Uneasiness roiled inside Gabe. Baumer had told the truth as he saw it. No one liked law enforcement, especially the rugged subsistence-living types and those living off the grid. All they knew of Gabe was that he’d worked in Anchorage and LA. City cop. “You think he has a point? Mako might’ve been wrong to think we could revive this place.”

Bull ran his hand over his goatee. “We won’t know unless we try. If we give up, tourists will avoid this place, even with the resort open. The Zealots would see to that.”

“And Dante, Sarah, and the businesses will go under.”

“Yeah. We need to win this, bro. Not for Mako—he’s dead. Not for us—we’ll do all right no matter what. We need to win for them.”

Bull had a big heart, and he was right.

Gabe sighed. There were good people here, ones who deserved help.

It seemed he wouldn’t be retreating to Mako’s wilderness cabin. That wasn’t who he was. He’d been fighting for others since he was born. Thinking he could stop was just bullshitting himself.

He glanced at Bull. “Yeah.”

The one word was all Bull needed. “Good. We couldn’t do this without you.”

Gabe holstered his weapon. “I’ll give a copy of the security video to Sarah. She can use it when she needs it, and it’ll shut Parrish up for a while.”

“Now, that’d be a sight worth seeing.” Bull rose. “How much trouble will Baumer give you now?”

“Some. Maybe. He’s lazy. Trouble is, he’s also a weasel. He won’t attack from the front. But he also knows you’ll gut him and leave him for the wolves if I get hurt.”

Bull grinned. “I figured that’s why you wanted me in here instead of Caz. For intimidation purposes.”

“Exactly.” In all reality, Caz was more deadly than Bull. Mr. Intimidation simply liked to fight, nothing more deadly. Although Caz avoided killing, when he did dispatch someone, he was so silent that his targets never heard him before they were falling.

Bull shook his head. “If Baumer had any idea of your body count, he’d shit himself.”

“Ewww.” Audrey stood in the door. “Who’d soil himself and why?” She wrinkled her nose.

Gabe exhaled in relief. She’d only heard the last part of the sentence.

He walked over, gripped her upper arms, and pulled her to her tiptoes for a quick kiss.

He probably shouldn’t have told her he loved her, yet, this morning, she was still beside him in bed. Hell, she was with him anytime they could be together. Maybe she hadn’t said the words, but…he knew. Mako had taught him the art of patient waiting.

She was worth all the patience he had.

“So what happened?” she asked.

“He’s now unemployed.”