Page 161 of Fire Fight

ASPEN

After Wyatt’sreveal about the cabin, the guys spent nearly an hour studying severely outdated aerial images of the property—the only ones they could get their hands on—trying to decide the best course of action for approaching and extracting Crew safely.

Finally, Lane had enough.

“You fuckers seem to think you have any say in how this goes down. Listen to me very carefully,” he said, looking each of his brothers in the eye individually. “You.Don’t. I’m calling my team in. We’ll meet out there and brief them on scene before going in. What I say goes. Understood?”

The brothers made noises of agreement, and Trey said to the twins, “You two can raid my stash.”

The three of them disappeared, and I turned to the sheriff.

“What about me? If you think I’m standing here like some wife watching her husband go off to war, you’re sadly mistaken.”

“Same here,” Wyatt piped up.

Lane grimaced. “You can both ride along. But you stay in the car. If I see either of you within a hundred yards of the scene, I’ll charge you with obstruction.”

Wyatt nodded, and I held up my hands in surrender.

Honestly, I believed him, and getting involved wasn’t high on my list of priorities. I merely wanted to be nearby when Crew came out. Still, as we loaded up, Lane, Trey, and Wyatt in the sheriff’s SUV, me and the twins in Finn’s truck, I wished I had my gun, or at the very least my taser. The guys were heavily armed and outfitted with Kevlar vests, and though I’d be out of the line of fire, I envied that level of protection.

There was nothing calming about knowing we were walking into a showdown.

“I made you a promise we’d get Crew out safely, Aspen,” West reminded me. “Trust us to make good on it. You forget Finn and I are ex-Rangers. We used to head into situations under a lot more pressure than this.”

Finn held his fist out, and his twin bumped it. “Almost makes me miss the old days,” he said.

West chuckled. “The old days like sleeping in the dirt and surviving on MREs?”

“Hey, that chicken and rice wasn’t all bad.”

“The chili mac started to grow on me after a while too.”

As they lost themselves to reminiscing on the old days, I couldn’t stop my mind from spinning out of control with all possible outcomes of this raid. Would we get to Crew in time? Would Kelly Saunders get away again?

What the fuck would I do if Crew didn’t come out in one piece?

The thought didn’t bear entertaining.

Hewouldcome home. I’d accept nothing less.

It felt like hours had passed by the time we rolled to a stop at the mouth of a narrow drive that snaked back into the woods. Darkness had fully descended, though the moon was bright overhead. Numerous vehicles sat idling, blocking any potential escape routes, all headlights turned off. The red shine of Lane’s taillights gave the scene an eerie glow. Finn put thetruck in park, turned to give me a reassuring smile, and got out.

West said, “Stay put. We’ll be back soon,” before following him to where Lane stood, circled by what appeared to be the entire Dusk Valley Sheriff’s Department as he talked them through the plan.

Lane’s hands moved through the air, pointing at his men and sending them off in different directions until only he and his brothers remained. Finn had left the truck running, so I rolled down the window, straining to hear their conversation.

“I go in first,” Lane was saying. “Trey, I want you on the battering ram. Twins, you cover me. It’s going to be fucking melee once the smoke bombs and flash-bangs go off, so keep it tight. It’s one woman against all of us. We get Crew out, and we take Kelly dead or alive.”

I winced, hoping Wyatt wasn’t listening.

“Let’s go then,” West said, his bright teeth flashing in the dark.

My heart squeezed as they shared a quick group hug, and I heard murmurs of, “Lawless for life,” before they took off down the drive in a single file line.

As soon as they disappeared, I got out of Finn’s truck and approached the cruiser. Wyatt stepped out to meet me.

“You coming with?” I asked.