What she did know was the weight of taking care of everyone was slowly breaking her.
The Raven was losing her strength.
From his spot beside her, Gene kissed her on the temple as he dropped his arm around her shoulders to give her a place to lean.
He owed her one, for when she’d carried it for him when Javier Hughes was back tormenting Ethan.
For that, and that alone, he’d handle it.
“Elizabeth will not be handling it,” Gene stated. “I will be,” he admitted.
She looked over.
And he stopped her.
“No. If you can’t, I will, Kitten,” he said, using their term of endearment. “I’m here to help you through this, and to make sure you’re safe. Vengeance isn’t happening at the cost of your soul. I will gladly handle it. Maura, make note. If Elizabeth can’t do this, it falls to me. I’m her ride or die, and I’ll pull the trigger if need be.”
The Marine behind the wheel nodded. That was fine with her, and honestly, Elizabeth deserved someone to carry her if she needed it.
“That works for me.”
He placed his lips by her ear.
“My duty as someone married to you and who loves you is to carry you when you can’t keep going. I can see you’re stumbling. Let me help you. Let me carry half the weight. If you need me to do this, I will.”
She squeezed his hand but didn’t go there. All Gene could hope was she’d let him handle it.
A part of him feared she wouldn’t, but time would tell.
Wisely, Jagger changed the subject.
“Since we handled that, let’s talk about how to bring this nut in. Jace Reyaund owns thisBIGpiece of property. The cabin is a mile back and likely protected.”
They all listened as Maura drove, scoping out the area.
“If we’re lucky, he’s asleep. If we’re not, the shit is about to get wild. What intel we have states that he likes a tripwire, and he isn’t above tick-tick-booms to stay safe. Assume he’s a paranoid anti-government nut who likes making sure if the Feds come knocking, it’s the last thing they do.”
Elizabeth was curious.
“Are we sure it’s him?”
He nodded and shared with her what he’d said to Gene earlier.
“Pretty much.The Undergroundratted him out, and the information sent to us by MATE regarding what you found as the incendiary device matches his MO. He’s a bad dude, regardless. He blew up a school bus full of children in order to take out one kid. He absolutely would love to kill Feds and anyone else.”
Gene didn’t like that.
Not.
At.
All.
Hearing that little tidbit, that they’d not told him earlier, pissed him off.
“He’s a kid killer?” he asked, angrily.
Jagger nodded.
