“Oh, that’s easy. The key is to get them really tight so you can leverage more force when you bring your hands down. Like this.” She put her hands up, together, and then brought them down, hard against her belly. “You pull out even as you force your hands down. It’s not hard once you get the hang of it.”

“This happen a lot?”

“When your dad is Pete Sutton, it does.”

Tae laughed. Oh wow, her entire chest released, the darkness in it scattering. Especially when she heard the motor of the boat echoing from downriver.

She got up, dropped the blanket and headed toward the dock.

The river had turned to fire under the dawning light, and against the sun, she spotted the cigarette boat behind Ham’s larger charter boat.

The charter bumped up to the dock first. Pete came up the dock and helped them tie off the boat, and the men jumped off. Heavily armored, solemn.

She backed up to let them pass, then stepped to the side as a few of the guys—Jake, Skeet, North, and Fraser—carried two large containers up the dock. They walked past her with a nod.

Warriors, just doing their job.

“Put them in the garage for now,” Pete said. “We’ll need to get them to a secure facility pronto.”

The men seemed strangely subdued, and it struck her as— “Is everything okay?”

Ham nodded. He wore black pants, black shirt, black vest, black hat, black war paint. The look gave her a cold shiver. But not as much as the stir of something she couldn’t name in his eyes.

Dodge brought the cigarette boat to the dock, and Ranger hopped out to secure the line.

Colt sat in the back of the boat, dressed like Ham. He looked up when he saw her. Blood trickled down his face.

And he wore a mask over his mouth and nose.

Oh . . . no . . . no. Everything inside her seized.

“Colt!” She took off toward him.

The arm that snaked around her belly just about took her out as Ham caught her, pulled her against his armor, swung her around. “Sorry, Tae. Not so fast.”

“Let me go!” She pushed at his arms, but he wasn’t budging. Instead, he dragged her down the dock, away from Colt, who now got out.

He stood away from her.

Ham brought her to the grass. Colt trailed behind Ranger and Dodge a good six feet.

Tae tried to untangle herself from Ham, everything inside her shredding. “What happened?”

Ranger had unzipped his wet suit, pulled the top down, and tied the arms around his waist to keep them from dangling.

Noemi ran into his arms. Ranger picked her up, holding her tight against him. Kissed her.

Tae turned back to Colt, her heart pounding, fighting not to do the same.

Colt had come off the dock, but Ham still had his arm around her.

“Let me go, Ham.”