Chapter Eight

 

 

Beck forced himself to walk when all he wanted to do was run in like a crazy person, force Tag to tell him where Kim was, and go get her.

It was more complicated than that. He had to think about what was best for Kim. Levi was still out there, and that fucker played a long game. Beck didn’t care that Levi was engaged. He knew the man would still want Kim. They had to be careful.

He strode to the office and stopped at the door because he realized he’d left his keycard in his truck. He glanced through the heavy glass doors and frowned because the normal receptionist was not at the desk. It was Yasmin’s lunch hour. Normally that meant one of the guys took over. Instead there was a thirteen-year-old girl sitting at the front desk, staring at her overly bedazzled phone. The Taggart kids had been coming into the office all week because it was summer break and their camps hadn’t started yet. Tag believed in his kids learning the business. Or he believed in free labor. She grinned at something and he realized which Tag twin he was dealing with. At least it was the reasonable one.

He knocked on the door. “Kenz, buzz me in.”

Kenzie Taggart looked up and waved. “Sure thing, Mr. Kent.”

“Hold that.” Kala Taggart came into view, staring at him with her blue eyes. The shape resembled her mother’s eyes, but that stare was all Ian. She was dressed in black, from her T-shirt down to a pair of combat boots. “How do I know you’re the real Beckett Kent?”

He did not need this. “Kala, let me in this office right now. Your father called me in.”

“Which is exactly what you would say if you were some bad guy who wanted in the office,” Kala replied.

He wasn’t sure how her parents were going to survive her teen years. “You know what I look like.”

She shrugged. “Surgery is a real thing. You wouldn’t be the first dude to have a whole bunch of surgery done so he could pass for someone else. You think I haven’t read those files Dad thinks are secure? Uncle Li’s own brother did it and then nearly killed him and Aunt Avery. It’s not happening to me. I learn from ancient history. I’m going to need DNA.”

He was going to have such a talk with Tag about putting his barely teenaged menaces in charge of the reception desk.

Kenzie stepped up beside her sister. She was dressed in bright colors, her strawberry blonde hair in a high ponytail. She was the lighter of the two, like she’d gotten all of her mother’s joy. “He looks like Mr. Kent and he’s wearing the same clothes he was earlier today. But then he had his keycard this morning.”

Kala was her sister’s mirror, but she was all her dad. “His clothes are super basic. I don’t think I would even notice if they changed. Like how hard is it to get khakis and a collared shirt?”

“I am going to talk to your dad if you don’t let me in,” he said, his patience running out.

The door buzzed open and Tasha Taggart was shaking her head from behind the receptionist desk. “Dad told me to make sure Mr. Kent got in all right. Sorry, Mr. Kent. Kala takes things way too seriously, and Kenz not at all. Come with me. Did you lose your badge? I know how to make a new one.”

Tasha Taggart had recently turned fourteen and had only the barest hint of her former accent, though it was thick when she spoke her native language. The girls liked to go into Russian when they didn’t want anyone to know what they were saying. Tasha seemed constantly amused by her younger siblings.

“I still think we should make him take a DNA test. He’s changed his name a couple of times,” Kala said under her breath.

“I think you’re cool.” Kenzie gave him a wave. “And khakis aren’t bad. Lots of dads wear them.”

By dad she meant old dude. He wasn’t a fool. But then he probably looked ancient to those babies.

The phone rang and the girls started to argue about who should answer it. Tasha opened the door to the inner office. “Don’t mind Kala. She’s in a bad mood because Cooper is at baseball camp and he’s not replying to her texts. I’ve tried to tell her if she wants a boy to reply to her she shouldn’t punch him on a regular basis.”

The ways of those kids were a mystery, and he liked it that way. The big group of kids contained cliques within cliques, and as they got older they seemed to be pairing off. He preferred the youngsters who wanted to treat every surface of a space like their own private jungle gym. “Are they in the big conference room? And my keycard is in my truck. I ran up here and forgot it.”

