Page 23 of Shadow of Doubt
She shook her head. “I’d feel better if he went with you. I’ll be fine alone for now.”
“I’ll ask Barbie to come over,” he suggested.
His mother sighed. “I hate to bother her, but I always love her company.”
“Barbie?” Brooklyn asked.
“The Maddox brothers’ mother.” Colin’s mom fished her phone from her pocket. “I’ll call her while you get the guys together.”
“I really appreciate this.” Brooklyn pulled back her sweater to reveal a sidearm. “I can help if we run into trouble at Kane’s house too.”
Colin narrowed his eyes. “We’ll have plenty of firepower.”
“I’m a good shot and capable.”
“She really is,” Nick said. “Grady Houston, our weapon’s expert, personally trained her. She has a wicked aim, and you’d be hard-pressed to find many people who can break down a weapon and put it back together faster than she can.”
Brooklyn puffed up her chest, and she looked like an adorable young girl who’d just won the spelling bee. Still, as their eyes met, his heart took a tumble like a somersault that little girl might take.
Colin swallowed hard and smiled at her. “Not that I’m going to test you right now on the dismantling, but I can’t let that pass without seeing it at some point.”
“Bring it on anytime.” She quickly drew her sidearm and put it back in the holster with precision movements only brought about by practice.
He was impressed, but it didn’t matter how capable she was. He had no intention of letting her get into a shooting match with Tarver. In fact, he had no intention of any of them getting into a shooting match, but if Tarver showed up and drew down on them, Colin wouldn’t hesitate to return fire.
6
Odd woman out. Yeah, that was Brooklyn right now in the small conference room with a large table and comfy chairs. Before she joined all male Shadow Lake Survival team members just a half mile from the cabin, she’d served an easy chicken bake for dinner, then tucked Sandy up in bed with her phone to call if she needed help. Barbie would come over to stay with Sandy when the team left the compound.
Eryn and team member Micha Nichols were the only missing people for this update meeting, but Eryn was at the gate and Micha had gone to let her in. Dev took a seat on Brooklyn’s right side and Colin on her left. Sandwich filling described her right now. Colin had brought his brother up to speed, and both men had gone into a protective mode, much like Nick often did. He’d actually taken a seat next to Colin as if he needed to be close too.
Not unexpected. The other three men in the room would likely react in a similar fashion. At least from what Colin had said about them and the intensity in their gazes and posture. The three Maddox brothers took up the other side of the table. Reid, a former FBI agent, was the oldest, Russ was the current county sheriff and the middle brother, and the youngest, Ryan,was a former deputy. Reid had darker hair and a more chiseled jaw, but Russ and Ryan resembled each in lighter hair coloring but not in build. Russ was very built where Reid and Ryan were more slender.
Eryn arrived, escorted by Micha, the last teammate and former Marine. He pulled out a chair for her on the near end of the table, then dropped into a chair at the end, leaning back and assessing Brooklyn with dark eyes.
Colin cleared his throat. “Okay, we won’t waste any time. Brooklyn and Nick will fill you in on why we’re here.”
Brooklyn felt the need to stand and pace a bit, so she got up and launched into her story. When she reached the current plan to search Kane’s place, she sat and let Nick take over. Though Nick was talking, the men continued to study her, making her uncomfortable. Were they thinking she’d put them all in danger and shouldn’t have come here?
Reid was married with two children and lived in the big lodge that served as the company office too. He had to at least be considering that they could be in danger. Russ and Ryan had kids, too, but they didn’t live in the compound so they might be more okay with her decision. Or maybe they were worried for their nieces and brother and sister-in-law.
“His house isn’t in Portland as we expected,” Nick said. “It’s a little over an hour north of here.” He tapped a remote, and the screen on the wall filled with a grainy satellite photo of a small, single-story house on a rural lot. “The good news is his rental house is on an acre lot, and he doesn’t have any close neighbors to interfere with our visit. We should have free rein to determine if he’s home.”
“Have you thought about someone tailing him if we do find him home?” Ryan asked.
“Thought about it,” Nick said. “It would be nice to have eyes on him, but I don’t want to risk spooking him and have himgo underground. If we locate something that could help bring criminal charges against him, then we want the police to be able to find him.”
“Good point,” Ryan said.
“The real problem I see,” Brooklyn glanced around the table at the others, “is that he’s always been a hermit and doesn’t like going out unless it’s urgent.”
Ryan leaned his elbows on the table. “Then we need to give him a reason to leave home.”
“Like giving him a potential lead on Brooklyn’s location,” Micha added.
“My thoughts exactly,” Nick said. “But we’ll have to make sure that it’s not obvious, or he won’t fall for it.”
“I can whip something up,” Eryn offered.
