Chapter Sixteen

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Marise and Caroline stood back, watching Jericho, Nash, and Slade gathered in front of the large wall monitor. Even though they were looking at video feed and it wasn't actual models, it felt a little like one of the old-fashioned battle rooms where assets and soldiers were moved around.

"Have you been to Stronghold compound where they were raised?" Caroline asked her.

Marise had to shake her head. "But Slade's talked about it. A hell on earth kind of place."

"Yes, with hell on earth memories," she whispered. "It's no doubt the reason Sonny chose it. Or rather, why he's trying to choose it."

Trying was right. But at the moment it didn't look as if Sonny would get his way on this. It was obvious that the brothers, especially Slade, weren't convinced this was a safe enough option for the showdown with their father.

"There's no way to secure this, this or this," Slade stated, pointing to the three areas on the screen. "Hell, the only part that is capable of being secured is the compound itself."

Marise understood why he would say that. It was a high security, closed-off area for survivalists, and the entire compound was surrounded by a high wire fence. No easy way in without facing down plenty of people who knew how to protect and defend themselves.

"Maybe we can get the van into the compound," Jericho suggested. "Drive right in…" He stopped, cursed. Shook his head. "And if Sonny has hired guns, they open fire, and the van and some innocent bystanders are caught in the middle. There are kids in Stronghold."

Marise had no trouble seeing it play out that way. Added to that, Sonny had lived in that compound, and despite his being an asshole, it was possible he still had friends there who'd jump in to help him. Help despite that whole issue of people other than his intended targets being killed.

"Incoming footage from the drone," Spock announced, cutting through the silence that had settled in the room.

Marise checked the time. It'd been less than fifteen minutes since Jericho had told them he was sending out a drone so it had gotten there fast.

"How far is Stronghold from here?" Marise asked.

"About twenty miles as the crow flies," Slade answered without taking his attention off the monitor as the feed began to load.

Marise and Caroline both moved closer, studying the aerial view of what appeared to be some very rugged country. Lots of trees and wild shrubs. Way too many places for someone like Sonny to lie in wait. She could immediately see why Slade was so opposed to dealing with Sonny here.

The drone skimmed along some of those trees before coming to a creek banked with iron-colored bluffs and boulders. Marise hadn't known what to expect, but this was no calm, slow moving body of water where you did some leisurely fishing or swimming. Maybe the storm was churning it up, but it was moving so fast and high that it was slapping against the rocks.

Yes, she could imagine their mother being murdered here.

One fall, or a push, from the tops of those bluffs, and the odds were fifty-fifty that you'd hit rocks on the way down before you made it to the water, where there were even more rocks that could batter and kill. Slade had said people had survived the fall over the years, but it was still a very dangerous place.

One with deep memories for Slade, Nash, and Jericho.

She had to wonder if just looking at this footage caused the brothers to have some horrific flashbacks. Even though only Jericho had actually witnessed the murder, Nash and Slade were likely playing it out in their minds. That would only amp up their need to catch Sonny and get justice for their mother and anyone else Sonny had killed since then.

"Other than going out through the back of the compound, how would Sonny get to the creek?" Marise had to ask. Because she just wasn't seeing a clear route. "Is there a road nearby?"

Slade shook his head. "No direct way, even through Stronghold," he verified, and he typed in something on his computer that had the monitor doing a split screen. The drone footage was now on the left, and an aerial view of the compound and grounds was on the right.

"That's the nearest actual road," Slade explained, motioning to an area that had to be a good half mile from Stronghold. "But there are obviously plenty of old ranch trails, and Sonny would know each and every one of them. If he's actually near Stronghold and that creek, then it's my guess that he'd park on one of the trails where he could hide his vehicle and walk through the woods."

"He could have gotten there on a motorcycle," Jericho contributed. "According to the background check Ruby did on him, he owns one."

"Yeah," Slade muttered, and he cursed under his breath. Probably because a motorcycle would not only be easier to conceal in the thick woods but because it would get Sonny closer to the creek without him having to walk that far.

Slade stopped and looked back at her. The concern was all over his face. Not for himself but for her. He motioned toward the screen.

"That's why the only way for Plan C to happen is for Nash and Jericho to be with Caroline and you," Slade insisted. "The van can't get near the creek since there's no road to drive there, and I wouldn't have a visual on you or be able to get to you if there's an attack."

The concern was in his voice, too. Heavy and thick. And she went to him to brush her hand over his. What she wanted to do was pull him into her arms and try to reassure him that they'd all make it through this alive.

But a reassurance like that could be a lie.

"You have stitches in your arm," she pointed out. "And you're bruised to hell and back. Personally, I think Plan C sucks with you going in alone to face Sonny, and you're not a hundred percent. Not even close," she added when he opened his mouth, no doubt to argue that.

"She's right," Jericho said. "You should wait in the van with Caroline and Marise, and I'll go after Sonny."

Slade huffed. "I should be the one to do this."

"He's pulling that age shit again," Jericho grumbled, rolling his eyes for Nash to see. "Yeah, I'm the youngest," he added in a snarl. "But I've got no injuries that would stop me from ending this shitbag's scum-sucking life."

"No injuries here either so I could be the one to go after the shitbag," Nash piped in, causing Caroline to groan softly.

Caroline clearly didn't want Nash going after Sonny alone, and Marise understood that. She certainly didn't want Slade going solo, and Jericho's fiancée, Rachel, would probably feel the same way.

"Maybe we need a Plan D," Marise commented.

"I agree," Slade was quick to say, but he didn't get a chance to add more because the drone flew over something that caught everyone's attention.

"What was that?" Caroline asked.

Marise didn't know, but it was white and had definitely stood out in a small clearing near the creek.

Jericho did something on his phone that had the drone circling back and slowing once it reached the white object. The image froze on the screen, and Slade used his keyboard to zoom in on it.

"It's a sheet of posterboard covered by some plastic," Slade murmured.

It was, and it was being held down at the four corners with some rocks. Slade zoomed in on it even closer until Marise could see the writing. It was a handwritten message, and Slade read it aloud.

"They die if you call in the cops or don't bring Marise and Caroline here with you."

"They?" Caroline questioned.

Slade pulled back from the close-up of the rain-splattered posterboard, and Jericho panned the drone around until they spotted something else.

Oh, God.

A man and a woman were dangling over the side of the bluff. Side by side, their hands had each been tied in front of them, and they were in a sort of harness made of thick ropes that crisscrossed over their bodies and looped under their butts. The two ropes had then been secured around a tree at the top of the bluff.

Both the man and the woman were gagged with strips of duct tape, but despite the gags and their sopping wet hair plastered on their faces and heads, Marise still knew who they were.

Stephanie and Colonel Rosa.

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