Page 4 of Bryson's Treasure

“I help.”

All three men looked at the young girl and smiled. Bryson figured she had the two mercenaries wrapped around her finger from the gentle smiles they each gave her. “Well, are you ready to head out?” Bryson asked Azadeh.

She nodded. That was all the confirmation he needed to walk out the door with her small soft hand in his. Bryson raised his arm to shield the desert sun as he walked out of the hut. Seconds after he walked outside, sweat trickled down his back.

They were in a remote village filled with mud huts. Women and children ran up and down the dirt roads as young boys walked around with guns in their hands. “This doesn’t look like any city near Kabul.” He tilted his head from side to side, trying to relieve some tension. “How far are we from the Kabul airport?”

“Around a hundred and seventy-five miles.” Antonio crossed his arms. “But we’re not heading to Kabul. Ricky has men looking everywhere for you, and that will be the first airport they go to. Peshawar’s airport is closer and harder for Ricky and his men to reach.”

A shiver went down Bryson’s spine, hearing his old teammate’s name. Bryson had caught Ricky smuggling guns and drugs to the local Taliban. Ricky had locked him up and tortured his teammates for four days before Azadeh had helped him escape. Now they had to cross the Pakistan border with Azadeh and figure out how to get her on the plane with no one noticing.

“Ricky should be on a plane to Guatemala for life in prison,” Bryson grumbled as they walked toward the Humvee. “How are you planning to make it across the Pakistan border with Azadeh?”

“We called in a few favors,” Antonio said. His longtime friend had been a highly decorated SEAL before he decided it was time to get out. It probably also helped that the president of the United States was a family friend.

Azadeh’s grip tightened around his fingers. Nobody would stop him from taking the girl back to the US, but it would not be easy.

For the first time in Bryson’s military career, he was more worried about saving Azadeh than making sure Ricky paid. Until he met the girl, the military was everything to him. His choice to not reenlist had been hard, and he was struggling with it each day. Now he wanted to get to the US.

He’d planned to spend some time in Denver with Grayson before heading to Montana to spend time with Noah. Everything had changed the second Azadeh had handed him those keys. She was now his number one priority.

Bryson lifted Azadeh up into the back seat before climbing in next to her. “Are you sure these friends of yours can get us through?”

“If they don’t, we have money.” Asher shrugged before starting the Humvee. “Enough money always gets you what you want.”

Azadeh tilted her head. “Like real family?”

Bryson’s heart squeezed for the young girl. “You have me now.” He reached over and wiped a wayward tear that slipped from her blue eyes. “You will always have me.”

Asher gave him a tight nod before shifting into gear and heading down the dirt road.

Antonio shifted in his seat. “I have a guy waiting for us at customs in Fort Lauderdale. He’ll have everything we need to get Azadeh from Florida to Montana.”

Denver was where Bryson grew up on the Steele family ranch with his two older brothers. In the last year, both of his brothers had found love in Montana. One still lived there, and the other had gone back to Denver.

“Why Montana?” Bryson asked. “I figured we would go back to Denver and figure out how I can legally adopt Azadeh.”

Antonio’s jaw ticked. “CJ informed us not too long ago that Ricky has people looking for you in the US. We have fake identification for you. Hank Patterson and his team are also in Montana, and they can help protect you and Azadeh until we figure out how to eliminate the threat.”

“I’m not going to put my brother in danger. Azadeh and I can rent a car when we get to Florida and go into hiding.”

“Stop being so dramatic,” Antonio huffed. “Your brother is more deadly than most people I know. He hasn’t told you guys what he really did in the military, and it’s not my place to say, but he can take care of himself, and with the Brotherhood Protectors in the same town, you’ll be safe.”

“I know he’s in the CIA.” Noah thought he was the only one of the brothers who had done work outside his branch of the military. There were things Bryson’s brothers didn’t know about him either. Bryson had seen Noah on an operation a few years back and had put the pieces together.

“Was.” Asher’s face lit up. “Your brother laid into President Tucker after he completed one last favor for him. We had to hear all about it when the president called and asked us to help you. I believe he muttered that your brother might owe him again. Furthermore, Noah is dating a close friend of the president’s. I highly doubt he’s out.”

Bryson adjusted his body in the back seat. The dirt road did nothing to help his aching back after being tied up for days then having a building fall on him. He rested his hand over his eyes, hoping to get a few minutes of sleep before hitting the border. Asher and Antonio seemed to think it would be easy. Bryson had crossed the border many times, and it was always an issue.

* * *

A soft handstartled Bryson from a nightmare. It wasn’t his first since joining the Marines, and it wouldn’t be his last. He was happy he didn’t swing back, as he normally did when someone woke him from his trips down memory lane.

“You upset?” Azadeh asked.

Bryson looked around the Humvee. They were alone, Asher and Antonio stood in front of the vehicle, talking to two armed guards, but they weren’t at the border. They had already made it to a private airfield. He had slept through the whole drive, and his body still hurt, maybe even more. The bruise on his side was ugly. There was a ninety percent chance his ribs were broken.

He watched as the guards argued back and forth with the Ross brothers.

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