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“I’m ready over here,” a voice she didn’t know announced.

“Ready here,” her father answered. “I’ll sit tight until you radio that your mission is complete, and then I’m off.”

“Roger that.”

Granville, the talkative guard, moved over to the radio and picked up the microphone. “Whaddiya want me and Otto to do? We’re supposed to go with the chopper, but we’ve got Piper and her husband in here…”

Piper held her breath as a lengthy pause ensued. Then her father answered, “Take them with you. Dump them in the desert far enough from anywhere that they can’t stop the attack.”

Attack? Some small part of her wailed in disbelief. The part that still wanted her father to be a hero. To be a man she could look up to.

“You wanna come see her before you go, Joseph?” Granville paused. “You know. To say good-bye.”

Another long pause ensued. Then, “We’ve said all we need to say to each other. Y’all go on. Get going. We’re on a schedule, here.”

She ought to be relieved. But instead, she was just…hurt. No matter what a bastard he’d been and no matter how crazy he’d been over the years, he was still her father. The only parent she’d ever known. Something really bad was about to happen—something potentially life threatening—and he didn’t want to walk a few steps to hug her one last time. To say goodbye. Maybe tell her for once that he loved her.

Damned if her eyes weren’t burning like fire and swimming like water. Something brushed against her left calf and she looked down. Ian had craned in his bindings and managed to twist his leg to the side enough to barely rub his pant leg against hers.

She glanced up at him, and he mouthed, “Be tough.”

He was right. They were in a difficult situation and she needed to keep her mind on the mission. But, dear Lord, it was hard to set aside that hurt, abandoned, little girl and be a warrior. Ian knew her well. Invoking her determination to prove that she could do this job was the one thing that would move her beyond the pain of her father’s rejection.

She took a deep breath and nodded her thanks to him. A tiny smile curved his lips briefly.

“Okay, you two. You heard the boss. You’re coming with us,” Granville announced.

“Coming where?” she asked as casually as she could muster.

“On a ride.”

Yikes. That didn’t sound good. Unfortunately, Granville and his partner were too well trained. Instead of each man approaching a chair from behind to untie them simultaneously, Granville untied first her, then Ian, while the other guy stood well back out of arms’ reach, his weapon pointed at them. No chance, then, for her and Ian to overpower their captors, or for her to overpower Granville and free Ian.

She made brief eye contact with Ian and he shook his head faintly in the negative. Message received. Now wasn’t their moment. Weird how she’d come to trust his instincts so implicitly.

“Okay, boys. Where to?” she asked jovially as Ian was herded to his feet and his hands tied behind his back. She was scared half to death, but she only had a few minutes to reestablish some kind of rapport with these old comrades of her father’s and maybe save Ian’s life and hers.

“You’re going for a helicopter ride,” Granville announced.

“Cool!” she gushed. “Speaking of which, what are those whacky steps for on the side of it?”

Her captor grinned at her. “You’re gonna find out firsthand in a few minutes. Go on, now. Don’t make your daddy mad.”

Ian’s gaze snapped to her in sharp question. As they made the long walk out to the chopper, he murmured, “You old man ever lay a hand on you?”

Really? They were possibly about to die and that was what he wanted to talk about? “Yeah,” she answered impatiently. “From time to time.”

Something cold and final flickered in Ian’s gaze. “Noted.”

Something warm and fuzzy flickered in her heart in return. If she wasn’t mistaken, Jospeh Brothers had just earned himself a big can of whup-ass from Ian down the road. But then reality set in. Her father never, ever let go of a grudge. She muttered back to Ian, “It’s not worth it. I’m who I am now, and regardless of how I got that way, I’m good with myself. Let it go.”

“Sorry, babe. Kids and animals,” he ground out.

“Excuse me?”

“Kids and animals. In my world, they’re off limits for abuse, neglect, mistreatment, or emotional pain.”

She liked the sound of his world. Too bad the both of them likely only got to live in it for a few more minutes. They arrived at the helicopter and she noted that a logo had been freshly stenciled on the side of the chopper. The local electrical power company’s name wreathed the logo. What was up with that?