Page 29 of Isla by Any Other Name

Mitch greeted Jax, then got to business. “Jax, this is it. The standoff. Can you and your team patrol the town, as well as the south and north areas on the road leading to the compound? The first place they’re going to go is my family’s cabin, three miles south of the compound. We know they have that address. They’ll go there first. Unless someone in town tells them about the compound. As far as I know, only a few locals know about this place. Curt hasn’t broadcasted his intent here as of yet, about it being a training center. If we can get a heads-up when they’re on the way, we can take them down at the cabin and no one will be the wiser that Molly is here. My boss is sending us eight agents. ETA is four hours. We can’t take the chance that something isn’t going to go down before that.”

Jax nodded. “Not a problem, Mitch. Just a thought before we go—have you thought about a possible drone flying over the compound?”

“That’s a good point, Jax. I’ll instruct my guys to shoot down any drone they might encounter, and you do the same with your team. Are we all on the same page?”

“We are. I’ll get Kip up to town. If these hitmen come into town, they’ll probably go to the diner for information and maybe the gas station. Kip knows everyone in town, so he can be nonchalant about asking questions. I’ll take watch over the north side of the compound and Nick and Sledge, you two take the south end. Sledge, position yourself one mile from Mitch’s place and Nick, I want you a quarter of a mile from his driveway. Let’s be ready for anything. I’d like to keep this as far away from the compound as possible. We don’t want to show our cards just yet. Let’s go team, let’s get this done. It could be a long few days.”

Mitch knew that Jax was right about that.

Mitch went up the stairs to talk to Isla. He didn’t want to alarm her, but she needed to know what was going on. He needed to prepare her for just about anything.

As soon as he got to the top step, Isla was in the kitchen with her hands on her hips.

“What the hell’s going on, Mitch?” she asked, fire in her eyes. “And don’t tell me nothing. I’m not stupid.” He knew that she wasn’t angry at him—that it was her fear speaking.

Mitch walked over to the table and pulled out a chair. “Have a seat.”

Isla walked over to the table and sat down. Fear filled her eyes. “Are my parents okay, Mitch? Tell me they’re okay!”

“They’re fine, sweetheart,” Mitch said, covering her hand with his. “Our supervisor has informed us that Hernandez’s goons have gotten ahold of the address to my family’s cabin. They also found the leak we knew about. However, we can’t take it for granted that they haven’t found the compound. The Bureau is sending in reinforcements. I don’t want you to worry. If we can keep this at the cabin, we will, but I want you to be prepared for anything. I want you in the safe room at the first sign of trouble.”

“I’ll do whatever you say,” said Isla. “You know I will.”

“I don’t want you to worry,” Mitch said, squeezing her hand.

“How can I not worry? I don’t want any of you to get hurt because of me. I just want this whole thing to be over.”

“And it will be if we can get this done. Hernandez will never see the light of day when this is all over. I guarantee it.”

Dirk and Max walked upstairs. Mitch dropped Isla’s hand before they reached the top step. Dirk came over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Molly, we’ve got your back.”

Max smiled reassuringly. “Yeah, Molly, we’re here for you. We’ll keep you safe. We promise.”

Now tears streamed down her face. “Promise me you guys won’t do anything that will endanger your lives. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if anything happened to any of you.”

They promised—but she knew they didn’t mean it.

Isla made lunch for everyone. She didn’t know what else she could do. She made bag lunches for the guys on patrol. Mitch came by to grab a bag lunch.

“When are you leaving for the cabin?” Isla asked, trying not to cry again.

“As soon as the reinforcements get here,” said Mitch. “I need to brief them and then we’ll be on our way to check things there.”

“I’ve made food for all of you. I know there’s nothing at the cabin. God only knows how long you’ll be there. It could be hours or days.”

“Right now, we’re just checking things out at the cabin. I want to make sure it’s secured. I plan on spending Thanksgiving tomorrow with the best cook I know. You haven’t been working for days on our feast for it all to go to waste. Besides, I need my popovers.” Mitch chuckled.

“I’ll bake you popovers every day of the week if you want. Just don’t get hurt.” Isla grinned at him. “I kind of like you, you know.”

“I’m holding you to that,” he chuckled.

“Done,” she promised.

Chapter seventeen

After a sleepless night, Isla went downstairs and put the coffee on. She put two dozen eggs and four pounds of bacon on the counter. She’d keep it simple today. It was Thanksgiving Day—she had a lot to do to put dinner on the table by three.

Mitch and Max walked into the kitchen. Isla poured two cups of coffee and handed the mugs to them.