“They’re in Dad’s office,” she said. “I’m sitting in for Genny. She’s in New York with Wade this week. It’s pretty cool. They’re with Remy and Lisa. The guys are working as bodyguards for this reality star who’s been accused of murdering another reality star. I hope we get to meet her. The alive one, I mean.”

Despite the fact that the man had a whole business in another state, Remy still honored the pledge he’d made to Tag many years before. He came in on some of the higher profile cases. He particularly liked the ones where the company paid for travel.

Up ahead the door to one of the four largest offices on this floor came open and Charlotte stepped out. “Beck, excellent. Come on in. We’ve got something to show you. Adam’s on his way up, and Hutch is already in there.” She smiled at her oldest daughter. “Everything okay out here? Are the twins all right? Yasmin should be back any minute.”

“Kenzie’s answering the phone. Mostly. We shouldn’t lose too many clients,” Tasha promised. “I’ll go check on Seth and Travis and make sure the nursery is still standing.”

Charlotte watched her walk away with a smile on her face. “I have no idea what I would do without that child.”

“Where is Kim?” He wanted to get straight to the point.

Charlotte turned serious. “You should come in.”

He walked into Big Tag’s office. It was bigger than Beck’s apartment and had a glorious view of Dallas. Taggart was standing over his chair, which was occupied by Greg Hutchins. Hutch was the head of cyber investigations and security. He was in his early thirties, but then he’d been one of the youngest CIA employees in history. Recruited by Tennessee Smith for his hacking skills, Hutch had been Big Tag’s man for over a decade.

“Beck, I’m sorry to interrupt you,” Tag said. “You have to know I wouldn’t unless it was important.”

“Where is she?” Only one thing mattered.

“It’s complicated.” Taggart had his hands on his hips.

Hutch looked up from his laptop. “Nah. It’s not really. She’s in Malta. Did you know there was a country called Malta? I didn’t. It’s apparently some weird island in the Mediterranean. It’s super tiny.”

Tag frowned down at Hutch. “What about let me handle this did you not understand?”

Hutch shrugged. “He wasn’t going to listen to a lecture, boss. He’s been looking for Solo for seven years. I spend way more time with him than you do. Now that he knows we actually have a location, he’ll chill.”

“Or he’ll take off after her, and the situation is complex,” Tag insisted.

Malta. She was in Malta. “He’s right. I wouldn’t have stopped until you gave me a location, but I’m not going to immediately run off after her. Unless she’s in some kind of danger.”

“We’ve got some feelers out,” Charlotte explained. “Chelsea is on it.”

“How did you find her?” His heart was racing. Kim was in Europe and she was alive. “What do you know about her?”

“Very little.” Tag came around his desk. “This intel is literally an hour old. I called as soon as we got the report.”

“You know I’ve been tracking Solo’s history for years now. By history, I really mean her family’s business and social connections,” Hutch explained. “It’s this big weird puzzle because the Solomons have family across the globe. Did you realize Solo’s connected to three different heads of state?”

“She didn’t talk about her family much.” It had been a point of contention with her. “I know she trusted a couple of cousins, but she wasn’t close to any of them.”

“From what I’ve been able to gather, she traveled a lot as a kid. She spent a whole lot of time in boarding schools,” Hutch continued.

“Yes. Her parents didn’t pay a lot of attention to her.”

“After I realized that studying her super-classified time at the Agency wasn’t yielding anything, I thought I would go deeper. I looked at her childhood. Sometimes when things are rough we go back to basics. She spent a few years at a boarding school in Austria,” Hutch said. “She had very few visitors, but according to the records I acquired…”

“He hacked,” Tag interjected with an eye roll.

“You say tomato,” Hutch replied.

“Interpol says violation of international law,” Tag shot back.

“Who visited her?” He didn’t care what Hutch had done or how he’d done it. If Hutch got his smart ass taken to jail, Beck would break him out.

Hutch turned his way and seemed to get serious. “According to the records, a man named Francis Bruno came to visit her six times over the course of the four semesters she spent there. He visited on both of her birthdays.”

He thought he might have heard the name. “Was he Italian?”

“Yes,” Hutch replied. “He’s got an Italian passport, but his official residence is in Malta.”

