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The night itself whispered with dread The breeze co off the lake was a hiss of deadly intent The shift of branches, the creak of the trees Which was nature, which was a killer waiting to strike?
The fog danced slowly around her, shifting and thickening, thinning and race Shadoisted within the denseher no hint to as near and asn’t
How could a man of Jonesy’s size
Biting her lip, she re If only Zeke would get to her in tiet aith this, Zeke" Alex sat beside hihts to the truck andto his house "He’s a hunter, a fighter He’s hadan officer though his fellow officers testified that the officer struck first If nothing else, he’s a tough son of a bitch If he has Rogue, getting her out won’t be easy"
"Rogue will be watching for me" He had to believe that She wasn’t weak; she wasn’t stupid She would knoas cory she had been when he left
"Listen towith a full deck here," Alex warned hiht-vision device on his head; a handgun was strapped to his thigh
Dressed in ca his hair, the chief of Somerset’s police department looked like the Special Forces soldier he had been six months prior
Zeke eased the Tahoe over, aware of the other o area
They’d loaded up after dragging on gear they’d packed in their own vehicles The Mackay boys believed in "just in case" They kept everything they needed on hand just in case so, Natches, patched but still bleeding, Rowdy, li, Cranston, a little worse for wear, but he was in one piece And Gene His deputy carried a sniper rifle si as Alex knew his oas
Shutting off the engine, he pulled his weapon from its holster, checked it, then shoved it back in place before taking the extra clips froe pocket of the dark camo jacket he wore
"We’re a quarter mile from the house," he said "Natches, Rowdy, and Cranston will take the tunnel entrance, Alex, Dawg, and Gene and I will take the two entrances to the house" He stared at Gene through the rearviewZeke’s, his expression tight with controlled anger They were going to have to deal with each other, and with Cranston when this was over But for now, nothing ive et here; that means one of us has to be in place to take him out at a h, dark with the threat of violence as Gene handed hi it apart quickly and effectively Within seconds he had it down, checked, and clicking everything back into place as Dawg stored ammo in the pockets of his own jacket
"She’s alive," Zeke stated "That’s all that iving each other
"If she were dead, the house would be in flan of light, no glow of a fire "Jonesy wouldn’t leave any evidence He’s been too careful so far; he would continue to be"
"Unless he took her out of the house," Cranston suggested
Zeke ignored him
"He wouldn’t take her out of the house," Gene said "Jonesy would make it look like a suicide or he’d set fire to the place Dad told ue had a silent exterminator He never said who it was, but my money’s on Danny Jones"
So was Zeke’s
"Let’s move"
They exited the vehicle silently and ht-vision devices in place The ave Zeke a ht vision But noith the fog froular sight, Zeke thanked God for the, and Gene at his back he set a fast pace toward the house He could feel the prickling of danger now, the awareness that tiet to her God help him, he couldn’t let her be hurt, or worse, taken froue Thoughts of her twisted through his head, rage and regret and blinding pain twisted and tangled together until rage blooer she was in
He shouldn’t have left her He shouldn’t have hurt her He should have taken s clear He should have assured her he was co back for her, and that they would deal with the future then He should have told her he loved her
Rogue could feel the danger, it washed over her skin with an oily sensation and left her shuddering to the point that she had to lock her teeth together to keep the her away
She couldn’t hear Jonesy any? He could be doing as she aiting, watching
Herwith her efforts to remain completely still A tear spilled from her eyes, tickled her chin, but she refused to wipe it away
Where was Zeke? He had to be co He had to be close He wouldn’t let her be hurt
She was only going to be able to do so un or had even borrowed one of his And she sure as hell wasn’t strong enough for a fight against Jonesy
Damn him She hoped he kneas fired now The bastard had burned her bar?
Blown it up? How could he blow up her bar?
Son of a bitch
God, she was scared
She clenched her teeth tighter and hoped she was out of sight Of course in this fog, he could be standing beside her and she wouldn’t know it
A shudder worked over her as the dew began to seep into her thin T-shirt The coolafter a while, and she didn’t like the cold
She wanted to be in Zeke’s arainst his naked flesh She wanted a chance to kick hi her