* * *

Nate cut off the engine about a half a mile from where he needed to be. He had no intention of walking into an ambush. What Zane didn’t seem to understand was that he had no intention of losing either of the most important people in his life. He needed Callie, and he needed Zane, and he wasn’t willing to let either of them die.

His hand curled around the gun he carried. “Stef, you take the long way around. I want you coming up on their backs. If they’re where they say they are, Zane and I are going to come out of the forest in front of them.”

Nate was watching Stef through the rearview mirror. His jaw tightened. “I won’t let them hurt, Callie.”

Zane turned quickly. “They won’t get the chance.”

“They won’t.” Nate wouldn’t let it happen. He wouldn’t even allow himself to think about it happening. “We’re going to have them in a circle. If I can’t take them out, the Harpers will. If you get a decent shot, you take it.”

Stef slid out of the car and into the woods like a wraith. Zane held his rifle to his chest.

“Let’s go,” Nate said. “You stay close to me.”

Nate got out of the car. He let his mind roam and remembered everything about the day he and Callie had come here. The place where he was supposed to go was just inside the clearing. If he and Zane were quiet, they should be able to sneak up on them.

There was the loud report of a rifle, and Nate felt his heart speed up. Zane took off, and Nate ran to keep up. He pumped his legs, adrenaline flowing through his body. There was another shot, this one sounded like a handgun. Had Max and Rye already made it into position? Why would they have started shooting without the signal? Callie. They would have started shooting to save Callie. Nate forced himself to go cold, to push the panic and terror that threatened to engulf him down. A fleeting image of Callie’s body on the ground flashed across his mind, but he pushed that down, too. He couldn’t afford to panic, and he couldn’t let Zane panic, either. He pushed himself, trying to keep up with Zane, but the big bastard was fast and had longer legs.

“Damn it, Zane, stop.” He tried to keep his voice down, but Zane either didn’t hear him or ignored him. Desperate, Nate launched himself at Zane and tackled him, pulling him to the ground. “Calm down.”

“She could be dead right now.” Zane’s low whisper sounded tortured.

“You think I don’t know that?” God, he was right back where he’d been that day when the Barbarians had Zane. His heart hurt, but he was going to do the same thing he’d done that day. He would have done anything to spare Zane the pain, but he would rather have Zane hurt than dead. Whatever they had done to Callie, he and Zane would heal her. And if those bastards had killed her, then it didn’t matter. His badge would mean nothing. He would kill them, and slowly. “We follow the plan. Any deviation could mean her life. We have no idea what we’re going into. Please trust me, Zane.”

Zane got to his knees. In the gloom of the forest, Nate could see Zane’s nod. “All right, Nate. This is your show.”

Nate got to his feet. He leaned down and helped Zane up. “You go left and stay in the trees. I’m going out to the right. When we get sight of them, we’re going to surround them. Once we’re all in place, they won’t have anywhere to go. We’ll take ‘em out from the high positions if they won’t give up Callie.”

Zane’s eyes suddenly went wide, and his gun came up.

Something cold and hard pressed into the back of Nate’s skull.

“Or we could just have it out here and now, Wright. Drop the weapon.” There was a nasty lilt to Worthington’s voice as he put a hand on Nate’s shirt.

Nate ran through a hundred possibilities. None of them worked. They all ended in his head getting blown off his body. He let the rifle fall out of his hands.

“If you want to live, I would let him go.” Zane was much calmer now, to Nate’s everlasting gratitude. His training seemed to have come back on line. Zane had been a damn fine agent, despite the fact it didn’t come naturally to him.

Nate let his eyes search the woods in front of him. He glanced behind Zane’s back, praying he didn’t see Leander walking out from the trees. So far the woods were quiet, with the exception of the tense standoff they were in. Where had those shots come from? Rifles weren’t standard issue DEA weapons. Nate doubted either of the agents was using a rifle. That meant someone else was out there, or had been.

“Where’s Callie?” Nate asked.

“Leander has her.” There was the slightest tremble in his voice that scared the shit out of Nate. If Leander didn’t actually have her, what had happened? “If you want her to live, you’ll put down that fucking gun, Hollister.”

Zane shook his head. “I need proof of life, asshole. You’ll forgive me if I don’t take your word for it. You produce her, and I’ll think about not taking your head off.”