“She mentioned an uncle in Rome.” She’d so seldom wanted to talk about her family. “He was a physician of some kind.”

“Francis Bruno is technically a cousin, but he’s old enough that I could see where she might call him uncle in familial situations. He was a surgeon.” Charlotte leaned against the desk, looking down at her notes. “When he was in his fifties, he developed a tremor in his hands after a car accident. He was the passenger. His wife was driving and she didn’t survive. He came from a very wealthy family himself, but his wife had an even greater fortune and they did not have children. He couldn’t work as a surgeon anymore, so he dedicated himself to charitable work. A few years later, he joined the Order of the Knights of Malta.”

Hutch sat back. “It’s not as cool as the thrillers make it out to be. They used to be warrior priests, but now it’s pretty much a bunch of doctors and medical professionals who do charity work around the globe. But this dude, he’s the knight. Like the head dude.”

“What Hutch is trying to say is Francis Bruno took the same vows a priest would,” Tag explained. “He lives in the one place the knights still own property in Malta. It’s called Fort Saint Angelo. The actual fort is a tourist attraction, but at the top is a residence.”

“They filmed Game of Thrones there,” Hutch said with a geeked-out smile.

“You think Kim is at Fort Saint Angelo?” Beck asked.

The door to Tag’s office came open and Adam Miles strode in. “I’ve got it. The report doesn’t lie. It’s one hundred percent her. That was an amazing call, Hutch. Are you sure you don’t want to come work downstairs?”

Tag growled Adam’s way. “Do not poach my employees. Unless it’s one of the kids. You can’t have Tash, but the twins are ready to work.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Not on your life.” He turned Beck’s way. “Hey, man. You ready for this?”

He’d been ready for years. He nodded.

Adam handed him a folder. “These were taken by CCTV in the town of Birgu, Malta. She’s walking on the road that leads to the wharf and up to the fort.”

He stared at the series of shots. Her head was down in almost all of them, but he would recognize that blonde hair anywhere, and the set of her shoulders. She wore a long sundress with spaghetti straps, and he could easily see the scar she’d gotten in Colorado.

But then he got to one photo where her head came up and a smile lit her face like she’d seen someone she cared about. That smile kicked him right in the gut.

She was still so beautiful it hurt.

“Is she happy?”

“Dude, we just figured out she’s alive,” Tag said. “We do not know the state of her joy.”

“Ian.” Charlotte knew exactly how to make her husband’s name a warning. “Beck, this intel is so new, I haven’t seen those pictures yet. You’re sure it’s her?”

He stared down at that photo. It was the first tangible evidence he’d seen that she was alive. He’d always believed it, but here she was. “Yes.”

“You have to know I’ve been looking for years,” Adam said. “Ian put me on this, and he’s been on my ass all this time. He doesn’t understand that I can’t hack into every single CCTV system in the world. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. Usually when I’m looking for a missing person, I at least have some clue where he or she’s gone. My starting point was Paris. Also, I’m not usually tracking down highly trained operatives.”

He’d known Adam’s group had been working on the problem, but he’d thought that they considered it a cold case. “I thank you for this.”

Adam gave him a nod. “Once Hutch told me to look into this particular section of Malta, I came up with those pictures pretty fast. Phoebe immediately looked into property around the area and she thinks Solo bought a building near the marina around four years ago. It’s not in her name, but Phoebe pulled a couple of strings and it led back to a holding company Solo used to purchase the property we found she owned in Sydney. This street she’s walking on is the same as where the building is located. There’s a bookstore on the ground floor. We’ve got some of our people working on getting more data. Hopefully within twenty-four hours we’ll know more.”

“I want to be on a plane by then.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her. What had she been through in the last seven years? When she thought of him, did she still hear the last angry words out of his stupid, selfish mouth? “I don’t have to make contact if you think it’s for the best, but I need to check the situation out.”

“I thought you would feel that way. I called Damon and let him know I need to borrow Robert to work out the logistics.” Tag moved in and looked down at the pictures. “She looks good. Healthy. Not under Levi Green’s thumb.”

