Page 66 of Second Chance Serenity

Tears fill my eyes, but I wipe them away and stand, keeping the gun at the ready as Caleb creeps to the door. He keeps his back against the wall and offers me a nod before reaching for the handle. With a deep breath, he opens it.

Men dressed in black file in. One knocks the shotgun from Caleb’s hand and pins him to the wall, while three others fill the cabin. They scan the room, and thankfully, I hesitate to fire long enough to realize that I recognize the man in front, though his face is smeared with black.

“Lance?”

“Reyna.”

“Let Caleb go, he’s the only reason we’re alive.”

Jaxson quickly releases him, and Caleb smooths the front of his shirt.

“This the team you were telling me about?”

“It is,” I reply.

Lance’s gaze drops to Michael, and his expression darkens. “Is he?—”

“I got him.” The only woman in the group rushes over, her near-black hair tied up on top of her head. She’s slender and swings a backpack from her shoulders before kneeling at Michael’s side.

Lance grips my shoulder, and I look up at him. “That’s Bianca Theodore. She’s the best field trauma surgeon there is.”

“Thanks, but boosting my ego isn’t going to get you out of paying me,” Bianca jokes as she continues her exam on Michael. She gently peels back the gauze, then glances back at me. “You do this?”

“He did,” I say, pointing to Caleb. If she insults him, I might?—

“Great work,” she tells Caleb. “I might actually not be the best.” She winks at me and my appreciation for her grows at the kindness she showed the older man.

Lance crosses over and offers Caleb his hand. “I’m Lance Knight. This is my team. Elijah Breeth, Jaxson Payne, Bianca Theodore, and Silas Williamson.” He points to the fourth man in the room, who has been silently standing beside the door the entire time.

Now, he glances over and offers me a curt nod.

“We need to get him to a hospital,” Bianca says. “I can give him some fluids now, but they’re not going to do anything without a strong antibiotic.”

“The airport is forty minutes once we reach the edge of the swamp,” Elijah says. “Then it’s three and a half hours of flight time, and another twenty to the hospital back home.”

“You have a plane?”

“We do,” Bianca replies. “And if we can get him there, I can get an antibiotic administered and hopefully stop this infection from getting any worse.”

“How did you even find us?” I ask.

“Managed to ping the location prior to your phone dying. Once we got here, Silas took over. Guy could track a fish through the ocean.”

Silas grunts in response, but doesn’t say anything.

“We need to get moving,” Lance says.

“They said they would be waiting for us on the other side,” I tell them. “What if they’re there now?”

“Reyna, we will get you home,” Lance says softly. “I promise.”

“I can lead you out of the swamps,” Caleb offers. “I know them like the back of my hand. With all of us, we should be able to get out without too much trouble. I just didn’t want to risk moving him by myself.”

“Understood. And if you could lead us out, that would be great.” Lance reaches into a tactical pocket on his sleeve and withdraws his cell. After firing off a quick text, he sticks it back inside and turns to Bianca. “He good to travel?”

“As good as he’ll ever be. The sooner we can get him to the plane, the better.”

“Then let’s get moving.”

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