Nate kept his voice calm, even as his heart raced. “You better listen to him. He’ll let you kill me, you know. He’s still mad because I left him in El Paso. Now that he knows you’re the one who gave him up, I think he just might rather have his revenge on you. Producing Callie is the only thing that will keep you alive.”

Nate’s heart nearly stopped as Leander came out of the forest behind Zane. Then he got a look at the agent’s face. It was stark white, and his hands were empty and in the air. Stefan Talbot was behind him.

“I caught your friend,” Stef said. “You’re about to be surrounded. Give up your weapon, or I’ll blow his head off.”

Calmly, Worthington pulled Nate close, lifted his gun, and fired. The report nearly took Nate’s ear off. His head rang as Leander’s body slumped forward. He looked down at the hole in his chest, and then the light in his eyes died.

Worthington’s hold on his shirt became vicious. “I never meant to leave that idiot alive. He’s served his purpose. And I don’t buy the crap you’re selling, Sheriff. Hollister would never hurt his fuck buddy. He ‘loves’ you. Bunch of queers. Now here’s how it’s going to go down. Hollister, you’ll put the rifle down, and so will that other asshole. You’ll let your friend there cuff you and put you in the trunk of my car, then you and me and Wright will take a ride. Otherwise, I can just kill Wright now.”

“You kill him, and I kill you.” Zane held his position.

Worthington’s laughter was an ugly sound. “You won’t do anything to put him in danger. I saw the way the two of you were looking at each other in that pathetic excuse for a meeting. You would never hurt your partner. Now, put the gun down, Hollister, or I start taking your boy’s body parts off. I’ll start with his dick and see how you like that.”

Nate saw the instant Zane made up his mind. Zane’s hand tightened slightly on the trigger, and his eyes flared. Fuck, this was going to hurt. His body tensed.

“You don’t scare me at all, Worthington, and you never did.” Zane pulled the trigger. Nate felt his shoulder fly back as he and Worthington were pushed back and off balance. The bullet went straight through his left shoulder like a freaking arrow on fire. Nate hit the ground. It wasn’t more than a second or two before Zane was hauling him up. He turned to see that the bullet had struck Worthington in his shoulder. Nate groaned as his body started to shake. His left arm wouldn’t move.

Zane stood over Worthington. The agent panted and held his shoulder. Blood was squeezing out from between his fingers, but the asshole would live. Zane had his rifle pointed straight at Worthington’s head.

“Nate can handle a little pain.” Zane looked fierce in the dim light. Stef came to stand beside him. “Tell me where Callie is, or Stef and I will start filling you full of bullets. I am inclined to let you live now that I really think about it. I think Ellis might have a few things to say to you when you hit the prison system, and I am really looking forward to your execution for killing a federal agent, but if you don’t tell me where my wife is, I’ll make sure you go out real slow.”

“She’s alive,” Worthington replied quickly. “She got away.”

Zane’s sigh of relief mirrored Nate’s. He nodded shortly and turned to Stef. “Call it in. We need at least one ambulance. Tell Stella to call Del Norte for backup. Nate, you got some cuffs on you?”

Nate leaned back against a tree and then thought better of it when every nerve on his left side sparked to painful life. “On the right-hand side of my belt.” He gingerly moved aside his jacket to give Zane a chance to get the cuffs. He really hoped that ambulance got here soon and brought large amounts of pain killers with it. Getting shot fucking hurt.

“There they are.”

Nate turned his head quickly. The Harper twins were coming up from behind them and Callie, thank God, was with them. She had a shotgun in her hand and was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

“What happened? Is everyone all right?” Callie rushed toward them.

“Looks like we missed all the fun, Rye.” Max Harper slung his rifle over his shoulder. “Sheriff, we found Callie holed up with Mel in a sniper position. Nell’s not going to let Callie into her pacifist club anymore. Logan is helping Mel down. He took a bullet to the thigh. We’ll have to make sure the doc who works on him is fully human. Looks like you could use a doc, too, Sheriff.”

“Oh, Nate.” Callie stared at his shoulder.

“Yeah, maybe it’s time I found this town a doctor,” Stefan mused.

Nate turned just in time to see Worthington reach behind his back with his good hand. He started to shout a warning, but Zane was turning to cuff the agent. Nate tried to get between Zane and the bullet Worthington was about to put into him. He wasn’t thinking, just running on pure instinct. He saw a flash of metal and then there was a horrible blast.