“They ditched the bird at Walker Field.” Bjørn stepped into the emergency room. “My buddy watched them land and take off in a jet less than a minute later.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “He’s looking into the flight route and call sign for me.”
Lena’s chest burned like a moose sat on it, refusing to let her breathe. Marshall paced the short distance along the wall. He kept staring at his hands and flexing them. Nothing she said could erase his failure to save Carter.
“I’m just going to take a look.” The doctor who refused to leave stepped in front of her with his otoscope at the ready.
“I’m fine.” Lena swatted the doctor’s hand away as he flashed the light in her eyes.
She pushed off of the examination table with her working arm, cringing as pain ratcheted through her entire body. It didn’t compare to the searing heat in her heart.
“We need to leave. Zeke is setting up transport, so let’s get to the airfield.” She snatched her pack from the chair just as Gunnar strode into the room.
“You done?” His gaze darted around the room.
“Yes.”
“No,” the doctor said at the same time as Lena, causing her to glare his way. To his credit, he didn’t flinch. “I haven’t looked at her arm yet or the abrasions.”
“They’re fine.” Lena stomped out of the room. “We’re leaving now.”
Marshall stepped up beside her, his hands shoved in his pockets and his shoulders slumped. Why hadn’t she stayed in the chopper until everyone was out? She’d let her guard down, and now the organization had Carter. She needed to come up with a plan, and fast.
“Marshall, we’ll find him.” She slid her hand down his arm, but he flinched and pulled away. “I put trackers in his shoes. Rafe is pinpointing where he is now.”
“What if they hurt him? What if—” Marshall’s voice cracked, and he shook his head. “What if I never see him again?” He speared her with a look so full of anguish, his pain almost doubled her over. “What kind of father lets a stranger take care of his son? Why didn’t I take him out of his seat myself?”
They stopped at the curb, the cold, humid breeze from the ocean chilling her skin. She stepped into Marshall’s space, willing him to not blame himself. How were they to know the pilots were part of the organization after Marshall? She’d watched the co-pilot and his jovial act, like all he wanted to do was help. She had never expected him to be a kidnapper, so why would Marshall?
“Rafe will locate Carter, I promise.” Lena praised God that Rafe had been able to reverse-engineer the tracking device Piper’s stalker had used on her. “The trackers in Carter’s shoes are the best. We’ll figure out where they’re going, and then we’ll go get Carter back.”
Marshall paced away, frustration rolling off of him. “They might kill him before that.” He turned back to her, his hands spreading wide before he speared his fingers in his hair and pulled. “I can’t lose him too.”
She closed the distance between them and took his hand. “If they want you to cooperate, they need him alive. That will give us the time to mount an assault.”
“But how will they even contact me to tell me what to do?” His confusion showed just how unnerved he was.
“If they can find us in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, I think they’ll be able to call you.” Lena threaded her fingers through his and pulled him to the vehicle Bjørn drove up to the curb in. “Come on. Let’s get in the air.”
As they pulled away from the curb, Gunnar turned in the passenger seat. “I’ve been wondering about how they set all this up.” His forehead creased, and he shook his head. “The pilot acted like he didn’t know where to go, but he was pretty insistent on going the way we went. We talked through possibilities, and his thoughts made just as much sense as anything we came up with.”
“Maybe they were just banking on us finding them.” Bjørn turned onto Tudor Road as he made his way to Ted Stevens International. “They infiltrate our troops, they don’t have to work so hard.”
Just like they’d infiltrated the military and sabotaged the Colombia mission, killing Ethan. Just like they’d used General Paxton’s friend Colonel Johnson to get to June and her Supersuit. They influenced civilians like Kiki’s family and government officials like the colonel to reach their gains, sliding their slippery tentacles into every possible crevice. General Paxton didn’t need a small team to stop whoever was behind this. He needed an army. With everything she knew, how could she not join him in this fight? She peeked at Marshall, who stared at his hands clenched between his legs. How could she not do everything she could so more families weren’t destroyed?
“Yeah, but it could’ve taken us days to find them.” Gunnar huffed.
“We wouldn’t give up.” Bjørn shrugged. “They—”
Born to be Wild blared through the cab, causing her to jump. Gunnar twisted in the seat and pulled out his phone. Her lips twitched as she watched him, though nothing about this situation was funny. At least some things never changed. That her brother still claimed that song as his eased her tension a little. With him and Bjørn here, she didn’t have to figure this out alone.
“Hello?” Gunnar answered the call, a hesitance in his voice. His eyebrows shot up, and he handed the phone back. “Marshall, it’s for you.”
Bjørn swerved into The Bear Paw parking lot and slammed into a spot. Marshall’s hand shook as he took the phone from Gunnar. What would they demand now? Lena placed her hand on Marshall’s leg and mouthed “Speaker.”
He took a deep breath, tapped the speaker icon, and cleared his throat. “This is Marshall.”
“Mr. Rand, you’ve been a troublesome man to track down.” The cultured voice of a woman shouldn’t have surprised Lena with how Kiki’s aunt had been running the organization’s complex in Colombia, but it did.
“Well, when someone pulls a gun on my family, I take that as my cue to leave.” Marshall impressed Lena with his steady voice and banter. “Where’s my son?”
“Now, see, here’s the thing.” She tsked. “You keep causing problems with the changes you’ve made to your business, Mr. Rand, and we don’t like it.”
Marshall shot Lena a confused look. “So this isn’t about the term bill?”
The woman’s laugh twisted Lena’s stomach like she was a salmon on a fish wheel. The flippancy unnerved her. Like this was all a game, and they were the pawns.
