The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance by Katherine Logan (comprehension books .TXT) 📗

eye, and David almost dropped his gaze to hide from the pain he saw there. “Three years.”

David’s stomach roiled. “Shit! We came as soon as we could.”

“I know,” Tavis said.

The Bairds were stuck for seven years in New Orleans in the early 1800s before anyone even knew they were missing. But the family knew about Tavis, so why was he stranded here so long? Another goddamn question for the Council. And if he heard “Wait till ye get to the other side” again, he’d punch them all out and rip Erik’s brooch out of their grubby, violent hands.

Yeah, he saw the irony there.

A child sleeping under a mylar blanket woke up and climbed onto Tavis’s lap.

“Who’s the lad?” David asked.

Tavis hugged him. “My son, Joseph.”

“I’m three,” Joseph said.

That shocked the shit out of David and added another layer of anger. Joseph wasn’t an adopted child. He was a miniature Tavis, and even in the lad, David recognized Erik’s features. But what pissed David off more than anything was the realization that Tavis had been to the settlement before the family met him in Gothenburg.

A boatload of questions pinged in David’s brain. He wouldn’t demand answers yet—but he would soon, and he’d get them.

“I look forward to meeting the woman who stole”—Ensley shot David a warning look, but he was too far into what he was saying to stop—“yer…heart.”

“She died.” Joseph rested his head on Tavis’s chest. “And so did my baby sister, Erin.”

David was a softie when it came to kids, and the loss Tavis and Joseph suffered was heartbreaking. “I’m sorry for yer loss.” Kenzie was much better at this than he was, and he wished she was here to take the lead on handling the situation. The best he could do was squeeze Tavis’s shoulder and pat Joseph’s.

Then he waited for a beat before looking around at his companions and saying, “Bring me up to speed.”

“We haven’t heard from anyone else,” Ensley said. “Tavis says a longboat arrived, and he heard battle sounds.”

David nodded. “I spotted a vessel, but it was some distance out, and nothing was happening on the beach. I did hear a horn but didn’t know if it was a warning or a welcome. It could be a warning that we’re here.”

“There’s a settlement south of us that has sent raiders up here before. But nothing has happened in the past year or so. Maybe they’re coming back,” Tavis said. “But someone could have seen us and passed along a warning to the Council.”

“When’d ye hear battle sounds?”

Tavis nodded toward Elliott. “Shortly before these guys arrived.”

“We need to find the other teams,” Elliott said. “It sounds like Tavis had a warning that trouble was coming, and David had a sighting. We have to assume the ship might be carrying the enemy. Let’s find the others and get the hell out of here.”

“This is the meeting point. Everyone is supposed to gather here. We shouldn’t leave.” Ensley opened her map and pointed to their location. “Where did you land, David?”

He pointed to where he landed. “I skirted the settlement and came in behind it. Didn’t even see any locals.”

A call came in on their handheld radios. “Command Post, this is Six Bravo,” Connor said.

“This is Six Alpha,” David said. “I’m with Six at CP. We have the package. I need a sitrep.”

“We’re a couple of miles from CP. Traveling down the eastern side of the mainland. All members accounted for.”

“Be on the lookout for Dead-Eye, Oregon, and Six Charlie.”

“Over and out.”

“Seven missing souls,” Robbie said.

“Maybe Aunt Sophia wanted to sketch, and that’s slowed them down,” Henry said.

“Pete wouldn’t let her stop until we’re all together. If Six Bravo is two miles away, the rest could be even farther.”

“Mom and Uncle Cullen could be anywhere,” Robbie said.

“Why’d we get scattered around?” Henry asked.

“To slow us down,” David said.

“For what reason?” Robbie asked.

“They’ve got us outnumbered, but our weapons give us the advantage. What better way to change the odds than to separate us? Our superior force could take Erik’s brooch and any others they have. Once we have Erik’s brooch, we’ll have the power,” David said.

“But they must have known we’d come for Tavis,” Henry said. “They should have a plan.”

“Last time we met with the Council, there were only five of us,” David said. “Maybe they thought we would come with another small contingent they could control. What do ye think, Tavis?”

“If they planned to separate us, then that implies the Council has control over the brooches and caused the separation to begin with,” Tavis said. “I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, they have more power than even I thought they had.”

“So instead of brooch gods, there’s only the Council pulling strings? That reminds me of the ‘man behind the curtain.’ I don’t like them having that much power, and honestly, I don’t want us to have it, either,” Kevin said.

“Where is Erik’s brooch now?” Elliott asked.

“I surrendered it to Arne as soon as I arrived. If I hadn’t done it voluntarily, he would have taken it by force and probably thrown me on Erik’s funeral pyre. Then he gave me a seat on the Council but didn’t share any information about the brooches. Every question I asked went unanswered.

“He didn’t come right out and say it,” Tavis continued, “but I got the impression I was only there temporarily, and once Joseph was old enough, I’d get booted to the curb. Arne knew I didn’t want to be here. He told me I could take his daughter, Astrid, and we could leave, but we couldn’t take Joseph. That was a nonstarter.”

Another call came in. “CP, Six Charlie is three miles north on the west side of the island. I’ve been trying to call, but the high cliffs were interfering with the signal.”

“Do ye have yer entire team?”

“All accounted for,” Pete said.

“All teams have reported in, but Dead-Eye and Oregon are MIA. We’re at CP and have the package.”

“See you in an hour.