“Maybe so, but hang in there. It’s almost over.”
“What time are we flying out?”
“Eight in the morning,” Baylor said. “And, yes, your parents will be on the flight.”
She sighed. “Is it a military flight or commercial?”
“We’re going military.”
“Fine,” she said. “I guess that’s probably safer than a commercial flight.”
“It certainly is for everybody else,” he said.
She stopped and stared, struck by the thought of how many innocent bystanders could be affected by all this. “Oh, wow,” she said, “it’s really hard to focus when I keep getting sidelined with the thought of how many other people could be hurt or what other damage will happen because of this.”
“Nothing more hopefully,” he said. “We just need to know who is out there after you.”
“Why? Isn’t it the same guy who you were thinking it was before?”
“It might still be the middleman. It’s possible he’s a bigger fish than he appears,” he said. “I managed to get a really poor picture of him, but so far nobody has been able to identify him.”
“Able or willing?”
He looked at her with appreciation. With a nod of his head, he said, “A fine distinction, isn’t it?”
“Very, and, in this shadowy world of yours, I suspect it makes all the difference in the world.”
He looked over at Dane. “Did anybody else make that distinction?”
“In this case, I’m not sure,” he said. “Let me check in, and we’ll see where everybody’s at.”
She sat and waited, while the two of them made phone calls, letting everybody know where they were. “You just told people where we were,” she said. “I don’t understand how this can be considered a safe house then.”
At that, Baylor started to laugh. “We can’t put anything over on you, can we?”
“I don’t understand. … Wait. Oh, … right,” she said. “It’s all part of the trap.”
“It is, but not in the way that you’re thinking.” She frowned. “The address we gave out is a couple houses away.”
She blinked several times. “So, are you planning on us moving over there?”
“Nope,” he said. “But I am planning on making sure we have people over there, like Dane.”
At that, Dane said, “Hudson is already over there checking it out.”
“Good,” Baylor said. “Is anybody else coming?”
“Mason is joining us.”
“So, it’s a trap, but it’s not a trap?” she asked quietly.
“It’s a trap, but one where we don’t have you getting into trouble.”
She could feel the relief in her heart. “Thank you,” she said. “I was willing to do whatever is needed, but I really would be happy if I didn’t have to.”
He gave her the gentlest of smiles. “We know that,” he said. “Your offer of help is much appreciated, as is your willingness to do what is needed to be done. However, in this case, it’s really best if we don’t have to go there.”
“Hey, I’m all for that too,” she said. “The last thing I want is to deal with more bullets.”
“Nope, and the last thing you really don’t need is to be kidnapped again.”
She winced at that. “I don’t think anybody should have to go through two of those in a lifetime.”
“Agreed,” he said.
At that, Dane got up and walked over to the door. “On that note, I’ll go check in with Hudson.”
“You do that,” she said, “and, if you need Baylor here to help out, you come get him.”
“Will do,” he said cheerfully, then walked away.
She wasn’t sure if he took the vehicle or not, but now it was just the two of them. She looked at Baylor. “Is it safe for them?”
“We don’t know that,” he said. Just then a series of gunfire came outside the house. Bolting to her feet, she raced for the front door. Just as she went to open it, he pulled her back against the wall.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed, glaring.
“I think,” she enunciated very carefully, “that Dane is in trouble.”
“And I agree with you, but my job is to look after you, which is a little difficult if you step outside, right into the line of fire.”
She glared up at him, even going so far as to lift herself as tall as she could, until she was as close to nose to nose with him as she could get. “Then maybe you should go out there and look after him.”
“I’m not leaving you alone,” he said, clearly angry.
“Fine, then we’ll go together,” she said. After he hesitated, she said, “Come on. He could be in real trouble.”
“He’s not alone out there either,” he said, “and it could just be a diversion to get you outside.”
“Maybe.”
Just then came a shout from outside the house. He glared at her, then raced to the front window and took a look, immediately swearing softly under his breath. She joined him at his side, and he held her very close, so she could peek out the curtain with him. There was Dane, being held by two gunmen. He was bloody but standing on his own two feet.
“Assholes,” she snapped. “Where’s Hudson?”
“He should be somewhere close by,” he said.
“Should be, sure,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean he is, … or, if he is, what if they—”
“We will stay focused and calm,” he said.
She sighed. “Maybe you will, but I won’t. I just want to make sure that these guys are okay, since they’re only in danger because of me.”
“That’s not your fault.”
“Feels like it,” she said.
“I get it, but—”
Just then more gunfire sounded, and a voice called out, “We want the girl.”
Baylor opened the window and shouted back. “Why?”
“We need her.”
“But, as a payout, she’s done.”
“People will pay money for her.”
“No, they won’t,” he said. “Before? Maybe. But, with her parents dead, she’s a nobody.”
The two men talked to each other. “She has money,” one of them said.
Baylor saw they were pretty dead set on their belief that she had money. “If you kidnap her, she has no way to get any money out.”
“Her friends, they can get it for her.”
Baylor realized
