Page 35 of Saving Their Forever

My rage boils over. It takes everything in me not to swipe the phone from West’s hand. Ramin switches the video so his face appears on the screen. He looks almost…sorry. “I did not know, McCabe. I give you my word. My cousin, Hadi, has some medical training. He will stay with her until you arrive. The moment you are secured next to Holloway and Richards, Hadi will take her to the hospital. It is only a twenty-minute drive. She will not be harmed.”

I can still hear Wren crying in the background, begging me not to come. “The cameras…they had to know!”

The metal door slams shut. Ramin’s expression turns lethal. “Twenty minutes, McCabe. Go through the gates and follow the path to the first gun turret. We will be watching.”

The call cuts off, and I sink to my knees. “She’s been alone for hours. In labor.”

No one says a word. West stares me down, equal parts fire and ice in his blue eyes. The rest of them just look guilty. “You fucking knew?”

“Whoever sent Zephyr the video of Dax and Rip sent a short one of Wren too,” West says.

“And you kept it from me?” Pushing to my feet, I advance on him. The SEAL doesn’t back down. “You don’t get to decide what I do and do not need to know!”

“Yes, Ry. I do. I’m running this op.” He shoves me hard enough I take a step back. “Hell, I’m running every op for the foreseeable future. You brought me in because you knew what I could do. And how well I could do it. I’ve planned every fucking mission for three goddamn years, and we’ve all come home. Every time.”

“This is my wife!” I grab his arms and shove him back against the tree. “You had no right!”

He lowers his voice, the tone more lethal than I’ve ever heard. “I did. Because of this. Right here. We’re less than a hundred yards from the first camera, and you’re shouting loud enough to wake the dead. You want them to believe you’re alone? This isn’t the way to do it.”

I let him go, but I can’t find it in me to back away.

“Ry? He’s right,” Inara says. “You would have been out of your mind the whole flight. We still have to disable as many of their traps as we can and find a way to get you out of there before those idiots kill you. Any distraction could kill all of us. And Wren.”

“E tu, kid?” I ask, turning to stare at Graham.

His gaze flicks to the SEAL, then back to me. “You’ve always been the team’s rock, Ry. But this is your wife and baby. We all agreed we needed to get through as much of this op as we could before we told you.”

“Can we fight about this later?” This from Griff, who holds a small black box in his good hand. “We only have seventeen minutes to get into position. Just got confirmation the truck is waiting for you.”

“McCabe,” West says, his hands on his hips, “when everyone’s safe, you can tell me to fuck off. Or beat the shit out of me. I don’t care. But until this is over, I give the orders. Pick up your ruck and move your ass. We have family to rescue.”

He’s right. Wren needs me. My daughter needs me. I shoulder the heavy pack and meet his gaze. “On your six, frogman. Lead the way.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Ryker

The approach to the battery is a long road filled with potholes. The place has seen better days. Then again, so have I. “Heads up,” West says over comms. “Alpha Team is coming up on the laser grid now.”

“Who the fuck sets up a laser grid out here?” I mutter as I stride toward the rusty gates. “These fuckers go on a spending spree at Recon-R-Us?”

Graham chuckles. Inappropriate humor was not what I was going for.

“Any word from the mystery geek?” Trevor asks. “We’re five minutes from the safe zone, but it’d be a hell of a lot easier if we could drop right over the Battery.”

“I’ve tried everything to track them down,” Zephyr says. “The phone I hacked into earlier is off, so I’ve got nothing.”

I check my watch. Fuck. It’s 18:58, and we’re out of time. “I’m heading in. They’ll search me. And if they take me underground, even the backup comms unit in my boot won’t do me any good. I’m depending on you. All of you. Get to Wren. She’s your first priority. Your only priority.”

I’m almost a mile from my team. My family. About to willingly give up control of everything.

“We’ll get her out,” West says in my ear. “But then we’re coming for you, Dax, and Rip too. So don’t do anything stupid like get yourself killed. Keep them talking and stay alive.”

“Roger that.” I slide my Glock from its holster and dangle it by the barrel. Two steps through the gates, I trip the first laser sight. On purpose since I’m not supposed to know it’s there.

“Ramin!” I shout as I approach the abandoned gun turret. The mount is still there, rusty metal bolts half worn away.

“Drop your weapons,” a man says through some sort of loudspeaker. “All of them.”

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