The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance, Katherine Logan [freenovel24 .TXT] 📗

“Nothing to do now except rest.” David still wasn’t worried. Kenzie—code name Dead-Eye—was a top-notch warrior, and even though she spent most of her time in meetings or court, she kept up with her training. Except for JC disarming her recently, she hadn’t lost her edge in the field.

Cullen—code name Oregon—was an excellent tracker and hunter and was calm and levelheaded in a crisis. They had a combination of skills needed to get them back on course, although he didn’t believe they were lost. Their whereabouts were just unknown.

David closed his eyes and rested, and the next thing he knew, Robbie was shaking his shoulder. “It’s been an hour, Da. Mom still hasn’t called. Something’s wrong. We have to find her.”

David stretched. “We can’t leave, Robbie. She knows the CP location. She’ll get here.”

“You lost her before, and she almost got killed,” Robbie said with a tinge of fear in his voice.

Robbie’s accusation would have gotten anyone else a broken nose. “I haven’t lost her. She’ll be here. Let’s trust her.”

“How long do you plan to wait?” Robbie looked right into David’s soul and twisted it into a thousand knots.

“Yer mother’s a soldier, lad. She knows what she’s doing.”

“If you’d waited for her in London, she wouldn’t have come back,” Henry added. “You have to go find her, Da.”

David unfolded his map again. “Look. We’re here”—he pointed—“at the southernmost point of the islands. Muckle Flugga off the coast of Unst is the northernmost point. That’s a distance of seventy miles. The Shetland Islands cover an area of over five hundred and fifty square miles. Where do ye want to start looking?”

“You’re the miracle worker, Da. Tell us where to look, where to go.” Robbie folded his arms across his chest and glared at David with alternating expressions of fear and helplessness.

David rubbed his forehead. He had to stay patient with them. They’d never experienced being afraid for someone else’s life before. They’d learned patience and how to control emotions during times of crisis, but they’d never been fearful for someone they loved. They didn’t know how to handle that, and it would be easy for them to do something rash—like go off on their own to search for her.

“As soon as Pete and Connor get here, we’ll develop a search plan to find her and Cullen. Do not go off by yerselves. That would compound the problem. Yer job right now is to rest, to prepare”—he tapped his forehead—“up here.”

The twins returned to their spot to sulk, and David stared at the map, willing Kenzie’s position to pop up like a symbol on a radar display. He mentally placed all the teams on the map, looking for a missing piece.

“What’d the ship you saw look like?” Tavis asked.

“It wasn’t close enough to see. What should it look like?”

“If it’s ours, long and narrow with a shallow draft, a snake decorating the prow. It has one large, square sail and a steering oar at the stern. It left three weeks ago and could be on its way back.”

“Ye’re a trained sailor. Why didn’t ye go with them?” David asked.

“My fighting and strategic skills are needed here more than on a trading mission.”

Joseph’s watchful gaze moved from David to Tavis, and he looked up at his dad with curiosity. David knew then that Tavis’s real reason was fear of leaving his son behind, knowing that any minute Arne could order Tavis’s death. With Tavis out of the way, Arne would have control over Joseph.

“How many men does a longboat carry?” David asked.

“Forty oarsmen and one coxswain.”

If they had to fight forty Vikings—high-powered rifles vs. battle-axes—it would all be over in minutes unless hostages were involved. But the clan didn’t come here to kill off the settlement. They didn’t come here to die, either.

Remy picked up Tavis’s net with the dead birds. “How do you usually eat these?”

“Fresh, salted in brine, or smoked and dried,” Tavis said.

“I’ll just fry ’em up with some of my special seasonings.” He flicked his BIC lighter. “The wind is blowing out to sea, and the breeze will carry away the aroma. I don’t want any uninvited guests for dinner.”

“You going to cook?” Tavis asked.

“You know me. If I can’t watch basketball, I’d rather be cooking.”

Tavis laughed. “You’d rather be bangin’ your sticks or watching women’s curling than do anything else except cook some Cajun delicacy, and that includes sex.”

“What’s sex, Dad?”

“Well…” Tavis said.

“It’s when your parents kiss and hug each other,” Robbie said. “At least that’s what they told us when we were growing up.”

Henry teasingly tapped Joseph’s chin with his knuckles. “Don’t believe him. It’s one of the four big lies, along with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy.”

“Who are they?” Joseph asked.

“Ways to control kids’ behavior when they can’t think of any other way,” Robbie said.

“Well, you sure are cynical,” Ensley said. “I’m glad you weren’t around when I was growing up.”

“I don’t understand what they’re talking about, Dad.”

“For once, I’m glad, Joseph. Robbie and Henry are mad because they can’t go search for their mom.”

“If I could search for Mom, I’d go. I have my knife, and I would fight to protect her.”

“There you go, see?” Robbie said, glaring at David. “At least somebody around here understands how Henry and I feel.”

“Everybody knows how ye feel, lad,” Elliott said. “We also know we have a chain of command, and ye’re standing on the bottom rung. Ye’ll stay put until ye receive an order.”

Elliott did more in three sentences to curb the twins’ urges than David could have accomplished in an hour.

“Just before actor W. C. Fields’s death,” Austin said, “a friend visited Fields’s hospital room and was surprised to find him thumbing through a Bible. When the friend asked what Fields was doing with a Bible, Fields replied, ‘Lookin’ for the loopholes.’”

“So, what’s your point, cuz?” Henry mumbled.

“If you can’t search for Kenzie, what can you do? Where’s the loophole in what Grandpa said? What can you do from