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And she didn’t believe a word he was saying.
“Here’s the cell phone. ” Alex pulled the phone out of his pocket and handed it across the table. “Cranston’s proud as hell of this little puppy. He said not to break it; it’s the only prototype they’ve managed to complete successfully. ”
Natches lifted the phone from the table, flipped it open, and checked it for anything that Dayle could use to identify it as a wire rather than a phone.
“It even makes phone calls,” Chaya told him with a hard smile.
“Cranston has the van parked in town, one agent inside. As soon as he has the location point he can park it within half a mile and still receive clear reception,” Alex informed them. “As far as any listening ears at the hotel could know, he’s raging over Natches’s refusal to join the team or to help Agent Dane complete her mission. He’s making plans to pull out of Somerset once she contacts him. ”
“Which will be tonight,” she told them. “I’ll contact Cranston and inform him that he should pick me up in the morning and that I’ll be returning to D. C. with him. ”
“That’s when I assume Dayle will make his call. ” Natches nodded.
“I’ll need to activate the cell phone to your number rather than using your own cell,” Chaya told him. “We want a recording of it. Calls will transmit with no possible trace outside the half-mile limit. ”
“We’ll be ready to move when Cranston gives the order. ” Alex nodded to Dawg and Rowdy. “We’ll have everything in place and ready to move. ”
“And he’ll have his own watchers,” Natches warned them.
“He has six we’ve identified, and we’ll have men covering them. We’ll allow them to stay in place until the last minute before taking them out. ”
It was a damned good plan. Natches nodded to the three men as he curled his arms around Chaya and pulled her back against his chest, one hand against her lower stomach as he stared back at his cousins, his look intent.
They knew. Brief nods assured him they knew. If anything happened to him, then Chaya was to be protected, just as he would have protected one of their wives, one of their children.
They had made that vow long ago and far away. Three boys that should have been brothers, that had wished they were. They had become brothers. And they had made that vow, what belonged to one was the others’ to protect. That simple.
Chaya felt his hand on her stomach and stared at Dawg and Rowdy fiercely. No matter what Natches wanted, he was to be protected. Their gazes flickered to her, then back to Natches, and she hoped, she prayed that the nod they gave was an affirmative to that silent demand.
The Nauti Boys were thick as thieves, it was said. Their loyalty was to each other and to family alone. That bond would protect Natches.
“We’re out of here then. ” Alex got to his feet and looked to the back of the boat. “Damn, that water’s fuckin’ cold tonight. ”
“And Kelly and Crista have electric blankets and hot coffee waiting on us. That’s the best you’re going to do tonight, Alex,” Dawg informed him.
“Yeah, the two of you curl up with a warm body, and I get stuck with an electric blanket,” he grunted. “I always get the short end of the deal with you boys. ”
“Yeah, and we’ll remind you of that one of these days. ”
They disappeared along the hallway, silence slowly descending through the houseboat. There wasn’t a splash, a dip of the boat, or a slide of a door to indicate they had left.
“Come sit with me. ” Natches drew her to the couch, but rather than sitting, he stretched out on the cushions and drew her into his arms.
“Just sit?”
“Just let me hold you. ” He tucked her close, his body warm and hard, strong and secure.
“Stop making this feel like a funeral, Natches. Nothing is going to happen. ”
He chuckled at that, then sobered. “You know, Chay, the last time I spoke to him I was twenty. I had cracked ribs, one was broken, my mouth was full of blood, and I could have sworn I was dying. I told him, as Dawg, Rowdy, and Uncle Ray dragged me off of that floor, that the next time I spoke to him, I’d kill him. ”
He’d spat his blood on the bastard’s shoes and made a vow, and Dayle had laughed at him. Natches had never forgotten that gloating laugh; he had heard it again tonight.
“And you’re not going to kill him,” she told him.
“Yeah, I am. ” Natches smiled as she stiffened in his arms, and at the thought of what he was going to do to Dayle. “Betraying him to DHS will be the same as death for him. It’s the ultimate revenge for me. Because I’ll know, every day, that he’s breathing; we’ll both know I beat him. ”
He held that inside him, though he knew clear to his gut that things weren’t going to be that easy. He was a Marine. A sniper. An assassin. He’d always worked alone, without a spotter, sometimes without extraction. Because shit happened after blood was shed, and when shit happened, information came out. He’d learned to go with his gut. To know when to run and when to hang around. And when something wasn’t going to go as planned.
