Did they need help? Moving forward, Gabe noted his brothers’ tenseness. Looked almost like post-combat jitters, except they weren’t in the sandbox. “What happened? Is there a problem?”
“Yeah, you might say.” Bull had a grim smile on his face. “I need a soda—and I’ll tell you.”
Yeah, something had gone down. However…Bull had the look he got when he was planning a snow job.
“I could use a drink too.” Caz said.
Bracketed by his brothers, Gabe was escorted back into his cabin. Undoubtedly to keep him from seeing what was still in the helicopter.
“You smuggling in a woman?” he asked as he handed out drinks from the fridge.
“Nope.” Bull sat at the dining room table, turning the can in his big hands. “It’s like this… We heard the Feds had left the PZ compound, and Kit wanted to pick up something she’d left there.”
Gabe slammed the fridge door shut hard enough to rattle the shit inside. Had they really endangered civilians? “You went out to the compound?”
“Not…exactly.”
No longer interested in sitting, Gabe stood at one end of the table and tried to set aside his anger long enough to figure out what he wasn’t being told. The compound was easy enough to reach in a vehicle. “Why the helicopter?”
“The location was too far for her to walk to in the shape she’s in,” Caz answered. “Hawk volunteered to take her.”
That was…interesting. The hawk avoided women, at least ones who weren’t occupying his bed. “You said there was a problem.”
So they told him. A cave in a remote location. Getting Kit’s stuff, whatever it was. Three PZs came into the clearing and—
A noise caught his attention. On the deck, Kit was setting Aric up with a coloring book and crayons. As the boy lay down to color, Hawk and Kit came inside.
“Let me get this straight,” Gabe said slowly. “You took Kit and the boy onto PZ land—”
“We weren’t on PZ land,” Hawk pointed out. “It wasn’t in the compound.”
“Even if it was in the national forest, you were in an area they consider theirs.” Gabe crossed his arms over his chest…and saw Kit’s shoulders hunch.
Hell. He couldn’t yell at his brothers, not within her hearing.
Growling under his breath, he went to the fridge and grabbed a couple more Cokes. He set Kit’s in front of her very gently and smacked Hawk’s can down hard enough the bastard would get sprayed when he opened it.
Laughter lit in Hawk’s eyes. “Thanks, bro.”
“You’re wel—” Gabe’s eyes narrowed.
The sleeves of Hawk’s flannel shirt were streaked with blood.
Caz and Kit appeared intact, but Bull had a gash in his cheek. The air around them held the acrid sulfuric stink of gunpowder.
Seriously? Gabe rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the onset of a headache. “Are the three PZs alive?”
Bull grinned.
Gabe sighed. Back when they were kids, and Bull burst out laughing after being chased by a fucking moose, Gabe should have known he was crazy. Should’ve backed away then.
Too late now. He kept his voice level with an effort. “What happened to the PZs?”
“They ran,” Hawk said. “All three. No bodies to worry about.”
“Mmmhmm. And how many holes did they have in those bodies?”
Caz snorted a laugh.
Kit’s eyes were wide, and he wasn’t sure if it was a reaction to what had obviously been a firefight or if she expected him to whip out handcuffs and haul them away.
The thought was fucking tempting.
“Holes, hmm…” Bull counted on his fingers. “Eh, only four holes between the three of them.”
“Only four.” Gabe kept his voice level.
“They sprayed the area down, Gabe. No talk, no warning. Just hosed the place,” Bull said.
“No bodies,” Caz pointed out again. “Hawk didn’t go for the kill.”
Because Hawk could easily have slaughtered them all.
“Hey, I shot one,” Bull protested with a wink at Kit.
When it came down to it, all three of his brothers were deadly. Gabe sighed again. “Thank you for not littering the borough with corpses.”
“And for doing it outside of the town’s boundaries?” Bull downed half the Coke in one long gulp.
“Yeah, that too.” Gabe grimaced. Time to make some calls, starting with the Feds and the state troopers. They needed to know the PZs still had an active interest in the area and that three of them might be seeking medical attention.
Doubtful that they’d show up at a hospital. No gunshot victims had been reported after the fight at the compound last month, indicating the PZs found someone to treat them off the record.
So…what did Kit get at the cave? His brothers didn’t want him to know, which probably meant they didn’t want the Chief of Police to know.
How far should he push?
They’d called it her stuff, but was it hers? “Kit, did you personally put that stuff in the cave?”
“Yes, I did.” Her chin came up, reminding him of Audrey. Yeah, he rather liked this woman.
He glanced at Caz, the most law-abiding…somewhat…of his brothers.
Caz shook his head slightly. Don’t ask.
So they thought she was justified in taking whatever—he’d guess it was money—but the actual ownership was probably questionable.
“All right. You went to reclaim your property on unowned land, got fired upon by three men who were probably PZs, defended yourselves without killing anyone; they fled the area, and you left. Do I have that right?”
“You got it,” Bull agreed.
“Okay then.” Gabe smiled at Kit. “First, I don’t want to frighten you, but you need to remember the Patriot Zealots are obviously still in the area. Be careful when you leave the Hermitage.”
He hated how her face paled. But she nodded.
“Second, can I get you to join Aric so I can yell at my brothers without upsetting you?”
“Oh. Of course.” She rose slowly and started away.
Then she turned around. Her hands were clenched, and her muscles tensed as if preparing for a blow. “Chief, the guys were only there because I needed help. You should yell at me, not them.”
Despite what she’d been through, she was ready to endure his anger to protect his brothers. No wonder Frankie adored this woman.
Bull and Caz grinned. Even Hawk was smiling.
“Kit, if I yell at you, I’m the one who’ll end up full of holes,” he explained patiently. And Mako would reach out from the grave to smack him upside the head. “But shouting at them will help my headache feel better, and I know you wouldn’t want me to be hurting.”
He saw her start to automatically agree before she caught on. She frowned at him. “I thought it was just these three, but all four of you are crazy.”
Shaking her head, she headed out to her son.
Gabe grinned.
Then he slapped his palms on the table, leaned forward, and channeled the sarge. “What the fuck were you thinking to take a civilian and a child into a fucking fire zone!”
By the time Gabe started shouting, Kit and Aric were most of the way to Bull’s house.