Page 310 of Allegiance

A Back Road

Into The Swamp

They followed for a full hour. When it got too tricky, they let the trackers do the work. The ones the men had swallowed had kicked on thirty minutes ago, and they were able to regroup.

The first thing they did was dump two of the cars for Maura’s blacked-out Navigator.

Now, they were moving closer to the target.

“Everyone get your gear ready,” Maura said, already wearing hers.

They had to move carefully from here on out. There were not only the lives of the men in danger, but now theirs, too, and two of them were pregnant.

“I’m good,” Eve said. “I swear to God, if anyone damages my husband, I’m fucking them up.”

“Same,” Maura said.

“I’ll hold them down for you both,” Jinx offered in solidarity.

As they drove, Maura heard something. It sounded like a sniffle. In fact, they all heard it.

Eve slowly pulled her gun, and so did Jinx. They moved toward the back of the Navigator, silently climbing over the seats.

That’s when Maura threw on the lights.

And Violet popped up.

“Hey! Can I come with you?” she asked, already with them and having the worst timing ever.

“VIOLET!” Eve said, completely caught off guard by seeing her sixteen-year-old daughter there. “Are you insane?” she asked.

The girl’s eyes got huge.

Eve had never yelled at her before.

“I’m sorry, Mom! I was worried about Dakota, and I overheard your plans. I wanted to help.”

Maura was tracking the men, and they were no longer moving. Unfortunately, they couldn’t dilly dally.

There was no time to get Violet back to the house.

If they wasted a single second, someone was going to be tortured.

“Oh, Jesus,” Jinx said. “We have a teenager on an operation, Mar!”

She shook her head.

“She’s going to have to stay here. There’s nothing we can do. We have the location. They’ll start torturing them soon. We have to move.”

Eve pointed at her daughter.

“YOU. ARE. GROUNDED.”

Her lip quivered.

“He’s my Dad. I just got him. I can’t let him get hurt. Then the baby won’t have a dad and that sucks. Plus, if you’re a Hunter, and so is he, then I am too!”

Jesus.