Wallace slumped into a chair. “Where are the kids?”

“In bed.” He hadn’t noticed? They’d been asleep more than an hour, but it hadn’t been easy to get them settled down. They didn’t understand why they’d been carted off in the middle of the night. Mia had had an earache—hence, the whining. Her complaints had upset Jake and made him cranky, as well.

“Maybe after a few years I can go back,” she said.

“You’d be a fool to take that chance.”

But she’d already started over and she liked Colorado.

The fact that her mother wouldn’t be able to contact her was actually a relief. The same held true for her ex-husband, who’d threatened her numerous times even after his stint in jail and had only calmed down in the past few months, since he got a new girlfriend. But there were other people. People she’d miss. Melanie at work was one example. She’d been a good friend.

“Do you think they got to Virgil?” she asked. “Do you think he’s dead?”

Wallace stared up at her. “You know what I think.”

He’d explained Virgil’s gang ties. She hadn’t wanted to believe him, but she knew in her heart that what he said was true. Virgil had been so angry in the early years. He’d been determined to rail against the system any way he could.

None of that had helped his cause, of course. It’d only made things worse.

“He didn’t run off.” She’d said that before but Wallace didn’t believe her. “He’d never abandon me.”

“If he’s returned to The Crew and made nice, he’d have no reason to fear for your safety.”

“But he wouldn’t be free. Not really. He must want to get out, away from them, like he told you, or he wouldn’t be doing this.”

Skepticism etched a deep frown in his face. “He’s loyal, isn’t he?”

“To a fault,” she responded.

“Exactly my point. These guys, probably even the one with the firearm, are as much family to him as you are. Could be he’s decided he can’t live without them. It’s a cold world with no friends.”

She was lonely herself. They had only each other, which was why he had to be okay. “He’s got me,” she said, stubbornly refusing to doubt. “He’ll always have me. And he’s tired of fighting.”

“Why would he be tired of it? That’s all he’s ever known.”

“He never fought unless he was attacked.”

Wallace didn’t seem to care that he was upsetting her. He was just as worried, just as agitated. “When you’re the man everyone else wants to knock off the top of the heap, you become a target. But he did more than protect himself. He made all comers pay.”

She folded her arms to shield herself against his negativity as well as the cold. According to what Wallace had said on the way into town, Gunnison saw the sun almost every day of the year, yet it occasionally had some of the lowest temperatures in the nation. Today felt like one of those days. “Then that’s what he had to do. Anyway, if he made a deal with you, he’ll keep it.”

Wallace checked his cell phone for messages before setting it on the table beside him. “We’ll see, won’t we? He’s not in his motel room. There’s got to be a reason.”

Wringing her hands, she made another pass around the room. “The Crew must’ve found him.”

“They couldn’t find him, not unless he called them. It’s not as if they have high-tech equipment like the FBI, for God’s sake.”

She pivoted to face him. “And yet the FBI can’t stop The Crew.”

He opened his mouth, apparently prepared to continue arguing, when his phone rang. Grabbing it off the table, he jumped to his feet. “Hello?…There you are! Where the hell have you been?…In the middle of the night?…No, she’s fine. The Crew’s been watching her, following her, but I got her and the kids out without being seen…. I’m sure of it…. Because she’s been dying to talk to you…. Just a minute.” Looking relieved, he handed her the phone. “It’s your brother.”

Laurel’s heart raced as she pressed Wallace’s cell phone to her ear. She’d been so terrified that Virgil had been kidnapped or killed. A surge of gratitude swept through her; at the same time she tensed with the knowledge that the worst could still happen. “Virgil?”

“Laurel, you okay?”

The tears she’d been holding back streamed down her face. Reluctant to let Wallace see her fall apart, she took her usual place by the window and stared out at the street. “I’m alive. I guess that means I’m okay.” She made an effort to control the trembling in her voice. “What’s going on? I’ve been so worried about you!”

“I’m sorry.”

The regret in those words made it difficult for her to blame him. He’d been through so much.

“I knew this would be hard on you,” he went on. “But you have to trust me. There’s no other way.”

“When will I see you?”

“I don’t know. As soon as I can fulfill my assignment.” What, exactly, was his “assignment”? Wallace had been vague about that. He’d said Virgil was helping the government take down a dangerous gang, a different gang than the one to which he’d belonged. But Laurel couldn’t imagine one man being so instrumental in that kind of undertaking. Besides, the government couldn’t need him more than she did. She’d waited so long. “Are we talking days or…”

“Most likely months.”

“No, Virgil, please! Don’t do this.”

“Listen to me. There’s no better alternative. And that means you have to soldier on. I need to know you’re safe and well. Do you understand?”

She wiped her cheeks. “But…months?”

“Whatever it takes to set us free.”

He was determined. She heard it in his voice. “Fine. Then where are you? We’ll come there so we can at least visit you.”

“They’re putting me back in prison, Laurel, and you can’t come anywhere close.”

But that wasn’t fair! He’d just been released.

For a moment, she was tempted to strike out at Wallace. He seemed the perfect person to blame, but he was also the man who was trying to keep her safe. She didn’t know what to do. “The nightmare is supposed to be over,” she said. “When will it be over?”

“Someday, okay? Be strong. It’ll be easier on me if I know you’re bearing up under the weight of all this.”

Bearing up? She felt as if she was drowning in disappointment and fear and uncertainty. She’d been regularly beaten by the stepfather her uncle had shot. When her mother received the life insurance money and gave Gary almost half instead of hiring a better lawyer for Virgil, she’d run away. She’d been sixteen and survived on the streets for nearly two years, trying to scratch out a living. Then she’d married a man who’d turned out to be as abusive as her late stepfather. Through it all, she’d fought like crazy to save her brother, to hang on to her sanity and, later, to provide for the emotional and physical needs of her children. How could she continue to bear up when she was so tired?

And yet she couldn’t put her brother through any more than he’d already suffered….

Sliding down the wall to sit against it, she covered her face and struggled to rein in her emotions. “I’ll do what I can.”

“That’s it. I’m proud of you, Laurel.”

“This man I’m with…Rick Wallace. Can I trust him?” She felt Wallace’s eyes boring into the top of her bowed head, knew she wasn’t being polite by talking about him while he was in the room. But she didn’t care. She’d been pushed into survival mode, was well beyond observing common courtesies.

“He’ll take care of you as long as I’m giving him the incentive to do so. If that changes…if something happens to me…you might need to take Mia and Jake and strike out on your own. In that case, go several states away or to the East Coast. If I’m out of the picture, I doubt The Crew will bother with you. But I’ve managed to piss off some very determined people. Don’t take any chances.”

Resting her forehead on her arms, she shut her eyes. How could she start over again? Where would she find the money? She’d never had the opportunity to go to college. Since following Virgil to Colorado, she’d barely eked out a living working at the hospital. When Tom didn’t pay his child support, which seemed like every other month, she could hardly afford groceries. And now that he couldn’t know where they were, even his contribution would be gone.