It was what they’d all worried about. It kept him up at night, the fear that somehow Levi had found her and had her hidden. “Do we have eyes on him?”

Tag nodded. “I’ve also got a call in to my contact there. Drake still keeps up with Levi. He’s on an assignment, but he usually replies within twenty-four hours or so. Levi is in Europe. He’s in Berlin meeting with some senior intelligence officers.”

He didn’t like the fact that they were on the same continent. “How long has he been there and when is he supposed to come back?”

“He’s scheduled to be in meetings for the next three days,” Charlotte replied. “After that, Levi has a flight scheduled for the night the conference ends. He’s supposed to be back in DC ten hours later.”

“I want to make sure he’s on that flight.” This was a delicate time. If he watched Levi, he was fairly certain Levi still watched him. Levi definitely watched McKay-Taggart. “If we send a team over, he’s going to know it. I might be able to get there on my own if I’m careful.”

“You are not going over there alone,” Tag commanded in that he-will-not-be-moved way of his. “Tash is putting in a call for the company jet.”

Adam frowned. “Uhm, I’ve got some meetings in Seattle.”

The two companies shared a single jet. Ian and Adam had made the purchase only the year before, and now they bickered about it constantly.

“I can’t hide where he’s going if I put him on a commercial jet,” Tag pointed out. “Do you want to be the reason Solo gets caught by Levi?”

Adam’s eyes rolled. “Of course not, but I also don’t want to fly commercial. It’s horrible.”

They started to argue. Charlotte took him to the side. “I’ll have you in Malta by tomorrow afternoon. But Ian’s right. You can’t go alone.”

“If half the team here suddenly goes missing, Levi will know something’s up.” He didn’t want to go without a team either, but he wasn’t going to put her at risk. “Maybe I can take Hutch.”

“I need him here,” Charlotte replied. “But I think I might have a team for you. Some of them are out of practice, but I know they won’t let you go alone.”

The door came open again and there was another Taggart in the doorway. Theo looked like he’d run down from the gym they kept on the second floor of MT. He was in a T-shirt, sweats, and sneakers. “Hey, I got the text. We found her?”

He hadn’t expected Theo to be so excited. “Yes. Were you in on this?”

Theo stepped inside and took a look at the photos. “Not the investigation, though I’ve kept up with it. But the plan on how we’ll work this op is one I’ve been thinking about for years.” He grinned. “It’s time to get the band back together, brother. Come on. We’ve got some calls to make.”

He felt his heartrate tick up.

It was time to face his wife and find out if there was any way to earn her forgiveness.

 

* * * *

 

Bliss, CO

 

Jax Seaborne watched his kids running after Buster on the lawn in front of their cabin. They giggled madly and chased the big mutt who’d been his constant companion for almost eight years. Buster was slower than he’d been back then, but he could keep up with two rambunctious boys.

Sometimes better than their dad.

“Caden, don’t hit your brother,” a feminine voice called out, and then the center of his world was stepping out onto the porch.

He smiled and looked her over. No matter how many years he’d been married to River, he still took in every inch of that beautiful body as often as he could. “Hey, gorgeous.”

She moved next to him, wrapping her arm around his waist. “Are you packed? Henry should be here soon.”

He hugged her close. “Yeah. You know I don’t want to leave you, right?”

She tipped her head up and wrinkled her nose. “You never leave me, babe. You’ve barely left Bliss for seven years. Come on and tell me there’s not a part of you that’s excited.”

He couldn’t lie to the love of his life. “I love Bliss, but I wouldn’t hate one last mission.”

“Especially since it’s Solo.” River laid her head against his chest. “Please tell her I miss her.”

Over the years, his wife had come to forgive the woman who’d lied to her. Solo had been River’s friend in a time when she’d needed one. Forgiveness had always been his wife’s default position. She’d even forgiven him. “Are you sure you’re okay with me going? Hiking season is in full swing.”

They’d built up Mountain Adventures over the last seven years, and now they had twenty employees and offered everything from guided camping to a weeklong kids’ camp they were debuting this summer. He still wasn’t sure that hadn’t been a mistake because Max Harper had gleefully signed up all four of his kids the week before and then run out of the office yelling “no take backs.” He was absolutely certain the Harper kids combined with the Hollister-Wright brood would make the summer interesting.

