Page 74 of Mountain Rescue

“Yo, I’m here with Rachel, Noah, and Jack.”

“Hey, darlin’.”

“Hi, Carter. How are you?”

Dallas resisted the urge to take TG off speaker when she smiled at his phone.

“Better now that I hear your sweet voice. Whiskey, Double D, you boys helping Ghost keep our girl safe?”

“Affirmative,” they both chimed.

“Good. Means I won’t have to come down there and put a hurt on ya. Getting down to business, Hargrove chartered a private plane two days ago. Destination, Asheville. Him and four passengers. Took time to find the intel because it was a private charter, but the good news, I got photos of all of them. Sending them to your phone now.”

“We caught one of them today.” While the photos were downloading, he told TG what had happened. “Now Rachel wants us to use her as bait.” There was no way TG would go for that.

“Worth considering. She couldn’t have better protection than the three of you.”

Dallas scowled when Rachel gave him a smug smile.

“Whatever you come up with, I can give you support from here.”

“That would be great,” Jack said. “Let us put our heads together and come up with a mission plan, then get back to you and see what you can contribute.”

“Copy that. When this is over, darlin’, you come see me so we can celebrate. Bring that crazy grandmother of yours and we’ll party down.”

“It’s a date.” Rachel fought back a laugh when Dallas actually growled.

“You got something in your throat, Manning?” Noah said after Dallas disconnected, amusement in his voice.

“Shut it, Alba.”

Noah laughed. She glanced at Jack and by the frown on his face, he clearly wasn’t amused. Seriously, he needed to stop acting like an overbearing big brother. Never having had a brother, she thought it was kind of nice that he was looking out for her, but he didn’t seem to understand that she had her eyes wide open where Dallas was concerned.

Her time with Dallas was a diversion, nothing more. She would go home to LA, and he would go home to Montana when all this was over. And if the thought of never seeing him again after that hurt her heart, that was her problem. She’d get over it. Eventually. Hopefully.

“So, what’s the plan, guys?”

“The plan is for these two to go away so we can get settled in,” Dallas said.

“But I thought we’d plan our mission.” Now that she had their agreement, she was ready to get things in motion.

Jack eyed the car approaching the cabin. “There’s Peyton with your groceries, and Noah’s ride home. I’m going to the police station to talk to Deke. We’ll meet back here first thing in the morning. Be thinking about how we’re going to pull this off without putting Rachel in danger. Oh, and forward those photos to me so I can pass them on to Deke.”

“Will do,” Dallas said. “Call me if he learns anything from Hargrove’s man.”

Jack gave him a two-finger salute, then headed for his car. He stopped. “Almost forgot. Nichole said she’d call you tonight, Rachel.”

“Am I going to be an auntie?”

“She made me promise not to say anything.”

Oh, he was grinning like a loon. The feeling she’d had was confirmed. She was going to be an auntie.

“I think the answer is yes,” Dallas said as Jack got in his car.

She laughed. “I think you’re right.”

“You boys get the groceries,” Peyton said as she walked up the steps. “But first, lay one on me, my sexy man.” She stopped in front of Noah and puckered her lips.