Page 57 of Mitch

Chapter Twenty-One

Mitch had never felt soafraid in his entire life, despair pitted in his belly, making him feel faint. Beside him, Will sat silently, his usually relaxed good humour vanished as Liam flew them, Jack, and Waggs home.

Home—a place he’d used to sleep until he’d met Autumn, then it had quickly become a place he treasured, a sanctuary he craved. Now Linton—no, from now on he was Allen, the boy he’d known as Linton no longer existed—had her and Maggie. His fist clenched against his thigh as he imagined what might be happening and hoped his imagination was worse than the truth.

When Aubrey had been shot, Will had lost it. Only Jack had been able to get through to him long enough to calm him down. The bond between the brothers was evident for every man to see as Jack, who was shaken himself took control, calling Fortis and having Zack and Daniel at the scene in minutes had eased Will’s frayed grasp on reality.

As they landed at the back of Eidolon, Mitch and Will were out of the chopper in seconds, running for the car park.

“I’ll drive.” Jack was opening the locks on the Range Rover as they jumped in and he floored it towards Fortis.

Zack had taken Aubrey there to be assessed by their private doctor once Daniel had triaged her injuries and determined that it was a flesh wound. Will had barely been mollified, threatening every man and his dog with death and pain.

When they got to Fortis fifteen minutes later, Will raced towards the medical room as Mitch walked behind him at a slower pace. He was concerned for Aubrey, but his worry for Autumn and Maggie overshadowed everything.

“How is she?” he asked as Nate moved down the hallway.

Nate stopped with his hands on his hips. “She’ll be fine. It was just a scratch. The shooter used a blank. We found the casing at that scene. Figured you’d want it cleaned up before the cops got there.”

“Thanks, Nate, appreciate it.”

“Anytime, I just hate that you’re going through this, worst fucking feeling in the world.”

“Yeah, you went through something similar with Skye.”

“Yep, I still have nightmares about it.” Nate slapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll get them back.”

Mitch nodded as Jack came out of the medical room and closed the door behind him.

“She really okay?”

“Yeah, she will be. My brother, not so much. I think he just lost ten years of his life.”

“I know how he feels.”

“We need to get back to Eidolon and find out what happened. I called Xander, who was watching the house, and he assures me Allen never left the property.”

Xander and his brothers ran a troubleshooting company. They went into a company and turned it around, oftentimes, buying it up. Xander Lawson had been in the SAS with Jack, his brothers in different branches of the military. They had done a few jobs for them before, but this was a favour.

“You sure you trust him?” Mitch had never doubted Xander or any of the Lawson brothers, but right now, his trust issues were at an all-time high.

“Yeah, he’d never turn, that man would cut off his own arm before he saw a woman or child hurt. He has a teenage daughter so he feels pretty strongly about this.”

Mitch nodded as he and Jack headed back to Eidolon, where he knew Liam would have already started working this case. He walked in and found maps spread out on the conference room desk.

“I think I know how he got out,” Liam said in greeting

Mitch moved swiftly to see the maps of Allen’s home. It was nothing like the home he’d grown up in and screamed affluence and middle-class. “How?”

“See this?” Liam pointed at a small section at the edge of the property.

Mitch leaned in close to get a better look. “What is it?”

“An underground decommissioned missile silo. It was sold off in the 1980s when the cold war ended. Allen’s property borders it here. Want to guess where it ends?”

“The Farm,” Mitch said excitement tinging his tone and adrenalin surged.

“Bingo. I spoke to Lopez, and he has Allen coming out of the A4179, close to the farm last night.”