed premature to bring it up, you know?”

They backed off and turned to another equally difficult subject. Tobey.

“Are you planning to see him again?” Garrett asked.

“Yeah. I am. I mean, I don’t know exactly when, but I’ll reach out to him. Check in. Now that he knows I’m alive, I think it would be upsetting for me to just drop out of his life completely. Again. He might think I don’t care about him. I know I can’t get involved, and no one else can know the truth, but occasionally I’d like to make sure he’s okay.”

“I don’t blame you,” Colton said. “I’d do the same thing if it was John. I wouldn’t be able to stay away.”

“You’ll have to be careful,” Garrett warned.

Dane nodded. “Yeah. I will.”

“You probably thought you were being careful before, but someone was watching you,” Garrett pointed out.

“I know.” Dane had been reckless. He shouldn’t have showed up in public. He would do better the next time. “I’ll be a lot more careful.”

“Justin always wished he’d gone into WITSEC alone,” Garrett said. “He always felt guilty because he made his wife and child give up their old lives. Thorne told him to bring his family.”

Everyone looked up. They’d not heard this.

“Really?” Sam said.

Garrett continued. “Yeah. Justin told me once when we were on a stakeout.”

“What exactly did he say?” Angel asked in disbelief.

“I think it hit Thorne a little too close to home—Justin deciding whether or not to walk out on his daughter.” Garrett looked over at Samantha, the daughter Thorne had walked out on, himself. “Thorne couldn’t make Justin do it. He told him to bring his family along. Justin always regretted doing it. Especially after the marriage fell apart and they split up.”

“Thorne told me he regretted it, too—that advice,” Dane said, recalling a conversation he’d had a few years ago with their leader.

“Thorne’s getting soft in his old age,” Angel joked.

“He doesn’t seem all that soft to me,” Garrett said with a grimace.

“You’re his son-in-law, he’s supposed to hate you. You touch his daughter,” Colton said.

They all laughed, and Dane wondered how much longer they might have this easy camaraderie. How long before everyone drifted apart and moved on with their new families?

Garrett only did the odd job here and there for Phoenix. Donovan was out of the country most of the time—as he’d been for this mission. Angel and Colton were only here because Dane needed them. And now Justin was gone.

Why wasn’t Thorne recruiting anyone new for the task force?

Suddenly, Dane wondered. Was he about to lose this family, too?