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They were all fucking crazy, Raeg decided hours later when Summer’s family finally left the house. It was an effective crazy though, the kind of crazy that he hoped Dragovich could never anticipate.
Chapter
TEN
Too close.
God help him, they’d come too close to losing her.
The next morning, Raeg was still trying to recover from the almost successful attempt Dragovich’s men had made to take Summer.
He knew the terrifying sight of those bastards running from the house with an unconscious Summer would live in his nightmares for the rest of his life. They’d managed to incapacitate her and actually get her out of the house. Within seconds they would have had her in the airboat and out of sight, and there wouldn’t have been a damned thing he could do to stop it.
Even worse, it would have been his fault. Because he’d let her retreat as she’d asked him to. Because he’d taken his eyes from her and given the enemy the chance to strike. It was a mistake he had no intention of making again, he told himself later that afternoon.
Sitting at the dining room table, positioned with a direct line of sight to where Summer and Aunjenue sat in the sheltered corner of the back porch talking, he realized there was more than just protectiveness rising inside him. He could feel the possessiveness brewing in his mind as well.
Strange that he knew what that feeling was, because he’d never felt it before, not for any woman. And he’d felt that dark sense of ownership toward her for a long time, he realized.
He turned his attention back to the laptop and the program connected to the cameras the Calhoun family used to monitor the swamp bordering their home. The four surveillance devices were good, good enough that the programmed motion activation should have worked when the airboat invaded the vicinity.
Even if Dragovich’s men were using jamming technology, an alert should have gone out that the devices were offline or unable to connect.
Caleb had been right the day before when he said someone on the farm had to have helped the men who came after Summer. There was simply no other answer. Only someone who knew the location of the cameras and security alerts could have gotten past them. And only an employee or family member would know that information.
Pulling up a file he and Falcon had been putting together, he once again began going over the information on the men who had been on the farm the day before.
He put aside those of the friends who had visited with Summer’s brothers. Joel Wyman, a man Cal described as his eldest son’s best friend since childhood. The beer-drinking, loud-mouthed prick wouldn’t have been Raeg’s first choice as Caleb Calhoun’s best friend.
Then there were Bowe and Brody’s friends, Luke Jagger and Drew Stilman. Luke was Special Forces, home on leave after an injury, while Stilman was an investigative agent for the Bureau. There were no alarms going off there, so that left employees. Especially the foreman, Clay Tucker, and his assistant, Whitt Grayson.
Clay was a career farmer, Whitt a former Army Ranger with a dishonorable discharge haunting him. The Ranger was a little too obvious to suit Raeg, but he’d sent the information on to the team now parked in Cliffton.
Hopefully, Falcon’s agents could find something on one of them. The fact that Dragovich had to have a mole on the farm was apparent. Finding them would be the challenge.
Lifting his head from the screen of the laptop as his brother entered the front door, Raeg watched Falcon reset the security before pushing his fingers wearily through his hair. Catching sight of Raeg, he stalked across the living area into the dining room.
“Problems?”
Falcon’s lips pursed consideringly. “I’m not entirely certain.”
His brother’s expression was a bit thoughtful, maybe brooding, but Raeg couldn’t see any indication of coming danger. Going back to the files, he waited, knowing Falcon would tell him whatever was on his mind whenever he was ready.
The fact that it was taking the other man so long to give vent to whatever had the irritation gleaming in his eyes assured Raeg that it definitely had something to do with Summer.
Over the years, Raeg had learned his brother had definite telltale signs whenever Summer had done something, or was doing something, that confused Falcon. It wasn’t often women confused his brother, was how Raeg always rationalized it. He seemed to be able to see straight into their hearts, detect their feminine secrets and ways, and adapt in dealing with them.
Only Summer had ever put that particular look of frustrated confusion on Falcon’s face. Just as she was the only woman who had ever managed to break Raeg’s control. But was he smart enough to run as far away from her as quickly as possible? Evidently not, because right there he sat, his gaze moving to her every few minutes to make certain she was still on the por
ch with her sister.
“Has Summer mentioned any parties to you?” Falcon finally asked, his voice clipped as Raeg lifted his gaze to his brother’s with a bit of surprise.
“I haven’t heard anything about any parties. She’d know better than to try to attend one with Dragovich gunning for her. Why?” Surely she would know that now was not the time to attend any parties.
Falcon leaned forward and braced his folded arms on the table.
“Her aunts are currently at her parents’ house, and I could have sworn I heard something about parties this weekend, and Caleb sent a crew to open the guesthouses. They’re obviously expecting company.”
