"I know." She gulped down fear at what they'd do to his spine. Gingerly, she grasped Matt's deployed chip with two fingers and lifted it to the light. One way and then the other.

Matt appeared at her side. "What?"

She peered closer, and fire bloomed in her stomach. Nerves set to life. She gasped. "Look. There's an indent in one end."

Jory took it and studied the chip. "I'll be d.a.m.ned."

Matt grabbed one of the other bowls. "An indent? Oh G.o.d."

She nodded. "Yes. We can't connect wirelessly, but there's a port built into the device. Just like any electrical device. Phone, camera, you name it. We can connect manually." Hope filled her chest. They could do this.

Jory shook his head. "We don't have the right cord. We can't even see inside to find the right configuration."

They'd done a great job of building a cap to partially shield the port, so there was no way to get the configuration. s.a.d.i.s.tic b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.

Matt grabbed the chip, set it on the wood floor, and stomped on it. Then he picked it up. "Now we do."

Piper glanced over his shoulder. No, they didn't. Whatever the configuration inside the port was destroyed when the port was opened or exposed. "We can't create an attachment if we don't know what it needs to attach to-how many p.r.o.ngs should be there." They were so d.a.m.n close, she wanted to scream. Loud and with frustration.

Matt nodded. "You're right." He glanced at his watch, and in a microsecond, he turned into the formidable soldier she'd first thought him to be. "Here's the plan. We have one hour to detail an attack, one hour to say good-bye to loved ones, and then one hour to reach Utah. We fight with no mercy, get to the infirmary, and then we have approximately thirty minutes to take out the chip."

Piper's breath stopped. Plain and simple, she stopped breathing. "Thirty minutes?"

Matt nodded. "If we plug in, we only need a few seconds, right?"

Jory shook his head. "Absolutely not. We are not putting all of us right where the commander wants us. Not for me."

"We're going." Matt nodded to Shane and Nate. "Right?"

"Yes," Nate said.

"Abso-f.u.c.king-lutely," Shane said, determination filling his eyes.

Jory shook his head. "No. h.e.l.l, we don't even know where the correct cord is. There might not even be one."

"Oh, there is one." Matt turned and loped toward the stairs. "You know the commander has one somewhere."

"He won't tell us where it is," Jory argued.

Matt turned back, all semblance of the good-natured brother gone. "Oh. He f.u.c.king will."

Piper shivered at the tone and backed away a step.

Nate and Shane followed Matt up the stairs, leaving Jory and Piper alone.

She reached out and ran a hand down his arm. "You'd do the same for them," she said quietly.

"I know." He stared at the now empty stairwell, his chest vibrating. "But I can't let them go."

She was pretty sure nothing would stop them. "I'm going, too."

"h.e.l.l no." He turned on her, grabbing her arms. "No way."

"Yes." She leaned up and kissed his whiskered chin. "If you're on the table, I'm needed on the computer. Just in case. You know it."

He shook his head. "I won't put you in danger like that."

"Thank you for caring." She recognized the order for what it covered. "But I'm needed." For once, she was going to give all for a man. One who might not even live through the next day. "I'm all in, Jory Dean."

The sc.r.a.pe of furniture over wood floors echoed down the staircase.

"d.a.m.n it." Jory took her hand and led the way upstairs to where Matt directed the boys in widening the table for several leaves and more chairs. It easily fit the fourteen people now in the room. Nate wheeled in an old-fashioned white board with markers.

Jory shook his head. "We are not doing this."

Matt focused on Chance, who was sitting between his brothers at the far end of the table. "We need the layout of the Utah compound."

Chance lifted his chin. "I'm going with you."

"No." Matt shook his head. "This mission is for brothers aged eighteen and over."

"You need me." Chance met his gaze head-on. "I know the place better than anybody."

The ex-senator reached out a gnarled hand and patted Chance's. "Just give the info to the boys. That'll be a big help."

Chance slowly turned his head to meet the senator's gaze. "Um, thanks, sir."

"Jim. Grandpop Jim." The senator patted his hand again. "I'm grandpop around here, so get used to it."

On the far side of Chance, Wade leaned over to see past his brother. "We've never had a grandpop." Hope filled his dazed eyes.

"Two." Earl spoke up from next to a tousled-looking Rachel. "The senator and I make a great team, and I'm a grandpop, too." He scrambled in his pocket and drew out several pieces of b.u.t.terscotch candy to push across the table. "See?"

Wade slowly nodded and then elbowed Chance in the ribs. Chance nodded, frowning. With a happy grin, Wade then took a piece of candy.

Jory cleared his throat. "I think I've lost control here. Listen, everybody-"

Rachel reached for a piece of candy. "I think I'm more of a Nana Rachel than a Grandma Rachel." She unwrapped a piece and focused on the kids. "What do you think?"

Kyle cleared his throat, his green eyes sizzling. "We get to stay?"

"Of course. We're family," Rachel said, glancing around the table for anybody to disagree.

