He only knew that somehow, someway, he had to sort all of this out. Not only was he not letting go of his child, but he wasn’t letting go of Sophie either. That was as far as he’d thought, and he wouldn’t allow himself to go any further.

SOPHIE walked out of the bathroom in bare feet, her hair still damp from the shower. She rubbed it with a towel as she glanced around for her shoes.

“Looking for these?” Sam asked as he tossed her tennis shoes onto the bed. “We need to get moving. We have a few hours on the road before we get to the safe house.”

She dropped the towel and reached for a pair of socks that Sam had placed by the shoes.

“I’ll get the rest of the stuff out of the bathroom and then we’ll head out. I’ve already got everything else.”

She nodded and slipped on her shoes, quickly tying the laces. She was brimming with curiosity over this safe house. How long did Sam plan for them to stay? Did he intend to leave her there while he went after her uncle?

He hadn’t told her anything, but she wasn’t an idiot. In his shoes, she’d do the same thing. She wouldn’t be sad to see the rest of her father’s network taken down. Tomas was crippled because he didn’t have the key that Sophie had stolen. His resources would be stretched, and he’d just become more and more desperate.

“I’m ready,” she said as she stood to her full height again.

Sam ushered her out of the hotel, his gaze scanning the night around them. His body was tense and alert as he put her into the SUV. He even buckled her in before walking around to the driver’s side. She smiled and shook her head. The man was conscientious. She’d give him that much. He didn’t do anything half-ass.

He was intensely loyal to the people he loved. His family. His friends. If he gave even half that loyalty to their child, she’d grow up the luckiest of little girls. But Sophie knew Sam would give his all. There would be no one more important to him than his child.

Her chest ached with sadness. What would it be like to have that kind of love and loyalty? She only hoped she could give what she’d never been given. She hoped she knew how.

It didn’t really matter whether nature prevailed over nurture or vice versa. She was fucked both ways.

“It’ll be light soon,” he said. “Maybe an hour. We’ll roll in midmorning. Just in time for breakfast. I know you said you were hungry, but do you think you can wait a few hours?”

“I was teasing you,” she said with a grin. “I ate so much before that I don’t think I’ll be hungry for a week.”

He glanced over at her belly. “Uh-huh. I’ve heard that it’s never wise to believe a pregnant woman when she says she’ll never be hungry again.”

She laughed and enjoyed the sensation of feeling so light. It was absurd and incongruous given how they’d come to be here and how tenuous her grip on the situation was. It had been too long since she’d felt safe enough to enjoy a stolen moment where she didn’t have to worry that taking joy in something meant its death or removal.

She looked away, embarrassed by the fact that she could so easily forget what was at stake here. She cleared her throat as if that somehow would make the feeling go away.

The sky turned lavender, and only one star hung stubbornly in it, bright like a diamond against velvet. Her gaze was fixed on the star, and she was unable to look away. Stars had always fascinated her. She’d spent countless hours wishing on them as a child.

She’d learned young that wishing was an exercise in futility, and that the only useful trait was self-reliance. She’d spent years trying to make the wistful little girl inside disappear. At first she’d been bent on protecting her, and then she’d tried to ruthlessly drive her from existence.

The woman who’d shot her father and felt no remorse was a long way from the child who’d only ever wished for love and a family—a real family.

“What are you thinking about over there? You’re about to chew your bottom lip off.”

She immediately relaxed her mouth and managed a faint smile. “Nothing important. Tell me about KGI. How did you get it started and why do you do what you do? It seems an odd career choice.”

He cast a sideways look at her and shrugged. “It pays well.”

She arched an eyebrow. “That’s it? It pays well?”

“I suppose you could say it’s in the blood. My entire family is military. Never a time we weren’t. My father, his father, his father’s father. Uncles, cousins—you name it, we served.”

“But you’re not still enlisted right? I mean KGI is private.”

There was only a brief flicker in his eyes, and if she hadn’t been watching she would have missed his hands tightening just a bit on the steering wheel.

“Your father didn’t tell you about us? You said he knew what we were.”

Her lips thinned. “My father only told me what he thought I needed to know in order to get close to you. He didn’t give me your life story or anything.”

He glanced back to the road. “No, I’m not enlisted. I was an army man. Garrett and Donovan both joined the Marines. There’s also Ethan, Nathan and Joe who you haven’t met. Ethan was a Navy SEAL.”

“Was? So none of you are still in the military then?”

“Nathan and Joe are still active duty. Army.”

“And does Ethan work with you?”

Sam grimaced. “Some. Probably more in the future. He and his wife have had a rough time. His focus is her right now.”

“Oh. I mean that’s good.”

“Yeah, they need the time. They’ll be fine though. Rachel’s tough. She’s a fighter.”

Sophie looked at him curiously. A warm glint had entered his eyes when he spoke of his sister-in-law, and it made Sophie curious to know the story lurking behind those enigmatic words.

“So you formed KGI when you left the military? That seems like such a daunting undertaking. I can’t even imagine.”

Sam smiled. “Not so much. I had a lot of good contacts. I saved an upper-level CIA operative’s ass during an incident at one of the U.S. embassies. He told me if he could ever return the favor to call him. So I did. Call him. It’s through him that a lot of our jobs are done, but we take jobs in the private sector as well.”

“Like?”

She couldn’t imagine normal, everyday people needing a military operation. Her father yes, but then he was as far from normal as one could get.

