Page 37 of Don't Let Go

Chapter

Twelve

MCQUADE

Body disposal had never been my favorite task, but it was a practical and necessary one. Our prisoners hadn’t known much. They were grunts, working a grunt assignment on a need to know basis. Clearly, they hadn’t needed to know. How unfortunate for them that their employers considered them that disposable.

Why else keep them out of the loop? What they didn’t know, they couldn’t reveal. Course, it could also mean they had an expected fail rate. For that, I was fine. If they considered sending anyone after Patch was a lost cause, thengood. From this point forward, I was sending their people back in pieces.

We’d left them a pretty fucking clear message back at the house we’d used. The bodies stacked like cordwood should send them a signal. Come for her at your own peril. As it was, I was torn between heading down to Louisiana and firebombing that location after we data-mined it, then going on to the next.

Remy hadn’t seemed opposed, however, he did point out that we needed to wait for Patch to remember. She had to be a part of the op.

I got it, I really did. But… “I don’t want her to remember that part.” When he frowned, I’d just given him a look. “We can meether a hundred times. I don’t care if she remembers we came for her. We can make new memories. But if she remembers her captivity, she remembers the torture, and she doesn’t deserve that.”

While the British fucker remained skeptical, I couldn’t agree to her remembering her incarceration. Sure, would I like to have some of our progress back? Yes. But could I wait for her to truly trust me again? Also yes. Particularly if it meant she didn’t have to relive that trauma. Her nightmares remained littered with it.

Those screams killed me, so did her begging. But her whimpers? Those just left me wanting to slaughter any and all who had ever hurt her. It was going to happen. Just a matter of time.

Once we finished, we were free to get on the road and meet them at the rendezvous. If we weren’t there by dawn, it would be the second one.

We had a few hours. Of course, the skies decided to help us with potential tails and surveillance by opening up. The icy rain came down in sheets. It didn’t turn to snow, which was a blessing and a curse, but Remy didn’t seem to be troubled by the low visibility or the crappy road conditions.

Good. The need to put my eyes on her and know for certain she was fine burned in my gut. Impatience was a good way to die on an op. So was longing. Yet, here I was, suffering from both. I just?—

“We’re here,” Remy said and it jerked me away from the needy direction my thoughts were going. It was damn near two in the morning. I squinted at the clock. No, that said three. Fuck. My eyes were gritty and I’d kill for a shower, but all of that could wait.

“They could be asleep,” I warned, not that Remy was an idiot.

“Agreed, but we have codes for a reason.” Practical son of a bitch didn’t quite smirk, but I heard it there in his voice. If heweren’t so fucking useful in a fight, I’d be tempted to just dump him on the side of the road. We pulled into the packed rest area, passing all the trucks pulled off onto the shoulder of the road because the interior slots were all taken.

The mobile unit blended in pretty damn well. We were both scanning, but we didn’t spot it right away. Maybe we did too good of a job.

“There.” It was near the end of the row, but not so close they were exposed. The rain began to slant sideways and the pellets of ice tapped against the windows. We still needed this vehicle, at least until we transferred what we had to the mobile unit.

“Parking first.”

Agreed. Not that I said anything. The entirety of the rest area seemed silent, frozen in time. The rain turned even more into ice. I dragged on a jacket with a hoodie and pulled it up before we climbed out of the car.

Remy led me by two strides as we crossed from the car parking to truck parking. Even the lights on near the toilets and the information center seemed like isolated islands in the darkness.

The rumble of engines idling at low offered the only other sound to accompany the ice plinking against the trucks. I’d caught up to Remy as he circled past the truck next to theirs. Good plan, we didn’t want to draw attention to the mobile unit. I scanned the front windows, and the vehicles around ours for cameras.

Nothing jumped out at me, but our cameras were also camouflaged. Paranoia, Patch used to preach at me, was a terrible way to live. It was a good way not to die, I’d always quip back. I had no idea how intimately aware she truly was of those facts.

Not for the first time, it occurred to me that I really wish I had known sooner. I’d always been fond of her. Grown to like hermore and more over the time we’d worked together. Enough that I made a point of calling her to check-in, even if I didn’t really need her for a consultation.

Talking to her always made me feel better.

Being close to her was even far more preferable to that. Two quick scouts and we were at the door. Remy opened the keypad and entered the code to let us in. I was shaking ice crystals out of my hair and beard when the smell of sex hit me.

Sex?

I wasn’t sure if it registered with Remy in the same instant though he mirrored my actions. I’d already shrugged my jacket off, but caught it with one hand as we circled the first of the faux walls to stare at the bed, it had been lowered for use. And it was definitely in use.

The low-lighting did nothing to hide Patch and Locke entangled atop the sheets. Not one goddamn thing on them was covered. While I wanted to take time to inspect every inch of Patch’s skin, I couldn’t quite choke out the rage that geysered through me.

What the fuck was he doing?

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