“We couldn’t care less about that bill.” Her tone implied Marshall was an idiot. “People are people and easily manipulated. It doesn’t matter how long someone’s in office. We’ll still get our way.”
“Then why worry about me at all?” Marshall’s calm tone slipped as red anger rose up his neck.
“Because your support of Reagan MacArthur or June Paxton, whatever she’s calling herself these days, is creating a headache.” The laughter had left her tone, replaced with cold calculation. “Enough of this. We need to have a meeting to discuss the future of your business, Mr. Rand. You will meet us in Kentucky. Don’t even consider pulling any heroics. We know where you are. We know how you think. You know we aren’t afraid of making our point with force.” Her voice turned pleasant, like she was talking to an old friend. “I’m craving brunch at Coles, 735 Main, tomorrow morning, eleven sharp. Their grits are to die for.”
The screen went black as the call cut off. The silence that filled the cab contained so much tension, Lena could’ve sliced through it. They had just less than twenty-four hours to figure out a plan and get Carter back.
“That’s my favorite restaurant.” Marshall’s whisper shattered the stillness. “Carter loves their mac and cheese.”
Something about what the woman had said needled Lena. Had their enemy really known all along where they were? Was that how they had snuck up to the cabin? If Bjørn hadn’t arrived when he had, the men could have surrounded the cabin without Lena even noticing. It was obvious the chopper pilots had known where to look for the Rands.
But how? How could they know exactly where to find Marshall? Lena stared at him as he flipped the phone over in his hands. Her head pounded and her shoulder felt like someone was stabbing a red-hot poker in it, but she had to push through and figure out what eluded her. Then she remembered something that Piper’s stalker had said.
“Marshall, give me your wallet.” She reached out her hand, her pulse increasing with each second.
He reached into his pocket. The brown leather was warm and soft in her hand as she opened it. Please, let me be right. She began pulling out business card after business card.
“Lena, what—”
She cut off Marshall’s question. “My friend’s stalker tracked her with a business card he’d given her. He’d been selling his inventions to the black market.” A lightness filled her chest as she spied the same metallic threading that had been on the card Piper had. “Looks like our favorite terrorist organization liked his design.”
“I don’t understand.” Marshall snagged the card and looked at it with wide eyes. “This is Patrick Walker’s card. He’s the investor from Moving Forward. I … he’s excited about helping June get more units to the military.”
“Looks like he’s playing both sides.” Bjørn scowled as he grabbed the card from Marshall’s fingers and whistled low. “This is some fancy tech.”
“Yeah, Rafe said it’s some of the best he’s seen.” Lena scooted forward in her seat, a plan formulating in her head. “Listen, they don’t know that we know about this. What if we can use it to our advantage?”
“What are you thinking?” Bjørn speared her with the satisfied look he’d get as a kid when he made up a new game to play.
“Well, if we split up and send Marshall on one plane, I can meet up with Stryker, maybe call in General Paxton’s team, and get Carter before Marshall’s meeting is supposed to happen.” Lena’s voice rose as the idea solidified in her head.
“No.” Marshall shook his head, his voice resolute.
“What?” Lena’s mouth gaped as she turned to him. Didn’t he see this was the best way to get Carter back?
“No. I’m not leaving Carter’s rescue to someone else.” Marshall’s determined gaze built Lena’s frustration up. “If something happens, I want to be there. I have to be there.”
“It’s the only way to have an element of surprise.” Lena tried to tamp down her annoyance.
“We can figure something else out.” Marshall clenched his jaw and crossed his arms.
“What if we have a decoy?” Gunnar rubbed his cheek as he stared out the windshield.
“What?” Lena and Marshall said at the same time.
“Well, they only have to think it’s Marshall.” Gunnar looked between her, Marshall, and Bjørn. “What if someone pretended to be Marshall, took the business card, and acted like he was going home?”
“The decoy could wear a hat and sunglasses.” Bjørn shook his finger like the plan held merit.
Marshall’s jaw shifted as he thought. “I could have my parents pick the decoy up at the airport. I’m close to them, and it wouldn’t be out of the norm for me to go to their place in a moment of distress. They’d play along to get Carter back.”
Lena slashed her hand between the seats. “Stop. It won’t work. We’d have to have the decoy here. We can’t just pull someone out of our pocket.”
“Actually …” Gunnar’s smile turned Lena’s stomach. “Remember, Sunny’s team is back here organizing their equipment for the winter now that Denali’s summit season is done. We can ask her friend Gavin if he could help. He’s built a lot like Marshall.”
“In fact, if Sunny pretended to be you, Lena, that would sell the ploy even more.” Bjørn’s words had all the men turning their penetrating gazes on her.
She didn’t want her little sister anywhere near this mess, but she had to admit it could work. It was bad enough that they had pulled Gunnar and Bjørn in. What if one of them got hurt? What if involving them brought this organization down on her family?
“Lena, we’ll be okay.” Gunnar placed his hand on her knee. “I can tell you’re worried about us, that you’re pushing us away again. But we Rebels are a stubborn bunch, and when they took Carter, they brought the Rebel wrath upon them.”
“Not to mention what they did to my baby girl,” Bjørn grumbled about his chopper, causing Gunnar to roll his eyes.
“Okay. Let’s see if the manager will let us use their phone.” Lena swallowed. “I don’t trust calling from yours.”
Her brothers pushed open their doors and headed inside, though worry the size of a glacier lodged in her core. Would she lose everything to this organization, not only Ethan but her siblings as well? Marshall wrapped his warm hand around hers. His sorrowed expression pushed her worry to the background where it could still chill her but didn’t consume all her thoughts. She might lose everything, but she couldn’t let Carter and Marshall suffer any more than they already had.