Could he make this mission last until fall?

“We’ll be fine as long as you’re home before summer camp. You’re not leaving me alone with those hooligans.” She stepped back and grinned up at him as though she’d known exactly what he’d been thinking. Which she probably had. “If it helps, Laura came in and signed up Sierra. She’ll keep the Harper boys in line.”

“The boys? The boys are easy. I’m worried about Paige.” He heard the sound of gravel crunching and realized it was almost time to go. He held a hand out and pulled her close again. “God, I’m going to miss you.”

She hugged him tight as Henry Flanders’s truck pulled up. Henry was driving him into Alamosa where Beck was picking him up in a jet. Henry was probably going to give him an hour-long lecture on how to survive this op.

“I will miss you, too, babe,” she replied. “But have fun and take care of Solo. I can’t imagine having to hide for seven whole years. I hope she’s had some company. I wish she’d called me.”

“It’s not your fault.” He knew she felt guilty.

“I wasn’t nice to her. I didn’t give her a real second chance,” River admitted. “If I had, she would have felt welcome, and we could have given her a place to stay. She could have hidden here. If you can’t resolve her case…”

“I’ll let her know she has a place waiting for her here,” he promised his wife as Henry put the truck in park.

River went on her toes and brushed her lips against his. “Be careful. Remember how much we love you when you’re out there in the great big world.”

He breathed her in and held her close a moment more. He didn’t need the great big world. He only needed the one he’d built with this woman. “I love you. Take care of our boys.”

Henry was chuckling as Caden and Rio and Buster basically tackled the former operative. He simply opened his arms and let in all the love. “Hey, River! I’ve got some bread from Nell and the girls. She wants you to know we’re happy to help at the office if you need it.”

Of course they would. It was what the Flanders family did, what everyone in Bliss did. They helped.

“I hope you’re still saying that by the time summer camp rolls around,” Jax said, kissing his wife one last time. “Boys, come say good-bye to your old dad.”

In a heartbeat he was covered in giggling little boys and a dog who thought he was a giggling boy.

His life was so full, and it was time to pay back two of the people who’d helped make it all happen.

 

* * * *

 

Solna, Sweden

Outside of Stockholm

 

Owen Shaw ran the last few hallways that led to his wife’s lab. He prayed she hadn’t been called to the hospital. She rarely performed surgery anymore, but she did assist with some of the neurosurgeons in the city to keep her skills up.

The Karolinska Institute was all modern angles and smooth lines, and it made it easy for him to find his way to Rebecca’s offices, though they hadn’t been in Sweden for long. She’d finally found the research project she couldn’t pass up, and because she’d once given up her whole hard-fought life to be with him, he’d felt good about doing the same for her. Being a stay-at-home dad wasn’t a dream job, but he found it utterly satisfying to spend so much time with his children.

He hoped she wouldn’t see what he had to do now as a betrayal of the pact they’d made when they’d agreed to move to Sweden.

“Mr. Shaw,” the assistant said as he rushed inside. He was a young Swede, still in medical school, hoping to study the mysteries of the brain with the best. “We weren’t expecting you. Is everything all right?”

His wife was the best. “Is Rebecca around?”

Please let her be around. He wasn’t sure he could wait, and he didn’t want to call her from the airport to tell her he’d left their son and daughter with friends.

“Hey.” Rebecca walked out of her office, her eyes wide with alarm. “Has something happened? Where are the kids?”

“They’re fine.” He moved to her, taking her hand in his. He had a hastily packed duffel slung over one shoulder, and her eyes went to it. “I got a call from Dallas. The one we’ve been waiting for.”

She led him into her office, shutting the door behind her. “They found Solo?”

She asked the question in a hushed tone that let him know she still remembered those days when they’d been on the run, hiding and praying they wouldn’t be found.

“Aye, and she’s here in Europe,” he replied quietly. “Love, I…”

She put her hands on his chest and tilted her head up. “You have to go help your team. Are Hannah and Arran at Lilly’s?”

