“So Brynn shares Jim’s tent, huh?” The words tumbled out of Alex’s mouth, and he mentally kicked himself in the head. Not the way to find out more about Brynn. Without thinking, he’d rudely stuck his foot in his mouth. Real smooth.

Ryan’s eyes narrowed a bit. “It’s not like that. Jim’s wife and Brynn are really close. And she’s as good as married.”

“As good as married?” What’d that mean?

“She and Liam have been together for nearly two years.”

“Then why aren’t they married?”

Ryan paused, and Alex watched a flash of confusion cross his face. “Brynn’s not really the marrying kind,” he said slowly.

Alex raised a brow and waited. It’s none of my business.

But he wanted to know more.

The other man coughed and frowned. “That didn’t come out right. Her parents…well, her dad anyway…”

He was putting Ryan on the spot. Alex cut him off with a sharp hand gesture. “You don’t need to give some big explanation. That kind of complex commitment isn’t the right path for some people.”

Relief relaxed Ryan’s face. “That’s kinda what I meant. How about you? Are you married?” His eagerness to change the subject was obvious.

Alex shook his head and wryly twisted his lips. “Divorced. Commitment wasn’t the right path for her either.” “Sorry, man. That sucks.”

Alex nodded, deliberately dropping his gaze, and Ryan turned back to his own pack.

Their conversation over, Alex took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and concentrated on slowing his pounding heart. How long was he going to have withdrawal symptoms? They weren’t going to get worse, were they?

“I’ve got to get out there.” Liam’s honest face contorted as he ran a hand through his tightly cropped hair and paced in circles.

“You’re not flying in this weather.” Patrick placed a restraining hand on the pilot’s shoulder.

“You don’t even know where they are. They haven’t been able to check in. He might have done something…”

Patrick grabbed both Liam’s shoulders and turned him to stare eye to eye. “Done what? If Whittenhall is right and Kinton wants to get his hands on Besand, his best bet is going to be sticking with an experienced crew. He doesn’t know squat about getting around out there. He needs those guys to survive.”

“What about Brynn? Maybe he sees her as expendable?”

Patrick mentally rolled his eyes.

“Kinton’s not stupid.” Patrick thought back to their first meeting. He hadn’t met an unbalanced man. He’d met a determined one. A man with his wits about him. He was having a hard time reconciling the unstable image Whittenhall painted of Kinton with the resolute soldier he’d met that morning. Something in Patrick’s gut didn’t like Whittenhall. The marshal was shifty, pompous, and condescending. Maybe that was optimistically skewing Patrick’s view of Kinton.

But his gut was usually right. Usually.

“They need air support. They’re not going to stumble across a wreck in that forest. It’s the old needle in a haystack comparison,” Liam said.

“There might be a good window of weather tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Liam kicked at a rock, sending a splatter of mud over Patrick’s boots. Patrick bit his lip and ignored it because Liam was a good pilot who’d frequently helped Madison County with SAR, and he belonged to Brynn. But that didn’t mean Patrick had to hold Liam’s hand because he was rattled about his girlfriend’s safety.

“You need to stop stressing over Brynn and give her a little more credit. She’s tough and smart.”

Liam scowled, looking away.

“When she broke her collarbone in that rockslide last year she toughed it out. Finished the search even though she couldn’t move her arm. She’s pretty good at taking care of herself.”

Patrick decided not to mention the obnoxious fit of temper Liam had thrown when he’d found her in the hospital with her arm in a sling. Judging by Liam’s tight lips, he remembered clearly.

“No one’s going to let your unit fly today. You know that. Don’t try to make me out to be the bad guy. Your own CO won’t let you up today. Besides, it’s almost dark.”

Liam was silent, his head pointed in the direction of the trailhead as if he expected to see the team come traipsing back out. He muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Patrick leaned toward Liam, his neck stiffening at the rebellious look on the pilot’s face.

“I won’t be taking an Air Force bird out today.”

“That’s right.” He watched the young man closely. “Don’t get any ideas.”

“I gotta go.” Liam abruptly turned and jogged in the direction of his truck before Patrick could say another word.

Fuck. What was Liam going to do? Patrick silently repeated Liam’s words, No Air Force bird. Surely Liam didn’t know of a civilian crazy enough to try to fly in this weather. It’d be a death mission. Patrick mentally rattled through a list of local pilots with their own copters and caught his breath.

“Oh, shit.” He did know of one pilot crazy enough to try a stunt like that. Liam’s older brother, Tyrone, had his own helicopter.

He turned to shout after Liam, but his truck was already gone.

Patrick glanced at the dark sky, reassured that Liam wouldn’t be going anywhere tonight. He’d worry about the pilot tomorrow. Patrick’s watch beeped softly, and he cursed as he saw the time. The evening press conference was in ten minutes. He put Brynn’s boyfriend out of his mind and concentrated on what useless facts he could toss to the vultures with the microphones.