Page 83 of Peace Under Fire

“It means one of our boys got shot protecting your ass, princess,” Grumpy snarled.

Mandy recoiled, her stomach twisting at the thought of someone taking a bullet for her. After a moment of stomach squirming dismay, she regrouped and squared her shoulders.

She’d known this was a possibility. She’d known the kind of men they’d be facing. And everyone on Tex’s team had known it as well. Nor were they helping her free of charge. They expected compensation—through Giulia and her ability to read minds. Everyone had known what they were getting into, including the jackass behind her.

“I like you a lot better when you’re out of it.” Mandy shot over her shoulder. “I should ask JoAnn to knock you out again.”

“Doesn’t look like she’s going to do much of anything for a while,” Grumpy drawled. A long pause followed. “She going to be okay?” The question was reluctant, as though it had been dragged from him against his will.

“I don’t know.” Her voice tightened.

“I didn’t ask her to heal me,” Grumpy said, sounding almost defensive.

It took Mandy a few seconds to realize Grumpy didn’t know what had caused JoAnn’s condition. How could he? He’d been asleep through the whole snowmobile ordeal. He obviously thought healing him had caused her to collapse.

She considered letting him off the guilt hook.

Nah.

The bastard deserved to wallow a little longer.

Jacob gave her a narrow-eyed look but didn’t clue his asshole-of-a-friend in on what had actually happened, either. Good call. The overgrown ape wouldn’t believe it anyway.

Instead, Jacob lifted the phone to his mouth. “Call Tex.”

A few rings followed, and then that charming southern drawl came on the line. “Brick? Been wondering—”

“It’s Squish,” Jacob said, then rattled off a quick rundown of their situation.

Mandy listened to Jacob’s side of the conversation. Something about evac, the airport, and Brick.

“Are we going to the jet?” she asked after Jacob hung up.

“For now.” His voice was grim. “Tex is arranging evac for team two. Once he’s got that squared away, he’ll hack into the airport security feed to make sure your cockroaches haven’t taken the jet.”

“What about the men team two took out?” Grumpy asked, his voice so close he had to be leaning over her seat’s backrest. “This will turn into a nightmare once the locals get involved.”

“No shit.” Jacob rubbed a tense hand down his tight face. “Tex says he’ll handle it.”

“Any chance they captured one of them for questioning?” Grumpy asked.

“Doesn’t sound like it.” Jacob sounded resigned. “Guess we’ll have to find the bastards the old-fashioned way.”

* * *

By the time Tex got back to him, a bird was already closing on Crusher’s location for immediate evac, and the snowstorm had backslid into something wetter, more like sleet.

Christ, Tex was something. The dude could pull favors from every neck of the world—including Sandpoint, Idaho.

According to the airport footage Tex had accessed, the jet was in the clear and still waiting for them. If Squish timed it right, they’d arrive on the tarmac at the same time as the helicopter carrying Brick and team two landed.

He fished the card the pilot had given him out of his coat pocket and called the number. The guy answered on the first ring and promised to have the plane ready to roll. The chopper was already on the ground, it’s rotors at a lethargic whirl, when Squish pulled the SUV through the open airport gate and rolled to a stop. He turned to Mandy. Her sister still hadn’t awakened.

“I’ll carry her onto the jet.” He studied Mandy’s pinched face. “You good to climb onboard yourself?”

“How soon can we get going?” she asked, sidestepping his question completely.

She was back to looking exhausted with a side of anxious.

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