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Tenaya bent her head forward, sending a curtain of thick, dark curls in front of her face. Her shoulders heaved. “I don’t want to put any of you in danger. What if I just disappear?”
Silence rang for a few beats as each one of them contemplated the huge mountain ahead of them. They’d just gone from planning to summit a local peak to mounting an Everest expedition.
When Tenaya raised her head, tears shone in her eyes. She swiveled around in her chair, making eye contact with each of them. Except Graham. “What if I decide to disappear?” That last word seemed to stick in her throat. “Can you help me?”
“That won’t be necessary,” her father insisted. “I’m not giving up on this mission.”
“It could be too dangerous,” she insisted. “If any of you got hurt…” She shook her head, dashing away a tear.
“That’ll be our decision,” her father said.
“But it’s not! I’m the one that’ll have to live with the guilt.” She jumped up from her seat, a hand pressed to her heart. “Excuse me. I need a minute.”
Graham’s chair scraped the floor as he rose, but she shoved out a hand. “Don’t. Just…don’t.”
She disappeared down the hallway, leaving a stinging silence.
Moving like an eighty-year-old, Graham sank back down in his seat.
Tai struggled to come up with comforting words that wouldn’t sound patronizing.
Paige slid into the seat next to their mentor and threw an arm over his shoulders. “This is a lot to handle, especially for a civie. Give her some time.”
The ghost of a smile appeared beneath Gunny’s thick beard. “I already made that mistake once, Cyber Jock.”
Paige smiled at the old nickname. “You’ve got a few more strikes to go. Never fear.”
Tai stepped behind them and clapped his instructor on the shoulder. “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” He was gonna go with “Time heals all wounds,” but that sounded too corny, even for him.
His comment drew a long snort from Gunny. “What idiot said that?”
Tai pressed a finger to his chin and sighed theatrically. “Lemme think. If I’m remembering right, it was some old know-nothing shooting instructor I once had.”
Gunny huffed. “Well you got the know-nothing part right. I object to being called ‘old,’ though.”
Fenn wrapped his gym towel around his neck. “Object all you want, Gunny, but rumor has it you did your training with M21s.”
“I only wish. My class used Whitworths.” The image of a young Graham shooting with a rifle from the 1850s drew grins all around.
Gunny shoved himself up again. Despite the man’s playful tone, he still looked way too fragile for Tai’s liking.
Bridger opened his water bottle. “Let’s regroup in half an hour. We need clear heads to attack this.”
Jaw tight, Tai strode from the room. He was trying his best to give Tenaya the benefit of the doubt here, but sitting back, watching her crush a man who was like a second father was taking its toll. His fine humor was fraying quickly. Best to keep his distance until they neutralized Zhezhnov.
Being around Tenaya just muddled his thinking. A mission this dangerous required absolute clarity. The sooner they finished the job, the sooner they could send City Girl back to her sparkly city life.
It was the only way to regain his own peace of mind.
10
“Our attorney got the hearing to terminate Kellen’s biological father’s rights scheduled for three weeks from now, but Bridger and I won’t be married for another month.” Bridger’s fiancée, Jane, looked up at Tenaya, fear and concern and hope all warring on her face. “Should we be worried?”
Tenaya glanced up from the stack of adoption paperwork spread across the antique farmhouse table. Outside the window behind Jane and Bridger, the late afternoon sun washed the snow-dusted Sierra peaks in golden light. “Not at all. Showing that you’ve done your due diligence in attempting to identify and locate Kellen’s biological father is a totally separate issue. All that matters for finalization is that you’ll be an old married couple well before the adoption goes before the judge.”
With a smile, she slid the completed search declaration across to Jane. “This looks great. Your attorney is definitely on top of things. She’s laid out a very clear case that Kellen’s bio dad never was identified, and can’t be at this late date. The judge’ll order termination for sure.”
“Thank you so much.” Relief shone on Jane’s face as she squeezed Tenaya’s hand, the rough callouses scraping Tenaya’s smooth skin.
