Cain, our boss at ExFil, didn’t spare any expense to keep us all safe. As a result, we all had a personal sat phone. It’s how I’d been able to contact Holly before, and now Shotgun. I debated my next move. Shotgun would contact Wrath. But if he heard this from someone other than me, he might think I would avoid coming to him with something to do with Holly.
“Fuck.” I swore as I pulled up Wrath’s number. It went to voicemail, so I tried again. He picked up on the third ring this time.
“What the fuck do you mean Holly’s run off to Columbia?” his voice roared through the phone and I winced. The Bluetooth was connected to the headset in my helmet, so there was no way to get away from a very pissed-off Wrath.
“Don’t yell, you bastard,” I growled. “I’m on my way back to headquarters.”
“Why didn’t you tell me the second you found out about this?”
“Because I found out about it ten minutes ago. The first five was spent loading my gear onto the transport, the next five texting Shotgun for information. You were my first actual call. Jesus!”
“Shotgun’s preparing you a flight plan. What do you need?”
That kinda threw me. “You’re sendingmeafter her? Voluntarily?”
“Who the fuck else would I send after her? Are you saying you don’t want the job?”
“Oh, I was going whether or not you wanted me to. I just didn’t expect you to actually agree with me.”
“Dumbass. You’ve loved Holly since you first saw her when she was four. Only person who has as big a reason for needing her safe as Celeste and I do, is you.”
I took a couple of deep breaths before I spoke next. “To be clear, Wrath. I do love your daughter. The claim I already put out there still stands. I intend to make Holly my old lady.”
“Yeah? Then you might want to start calling her by her road name. No daughter of mine is gonna sit by passively while her man takes care of every little thing for her. Not unless that’s what she wants. And we both know Holly isn’t the shrinking violet type.”
“I can see your point. And it’s a small price to pay to soften her up for me.” I couldn’t keep the humor out of my voice. “Maddog, it is.”
Chapter Two
Holly (Maddog)
The second Dad started blowing up my phone was the second I decided I really was going to kill Jax this time. Slimy bastard had ratted me out! Like I was four or something! I wasn’t about to answer until there was no way they could turn the plane around, or my dad would threaten to kill anyone he had to for them to head back to the States. So I turned my phone off. All that buzzing would wear down the battery. Yeah. That sounded good.
About six or seven hours later, we landed in Simón Bolívar International Airport in Rodadero, Columbia. The second we stepped outside, the heat hit me like a shockwave. It felt like I’d opened an oven door and got my face scalded. “Fuck me,” I hissed.
“Anytime you want, Holly.” Chris Alistair the Third purred in my ear. The guy was a fucking creep. He was also the reason I was here in the first Goddamned place. He was dating a friend from school and I had the feeling he was up to something. Since I couldn’t talk Andrea into not going, I decided I was going with her. It had seemed to delight Chris that I was going, which made me incredibly uneasy.
I gave him the side eye. “Not if you were the last man on the entire fuckin’ planet, Chris.”
He chuckled but backed off. Bastard had been making comments like that the whole trip. Now that we were in a place it wasn’t safe to navigate on my own, I was beginning to rethink not waiting on Jax. I’d actually been going to ask him to come with me when I’d called him. Then he’d gone and been the Jax I’ve known most of my life. Asshole Jax. So I’d let my temper get the better of me. Which was when I remembered my sat phone was still turned off.
I stuck my hand in my jeans pocket where I’d tucked my phone and turned it on. I didn’t want Chris knowing I had a working phone. Most everyone had cell phones, but where we were supposed to be headed outside the city didn’t have cell service. I was thankful I’d set the device to vibrate. If he was listening for it, he’d probably be able to hear it buzzing, but it was crowded and noisy outside the airport and he wasn’t close to me at the moment. The longer my dad kept trying to call without me answering, the sooner he sent someone after me. Shotgun could pinpoint my location as long as the phone was on. Though Chris gave me the creeps, I hadn’t realized how nervous I was around him until this very moment. Yeah. Turning off my phone had been stupid. And not a mistake I’d make again.
Andrea was cuddled up to Chris as we waited for the bus taking us to the village. I wanted to barf. Problem was, it wasn’t because I found them disgusting. I was jealous as fuck. While I knew Chris was a bastard, Andrea obviously thought she was in love. I wanted that. Not with Chris, obviously. He was a swine. No. When I thought about cuddling up with a guy, the only man I saw was Jax. Which wasn’t acceptable at all.
Jax had seen me at my worst. When I was so sick all I could do was puke and sleep. He’d been with me when I’d fought so hard during the last couple of treatments. Sure, I’d just turned five at the time, but even though I didn’t like him back then -- I was a kid and he was a teenager who didn’t want a little girl hanging around him -- I’d taken as much comfort in his presence as I had my mother’s.
The rest of my life had been one series of medical tests after another, trying to catch any sign of a recurring cancer as soon as possible. Even though he claimed not to like me, that I was a pain in his ass, he always seemed to be in my line of sight. Trying to prove to Jax that I was tough was the only thing that got me through some of it. But while I practically idolized him, Jax saw me as a kid. To be fair, I was twelve years younger than he was. It would probably creep him out if he knew, every single time he threatened to spank me for being a brat, it turned me the fuck on something fierce.
I tried to keep someone between me and Chris every time we moved around. There were fifteen people in our party, so it wasn’t too hard. What was hard was letting Andrea too far away from me. Afraid as I was for myself, I was even more so for her. Because whatever happened, when it did, she’d never see it coming. At least I had a heads up and could take precautions. Late though they might be.
We boarded a bus to take us to a village about six hours outside of Rodadero. My phone had been buzzing every half hour since I’d turned it on. It buzzed again, then the calls started coming every couple of minutes. I wanted to turn on the GPS on my watch but had to use the phone to turn the damned thing on.
Anytime I took a trip of any lengthy distance where cell coverage was questionable, my dad and Shotgun agreed to give me at least twelve hours before losing their Goddamned minds. It hadn’t quite been that long, but I was hoping and praying that Jax had gotten tired of waiting and they were finally going to activate the GPS remotely. And as much as my mom and dad loved me, I knew it would be Jax who would force the issue because Mom and Dad always tried to treat me like a responsible adult and abide by the agreements we made regarding safety. If Jax thought they needed to contact me earlier, he wouldn’t hesitate to ride roughshod over that agreement and do exactly what he deemed best for me.
To my tremendous relief, there was one long, continuous buzz for fifteen seconds from my watch. That was my signal that help was on the way. The phone had linked up with my watch to turn on its satellite GPS features. Now, if my phone got separated from me, Shotgun could still track my watch. It had been designed to save the battery. The satellite link would only turn on if I activated it, or Shotgun told it to.
Not a moment too soon either, because the bus braked hard. The driver gave a shout right before we slammed into something. My head hit the seat in front of me and knocked me silly. My ears rang and my vision blurred. There were screams all around me and a flurry of Spanish. A gunshot sounded in the confines of the bus. I cried out as my ears popped. There was a wet spray across my face and someone fell on top of me, pinning me to the floor of the bus.