They weren’t playing around.
He could shove the door and take out the one to his left while he brought up his weapon, and shoot the one on his right before he could get that rifle up. He would have to move quickly to evade the two behind him, but he thought he could manage it.
If he had a gun. But Henry Flanders didn’t carry.
Henry Flanders was about to take a whole lot of pain.
“Get out of the Jeep,” the largest of the men said.
He might have a chance to run. He knew the woods far better than they would. They likely weren’t acclimated to the elevation. Yes, he could run down river and make his way back into town.
“Leave the phone.”
The damn phone had gone dark, and it was still plugged in. He calculated the odds of being able to get the phone and get away and finally eased out of the Jeep, holding his hands up.
He would bet his life these were mercenaries and not from the cartel. They would need him alive to collect the bounty. Of course he really was betting his life, but he had to take the chance.
God, it was so much worse when a man had the world to lose. He couldn’t be John Bishop, couldn’t flip that switch on and turn down Henry Flanders’s horror at the thought of not seeing his wife again, not watching his baby girl grow. Because John Bishop loved them both, too. He’d finally managed to be complete, and it could be the very reason he died.
He eased out of the Jeep.
“You sure that’s the guy?” One of the men behind him sounded unsure. “He doesn’t look like some dangerous spy. I want the money, but you know it’ll go poorly if we offer the cartel the wrong guy.”
Oh, he was about to show them.
That was when he felt something hit his thigh.
“Yeah, that’s Bishop. I got the picture from a contact who’s still in the CIA. Says he tangled with this guy a few months back,” the boss said. “He told me not to fuck with him.”
And he hadn’t. The world was starting to go fuzzy because he’d taken a damn tranq dart to the thigh. He wouldn’t be able to run. In a few seconds, he wouldn’t even be able to think.
“He also told us we need to get in and out pretty fast or these guys in town will be all over us.”
Henry hit his knees because his legs didn’t work anymore. He tried to make them move, but he was so weak.
“Grab his feet. Let’s get him out of here before someone comes along,” a deep voice said. “We need to contact the cartel and get our money and disappear as fast as we can.”
The world started to go dark and he thanked the universe that at least he would pay for his sins alone. At least they wouldn’t touch his girls.
His wife and daughter. They would be safe.
It was all that mattered.
* * * *
Three o’clock came and went and Henry didn’t show up.
By three thirty, Nell had called, and when he didn’t pick up she knew something had gone terribly wrong. He’d said he would be back by three. He might have been ten minutes late or so, but not this long without calling her.
It was silly now to think she’d been worried he would leave without a trace. Henry would never leave her side. Not unless something bad had happened.
“I can go to your cabin and check,” Laura offered. “I would send Cam, but he and Nate are working an accident over the pass, and they’re not answering anything but emergency calls. Apparently it was bad. They called out three departments to help. But that accident happened before Henry left.”
“He probably fell asleep,” Holly offered. “He looked tired when he left. Newborns can wreck your sleep schedule. He probably thought he could take a nap and then his body was like nope, you are sleeping, mister.”
Nell shook her head. “No. He didn’t. He wouldn’t. Something’s happened.”
She knew it deep in her soul.
“Someone pass me my phone. I turned it off so it wouldn’t disturb Poppy,” Nell said.
“Of course, but he’s fine,” Holly insisted as she grabbed the phone.
Laura was walking with Poppy in her arms, soothing the baby with motion. “Are you nervous about this? I think Henry’s fine, but I don’t want you to worry. I can call Rafe. He’s at city hall, but he can go out to the cabin if we honestly think something’s happened. Sierra’s with Hope and Beth this afternoon. We’ve started a play group, but it’s really so we can take afternoons off.”
A sense of panic was crowding out everything else. Where was he? Had he fallen or had an accident? He wouldn’t have gone over the pass so he wasn’t involved in that accident, but the roads could be hard to navigate this time of year.
“Yes, please send him.” She would far rather inconvenience Rafe than not help her husband if he needed it. If she was embarrassed that she panicked at the end of this, she would count that as a win.
Laura handed Poppy to Holly, grabbed her cell, and walked out into the hallway.
She was panicking for nothing. That’s what she told herself, but some deeper instinct was at play. Something that told her this was not nothing.
This was what she’d feared since the moment she’d found out about Henry’s past.
The phone came on and she saw Seth had called. A couple of times.
And knew she was right.
Hours later she still sat in the clinic’s small room and wondered where her husband was. Afternoon had turned to evening and she prayed the calls she’d made earlier would come to fruition.
“Hey, Nate’s on his way in.” Michael strode through the door. “He’s already been out to the cabin and ran it as a crime scene.”
The minute she’d told Holly there was a bounty on Henry, Holly had called Michael Novack.
