“It’s good to have you back, Sunny. I’ve missed that sass.” Tag pulled her into his arms, leaving her feet dangling in the air.
“Put me down.” She smacked his arm, and he released her. “Now, we need to find Norma Jeane and figure out who isworking with Reid.” They searched for the main hall and found no sign of her. “She was here a few minutes ago; I heard her giving orders to her men,” Sunny said.
“Maybe she went into the kitchen to get a cup of tea or something,” Tag offered. He took her hand and pulled her along with him. The room was dark, and there was no sign of Norma Jeane. There was no sign of anyone. Sunny started to panic—what if someone got to Mrs. Hobbs? She would never forgive herself.
“You all looking for Norma Jeane?” Clint’s gruff voice made Sunny yelp and jump. Tag pulled her behind him, but she wasn’t having any of that since she couldn’t see around him. Tag pasted a fake smile on his handsome face and nodded. He squeezed her hand, and she was pretty sure that Tag was trying to tell her that they had found their spy. She gasped.
“You? You’re the one working with Reid? You’re the one who's been trying to hurt me and my family?” Sunny suddenly felt a murderous rage at the thought of Clint helping that madman. She launched herself at him, only to be stopped by Tag’s arms holding her firmly in place. “Let me go, Tag!” she barked.
“Not on your life, Sunny. He has a gun.” Tag pulled her into his side, and she stilled. She didn’t notice a gun in her anger, but sure enough, Clint was holding one, and it was trained on them. “Shit,” she breathed.
Clint barked out his laugh, “I like your fight, honey. But maybe you should tone down your feistiness, just a bit. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to that sweet baby of yours.” Sunny gasped at Clint’s threat, and Tag growled, flexing his big fists.
“You don’t fucking touch that baby. You want to hurt someone, you hurt me.” Tag stepped in front of Sunny, blocking her from the path of the gun.
“Tell you what, big guy, my orders were to kill Aaron’s family. I’m betting that includes you, so after I finish with his woman and kid, you can be next.” Sunny peeked around Tag and saw that Clint was holding up zip ties. “How about you two accompany me upstairs, and we can take care of the rest of your little group?” Tag shook his head. Sunny knew that if they got upstairs, Piper would put up a fight about being bound. It would bring up too many painful memories of her parents’ deaths. She knew that Tag wouldn’t let that happen, and she was glad for it. She didn’t want Clint anywhere near her daughter either.
“Why are you doing this, Clint? How are you connected with that fucker Reid?” Clint laughed at Tag’s questions.
“He is a fucker, isn’t he? But that means nothing to me—we are brothers. We served in the same unit together in the Army. He’s the only family that I have, and I’m his. We have a bond that no blood brothers will ever have. We’ve been through hell and back. He saved my life on more than one occasion, and I owe him, so here we are.” Clint gestured between where they stood and his place in the doorway. Tag was still holding Sunny’s hand, and he was squeezing her fingers so tight that she wanted to tell him to cut it out. She was trying to think of a way to distract Clint long enough for Tag to take him down. Every minute that they wasted listening to his misguided allegiance to a madman was one more minute that Aaron was alone with Reid. She just hoped like hell that Sawyer would be able to find Aaron before Reid did. Sunny didn’t want to think about what Reid wanted to do to Aaron or her and Sadie, for that matter.
“So, the plan is to just kill all of us because you owe Reid? This will square you with him?” Sunny asked. Tag continued to squeeze her hand, and she realized that he was trying to tell her something. Sunny watched as Piper quietly rounded the corner and made her way into the kitchen to stand behind Clint, holding a cast-iron frying pan in both of her hands. Sunnycouldn’t help her gasp, tipping Clint off that something wasn’t quite right. But before he could turn around, Piper swung the frying pan as if swinging a bat, hitting Clint square in the head. The gun discharged with a flash, and Sunny felt a white-hot pain dart through her upper arm. Before she knew it, Tag had her in his arms and was carrying her into the living room to lay her on the sofa.
“He shot me?” Sunny’s arm felt heavy, and the pain seemed unbearable. She could hear Sadie crying from the upstairs bedroom and Lorna’s soft voice soothing her. She breathed a sigh of relief knowing that her daughter was safe.
“Pipe,” Tag took the frying pan out of his wife’s hands and gently sat her down on the sofa, next to Sunny. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around Sunny’s upper arm. “I need you to put pressure on Sunny’s arm, right here.” Piper did as Tag instructed, and he went back into the kitchen. Sunny could hear him rustling around, and then he dragged an unconscious and bound Clint from the hallway and laid him in the corner. Piper was shivering next to Sunny.
“Did I kill him, Tag?” she whispered.