Their next-door neighbor was a retired physician who’d taken to their kids. Hannah was six and Arran only eighteen months. Lilly and her husband had no grandchildren yet and seemed more than happy to offer the new couple some babysitting from time to time. “Yes. I didn’t want to bring them up here. I hope it’s all right. She said they would be fine there until you get home.”

“Good. I’ll call her and let her know I’ll try to leave a bit early.” She wrapped her arms around him. “It’s okay for you to go. I know it’s hard. I hate it when I have to go to a conference. I’m always scared I’ll miss something with them, but you can’t skip this one. They’re your brothers. They need you.”

He thanked god every day for this woman. “I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’m heading to the airport. Rob got me on a flight to London. I’ll stay at The Garden tonight and then fly down with him tomorrow morning. Beck and Theo are picking up Jax and Tucker and meeting us in Malta. I’m not sure if we’re extracting her or merely doing some surveillance.”

It didn’t matter. He would go when his brothers called. They might be spread across the globe, but they were still a family. Once a year they got together and had a reunion—usually at The Garden, but they’d all gone out to Colorado one year and had a lovely time catching up. This wouldn’t be a fun reunion. This would be the chance they’d been waiting for—the chance to pay back the man who’d helped them all those years ago. None of them survived without the help of Beckett Kent.

“I assure you there’s zero chance Beck leaves without her.” She looked up at him, her eyes getting that steely, stubborn look he shouldn’t find so sexy. “Do not let Levi Green get the jump on you.”

“I promise. And I promise I’ll take the fucker out if I get the chance.” He kissed her and wished they had more time. “I’ve got to make the train if I’m going to get to the airport. I’m so sorry, love.”

She stepped back and slipped out of the white coat she wore at work. “I’ll drive you. I can take the afternoon off.” She grabbed her purse and keys. “Now tell me everything.”

He followed her out of the office, already missing his children.

But there was an energy to his step he couldn’t deny. He’d missed this, too.

“All right, love. According to Rob, she’s been living in this fort,” he began as they made their way to the parking lot.

 

* * * *

 

London, England

 

Robert hung up the phone and tossed it on the bed. It had been a hell of a night, and it wasn’t over yet. Owen had gotten in, and they flew out to Malta in the morning where he’d already found a base of operations close to Fort Saint Angelo, and a secondary site where they would be comfortable staying while they were on the island. But they needed more than that. “Believe it or not I got us a helicopter if we need it. I don’t think we will, but it’s there. Turns out the king of Loa Mali had a meeting in Italy on the second wave of his green energy project and he bought one because he doesn’t like rentals. He’s sending it our way. The rich are really different.”

Ariel sat in the middle of the big bed they shared. For years it had been just the two of them, and they’d been content to be everyone’s favorite aunt and uncle. And then their princess had come along. “They are, love. Come to bed. Owen’s already asleep. He called home and now he’s snoring away. You’ve got an early flight.”

“I wonder if we shouldn’t have gone tonight.”

“The apartments aren’t available until tomorrow afternoon. You’ve been legendary today. You put this whole op together in a few hours. You have a house, an apartment, equipment, a helicopter.”

“And a boat.” They were right on the water, after all. He wanted the team to have every chance they could to do this right.

She wore a white silk gown that came down to mid-thigh, showing off those gorgeous legs of hers. She’d already put up her hair for the night, wrapping it in silk. It left the lovely graceful line of her neck on display. “You did good work. Now come to bed and make love to me while the beast is sleeping.”

He shook his head. “She’s a princess.”

Ariel’s lips turned up as she moved off the bed and came to stand next to him. “She’s a raging beast when she wants to be. Just like her mother.”

She still took his breath away. He let his hands find her hips and brought her close. “You’re a queen, baby. I’m the lucky pauper who managed to catch your eye.” He leaned over and brushed their lips together. “I’m still so fucking crazy about you.”

Her arms drifted up to his shoulders. “Back at you, love. You have no idea how much I wish I could go with you.”

