Love.
She was full of love for them, only they’d both failed to see it at the time. But he could see it now, clear as day. Shining so bright he was nearly blinded.
“Ace,” Nick’s soft voice brought him back from the sweet memory.
“What?” he snapped, hating not having her on display in his mind.
“I think we have a plan,” James told him.
“How long was I out?” he asked, now realizing he’d fallen asleep.
“An hour,” Nick smirked, his eyes quickly darting to the tent in Ace’s pants.
“Fuck.”
“Dude!” James called out, “That’s my sister.”
“She’s a hell of a woman.” Ace grinned.
“Oh, hell,” James groaned.
“What’s the plan?” he finally asked them.
Nick’s voice was hard as he explained. “We need her here. This asshole obviously knows where we are, and he’s made himself comfortable here. I say we have Dad bring her back, and he can stay here with her. James doesn’t think Alex will see the old man as a threat. She loves to sit on the porch; plant her there. James will leave up the east side and circle around. You and I will go west. At one point, hopefully, one of us will run into his vehicle, and we’ll, at least, know where he is. You can take a vantage point up on Mama’s peak.” It was a cliff where his Aunt Addy used to bird watch, and for as long as he could remember, they’d always called it that.
“Sounds reasonable enough, so far. You gonna call the RCMP?” A sick sneer was his only answer. “Fair enough.”
“Before we do anything, though, I’d like to do a sweep of the house outside. I don’t trust that he hasn’t been here, especially after last night,” Nick told them.
“James and I will do that, you call Jake,” Ace suggested.
At Nick’s nod, they took off to do their tasks. Anxiety controlled his movements as he thought about the danger Pepper would be in. They were controlling the environment, but he knew better than most how wrong that could go. Seeing her hurt again wasn’t in the cards. He refused to let it happen.
Rounding the front corner of the house, a flash of color caught his eyes at the back corner. Walking closer, he bent down to inspect it. Rage nearly blinded him as he saw what it was.
A fucking firebomb.
Turning, he moved back to the corner he’d just passed and bent down. Digging through some of the snow, he found the same thing there.
“That son of a bitch.”
Walking to the front of the house again, he nearly ran right into James, seeing that he held the same devices as Ace. Their eyes met, and he was sure the same amount of emotion was reflected back at the other man.
“I’ll kill him,” James barked as they walked up onto the porch again.
“Not before I do,” he rumbled.
Nick’s fear was struggling not to override his anger as he fingered the fire bombs James and Ace had found at each corner of his cabin. Had they gone off, they would have levelled every fucking log on top of them. The pain and suffering Pepper had felt before would have been nothing compared to the catastrophe that would have ensued.
Picking apart the pieces, he studied each one, knowing that when Alex struck, he was likely going to use these as a distraction. If they weren’t there when he needed them to be, he’d know they were trapping him.
“I need to lessen the impact of at least one,” he mumbled out loud.
“Say what?” James asked, shocked he didn’t want to dismantle them all.
“If he uses one as a distraction, he’s going to bolt if it doesn’t go off. If he thinks she’s here by herself, all she has to do is run off the porch, and he’ll give chase. He won’t check the rest.” He explained his thoughts. “The trouble is where do I put it?”
As he played with the wires on each, he disabled two of them. Handing them to Ace, he told him, “Put these at the front of the cabin. If she’s up front, he won’t risk setting them off there.” His cousin looked at him doubtfully but did as he asked.