Page 74 of Midnight Escape

“Sorry, I have to tell you.”

Danny heard conversation in the background and knew AJ and Devon were discussing him and the tracker. At the same time, he and Cowboy were locking up his house for their trek to headquarters.

Devon came on the call. “Is it one of ours?”

“Yes. From the same lot as the other one.” He waited an excruciating five minutes before Devon spoke again.

“Okay, best I can get is she’s on I-95. But if they’re headed to Boston, they’ll be turning real soon.”

They’d never catch up to them. All he could hope for was that nothing happened to her. They’d be about two hours behind, once they’d had time for the team to regroup at HQ and get their gear. Plus, if they were going into Boston, Old Man surely had to make some calls, so they weren’t arrested for carrying their weapons. And not just handguns.

“Has the team been recalled?” John had followed them, so it was just Jane and Doc unless Stone came in for support. They’d be angry something happened to Moira after she’d walked away. Granted, he didn’t know what was happening to her or what would happen, but if this Quinn threatened to kill an unborn baby, then he was someone to fear.

“Of course. Boss is also coming in.”

Having Boss back for this meant a lot. It wasn’t just that he didn’t have to be in charge, it was because of Moira and his feelings for her. “Good.”

Cowboy blew every speed limit to get to headquarters and the entire team was already there—they’d also have to had blown through the limits. The fact they’d rushed spoke volumes about their commitment, the knowledge giving Danny a weird warm and settled feeling.

Boss approached him and held out his hand. “How you holding up?”

Boss would understand the craziness in his system, his gut, and his heart at the woman he loved being in trouble. Boss had been previously captured with Sugar, and he hadn’t been able to rescue her. “I’m good.”

His team leader assessed him and must’ve felt good about keeping Danny on the op because he just nodded and went back to his locker.

“You’ll never catch them,” AJ said from the doorway to the locker room.

He didn’t have to be reminded they’d be behind them by two hours. He’d never be able to live with himself knowing he could have stopped her from going. He could have told her then that he loved her and wanted her to stay.

“There is one way,” AJ offered.

The helo. They’d make great time if they had the bird to fly. But could he do it? Danny still had a fear of crashing. Was he good enough to keep them in the air? No matter the level of fear he had for going back up, he needed to do it to save his Moira. They couldn’t afford to be two hours behind.

“You just have to—”

Danny interrupted AJ. “I accept.” There, he was now the official pilot for HIS. He was solely responsible for getting the troops from point A to point B safely. It was a burden he’d accept to save his woman.

“Good.” AJ handed him his flight checklist. “Get out there for preflight. It’s already fueled.”

The last of AJ’s words tapered off as he bolted from the locker room out to the landing pad that had been recently added.

Danny didn’t rush his preflight. Experiencing how a component could quickly fail, becoming life threatening to the passengers, the task was too important to think of the need to fly to Moira’s safety.

He’d wondered how he’d balance the safety of his teammates and the necessity to speed to a rescue. That need to prioritize both the agents who were his friends and the woman he loved, wrapped him in knots. All depended upon him. All could die because of a single failure on his part. His worst fear could come to life.

The reality of the situation nearly paralyzed him. In his heart, he knew Moira counted on him to save her. In his teammates’ faces, he saw how they needed him to get them to Moira. Everyone trusted him.

“You doing okay,” Cowboy asked, as he approached the open cockpit door.

Sitting in the pilot seat, Danny looked away from the preflight checklist he knew from heart and hadn’t been focusing on. He’d rather been staring at it while his thoughts swirled in his fear-clogged mind. To prevent Cowboy from seeing the truth in his eyes, Danny quickly refocused on his checklist and went back to inspecting the instrument panel.

“I’m fine,” he responded tersely.

“Ya know,” Cowboy nearly drawled, “I remember when you were in pilot training and you wanted HIS to get their own helo, so we could move faster.”

He had spoken with Cowboy about that. A fantasy of sorts since he’d never expected the Hamilton brothers to actually purchase a helicopter. He’d wanted it for all the reasons his nerves were on edge today. With a helicopter, the teams could improve response times.

Before, Danny relished that he could be the one to get the teams into action, speeding up their chance for rescue or op success. It hadn’t been a power trip. It’d been that he finally offered something valuable to HIS.

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