Page 84 of The SEAL and the Sheriff

Sarah’s face was impassive. “How do you know that?”

“Because I know who’s got her.” Cord’s eyes came up, and for the first time they were steady. “And I know what he does with leverage once it stops being useful.”

Hudson pushed off the wall as Cord’s gaze cut to him.

“The men who ran the sheriff off the road and the shooter at the cabin? Contractors. They do the work, but someone else gives the orders.” Cord leaned back in his chair.

“Who?” Sarah asked.

“The man who found me. The one who’s been cleaning up behind me. He decides whose name goes on the list.”

“Who is he?” Sarah’s voice was level.

“I don’t know his name.” Cord’s gaze bounced from Hudson to Sarah, and the last of whatever he’d been holding onto gave way. “Right now they have Nora, and the man paying them has no reason to keep her alive one hour longer than she’s useful.”

“Where?” Hudson asked.

Cord’s Adam’s apple wrenched up then down. “There’s a hunting cabin north of Black Ridge. Old logging road off Mile Marker Forty-Seven.”

Sarah didn’t move. “How do you know?”

“I’ve been there. It’s where they took me when they found me again.” His voice shook. “That’s where she’ll be. I’ll take you. You have a better chance of getting her out alive than I do.”

Sarah pushed back her chair and stood.

Less than forty-eight hours after a concussion. A rolled truck. Now she was about to lead a rescue into the wilderness after armed contractors. Every protective instinct Hudson had screamed no. But experience told him she would go anyway. His job was to make sure she came back. Which didn’t stop him from wanting to lock the station door and tell the rest of Alaska to deal with its own damn problems.

Sarah caught his eye. Don’t. The corner of her mouth lifted.

He’d watched her take control of an interview with the man he’d spent a year hunting. She was exactly where she belonged. God, he wished that wasn’t true.

She opened the interrogation room door. “Walter.”

The deputy appeared almost instantly.

Sarah jerked her head in Cord’s direction. “Cuff him. Then call Search and Rescue. Get EMS rolling. Notify State Troopers we’re responding. Pull maps and property records for Mile Forty-Seven. I want approach routes before we leave.”

She looked back at Cord. “We’re bringing Nora home.”

Her hand gripped the doorframe. “Marshal?”

Hudson looked up.

She raised an eyebrow. “You coming?”

35

Sarah came back into the bullpen.

Hudson got there first. He lifted her jacket from its hook.

“You don’t have to keep doing that.”

He halted right beside her. “Doing what?”

“Looking after me.”

“I know.” He held the jacket open.