Page 21 of Captive at Rescue Ridge

At eleven, he’d turned tail and left, but guilt and shame had followed. In fact, it haunted him to this day. Once again, Owen was in danger because of Archer.

“Did you hear me?” Kade asked, snapping his fingers about two feet from Archer’s face.

“Sorry. What did you say?”

“You are doing something. In fact, you’re doing everything you can think of right now,” Kade said. His brother had taken on the role of protector when his now-wife Breanne—Bree to everyone who knew her—had been targeted while pregnant with his child unbeknownst to him. Their situation had a lot of layers to peel back, considering Kade had been under the impression Bree had been pregnant with his best friend’s child—a friend who’d been killed right next to Kade while on a mission. Kade knew about guilt. “The best advice I can give you is not to let those thoughts take hold in your mind… The ones that try to convince you that you’re somehow responsible for all this. You’re not. You were blindsided by the situation as much as everyone else. And, to be honest, it could’ve happened to any one of us.”

It hadn’t, though. This wasn’t the right time to point out the fact to Kade. His brother made perfect sense on a logical level. Emotions were driven by the heart. And his heart had very different ideas about this being his fault.

Instead of arguing, he said, “Will you stay here with Annalee while I raid the office? I’d like to find paper and pencils so we can draw a map of the town and mark any areas we think would be a good place to stash someone. Also, it might be helpful if we come at this problem from Owen’s perspective. Retrace his steps from this morning. Hudson saw him last, so he might be the right person to speak to about where they were and if Owen had mentioned in passing where he was headed.”

“You bet,” Kade said. “Also, I texted Chloe and asked her to swing by the house on her way here. Figured you guys could use fresh clothes, toothbrushes, etcetera. She said there’s a shower in the bathroom off the office here. Said she did some volunteer work here once so she got to know the lay of the land.”

“Thank you.”

“Little things make a big difference in times like these.” Kade’s point was a valid one. “I’ve also arranged for a hot meal to be brought.”

Kade would know exactly what was needed after what he’d been through recently. His older brother had gone into the military hours after his high school graduation. The steady-state influence in the house had been gone in a snap. Life had gotten worse after Kade took off, and Archer had realized how much his older brother had been shielding them from. Being back in Saddle Junction hadn’t felt remotely like home until now, in this moment. Having all the family rally together around him reminded him how much he’d missed out on. How much they’d all missed out on having an SOB like Beaumont for a father. The man had viewed his children much like the racehorses he’d bred. Winners were lauded. Defects made them losers. Losers were cast aside. Life had been black and white for the man.

As for Archer’s mother, she’d taken off after a rough beating. Or so he’d been told. Her absence had focused Beaumont’s attention on his children after that. He and Owen might have been a couple of years younger than Kade, but their brother had taken the brunt of the dysfunctional family dynamic.

“Saying thank you doesn’t even come close to what it means for you to be here, Kade.” Archer embraced his brother in a bear hug. “I missed the hell out of you.”

His thoughts shifted to how difficult it was going to be to let go of Annalee a second time. Losing her twice would rip his heart from his chest.

At least he had a family to fall back on for support.

Who did she have?

Annalee woke with a start.She bolted upright, causing the coats to tumble to the floor. They landed with a swish.

It was pitch black in the room.

“Archer,” she whispered.

“I’m right here,” he said before muttering a curse. The scuffing sound of something on the floor said he’d walked into a chair. A few seconds later, there was light. She realized he was using the flashlight app on his phone to find his way through the dark.

“What’s going on?” she asked, picking up the coats and setting them on the chair where her head had been a few moments ago.

“Your guess is as good as ours.”

Icy fingers gripped her spine. “They found me.”

“We need to hide the backpack.” Archer immediately backtracked to where his brother was standing in the back of the room.

Annalee immediately followed. By this point, Kade also had his flashlight app on.

“We can’t use these for long without giving away our location in the building,” Archer said.

Heart thumping, her pulse shot through the roof as panic seized her chest. Her thoughts immediately snapped to the shooter. “He could shoot through one of the windows.”

Archer nodded before picking up the backpack. His gaze shifted to the paneled ceiling. “It should be easy enough to push one of those open and then tuck the backpack safely above us. Can you two cause a distraction while I work?”

Right. They needed to draw attention.

“You got it.” With that, and reminding herself to breathe, Annalee grabbed hold of Kade’s arm before he led them both into the vestibule. Memories crashed down on her from being here earlier, from the first time she laid eyes on Archer again after believing the two would never be in the same room again.

She shouldn’t have talked about him to her mother over the years, wondering where he’d gone and what his life was like. Her mother had loose lips.

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