walk the grounds of her property.
He straightened, then wiped his cheeks against his shoulders. “Can I help you with breakfast? I don’t know how you keep up, cooking for all of us. I need to hire some help for you.”
“No. I’m fine. Fee’s a big help.” She frowned at him, her gaze catching on the various scrapes on his face. “How are you feeling? What did the doctor do?”
“I feel like I tangled with a sewing machine and lost. I think he put a hundred stitches in me, here and there. And he gave me some prescriptions.”
“Leave them on my desk. I’ll get them filled for you this morning.”
“No you won’t. The doc said the pharmacy delivers. Get them to bring it up here. I’ll leave cash for you. And you don’t answer the door-one of the guys does it if I’m not here. Understood?”
She smiled. “Yes. Don’t worry about me.”
After breakfast, Rocco joined Owen, Kit and the whole team in the dining room. A topographical map of taped sheets of paper covered one end of the table, various rifles, pistols, knives, and ammo covered the other end. They were all dressed in tan, green, or black T-shirts with black jeans or tan cargo pants, Earth colors of civilian camo. All of them were strapping on holsters and knife sheathes. Owen and Max were carrying Sig Sauer 9mm pistols. Kit and the others all had Berettas. Rocco found it odd that they were handling battle maps and lethal weapons in the homey dining room of Mandy’s grandparents’ house, like revolutionaries instead of trusted associates of the U.S. government. He had only his shotgun and a hunting knife in his personal armament, but it didn’t matter. He knew plenty of ways to kill a man.
He crossed his arms and looked beyond the men to Mandy. She was leaning against the doorjamb to the kitchen, watching them. He caught her gaze and held it, hoping to reassure her with a look that said this madness was temporary.
He wished to fucking hell it was.
Kit called him and the others over to the map. He pointed to an area about fifty miles northwest of where they currently were. Color-coded squares layered several blocks in one portion of the map.
“This is where the Jackson’s SUV was found. These are rock formations thought to have deep crevices where a man could be stashed.” Kit looked up at the men around him. “This is the White Kingdom Brotherhood’s compound,” he said, using his finger to outline an irregular shape that surrounded the rock formations in question.
Owen assigned teams. “Rocco, I want you and Max to stay here. Kelan, I want you to take Fee and go back to Buchanan’s house. Look for anything that would give us more information about who he was working with, others around town he might have bought, or where they stashed Blade. Val and Angel check out this sector,” he pointed to an area on the map. “Owen and I will take this area. Max has sent the coordinates to your phones. We’ve connected with state police and the U.S. Forest Service. They’ll be helping us cover the maximum area we can.”
The men picked up their comm equipment. Rocco thought that was the end of the briefing. There was still a set of gear and a full complement of weapons, including an M16, a Beretta, the associated ammo, and a KA-BAR ankle knife on the table. He looked around, trying to see who hadn’t geared up.
Kit nodded toward the rifle, then handed Rocco the pistol. “You said you’re still in. You might need these.”
Rocco grinned. “Hell, yeah.” He strapped on the ankle holster, feeling like himself for the first time in months.
When the house had settled after the men left for their assignments, Mandy headed out to the porch with two fresh cups of coffee. Rocco was standing at the edge of the steps, his hands in his pockets. He took the mug she offered.
“Rocco, what does all of this mean for the center? Should I move it to a different town? Stop construction entirely? I expect George to come by this morning and don’t know what to tell him.”
He touched her face, letting the velvet softness of her skin warm his palm. “I won’t let you give up your dream, but it’s too early to know what’s best to do. Tell George you can’t give him an answer yet. If you’ve become one of Amir’s targets, they will find you wherever you go. So relocating wouldn’t help. Either way, the construction can’t resume until we put an end to Amir and Abdul Baseer al Jahni.”
Mandy bent her head and rested it against his chest. “I wish you were getting out, Rocco. I don’t want you to fight. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t care about the war or stupid skinheads or druglords. I don’t care about saving the world. I want you safe.”
He stroked her face with his thumb and gave her a sad smile. “I do care about saving the world, from this threat at least. I’m good at what I do. So are Kit and Blade, as are the rest of Owen’s team. I hope you’ll understand we have no choice but to end this. Now.”
Chapter 19
Rocco filled the water and feed buckets and set them in the wagon to take down to Kitano. Worried about exposing Mandy to any threats lurking on the property, he’d refused to let her out of the house to tend to the horse. He didn’t know how long he’d be able to keep her inside and safe-hopefully long enough for the team to capture Amir.
When he got halfway to Kitano’s corral, a white delivery van pulled up the driveway and parked in front of the house. There was a sign on the side of the van with the local pharmacy’s name. He watched as a man wearing a white lab coat got out of the van. Seeing him, the man lifted a hand with a white bag. Rocco waved back and continued to Kitano’s corral. He knew what was in that bag-the antibiotics and pain meds. He’d take the antibiotics, but wouldn’t touch the Vicodin. He’d worked too hard to get his head clear to mess with that stuff.
When he returned the wagon to the toolshed after feeding Kitano, the van was gone. He walked up to the house. The dogs were outside. He looked at the porch to see if Mandy was standing in the doorway. The door was open, but no one stood there. A frisson zipped along his spine, spurring him forward. Just inside the door, Max lay on the ground, his Sig still in his hand.
Rocco felt for a pulse even as he looked around the room. Max was alive. He didn’t see any injury. Had he been tranq’d like Blade? What the hell had happened? No furniture was disturbed. He called for Mandy, but got no answer. He ran down the hall to her room-it was empty. He checked her bathroom. Empty. He dialed her cell, then heard it ring in the kitchen.
He cursed and looked around the room, trying to determine what might have happened. He saw the white pharmacy bag on the floor, along with the money he’d given Mandy to pay for it. She wouldn’t have just dropped everything and left with the delivery guy.
She’d been taken.
Max sat up and shook his head. Awake again, his mind cleared in a flash. He roared and leapt to his feet, ready for intruders. The man moved with the fluid grace of a martial arts master.
“What the hell happened to you?” Rocco asked.
“Chloroform. Where’s Mandy?”
Rocco cursed. That’s why it didn’t look like there’d been a struggle-there hadn’t been. “Gone. They took her,” he told Max. “I’m going after her. They can’t be more than a few minutes ahead of me. I’ll radio Kit on my way. Call Sheriff Tate and tell him the delivery guy took Mandy. Get him to put an APB out on the van. Then look around and see if there’s anything missing, any surprises left for us. You should sweep for bugs, too.”
Max grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Don’t go alone. Let me call one of the others back.”
“I’m not waiting for a ride-along.”
Rocco fired up his truck and started down the long drive, which passed between two steep hills before it met the road. He exited slowly-it was hard to see what might be waiting ahead. He didn’t expect to see the delivery van parked off to the right.
He parked, then walked around the van. He looked in the front windows. It appeared empty, but a divider wall kept him from seeing into the back. When he opened the rear doors, he found a man lying inside, out cold. No sign of Mandy.
He radioed Max. “Found the delivery van parked on the road in front of the drive. He switched cars. No idea