Matt cleared his throat. "Listen up, gang. We're all family, and after we save Jory's as-I mean b.u.t.t, then we're staying put. Building houses, hanging out, doing normal family s.h.i.t people do. n.o.body is going anywhere else-and we'll live happily ever f.u.c.king after. Freaking. Happily freaking after."

Piper bit back a grin. The crude words said with such impatience settled the kids as nothing else could have. Wade took another piece of candy-this time without waiting for Chance's permission.

And that... that was family.

Kyle smiled at Rachel. "I like Nana Rachel."

Rachel clapped her hands. "Excellent. Nana Rachel it is. I paint, you know."

Audrey pushed back from the table, her hand clapping over her mouth. Nate was instantly by her side, helping her up. Turning, she ran for the back.

Rachel wrinkled her nose in a purely sympathetic gesture and stood. "Morning sickness sucks." She nodded at Jory. "Grab me a ginger ale, would you?"

Jory paused and then slowly, deliberately opened the fridge and fetched a soda can to hand to Rachel. With a murmured "thanks," she hustled out of the room.

Earl stood. "I'll go help."

The senator stood. "I should probably help, too. She likes people to make her laugh when she's down, so we should be funny."

The two men disappeared down the hallway.

Piper tried to enjoy the moment, but so much tension emanated from her lover that she found it difficult to breathe.

Jory cleared his throat. "Matt? I'd like to speak with you and Shane. Alone."

Matt turned. "Let's go back downstairs and plan. I'm not sure how, but I believe I've lost control of this briefing." He leaned down and planted a loud kiss on Laney's mouth. "I'll be back up in forty-five minutes to fight with you about your going into the battlefield. By the way. You're not." He pivoted and headed downstairs.

Piper opened her mouth to speak, and one look from Jory froze the words on her tongue. Scary, bada.s.s soldier back in serious form.

"Give me forty-five minutes," he asked. Well. He kind of asked.

"Fine." She turned to Josie and the boys. "How about we dish up something interesting for dinner?"

Wade's eyes widened. "I'm always hungry."

Jory gave her a half hug. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

CHAPTER.

27.

JORY WAITED UNTIL Nate joined them downstairs in the computer room, carrying the white board. They sat in top-of-the-line leather chairs, the four of them, everyone quiet.

Matt leaned forward. "Go ahead."

"I can't ask you to risk your lives. To give up what you've found." Jory shook his head. "It's too much-" He paused. With his senses, he could hear a heartbeat on the stairs.

Matt turned his head toward the sound. "Chance? If you're going to join us, do it. Please."

Chance loped down the stairs. "I, ah, thought I should join in." He kept his chin up and his voice level, but his heart beat hard enough Jory wanted to wince.

Matt kicked a chair the kid's way. "Have a seat."

Relief. It poured out of the kid. "I need to go on the mission. To end this. Please."

Jory rubbed his chin. "n.o.body is going."

Nate set his elbows on his knees. "I have no problem knocking your a.s.s out and throwing you on a helicopter, Jory. Just let me know if that's the path here. If not, shut the h.e.l.l up and use that freaky brain to keep us safe."

"My brain isn't freaky," Jory muttered.

"We need you." Shane spoke softly and straight-up. "The last two years, not knowing if you were alive or dead." His voice cracked on the end. "We f.u.c.king need you."

He might as well have hit Jory in the chest with a sledgehammer. "No-" Jory began.

"Yes," Matt said quietly. "Growing up, you were the youngest brother, and I know that came with issues. We protected you, and I trained you until you must've hated me. I get it. You wanted to save us, to be a bada.s.s soldier like you think we were. But you already saved us, Jory. You definitely saved me-all through our childhood."

No, he hadn't. Jory shook his head.

"You did. Always made us laugh, always gave us something to hope for." Nate leaned toward him. "You hid your fears, and you hid your doubts. For us, you tried to be a kid. I get that, and I like that you're expressing yourself now. Probably because you found Piper."

A lump formed in Jory's throat. So big, he didn't think he'd ever swallow again. And Matt was right. He'd found himself because of Piper. "Right, and you have too much to lose now, Mattie, so I can't risk you."

Chance rubbed his eyes. "You guys always so girly?"

Jory burst out laughing. The tension dissipated. Matt shoved at Chance's chair, rolling him toward Nate. "Smart-a.s.s."

Chance grinned. Then he quickly sobered. "I know the layout of the facility, and I've studied the troops."

Jory smiled. Smart kid. He eyed his brothers. "I can't talk you out of going?"

They met his gaze levelly, n.o.body saying a word. Sometimes there just weren't any words. "All right." He sat back, knowing he couldn't talk them out of the mission. They were his brothers, and they never went in all alone. "We need a good plan, then."

Chance sighed. "Hate to beat a dead dog, or whatever that expression is, but five of us don't stand much of a chance against the commander's troops."

Jory nodded. "We've been out for five years."

"So?" Chance lifted a shoulder.

Matt scratched his chin. "If you would've gotten out, what would you have done?"

"Run hard and fast as far away from the place as I could." Hollow hopes and killed dreams rode the kid's strong words.