Page 80 of Surge

Chapter Twenty-Five

Blake

Sometimes there is no choice besides a choice you don't want to make. To defy the admiral would mean imprisonment or worse. Just because Jax was his son didn't mean jack shit.

We parked in front of Riley's house and got out. We could hear laughing from the back as we walked to the front door. We weren't sure how we were going to go about doing what we needed to do, but we were out of time.

"This is really fucked up. It's her birthday." Morgan was ready to take whatever consequence was thrown at him. He had nothing to lose. His family was dead and he had no one besides us. "What if we-"

"No." Jax knocked on the door. "He just wants to use her to lure her dad and mom in. It will be fine."

We had found out at the beginning of the week that Riley's mom was shacking up with Robert. What kind of mother leaves her child to be with a criminal?

All week Jax's dad had been on us to bring Riley to him so he could send a clear message to Natalia and Robert. All week we had delayed the inevitable. Either we brought her to Admiral West or he'd send others.

We couldn't risk other tritons coming into contact with her. We were still unsure of the power she had over us. We didn't feel like we were being lured in by her, but the pull to be near her was strong.

The door opened and my eyes quickly scanned the room. Everyone was outside.

"Hi." She steadied herself by leaning against the open door. Her eyes were glossy with unshed tears and her lips quirked up. "My birthday wouldn't be complete without you three."

Was that sarcasm or was she serious?

"Are you drunk?" Jax sounded surprised and grabbed my arm to stop me from moving forward.

She laughed and a hiccup came out. "Me? Riley Kline, drunk?"

She pushed off the door, causing it to bounce off the wall and hit her as she moved forward. She stumbled right into Morgan, who had been concerningly quiet since we got the phone call earlier that our time was up.

"Momo, why the mean mug?" She had ahold of his biceps and patted his cheek with her free hand. "Did you know that I let Jax dry hump me last weekend?"

Morgan's eyes cut to Jax and then back to Riley. "He might have mentioned it."

"Tonight, it's your turn." She giggled and Jax clenched his fists at his side.

This was going south fast. I stepped forward and plunged the syringe I'd been holding behind my back into her neck.

She gasped, her hand flying to her neck after I removed the needle. She turned her head and the look she gave me promised pain. She opened her mouth to speak, but the drug that would put her to sleep was already acting fast.

Her knees gave out and Morgan scooped her into his arms and walked toward the SUV without a word.

We hadn't wanted to do this. We had even refused at first, but the alternative was the admiral sending his right-hand men to retrieve Riley.

I opened the back door and climbed in, helping Morgan get Riley situated on the seat as Jax climbed in the driver's seat.

She slept soundly with her head in my lap. I stroked her hair as we rode in silence. There was no coming back from this. She might have been open to us before, but now we had crossed a line.

We drove about twenty minutes up the coast before turning off and heading inland. There was a narrow access road that had three checkpoints with gates to let us through. We came to an open area in the rolling hills and pulled up to the airplane hangar that housed private planes and the land entrance to our underwater city.

The scanner turned green as we rolled through it, signaling that there were no explosives in the vehicle. Jax pulled onto the platform that would lower us into the tunnel.

"No turning back now." Morgan turned around in his seat and looked at Riley. "Are we sure this is what we want to do?"

"We don't have a choice. Would you rather my father sent his top men to retrieve her?" Jax's hands were clenched tight on the steering wheel as we waited to descend into the earth.

"No, but she's never going to forgive us." Morgan sat back in his seat with a huff. "Unlike you jerks, I actually care about her."

"I care about her,” Jax and I both said in harmony.

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