The funny thing was they’d both stepped back from the field in the last few years. He’d taken on the role of Damon’s logistics lead, and Ariel was on maternity leave but she planned to go back to her job as a profiler and therapist working with McKay-Taggart and Knight, and occasionally Scotland Yard. “I don’t think taking our princess on this particular op is what I meant when I said I was eager to start our adventures. I was thinking more along the lines of walks in the park, maybe Disney World one day. Definitely not into the line of fire.”

“I’m hoping there’s no fire at all.”

He stared down into those gorgeous deep brown eyes of hers. “What’s your read on Levi? Is he still interested after all these years? Beck believes so. Charlotte is more hopeful. She thinks he might have moved on since he’s engaged now. She hopes he might not care anymore since he’s found a way to get what he wants without Solo.”

Ariel went back down on her heels. “You’re asking me if Levi is still a problem? If he’s still obsessing over Solo?”

“Yes.” Her opinion was the one that would inform how he operated, how careful he was.

“He will not have forgotten for a single second. Whoever he’s marrying means nothing to him because there’s only Solo. It’s odd when you think about it. He’s a dark mirror for Beck. Beck can’t get over her and neither can Levi. You will have to kill Levi for Solo to be safe.”

He took a deep breath. “And that’s why I got a boat and a chopper.”

She smiled brilliantly. “You are always prepared, love. Now kiss me and take me to bed because I don’t think this is the easy in and out op Beck was talking about.”

“He only wants to get in and get a lay of the land before he makes contact with her.” Rob had his doubts, too. Things always got complex between those two.

“He won’t be able to let go.” Her hands moved up to caress his chest, pressing under the cotton of his shirt. “When he sees her, he’ll have to protect her. He won’t let her be alone.”

“That’s kind of what I’m afraid of,” Rob admitted. “Solo ran. She didn’t want to be found.”

“All you can do is make sure your team has everything they need.” She brushed her lips against his. “And tell my friend I miss her and I want her to meet our daughter.”

Their baby girl. Daraja. She was as beautiful as her name, as lovely as her mother.

“I will,” he promised. His wife was right. He had some time, and he knew exactly how he wanted to spend it. With Dara sleeping peacefully, he had a chance to show her mother how much he would miss her. He picked up his wife and carried her back to bed.

 

* * * *

 

Laramie, Wyoming

 

Tucker watched the plane land and turned to his wife. “It’s time. Are you sure you can handle the clinic, because we can call in some friends to help cover my patients.”

Roni rolled her eyes. “I can handle your patients and my patients. We don’t have that many patients. It’s a small town. Now go and play hero. I would say one last time, but we all know it won’t be. I’m surprised it took this long.”

“Because this isn’t my life anymore,” he countered. He needed to make her understand how much he loved their life together. He wouldn’t trade it for anything. Their rural clinic was all he needed. “You are. Our kids are.”

He had three. Violet. Gavin. Aurora. They were back in Jennings with his mom and Roni’s. Sandra had moved from Dallas after Aurora had been born and opened a new business.

“I know,” she said with a smile. They were standing outside the private terminal, the stars all around them, but nothing was as bright as his wife’s smile. “But this is family. Rob is going to be there. I’m glad you get to spend some time with him. It’s been months since you saw him, and they have a baby now. He’s going to need you.”

He hadn’t even had a chance to meet his niece. Life had been so busy, and the distance had taken its toll. He couldn’t help but be excited to see his brothers. Talking on the phone wasn’t the same. “I hope I remember how to do this.”

He wished he’d kept up his training at the shooting range, but he rather thought when the time came he wouldn’t have trouble shooting Levi Green. He would never forget how to do that.

The plane had come to a stop and the door came open, then Jax was standing on the stairs.

“Tucker! My brother! Let’s get going. We’ve got beer, and Theo brought board games. Hey, Roni!”

He had to laugh because his brothers never changed. When they got together they were all dumb kids enjoying each other’s company.

Roni waved to Jax. “Don’t let him drink too much beer. I want him back in the same physically fit condition I sent him off in.” She turned to him and went up on her toes to kiss him. “Be safe. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He held her close. “I’ll be home soon.”

He prayed he could keep that promise.