Becca Van (12 page)

When he stopped talking Janie watched Lander take in the scene on the bed. Wolf entered the bedroom in a rush and then halted when he saw her and Seton naked on the bed, still joined intimately.

“I take it you two have finally worked out your problems,” he exclaimed and began to strip off.

Lander saw what Wolf was about, and he, too, began to remove his clothes.

“Yeah, we have,” Seton stated, rolling to his side and taking her with him. He placed a kiss on her temple.

“About fucking time you pulled your head from your ass,” Wolf said and stalked toward the bed.

Janie laughed happily, and then her laughter turned to a shriek when Wolf pounced.

“There’s been another kidnapping,” Coulter stated, frustration and anger evident in his voice.

These team meetings just seemed to get worse and worse, Lander reflected. The lead on the second Dr. Smith had turned out to be a wild-goose chase, and the Smith taken into custody in Fort Yates had revealed nothing about the head of the organization. All they knew was that it wasn’t him. Smith was in prison awaiting trial, but Lander couldn’t even take comfort in that fact if there had been another kidnapping. Plus, the bastard who had brought Janie to Smith’s clinic in Fort Yates was still at large.

“Where?” Lander asked.

“Four hours north of here, in Brandon, Canada,” Coulter replied. “It matches the MO of previous kidnappings by the smugglers.”

“You mean like the one that turned out to be a false alarm?” Seton said. Lander shared the skepticism he heard in his brother’s voice.

“We still have to check it out,” Coulter said firmly. “I want to see if we can get a read on the locals.”

“Do you think it’s safe to leave the women alone since we’ll be away for so long?” Ward Tiltman asked.

“There are hired hands everywhere, and as long as the women stay close to the houses, they should be fine,” Coulter replied.

“I don’t like it. There’s something not right here,” Seton muttered. “I think one of us should stay to protect the women.”

“That bad?” Coulter asked, pinning his gaze to Seton.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, you get to choose who stays,” Coulter said.

“I will,” Seton stated.

“So be it. Let’s get packed up and head to bed. We leave at 0400.”

Everyone began leaving, and within moments there were only Coulter, Trace, Corbin, Seton, Wolf, and Lander left in the room.

“What’s your gut telling you, Seton?” Coulter asked.

“That danger is on the way,” he said. “I can’t tell you why I feel that way, I just do. My stomach is one big, massive knot.”

“I think, then, that it would be better if all three of you stayed. I, for one, would like nothing better than to stay behind to protect my wife since she is pregnant, but I can’t. I’m the leader of this operation, and I have to be out there with the men.” Coulter exhaled heavily. “Make sure all the women are in this house before we leave and you three are armed and ready.”

“Will do,” Seton replied. “We’ll protect her, Coult.”

“I know you will.”

Seton, Wolf, and Lander left their team leaders to go find their wife and head to bed. Seton planned to do exactly the same. He and his brothers were taking advantage of their reconciliation with Janie by spending every free moment with their woman.

The next morning, after an early breakfast, Seton and his brothers were sprawled on the armchairs in the living room of the main house. Janie, Brooke, Alicia, Martha, and May were sitting on the large sofa watching a chick flick and talking quietly. Even though he looked relaxed, Seton was wound tighter than a spring. His nape was prickling and he kept glancing to his brothers to see if they felt anything, but they hadn’t seemed to notice.

Janie got up from the sofa and headed toward the bathroom. Though he didn’t want her out of his sight, he knew she wouldn’t appreciate him following her. Rising to his feet, he paced behind the sofa like a caged tiger and kept looking down the hallway for Janie. The tension left his body when she came striding back toward him. She gave him a smile and ducked into the kitchen.

“What are you doing, sugar?” Seton asked as he followed.

“I’m going to make another pot of coffee. Do you want a cup?”

“No, thanks, honey. I’ll start sloshing if I drink any more.”

“Are you okay, Seton?”

“Yeah, just restless, is all.”

“Oh. I wish I could do something to help relieve your tension.” Janie wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight.

“You already are, sugar.” She released him and turned back to the counter.

When the coffee had finished brewing, Janie poured it into cups and placed them on a tray with sugar and milk and started to pick it up.

