Shiver(83)

“I know he needs to be caught.” Lana put a hand to her brow. “It’s just hard thinking of my dad being hunted down. But we can’t let him hurt anyone else.”

“Is there any information you can give us that would help apprehend him safely?” Lynx asked, his tone a bit softer than before.

“Uhm…I don’t know.” She bit her bottom lip. “They called him a ghost in Vietnam.”

“We’ll have to flush him out then,” Pike said. “I’ll gather some guys and we’ll come in from the top of the hill behind Earl’s.” He pointed to a map Lynx had laid out on the table earlier.

“He’s got to be bunked down in one of the old mining cabins.” Lynx indicated the nest of cabins abandoned in the late 1950s when the Fairbanks Gold Mining Company left the area after stripping seventy million dollars worth of gold from the surrounding hills and rivers. “We can access this point with snowmobiles, and then hike in on snowshoes. If we spilt up, and some come down the ridge, and the rest can come up the hill, we’ll trap him. There’s plenty of cover with the dense spruce. He’ll never see us coming.”

“He’ll have booby traps in place to warn him of intruders,” Aidan cautioned. They were crazy if they thought they could flush Roland out. The more planning that went on, the worse Aidan felt. Someone was going to get hurt. He didn’t need that on his conscience too. “Roland is mean and methodical. He won’t care if he hurts someone. Any booby traps he’s laid—and don’t doubt that he’s set them—will be nasty, designed to hurt and maim.”

“I don’t want to patch up a whole bunch of hotheads,” Eva said, with a frown, her arms folded and resting on top of her swollen belly.

Aidan’s arm throbbed. All he wanted to do was crawl away to somewhere quiet and lick his wounds. Raven sat to his left. She hadn’t added anything to the plan. In fact, Aidan couldn’t remember the last time she’d said a word. Today had been hard on her too. Physically she wasn’t hurt, but what kind of emotional damage had been done? Hadn’t he given her enough grief?

She must have felt him watching as she looked up, her eyes wide pools of fear. His heart clenched. Once again he was bringing pain and heartache her way.

“That’s enough for tonight,” he interrupted. “It’s late. Roland will expect something come morning after today’s shooting. Let’s surprise him and not do anything for the next twenty-four hours.”

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Lynx furrowed his brows. “That will give him a day to plan, or leave town.”

“He isn’t going anywhere until he does what he came here to do.”

Lana gasped. “You mean he isn’t leaving until you’re—”

Aidan reached over and covered her hand with his. “I told you, nothing’s going to happen to me.”

“You mean nothing more, right?” Raven added, looking as worried as Lana.

“Aidan’s got the right of it,” Pike said. “We’ll reconvene tomorrow. Lynx and I’ll gather some reinforcements. We’ll meet back here at sunrise.”

The group broke up. Lana gave Aidan a hug with a whispered, “I love you,” and then followed Peter out of the room. Raven stayed behind.

“How’s the arm?” she asked.

He opened and closed his fist. It throbbed, but he was thankful that was all he was dealing with at the moment. Things could have turned out much worse. “I’ll be fine.”

“We should get you some anti-inflammatories and then to bed.”

“About that.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Staying out at your place isn’t a good idea. In fact, I should head to Fairbanks and get a motel room.”

“Don’t be stupid. You aren’t going anywhere.” Her eyes hardened. “I want you where I know you’re okay. And I don’t want to hear any more arguments about it.” She stood. “Now, it’s been a long day, and I’m tired. So if you don’t mind, I’ll find Fox and meet you out front.” She left him sitting in the kitchen.

Well, he’d sure been told. A smile teased the corner of his mouth. He liked this bossy side of Raven. Wonder if she’d ever show that side of herself in the bedroom?

That was not a thought he needed to be having at the moment. Not when he’d be sleeping under her roof.





CHAPTER TWENTY

They entered Raven’s home to the smells of a moose roast simmering in the Crockpot. The whole cabin was warm and inviting, so different than living out at Earl’s or his own sparse, silent apartment in Seattle.