Page 75 of Evening Shadows

Hearing men hurriedly approaching up the path they’d occupied, she silently thanked the agents for saving them from a firefight where Ken’s mobility worried her.

The more they walked, the more pronounced his limp had become and the slower he moved. The stubborn man wouldn’t admit to his team he needed help any more than he already had. That male pride thing would be the downfall of men.

Glancing over, Ken stood strong, his gaze upon the tangos walking past them. Out of her peripheral, she caught Grits giving a hand signal, then Romeo and Celeb silently slipped out behind the men.

Whispering, she asked, “Aren’t you going to send someone to help Franks, Doc, and Cowboy?”

Grits shook his head but never took his focus away from where his agents had left. “Listen.”

Quiet reached her ears. The gunfight had ended. Her stomach lurched at what the result might’ve been.

“Franks called us off or you know we’d have been there.”

As if he could read her mind on their status, Grits quietly announced, “Friendlies incoming.”

A collective sigh flowed through the group. As she looked over her team, she zeroed in on her missing counterpart. “Where’s Nemo?”

“He and Jesse are aboard transport to cover us in the open area.”

Made sense to her, especially since they’d need two birds to extract them now that both teams had arrived. Nothing short of euphoria filled her. Then her mind slipped to what Grits had put her through. Before she could give him a piece of her mind, Grits again warned of friendlies before Romeo and Celeb returned reporting the two tangos had been disarmed and were napping. She realized he’d been doing that for her and Ken as the rest of the team had heard the others’ inbound movement.

“Hey, Boss,” Romeo’s broad grin projected his pleasure at either seeing them again or what he’d just accomplished.

“Aren’t you tying them up or something?” Sam asked before Ken could respond to the welcome. They didn’t need the men reentering the fight.

Grits shook his head. “No. We don’t plan to stay or come back and clean this up. If we tie them, it’ll be a death sentence for them. If we stay on schedule, they won’t make it back to the compound with time to rearm before we’re wheels up.”

Not forgetting what Grits had done, she asked, “Why, pray tell, did you pull us off the track like that? Why couldn’t you just step out?” Anger blended in her voice, but part of it derived from fear.

“FNG.” Celeb shook his head and laughed.

“Celeb,” Ken warned, and the one word inferred something she didn’t grasp based on Celeb’s solemn reaction.

They’d called her that ever since she’d been hired and in front of Ken. Although she’d prefer they didn’t, she understood it as a camaraderie thing. If Ken began treating her differently or challenged the men’s actions, they would have big problems.

With Grits’s nod, two agents took off at a good clip just before the remainder of Alpha team arrived. With the brush and trees and hanging vines, seeing the entire team was difficult. Knowing they were there made the difference.

Grits glanced around the group. “Okay, Speedy and Casper are on point.” He instructed each person on their position so she and Ken—who were the targets—were covered on all sides. He’d left no room for threats to reach them without a ton of trouble falling on their heads. “Are you ready to move?” He looked at Ken but didn’t ask for what she knew would be humiliating to him in front of the team.

Little did he know, the men had focused on him. His limp and grimace of pain didn’t go unnoticed by them either, no matter how hard he tried to pass himself off as being unaffected.

Due to their number and to make less noise, they remained on the narrow trail where they could barely walk two abreast. Especially with the broad shoulders of these men. With several agents in front and back, Grits strode on her left while Franks walked on Ken’s right.

She wondered if Ken realized they moved at a more sedate pace than normal in what she suspected was meant to accommodate Ken. He hadn’t told them to pick it up; instead, he allowed Grits to decide and run things. It showed her how strong a man he was for not only being such a great leader but following his men without question.

The trail forked and opened up to the route they’d take. Based on how long they’d walked, they should be arriving soon. Maybe she just hoped they would because it meant they were that much closer to a ride home.

Since she didn’t have a comm system, having Grits next to her worked best. While she only heard one side of the conversation, she could put together most of it, and if she asked, he’d probably tell her. The team didn’t keep secrets on an op. That could be deadly.

As they made their three-hour trek, Doc dropped back every so often to check their six and return to take up his position at the rear. Based on Grits’s one-word responses, the agents on point must not be facing any resistance. While she remained focused and ready, relief at almost being safe made her lightheaded. She refused to allow hope to bubble up in her mind until after they boarded the plane. Way after.

They hadn’t encountered any trouble and had almost reached the transport. Either Bev had given up or they just hadn’t been found. Both options worked for her.

Placing hers and Ken’s extraction as priority, she worried that Bev would escape them and not pay for her crimes. Although the crimes were committed in Mexico, she didn’t know how they’d proceed. Bev could pay for sending her own son to Mexico and crying kidnapping. Since she hadn’t reported it to the police, their only recourse would be to ensure Cody didn’t return to her clutches.

Based on all Sam had learned working with this group, Bev’s actions wouldn’t go unpunished. Somehow they’d find a way, no matter how long it took them. She had no idea what the punishment should be for Bev’s men shooting Ken, her holding them in captivity, torturing Ken, and attempting to drug them both. Then there was the shootout with their team.

Sam’s heart ripped open at the thought that she’d brought this woman into their lives. She’d unwittingly led them all to where they could be killed. Refusing to allow grief to overcome her steadiness, she swallowed past the lump in her throat and shoved it down for consideration at a later time.

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