“Here, let me take that for you,” Seton said and lifted the tray.

As he turned away from the counter, movement through the window caught his attention. There was some activity near one of the neighboring buildings. “Go into the living room, Janie.
Now
,” he commanded and followed behind, bringing the tray and placing it on the coffee table.

“I need you all to stay here, in this room, and don’t leave,” Seton demanded. “Wolf. Lander. Outside.”

“What’s up?” Lander queried.

“We have movement. Someone’s here,” he replied. He lowered his mental wall and then wished he hadn’t. Evil malevolence came at him in waves, making him feel sick to his stomach. “Whoever it is was heading to the feed building. Let’s go.”

Seton led the way and sprinted across the open space between buildings, moving toward the stables. He had expected to hear gunfire as they ran, but nothing happened. Keeping to the shadows, he, Wolf, and Lander skirted the buildings until the feed storage was only yards away. The front door was ajar. Signaling to Wolf to go around and cover the back door, he then indicated that Lander was to watch the windows on the side.

Taking a deep breath, Seton slid through the small gap in the front door and moved off to the side so his back was to the wall. His eyesight adjusted from the bright sunshine to the dim interior faster than a normal man’s, but he still had to wait a moment. Scanning the interior, he caught movement at the back of the building. Being careful not to make any noise, he slowly crept along the wall, keeping his back covered. As he crept closer, the intruder burst out the back door and straight into Wolf’s arms.

A scuffle ensued, but Wolf had the man trussed up in cuffs within moments.

Seton stalked toward him and looked him over. Even though the male wasn’t as big as he and his brothers, he wasn’t small.

“Who the hell are you?” Seton snapped.

The male just smiled, and then, to his horror, he began drooling and then convulsing. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the ground.

“What the fuck?” Seton asked with repulsion.

Wolf knelt down and began to examine the body. Seton saw him reach out and touch the male’s neck, and then he held up a small dart. “Poison.”

“I didn’t hear a shot,” Lander said.

Wolf examined the dart before throwing it away in disgust. “Takes time to kick in. He could have been shot minutes ago.”

“Fuck. Get to the house,” Seton commanded.

Fear ran through him as he realized the guy had been a decoy to get them from the house. The women were all alone and unarmed. Janie was his first thought and then Brooke. God, if anything happened to her, Coulter, Trace, and Corbin would never forgive him. The sprint to the house seemed to take longer than it did to get to the feed store. Adrenaline was pumping through him at a hundred miles an hour, and he prayed that they would be in time.

Bursting into the house, he ran for the living room and scanned the interior. The women were all scared, and then he saw why. Janie was being used as a shield, and the man who had her had a gun against her head.

“Drop your weapons or she dies,” he commanded.

Seton didn’t hesitate. He dropped his nine millimeter to the floor with a loud bang.

“You, too,” the perpetrator demanded, looking beyond Seton. When he only heard one gun drop he realized that one of his brothers was missing.

* * * *

The women watched as Seton, Wolf, and Lander went charging from the room. “What do you think that was all about?” May looked at Martha as she took a mug of coffee from the tray.

“I don’t know, but something’s going on.” Martha gripped her cup. “Those boys are packing enough weapons to fight a whole damn army.”

“I didn’t see any weapons.”

“Well, of course you didn’t, dear, they had them concealed.”

“Seton saw something,” Janie said to the two older women.

“What was that, dear?”

“Seton saw something outside that he didn’t like, and they went to investigate.”

“Did you see what?” Brooke reached for the only mug which contained tea.

“No, but Seton got that cold, emotionless expression.”

“Yeah, I know the one you mean. Coulter, Trace, and Corbin are the same when they work. They close off all emotion so they can think logically. It’s kind of creepy.”

“That’s the one.” Janie looked into the milk jug. “Oh, we’ve run out of milk. I’ll just go fill the jug.”

Janie headed to the kitchen and was reaching for the milk in the fridge door when the hair on the back of her neck prickled. Turning her head, she froze with fear. There was a man standing quite close to her with a gun pointed at her. The breath she had just taken got caught in her throat and felt like a huge lump. Swallowing loudly, she exhaled and wrapped her hand around the milk container. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but anything would be better than nothing.

