“What if Colin kills them both?” Kathleen clapped her hand over her mouth to keep the what-if away. “That exchange could mean nothing. They’re both in such danger.”
The door to the kitchen opened, and Kathleen looked around to see an unknown man step into the kitchen. His dark hair was cut close to his head in the same military style she was used to seeing David wear, and a goatee encircled his mouth. Kathleen waited for the punch of fear to overtake her, but she felt nothing but the same dread that seemed to follow her everywhere now. Somehow, she had reached her emotional limit and not even this stranger could scare her anymore. Behind him, she saw the familiar sandy blond hair of her husband and let out a small noise of relief. She took the note back from Allison and ran to her husband, pulling him into a desperate embrace.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, noticing immediately that something was amiss.
“Everything,” Kathleen choked out and she handed him the letter. Matthew’s eyes flickered from her to the rest of the people in the room, and he read the missive out loud. Everyone fell silent as Max’s words filled the room. When Matthew had finished reading the note, he looked at Kathleen with a strength she’d never seen before. “He’s gone to trade himself for Patton,” he summarized.
“There’s no guarantee that Colin will willingly give Patton up,” Jade said, sliding into the room to stand next to Allison. Two long-barreled guns were slung over her shoulder, and she laid them out on the table. They looked to be sniper rifles, but Kathleen didn’t really know.
“We have to go after him,” Kathleen said, letting the desperation building inside of her finally have a voice. “We can’t let Max get killed by a bunch of druggie-thugs who should rot in prison.”
“Kathleen,” Matthew said to her as he laid his own gun down on the table, “let’s think about things for a moment. No one is arguing with you. We will go after Max and we will get Patton back. We won’t let Max sacrifice himself.” Matthew looked up at the unknown man. “Wyatt and I have a plan.”
Kathleen turned to the newcomer and let out a wild laugh. “It’s a bit late for introductions,” she said. “I’m so sorry we dragged you into all of this.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Wyatt said. “I want to help. This Colin guy sounds like he’s only going to create problems for everyone around here, and I have a low tolerance for people who kidnap kids. Matt is right. We have a plan, and if I may be so bold, it might actually work in our favor that your brother took matters into his own hands.”
“Tell me exactly what you mean,” Kathleen demanded.
Wyatt smiled. “Good to see you have spunk, ma’am. We’d planned to have Max hand himself over to Colin, but now that he’s doing it willingly, the act is much more convincing. Colin won’t have any reason not to trust him.”
“Max will be convinced no one is coming for him,” Jade said quietly. “Colin won’t suspect that Max is lying. He’ll think he has everything he’s ever wanted and because of that, he’ll be sloppy.”
“And then we strike,” David wheezed, and plopped down in a chair. “We should get going though, before Max gets too far ahead of us all. If we wait too long, we won’t be able to save them both.”
Kathleen bit her lip, noticing that David was flushed and panting, as if the walk had strained his heart more than he wanted to admit. She would never forget the way David had looked in the hospital after his heart attack, and it seemed that that bed-ridden version of her father-in-law was returning. David looked about ready to fall over. Matthew frowned in concern at his father.
“Dad, are you sure you’re up to this?” Matthew asked gently.
David waved him off. Kathleen noted that Matthew and Wyatt exchanged worried looks.
“I do apologize for that lump on the back of your head,” Wyatt said “My men should know better than to knock the living daylights out of people, even if they are approaching our club in the middle of the night.” Wyatt grinned and David matched the smile. “Are you sure you don’t want to sit this one out?”
“I’ll be fine,” David said. “There’s no way I’m going to stay behind, not when my grandson’s life is on the line.”
Ruth stepped up closer to David and rubbed his shoulder. Her face was pinched with concern. David’s harsh breathing filled the room. Finally, Ruth shook her head and said, “I’m not sure that’s wise, David. You need to rest. Think of your heart. This stress will do you no good, and it will do everyone else no good if you suddenly collapse while we’re fighting Colin.”
Kathleen felt grateful and saw the sentiment reflected on Matthew’s face. She didn’t want David to risk his life by overexerting himself and putting everyone else in danger at the same time. Egos needed to be set aside. They all needed to think about the bigger picture: saving Patton and Max.
“I have to go, Ruth,” David said and he tried to stop his breathing from coming out so loudly. “I’m not feeble. I might have a black eye, but I can’t sit this one out. If it comes down to a firefight—and we all know it will—we will need every able-bodied person out there doing everything they can. I won’t back down on this.”
Ruth gave David a disapproving look, and Kathleen felt sympathetic toward her. If Matthew had suffered a heart attack in the past, she’d be terrified to let him go out into a gunfight where the biggest concern wasn’t bullets but the integrity of his own working body. If David did fall down and have another attack, no one would
