Chapter Three

The name, Hoyt Cheffron, was one Ezra could have lived his entire life never hearing again. He took a deep breath and then pointed to Josh and Lainie. “They have a new alpha in their community,” he said as he turned toward his tent. “I’m sure he’ll be able to help you out. This one keeps saying they have empty cabins, so I’m sure you’ll be able to find a safe house.” He stopped before entering his tent, turned and looked over at Liam and Colton. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you. You shouldn’t have come.” He glanced down at the girl, his expression solemn. “Good luck to you.” And then, he dipped his head through the tent flap and disappeared inside, leaving the others to do whatever they decided to do.

“What the hell?” he heard Josh exclaim. “You suck at hospitality, do you know that?”

Ezra plopped down on his sleeping bag, hands behind his head as he listened in on their conversation. If he knew Liam and Colton, they wouldn’t just walk away. They’d try some of that psychology bullshit to get into his head, wanting to help him get past his issues and help that poor little girl out there. They didn’t understand, though. They should, but they couldn’t, because they remained with the Para-Force. Still, that little girl was better off without Ezra guarding her. They all were.

“Again, I ask, what’s happening here?” Lainie asked the newcomers. “I’m sure between the sheriff’s department and my brother, we can help you all out.”

Something sizzled in the fire, and then Ezra heard someone clanking around with his skillet. Soon, the smell of bacon filled the campsite. Who the hell is helping themselves to my food?

“We work for Para-Force,” Ezra heard Colton say. “We’re a special forces slash mercenary-type group hired out to catch the ones the FBI or local police have a hard time catching. We also do other gigs, like protection details, surveillance, whatever pays the bills really.”

“He only has one chair?” Liam asked. “Why the hell does he only have one chair?”

“And what brings you here with a little girl in tow?” Lainie asked, ignoring the question about the chair.

That one seems to be all business, Ezra thought. Probably makes a damn good deputy.

“He’s not the friendly sort if you hadn’t noticed,” Josh said. “He’s rude, too. Almost insufferable. People probably wouldn’t even last long enough around him to need a second chair.”

Now, that one is a jackass, Ezra thought with a growl. I didn’t invite any of them. They can stand for all I bloody care. Or sit on the ground.

“Erin, why don’t you help Liam make some breakfast?” Colton suggested. “Deputy, why don’t we take this conversation over here.”

Ezra could hear them moving around, closer to the side of his tent. He sighed as he shook his head. Colton wasn’t an idiot. He moved purposefully closer so Ezra could hear him. It’s still not going to work. I’m not risking that girl’s life by getting involved.

“He wasn’t always like this,” Liam said. “Why, I can tell you some stories about his partying days...”

Ezra tuned the man out as he focused on Colton and Lainie. Liam was just distracting the little girl, anyway, so she wouldn’t hear what Colton would say, which meant it must have been bad. Ezra took a deep breath. Of course, it’s bad. Hoyt’s involved.

“Para-Force has been chasing a child trafficker for a few months now,” Colton said, and Ezra could picture the stocky man standing there, arms over his chest as he read Lainie into their mission. “A couple of days ago, we discovered he held a young girl in his clutches and was about to sell her off to a Zachary Earnest, who’s now in our custody. We tracked him down to a small town near Brighton Cove. We set up, had the place under surveillance, our people in place to take him down, We almost had him, too.”

“You said your unit was compromised,” the deputy said. “You think Hoyt was tipped off?”

“I know he was,” Colton said, and Ezra could hear the man’s anger in his voice. “We kept the mission in-house. Only twelve people, at the most, knew. Hoyt didn’t know we were onto him until a few minutes before he was in our grasp. If he had known beforehand, he never would have appeared at the exchange site.”

“How’d you get the girl?” Lainie asked.

Yeah, how did you get the girl and miss Hoyt? Ezra leaned up on his elbow, staring at the side of the tent where he knew the other two stood on the other side, his brows furrowed with confusion.

