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“Wait! Dad brought a radio back?”
“Yes. And no, you are resting. Period.” With one hand on the doorknob and the other extended, pointing at me, she gives me a glare that is worthy of the ones my mother used to give me when I was in trouble.
“You’re a pain in the ass,” I tell her, mostly kidding.
“I love you, too.” With that, she closes the door and, surprisingly, I almost instantly fall asleep.
*
“Mom?” Julia’s hand is on my shoulder when I snap awake.
“Has there been any word?” The words fall from my lips before I’m truly awake and I see Trisha holding the lantern just behind my daughter.
“Nothing yet. Trisha just woke up herself and she wants to give you a quick exam. Then, if you seem alright, we’re going to move Russ in here,” Julia slowly and calmly explains their plan to me, knowing that it takes me a minute to process things after waking.
She narrows her eyes when I open my mouth to tell them that I’m fine—and I smile, remembering that my daughter has decided that she’s running things now.
“Of course,” I give the only answer that she’ll accept, but sigh to let her know I’m humoring her.
Once I get the thumbs up from our resident nurse, I sit up to face them both. “Has anyone checked on Rachel?”
Trisha lets out a little laugh and Julia shoots her a dirty look. “I told you your mom was going to ask!”
“What happened?”
“We all forgot she was up at Lee’s,” Julia responds, looking guilty. “Eddie slept for a while, but when he went to relieve Grandma at the gate, she asked about Rachel and then took the snowmobile up to stay with her.”
“Let’s just be happy she didn’t burn the house down,” I murmur.
“Elsbeth was worried about that, also,” Trisha informs me, and I sigh, not having realized that she was still watching my lips. “I’ll change these sheets, then let’s get Russ situated in here.”
“I’m sorry, Julia,” I say, feeling terrible I didn’t think to check on him. “How is he doing?”
“One of the bullets nicked his intestine, Trisha was able to remove it and said he got lucky. He was also shot in the leg, but while it missed anything major, I’ll have to figure out a physical therapy routine for him once he’s up to it. For now, we have to make sure he doesn’t get an infection.”
“Well, keeping an eye on Russ is another job I can handle, since it basically involves me sitting on my ass,” I tell her, trying for a smile.
Unfortunately, smiles are in short supply today.
Chapter 20
Max
As we slowly follow behind Lee in his tank, I have time to consider my reasons for chasing after Tyton and wonder if the risks are justified. I’ve barely been home twenty-four hours and the thought of losing anyone or jeopardizing what my family, and those they’ve taken in, have worked to build, has me second guessing myself.
Or maybe, it’s just how good it felt to get a hug from my kid sister and see the pride and relief shining in my father’s eyes when he looked at me after all this time.
“Is this a mistake?” I ask Javier and Banks.
Javier pauses his inspection of his weapon, but only shrugs when our eyes meet in the rear-view mirror.
“No,” Banks states with absolute certainty. “If Tyton and his people are under attack, this is the best chance we have of hurting them.”
“How old is that nephew of yours?” Javier asks me and it takes me longer than it should to answer.
“He must be sixteen by now.”
“We’ll keep an eye out for him,” Banks assures me, hearing the worry in my voice. “The kid may have come along for the wrong reasons, but the three of us, we’ve seen what Tyton is capable of. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen to another town.”
