Joe slung one of the bags over his shoulder and then bent to snag the straps of the two rifles he shouldered. They carried their gear to Joe’s truck and carefully placed it in the back before sliding into the cab to head the few miles down the lake to the compound.

CHAPTER 5

WHEN Joe and Swanny got to the compound, Nathan, Sam, Garrett and Ethan were already there. Swanny walked inside the war room and laid his gear on the floor next to the door. When he looked up at the others, he had to stifle a grin of amusement that would likely get his ass kicked if noticed.

Sam and Garrett were both holding their new babies. Well, not so new. They were a few months old now, but according to Joe, they were both in teething hell and had been giving their parents a lot of sleepless nights. Swanny could only guess the dads were giving their wives a breather and had hauled the infants to the impromptu meeting.

“The tykes keeping y’all up at night?” Joe asked with a grin he didn’t disguise.

Sam and Garrett shot him disgruntled looks and Garrett made a quick shhhh and waved his free hand to quiet the others.

“I just got her to sleep,” Garrett whispered. “She hasn’t slept the entire goddamn night!”

Ethan chuckled, which earned him another glare from Garrett.

“Welcome to parenthood,” Ethan said in a loud whisper. “I’m glad to say that we’re past that stage with the twins. They’re sleeping through the night completely now. Mason is even almost potty trained! Not bad for an almost-two-year-old.”

The proud note didn’t go unnoticed by the rest. Sam rolled his eyes and made a rude gesture with his free hand.

“If only your wives could see and hear all the profanity and gestures y’all are making,” Nathan drawled. “Sarah wouldn’t be happy to hear your cursing around Kelsey.”

“Fuck you,” Garrett said in a low voice.

Sam shifted his son in his grasp and then thrust him toward Ethan. “Here. Since you’re so adept at this now, you can hold Grant while I conduct this meeting.”

Ethan happily took the infant and immediately began cooing to the gurgling baby.

Joe, Nathan and Swanny all exchanged eye rolls since they were the only ones without kids. Nathan and Shea were in no hurry to add to the growing pile of kids the Kellys were accumulating, and Joe and Swanny showed no sign of settling down any time soon.

Still, Swanny couldn’t help the surge of envy as he surveyed the room of burly warriors, all making twits of themselves over their progeny. It was hard to imagine these men as the ultimate badasses when they were talking teething, babies and potty training. And yet they ran a tight operation. They were the best. And they employed the best.

Swanny had no false modesty when it came to his skills and abilities. He’d been good before he’d come to KGI, but KGI had made him better. He was at the top of his game, or at least he was getting there. He’d been a mere shell of himself when he’d returned from Afghanistan after months of imprisonment, starvation and torture.

But with the help of good friends, the Kelly family, the KGI organization as a whole, he’d put the pieces together again. At least the physical aspects. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be the same mentally. He still had nightmares. Or night terrors, since the dreams he had weren’t likely considered normal nightmares.

Most people didn’t have nightmares involving being carved up with a knife, stripped of their clothing and being held—and treated—like an animal. Hell, most animals were afforded better treatment than he’d received at the hands of his captors.

One day he’d make peace with it all. He hoped. And in the end, that was all he could do. Hang on to hope that his past didn’t forever rule or tarnish his future. Maybe he’d live with his demons forever. But at least he was becoming more adept at surviving them.

But he didn’t want to survive life. He wanted to live it. He’d die before ever becoming a victim again. Never again would he be stripped of his humanity, his very soul. When he thought back on the many times during captivity when he’d wanted to give up—had given up—it shamed him. Nathan had been stronger than Swanny, a fact that still bothered him after so many months. But never again. Nothing and no one would ever bring him that low again. It was a vow he’d made the moment their rescue had become reality and not just a seemingly impossible dream.

The door to the war room opened and Donovan strolled in unhurriedly, a smile on his face. As the newest brother to get hitched, he was in a perpetual good mood. Though Eve, his wife, hadn’t become pregnant, she had two younger siblings that lived with her and Van. Travis was sixteen and enrolled in the local high school while Cammie, Eve’s precious little sister, was now five years old and would be starting kindergarten in the fall with Charlotte, Sam’s oldest child.

Donovan lifted one eyebrow when he saw the babies Ethan and Garrett were holding.

“Teething still?”

“Your day is coming, little brother,” Sam warned. “And don’t think you’ll get an ounce of sympathy from the rest of us when you and Eve have babies.”

Donovan grinned. “I’m looking forward to it. The kind of shit y’all bitch and moan about, I can’t wait for. But we are going to wait a while. Eve is still young and she’s been taking care of her brother and sister for a long time. I don’t want to saddle her with added responsibility for a while. We both want kids. Lots of them. But we have plenty of time and I want her, Cammie and Travis to myself for a while before we add to the family. I don’t want Cammie or Travis to ever think they come second to any children Eve and I have together.”

Joe made a sound of impatience. “Not that I don’t love all the domesticity that oozes from the walls, but we have a mission to focus on. Can we get on with it?”

“Spoken like a free man,” Ethan drawled.

Swanny too was growing impatient. The phone call from Sin was still weighing heavily on his mind, and like Joe, he was ready to get moving on this.

The door opened again and Edge and Skylar walked in, looking focused and ready.

“Okay, everyone’s here,” Joe said. “Let’s get started.”

“Going to tell us what’s up, or are you just absconding with a jet and taking off?” Sam asked dryly, subtly reminding them that though this was a family-run organization, he was still in command. Or rather he shared dual command with Garrett and Donovan, but for the most part, Sam ran the show, though he did include his brothers in all the decision making. Ethan was steadily coming into his own, but he had a lot of ground to make up, having only joined KGI when his wife, Rachel, had been rescued a few years earlier.

Edge and Skylar moved to the planning table where the others were gathered, but not before Skylar stopped to coo at Grant, who was still in Ethan’s arms.

“Here, hand the little guy back to Sam so we can start planning,” Ethan said, handing the baby to Skylar. “I think it’s time for a diaper change and I’ve paid my dues in that department.”

There were simultaneous looks of amusement—from the men who had children—and something akin to horror from the men who didn’t.

Skylar didn’t seem at all bothered by the prospect of a soiled diaper. She reached to take him from Ethan and bounced him gently in her arms before finally passing him back to Sam.

“He’s adorable, Sam. And he looks so much like you! It’s weird looking at your children because Charlotte is an exact replica of Sophie, and Grant looks exactly like you,” Skylar mused. “You’ve totally got a Mini-Me!”

“Poor kid,” Nathan muttered.

“Hello? Mission time?” Joe said in exasperation.