“Two men guarded her while Hoyt approached the buyer alone,” Colton explained. “We managed to get her away from them, but lost Hoyt in the process.”

“Any chance he tracked you here?”

Good question. You’ve been compromised, remember? He probably bugged your damn office.

“Only Liam and I know she’s here,” Colton said. “Only one other person knows we’re here and that’s Julian, our boss. They’ll figure out who tipped Hoyt off while we keep Erin safe. There’s no doubt he’ll come after her since she can identify him.” Colton took a deep breath. “He killed the last girl when we got this close.”

“You know, for a man not interested, you sure do eavesdrop a lot,” Liam said as he eased into the tent, holding two plates loaded with bacon and eggs. He handed one to Ezra, a smirk on his face. “Your food, you might as well have some.”

Ezra turned, scowling, as he took the plate. “You left the little girl alone?”

“What do you care?” Liam shrugged as he sat on the tent floor. “Your friend seems to be entertaining her well enough.”

“He’s not my friend,” Ezra snapped as he bit into a piece of bacon.

“Oh, right, the whole brooding loner thing you have going on out here,“ Liam said, nodding. “How’s that going for you?”

“It was going great until a couple of days ago.” Ezra stared down into his plate. “These people just don’t give up.” He glanced up at Liam, a tightening in his chest. “You really shouldn’t have come here. I can’t help you. I can’t help her.”

Liam nodded, scooping up some of his eggs. “I get where you think that, but honestly, we have nowhere else to go.” He cocked his head to the side a bit as he studied the bulky man across from him. “You do know what happened wasn’t your fault, right? It was a tragedy, but the fault lies with Hoyt. You did everything you could to protect that little girl.”

Anguish gripped Ezra’s chest at the memory. “And I failed,” he whispered. “I won’t fail again because I’m not doing it. I won’t be the reason another little kid dies.”

“You weren’t the reason last time, you big grizzly.” Liam shook his head. “Ezra, you know what this job is like. We win some, and we lose some. Hopefully, we win more than we lose, but it doesn’t always work out that way. You can’t beat yourself up for it or else you won’t be able to save the next one.” He gestured outside the tent flap. “Erin Fletcher is the next one. She needs you because life stacked the cards against her. This is our chance to find out what happened last time, how Hoyt stays a step ahead of us.” Liam’s thin face twisted into a knot of rage. “That’s the part that should piss you off. That’s what you should want to know. Somehow, someone betrayed us. How? How did that bastard know we were coming? We have to find out, Ezra, and we need your help to do it.”

“I can’t,” Ezra said with a sad shake of his head.

“You can,” Liam snapped. “What you mean is, you won’t.” He tossed his plate onto the ground. “I never thought you’d turn your back on someone in need, especially a little child. You really are broken.”

Ezra watched as the slender man hurled himself off the tent floor and slid back out into the early Monday morning. He knew Liam tried to shame him into action, but Ezra couldn’t risk it. He wouldn’t risk it, not with another child’s life on the line. Para-Force was a great team; they’d figure it out without him.

“Deputy, you think your brother can spare a cabin for a few days?” Liam called out. “Just until the team catches Hoyt. We’re not getting any help here.”

“I’m sure of it,” Lainie said. “Come on, and I’ll introduce you to him and get you three settled. We’ll also figure out how best to help you protect this little girl. If Hoyt is coming, I want to make sure we have the place locked down.”

Ezra listened to the movement outside his tent, the footsteps stomping away. He knew his former teammates were annoyed with him, probably disgusted, too, but he couldn’t help it. There was just no way he would be the reason Hoyt killed another child. With a shake of his head, he reached over and picked up Liam’s fallen plate. Standing, he made his way outside, relieved the others had finally left him alone and hoping they all remained as far away from him as they could. He didn’t need visitors.

“So, what’s your deal?”

Ezra stopped on the outside of his tent and stared over at Josh sitting in his chair, eating his eggs and bacon.