they said to each other.
Maybe once this was over, they’d have time to speak privately and finally put the past to rest.
“ETA five minutes.” The pilot’s voice came through the intercom.
Their mission was a go. Brody edged over to the door, filled with a sense of urgency fueled by adrenaline. This was it. They’d be jumping two at a time. He and Julianne would go first, followed by Max and Zeke.
Julianne bent down and lifted Thunder into her arms. The dog’s front paws went over her shoulders and she held his hindquarters firmly against her. Brody secured the strap, holding the dog in place. With a brief nod, he pushed the door open. Holding up his hand he counted down from five.
Four. Three. Two. One.
Julianne and Thunder went first; he jumped shortly thereafter.
The most difficult part of the mission was to make sure they landed in the appropriate spot. Getting their chute tangled up in the trees would be catastrophic.
Brody concentrated on steering his parachute in the appropriate direction. Julianne was directly in front of him. Thunder didn’t bark or growl during the parachute ride, which was reassuring.
The ground rushed up to meet them and when a gust of wind hit hard, he cranked on the leads to stay on course.
His heart thundered in his chest. What if Julianne didn’t have the strength to make the adjustment?
He dropped onto the twenty-by-twenty landing spot, his left knee jarring a bit from the force of his feet meeting the earth. He didn’t waste a second, but quickly gathered the parachute into a ball, ducking out of the way to make more room as Julianne and Thunder descended, landing a few feet away.
He found himself thanking God for their safety, despite the fact that he hadn’t prayed in a long time.
Without speaking, he shucked his harness. Then he stepped forward to assist Julianne and Thunder. Holding his weapon ready, he led the way to the side of the clearing and took shelter behind the largest tree. There was a faint path through the woods, leading to what he assumed must be the house.
The structure wasn’t easy to see because the dark wood blended in with the surrounding foliage.
“Do you think they heard the chopper?” Julianne asked, coming up to stand beside him.
“Probably. I’m hoping whoever is here assumes that the chopper belongs to the Red River Army Base. It’s roughly sixty miles to the east and it’s not uncommon for choppers to come and go.” Brody returned his gaze to the path. “How many guards do you expect?”
Julianne shrugged. “Four or five on the outside, but I’m sure there are a lot more inside.”
He scowled, realizing he should have asked more questions about the Duprees and what they were capable of. He didn’t like being outnumbered.
Having deputies surrounding the compound wouldn’t be very helpful if they couldn’t get inside.
Soft thuds signaled the arrival of Max, Opal, Zeke and Cheetah. Five minutes later, they came over to join them.
“We’ll split up,” Max directed. “Julianne, I want you and Kenner to go in from the right. Zeke and I will cross over to cover the other side.”
It was on the tip of Brody’s tongue to ask that Julianne stay back with Zeke while he and Max went in first, but he managed to hold back.
With four to five outside guards, it probably didn’t matter one way or the other.
He and Julianne gave Zeke and Max time to make their way around the property so they could approach the house from the other side. After an excruciating ten minutes, he nodded at Julianne.
“Our turn.”
He crept along the path, moving silently through the brush. Julianne and Thunder covered his back.
When they’d gone about fifty feet, he paused and took out a pair of binoculars. The structure was closer now, just another forty to fifty yards away.
He caught a glimpse of one guard near the front door. If there were others, they were too well hidden for him to see. But he suspected there was at least one more, patrolling the perimeter.
“Found one,” he whispered, handing her the binoculars. “At the door. He’s not even trying to hide, but maybe there are others.”
Julianne handed the glasses back to him. “Seems awfully quiet. I expected the chopper to garner some attention.”
Brody didn’t disagree. Even if the guards assumed the chopper belonged to the army base, which was located near the border of Texas and Arkansas, wouldn’t they at least come out to make certain?
“Ready?” He looked at Julianne who nodded. “Let’s go.”
He shook off a wave of apprehension and moved forward. They covered another twenty yards, the house now dangerously close, when he signaled for her to wait.
Raising the binoculars again, he could see the single guard near the front door as clearly as if the guy were standing right in front of him. He was dressed in army green, with a rifle slung over his shoulder, but he also lounged against the wall of the house as if he were bored out of his mind.
Something about this wasn’t right. He took his time, carefully checking the vicinity for others who might be hiding nearby.
Nothing.
Could this Dupree guy Julianne was tracking be that arrogant? Did he really think the thick woods and the fence offered him enough protection?
If so, maybe this wouldn’t be as dangerous as Brody had feared.
With the guy leaning up against the wall, he couldn’t go in to take him from behind. But Brody could rush him, bringing him down before he had a chance to pull his weapon.
“I’ll take the guy at the door,” he said using the mic to make sure Max and Zeke knew the plan. “I need everyone else to keep alert in case there are other guards who may come running.”
“Roger,” Max replied. Julianne simply nodded and moved a few feet ahead, putting herself and Thunder in position.
With stealthy precision Brody moved from one tree to the next, coming up on the guy’s right-hand side. The gun was slung over his right arm, so Brody had to assume he was a lefty.
He rushed the guard, hitting him hard and taking him to the ground with a muffled thump. He pressed the guy’s face into the earth so that he couldn’t shout for assistance. But it didn’t matter because within seconds the front door swung open and a second guard appeared in the doorway, his weapon pointed directly at the spot where he’d left Julianne.
Crack! Crack!
Two shots echoed through the trees. Brody’s heart slammed to an abrupt stop in his chest. The guard in the doorway fell backward into the house from the force of Julianne’s shot.
Brody yanked on the guard’s arms, pulling them behind his back to cuff him when more gunfire rang out. The guard tried to head-butt him, so he was forced to hit back, knocking him unconscious. Then he finished tying the guy’s wrists behind his back and his ankles together so the guy couldn’t escape.
When he rose to his feet, he saw that Max, Zeke and Julianne were huddled near the front door. Unfortunately, it looked as if the gunfire had been exchanged both ways; there was a bit of blood on Zeke’s arm and two guards, he’d been right about one patrolling the perimeter, were dead, leaving only one to question once they’d cleared the house. Max and Zeke quickly took control of the fallen guard’s weapons.
“Ready to go inside?” Max asked in a low, urgent tone. “I’ll take the lead.”
Julianne nodded and pulled out the same evidence bag she’d used earlier that day, the one with Jake Morrow’s shirt inside. She opened the bag. Thunder buried his nose inside, taking