“Bring you hand out of the fridge, and make sure it’s empty, or I will shoot you,” the man said.

Janie pried her fingers from the handle and slowly straightened.

“Good. Now close the door and place your front against it.”

She complied.

“My, aren’t you just an obedient one. I can see you’ll give me no trouble,” he said quietly.

She trembled when he came up behind her, but she was too scared to move. Wrapping his arm around her throat, he placed the gun against her temple and directed her toward the living room. Shit, she had to think of something to get away, but she didn’t want to put any of the other women in danger. Especially Brooke.

Gasps could be heard over the movie playing on the television when Janie and her nemesis entered the living room.

“Ladies. If you would be so kind as to stay seated, I would be eternally grateful.”

Janie couldn’t believe he was being polite while he had a gun to her head. What was with that? She pushed those hysterical thoughts aside as he half dragged her across the room until his back was to the wall and he was facing the women and both exits to the room.

“Where are the men?”

“Out,” Brooke replied.

“Even the ones who were here to protect you?” he asked. “Did they all go outside?”

Brooke didn’t answer, just stared at him with fury in her eyes. Janie kept her eyes on Brooke and hoped some of the woman’s anger would find its way to her so she wouldn’t be so scared. Then maybe she could think straight. Then she realized Brooke was trying to tell her something. Her right eyebrow twitched up slightly a couple of times. Janie met Brooke’s gaze, but she had no idea what Brooke was trying to tell her.

Janie flinched when the front door crashed against the wall, and then Seton and Lander entered.

“Ah, no need to answer, dear, I know where they are now,” the bastard whispered in her ear with a chuckle. “Drop your weapons or she dies.”

Janie closed her eyes when the sound of a gun hitting the floor reverberated through the room. “You, too,” she heard him demand of Lander, and another bang sounded.

Opening her eyes, she scanned the room behind Seton and Lander, but Wolf was nowhere to be seen. Since her captor was behind her and couldn’t see her face, Janie raised an eyebrow in query. Seton answered her with an almost imperceptible twitch to his mouth, letting her know that Wolf was still at large and was no doubt trying to figure a way to get them out safely. She had no idea how he was going to achieve the impossible, but then she remembered what they had told her about their enhanced abilities. Maybe she had a chance of getting out of this unharmed after all.

“What do you want with me?” Janie asked her assailant.

“Why, I thought you knew,” he replied. “You have very rare blood, and since we have a customer willing to pay a lot of money for your heart and lungs, you are really rather invaluable to us.”

“Who’s ‘us’?” Janie inquired.

“Nice try, little lady, but you’ll have to do better than that,” he replied with a laugh. “You”—he pointed at Brooke—“find something to tie them up, and don’t do anything you’ll regret, or I’ll shoot your friend. It won’t matter to me whether she’s alive or dead when they retrieve her organs.”

Brooke skirted the room, looking for something to restrain Seton and Lander with, and then she remembered all the men had handcuffs strapped to their utility belts. She plucked the pair from Seton and held them up to show the man behind Janie. She felt him nod.

“I’m sorry,” Brooke whispered as she secured Seton and then moved to Lander, who stood with cuffs already in hand for her.

“Don’t sweat it, darlin’,” Lander replied.

“How touching.” The bastard used his gun to point. “Now go and sit in those armchairs.”

Janie kept her eyes on Lander and Seton, hoping they would be able to tell her what to do, but they both wore those cold masks.

“Good.” He loosened the arm he had around her throat. “Now, I am going to knock them out, but if either of you moves, I will shoot her where she stands.”

The male moved away from her but kept the nine millimeter trained on her. He reached behind him and pulled out what looked to be a small handgun, took aim, and fired. Janie screamed and began to cry when Seton slumped in his seat.

“No need for the hysterics, dear. I only drugged him.” As she watched in horror, he fired another shot, and Lander also slumped in his seat. “Perfect, now let’s go,” he said, shoving Janie forward and thrusting the barrel of the gun between her shoulders.

Taking a last look at her two men, she led the way outside.