“Naw, honey. You just knocked him out cold. Good shot by the way. If Sunny had stayed behind me, she would have been fine too. But our little Sunny can’t take a hint.” Sunny giggled at Tag, causing pain to shoot up into her shoulder, and she groaned. “I’m going to hunt down Mrs. Hobbs. You two stay put.” Tag ran up the stairs to the bedrooms and searched everyone until he found poor Norma Jeane tied up in a guest room closet. She fussed at Tag to let her be, that she was fine, but Sunny could tell that she was a little frazzled.
“Oh, my goodness, Sunny, are you all right?” Norma Jeane took the shirt from Piper to take over caring for Sunny’s wound. Tag pulled Piper into his arms, comforting her. Sunny ached for Aaron; he should be here with her, holding her. She was worriedthat he would never be that person for her, the one to comfort her and tell her that everything was going to be all right. She couldn’t decide if she was pissed that he took off on his own, leaving her out of his plans once again, or if she was worried that he wouldn’t make it back to keep his promise to marry her. She tried to sit up, but Mrs. Hobbs held her in place.
“No, honey. You need to have that arm looked at. An ambulance is on the way. Where’s that handsome fellow of yours?” At the mention of Aaron, Sunny burst into tears. Piper explained to Norma Jeane what happened, and by the time she finished with the story, the EMTs were working on Sunny’s arm. They wanted to take her into the hospital, but she refused. It was a superficial wound; the bullet just grazed her. They gave her a few stitches and bandaged her arm, telling her to have it looked at in the morning. That was fine with her; she was going to find Aaron, and then they were going to have a long talk about how a team works. If they were going to get married, he needed a crash course on how to communicate, and she would be happy to be the teacher.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Aaron saw Travis Reid’s shadowy figure as he finished his climb to the marker for the controlled burn that he and Tag had laid earlier. Travis took a long drag on his cigarette, and Aaron got a good look at him. He looked nothing like the old friend that he remembered; the doctors had completely changed his face.
“Didn’t think you’d have the balls to show up with no backup, Aaron.” Travis chuckled to himself as if he were enjoying a private joke.
“Well, I figured that you had someone watching my family, so I left everyone back with them, just in case your spy decides to show himself.” Aaron watched as Travis took another long puff of his cigarette, still trying to find some piece of his old captain in the unfamiliar face.
“I’m sure my spy, as you put it, is smart enough to hang back and wait for my signal. Hell, he’s been doing a good job of it so far. You had no idea that Clint worked for me, did you?” Travis waited Aaron out, hoping for a big reaction, but Aaron wasn’t about to give him what he wanted. “I figured that it was someone on the security team, I just didn’t know who. How did you getto him? He seems like a stand-up guy.” Travis crushed out his cigarette and pulled the gun from his waistband.
“Clint and I served together. I saved his ass more times than I care to count, so he owes me. He’s going to take care of that sexy woman of yours and your sweet baby girl.” Aaron took one step towards Travis, ready to tear him apart at the mention of his family. “Now, Aaron, let’s not be foolish. I was hoping you and I could get a chance to talk before this is all over. You playing the hero will just move things along more quickly.” Aaron’s eyes were adjusting to the light of the full moon, and he could see two shadowy figures in the distance coming up behind Travis. He needed to keep his old buddy talking. That way, whoever was foolish enough to follow him up the mountain would have time to get into place.
“Okay, Travis. You want to talk—let’s talk. Why in the hell didn’t you tell anyone that you made it down the mountain that day? We all thought that you’d died with the rest of the company.” Aaron felt a lump in his throat at the mention of his fallen brothers. The man standing before him was not one of them anymore. Not only did he have the face of a stranger, but he was also one to Aaron.
“You have no idea the pain and torment that I suffered knowing that you three left me on that mountain to die.” Travis shook his head in disgust.
“So, that’s why you killed Billy and his family and Ted? Billy’s children were in that house, Travis. They didn’t have to die—no one did. We didn’t leave you that day—we thought that you’d died with everyone else.” Travis extended his arm holding the gun, and Aaron closed his eyes and said a silent prayer.
“You three fucking left me up there. They all deserved to burn, even Billy’s brats. I lost everything that day, and now you will join them. You will lose your family just like I did. You took everything from me.” Aaron knew that arguing with a man asdelusional as Travis wasn’t the best plan, but he needed to buy himself a few more minutes.
“You should have told us to retreat,” Aaron shouted. “The winds shifted, and the fire turned back onto our location. You were the one to blame for all of their deaths, not me.” Aaron pointed at Travis, his hand shaking. He knew that time was running out. Sooner or later, his old buddy was going to pull the trigger, and then he’d never see Sunny or Sadie again. That thought tore him in two, knowing that he wouldn’t keep his promise to Sunny. He wanted more than anything to marry her and spend the rest of his life with her and Sadie. Now that chance may never come.
Travis moved two steps towards Aaron, the barrel of the gun pointed at his chest. Aaron knew that if Travis took the shot, he’d bleed out before anyone could reach him. The two shadows in the background crouched closer, and Aaron knew if he could just keep Travis talking a few more minutes, he might be able to cause a distraction to get the gun from him.