“Most of our hostage recovery missions are contracted through governments and not always our own. We’ve been hired by smaller countries without the military might of a more developed nation.

“In the private sector we’ve taken jobs to recover kidnap victims and we’ve also done fugitive recovery.”

Her eyes widened. “You mean like prison escapees?”

He smiled. “No, not quite. More like criminals who haven’t been apprehended yet or are on the run before they’ve been tried for their crimes. The job is a lot of things, but predictable and boring it’s not.”

“It sounds very dangerous,” she murmured.

“It can be, but we’re good at what we do. We hire and train the best.”

She grinned cheekily. “You sound like a commercial now.”

He reached over and chucked her on the chin. “No one likes a smart-ass.”

She caught his hand and kissed the tip of one finger. His eyes went molten, and for a moment he swerved as he took his attention from the road.

“You’re a menace,” he muttered.

Her eyes widened innocently. “What?”

He shook his head and chuckled but faced the road and returned both hands to the wheel.

CHAPTER 18

“I’M in position,” P.J. said into her receiver.

Out of habit, she took a wide, slow sweep from left to right with her scope and took in any potential problem areas.

“There’s a weak area to the west of the house. Three large trees connected by a mass of honeysuckle so thick you can’t see through it. Someone could hide in there and never be seen.”

“Should I break out the chain saw?” Cole drawled.

P.J. rolled her eyes. “You probably couldn’t handle that much power.”

“I’ll show you power,” he muttered.

“Children,” Dolphin reprimanded.

P.J. grinned and mentally counted to three. Yep, Steele broke in with his dry, no-sense-of-humor voice.

“Cut it, you two. We have a job to do here. I’ll take a look at your problem spot, P.J.,” Steele said. “You and Cole stay in position. Sam will be rolling in soon.”

P.J. pulled her field glasses up and watched, curious as to whether she’d actually be able to see Steele in the area. She knew she wouldn’t, but it was a game she never tired of. The man couldn’t always be that good, could he?

After several long minutes, Cole chuckled in her ear. “You won’t find him, P.J.”

She frowned. “How the hell do you know what I’m doing? I know damn well you can’t see me.”

“I could mess with you and say I can, but you’re predictable. I knew you’d be looking.”

Prompted by his needling to take him down a peg or two, she raised her rifle and did a meticulous sweep of the area where he’d taken position. She’d find his ass and nail it to the wall. Then he wouldn’t be so smug.

It took several sweeps and intense concentration, her eyes nearly crossing as she looked for any pattern that didn’t fit. She would have missed it if she’d so much as blinked, but there it was. A shoelace. Just the end between two leaves.

“Gotcha,” she whispered.

“Who you shooting now?” Cole asked in amusement.

“You. Just found you.”

Dolphin’s laughter broke in.

“Bullshit,” Cole said in a terse voice.

But there was a pause, and then the shoelace disappeared, and the foliage surrounding it shifted slightly as if blown by a breeze.

She laughed. “Nice move, but I’d have already nailed you. You gotta watch those huge feet of yours, Cole.”

“Son of a bitch,” Cole muttered.

“Is it true what they say about men with big feet?”

“Come down here and I’ll let you find out.”

She snorted. “You dream big.”

“As amusing as I find you two, I want radio silence and I want it now,” Steele ordered.

P.J. complied with the order and went silent. But she was still smiling as she went about her surveillance.

THE safe house was a large cabin ensconced in a wall of trees and buried in the foothills of the Appalachians. The area surrounding it was wide open and gently sloping. She could see its appeal from a protection standpoint. No way anyone could sneak up on you here.

Still, Sophie nervously surveyed the terrain and wondered if it would be safe. If her uncle would find her here, and if he did, would Sam and his team be enough to protect her?

Sam touched her hand, and she turned to look at him. His fingers curled around hers and he squeezed reassuringly.

“You’ll be fine here, Soph.”

She smiled and hoped it looked genuine. “How long do we have to stay here? Will you be going with the others when they go after my unc . . . my father?”

He looked startled by her question. “You’re so sure that’s what I’m doing.”

She shrugged. “It’s what I would do. He’s a threat to your family.”

“He’s a threat to you and our child.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t intend to let him remain a threat.”

She raised a trembling hand to her forehead.

“Are you okay? Is your head hurting? What about your arm?”

“I’m fine.”

He frowned but didn’t press. The SUV rolled to a stop, and Sam cut the engine before looking up to where Steele strode across the yard to meet them.

“Stay put until I come around for you,” Sam said as he opened the door and stuck a leg out.

She nodded, and he stepped out of the truck and shut the door, leaving her in silence.

He and Steele conversed, and Steele made several gestures at the surrounding area. Fear knotted her belly. Not fear for her safety. She felt at ease for the first time since she’d fled her father’s estate. This was a different fear.

She had to tell Sam everything. Soon.

Sam walked around the front of the truck and opened her door. He reached in to help her down and then hurried her toward the cabin.

She shivered as the cool, damp air brushed over her skin. The sun still hadn’t burned off the fog, and the ground was shrouded in light mist. She inhaled deep and pulled the moisture into her dry throat.

The wooden steps creaked under their feet as they climbed up to the porch. Sam opened the door and a rush of warmer air hit her in the face.

The inside was sparsely decorated, with only a couch and one well-worn armchair in the living room. A large stone fireplace dominated the back wall, but the hearth was empty and no fire blazed.