Book 13 - Page 69 (1/2)

Elizabeth felt all misty-eyed again.

“All right, say I take your word for it. But CJ said he overheard Eric talking to the guy who kidnapped Elizabeth. Did you know about that?”

Brett creased his forehead. “No, Eric never told us what they talked about. But I suspected that guy was up to no good.”

“Do you have any clues?”

Brett snorted. “They’re red wolves. They use hunter’s spray. We saw the three of them cl.u.s.tered in the distance, spooking some calves. They’re big wolves, but they’re definitely reds. We took chase, but they disappeared into the mountains. Easy to do when we couldn’t scent them.”

“You wore hunter’s scent camouflage, too,” Tom accused.

“h.e.l.l, yeah. If we hadn’t, you would have only smelled our scents at the farms. That would have a.s.sured you we were the culprits.”

“What now?” Tom asked.

“I’ll go into town. Settle the score with Darien. Where’s CJ?”

“Injured, leg trap. Doc’s taking care of him.”

Elizabeth saw the concern wash over Brett’s face.

Tom turned to Bjornolf and Anna. “Take him into town, will you?”

“What? I’m being treated like a prisoner?”

“Let’s just say that until Darien has a talk with you, this is the way it’s going down.”

Brett shook his head. “So who are you?” Brett asked Bjornolf. “I’ve never seen the two of you in the pack before. Leave for a short time and everything changes.”

“Sheriff Peter Jorgenson’s brother, Bjornolf.”

“He’s a retired Navy SEAL,” Anna said.

“d.a.m.n, I didn’t know Peter had a brother who was a SEAL. I thought you were trouble.”

“I am—for the bad guys.”

Brett chuckled, but Elizabeth thought the amus.e.m.e.nt was a little strained. “Didn’t know they sent you guys on missions like this.”

“I owed Peter big-time for not keeping in touch. See you later,” Bjornolf said to Elizabeth and Tom, and the three of them headed back through the woods in the direction of the town.

“He sounded sincere,” Elizabeth said to Tom, searching for new tracks, smelling the breeze, looking for any signs Brett’s brothers had been with him at some point.

“Could be. But why were the red wolves causing trouble for us?” Tom asked.