“As soon as Sanchez is up and around, we’ll go easy until he’s back in his routine. Then we’ll scatter bait for the informant. Leave the perfect opening to score a kill.” With a shake of his head, deVries added, “It’ll just take longer.”

Hawk grunted, tempted to say he was out.

“Sorry about this, Hawk. But I’m damn glad you were free. There’s not many I’d trust to have my back for a bait and switch.”

Hawk sighed. He and deVries had worked as mercenaries in different outfits. Been in fights together. He couldn’t leave a friend in the lurch.

Not even to get back to Aric and Kit.

Dammit, Kit. He should have stuck around and talked to her. But he was shit at talking. And face it, she’d panicked because of what he’d done. Who he was.

Eyes narrowed, deVries gave him a questioning look. “You good?”

“Yeah.” Hawk took a sip of beer. “Bait and switch?”

“Exactly. We bait the hook with what looks like an easy kill. Then the switch.”

“They get us instead.” Surprise.

With two tired children in the backseat, Kit was filling up her car at the Rescue gas station. It’d certainly been a full day. First, she’d bought a car. Happiness bubbled up inside her, and she gave the steering wheel a pat. The Jeep had more than a few dents, but it meant independence. And it was red too.

To celebrate her new ride, she’d taken the kids to the town park. While they explored the small playground, she’d stretched out her sore muscles. Frankie and JJ had no mercy when it came to teaching their forms of self-defense.

Thigh muscles could really hurt.

As the pump dinged, she put up the nozzle and replaced the cap on her Jeep’s gas tank. “All done, kids. It’s time to head home.”

“Hey, there’s Papá.” Regan pointed toward the other pump.

Kit turned to see Caz talking to the owner. Seeing her, the doc excused himself and strolled over.

He ran his gaze over her car and nodded. “Very nice choice.” Bending to look in the open back window, he smiled. “Regan, Aric. You two look as if you had a good day.”

“We were at the playground, Papá. It’s got a climbing thing now.”

Kit grinned. The mini-climbing wall let Regan get up to the tallest slide.

“Ah, that does sound fun, mija. And Aric, did you climb too?”

Aric waved his hands. “I roded a dinosaur.”

Caz’s brows drew together. “Do we have dinosaurs in Alaska?”

Snickering, Regan informed him, “No, Papá.”

“There were a batch of animals on springs that bounced,” Kit said. “One was a T-rex.”

“A tyrannosaurus. That was very brave, Aric.” Caz turned. “Kit. If you aren’t on a schedule, Regina, our municipal receptionist, left word she wanted to speak with you.”

“About what?”