Three Mates for Judith Read Online Free PDF Page B

then they would come inside, exposing the building’s security. So, as soon as there was any hint of trouble, everyone who’d remained behind would have to return to their apartments and stay there, no matter what happened. Strangers wouldn’t have a digital code to open the stairwell doors or to use the elevator. And fire services and police could be held at bay because nothing would have happened inside the building.
    Damn. This was a whole new ball game and could end up even trickier than the damn cookout itself.
    As soon as Nahum returned, they sat together, planning and refining their plan to protect their warehouse home.
     
    * * * *
     
    Nahum was so tense that if someone touched him he was liable to explode. He’d gone over and over the plans to protect the warehouse with Travis and his team until he was certain they could follow the instructions he and Nelson had left them in their sleep. Then he’d done the same thing himself with his plans for protecting the Alpha and the women on the farm.
    The men Zebulun was sending would have the primary responsibility for Amory. He and his brothers had the two women as their chief care. But, to some extent, all the dangers overlapped. If someone came to attack, they wouldn’t necessarily know who was the primary target. Lutterworth wanted them all, so the guards would be the ones having to respond in an emergency.
    If there was trouble, he was to save Judith, Naftali was to save Cherise, and Nelson was to save the Alpha. But likely Zebulun’s men would be there to grab the Alpha, and most of the pack would help protect everyone. Although the mated men might put their own mates and children ahead of Judith and Cherise. That would be a logical response.
    But equally important was ensuring they caught Lutterworth. It was no use rounding up a handful of teenage boys. The judge would slap them on the wrist for trespassing, say, “Boys will be boys,” and they’d be back the next day to do it all again. The only way to keep the women safe ongoing was to catch Lutterworth doing something bad that he couldn’t wiggle out of responsibility for. Which translated to the problem that they had to let their Alpha be exposed to danger and the women as well. The criminal had to be able to see the bait.
    But that didn’t mean Nahum had to like it or stop worrying about it.
    He and his brothers arrived at Mrs. Lutterworth’s farm at six and spent the next three hours checking every inch of every building, shed, haystack, closet, and expanse of long grass. He was pretty sure the staff thought they were completely insane long before they pronounced themselves satisfied the area was safe. He only wished he’d had thirty more men and could have checked every inch of the land as well.
    When he pronounced the area secure, the housekeeper just looked at him, shook her gray head, and said, “Well, I did tell you that hours ago, dear. Everyone knows everyone out here. If anyone new was on our land, a dozen people would have told me long before you finished checking.”
    “Yes, ma’am. Very likely, ma’am. But I needed to be certain.”
    “I’m sure you boys will do your best to look after dear Cherise and Judith.”
    “Yes, ma’am, you have my promise on that.”
    Nahum was certain if he didn’t care for them properly the housekeeper would rap him over the knuckles with her wooden spoon. She’d looked at him as if he was about eight years old again.
    The helicopter arrived at exactly ten as scheduled. He’d thought helicopters were very noisy machines, and it certainly wasn’t silent, but it was nowhere near as loud as he’d expected. It looked shiny and new to his uneducated eye as well, so likely the newest models were quieter than the ones he’d seen on TV.
    It landed on the grass near the house, but Nahum wasn’t watching the machine. He was scanning the land all around, looking for any flicker of movement or a flash of light off a sniper scope. Two men hustled the women