Page 3 of Soldier, Tailor, Spy

Present day somewhere near R.O.O.T.’s base...

“Pick up the goddamned phone asshole,” Jake O’Malley sped down the darkened freeway trying to switch lanes while not getting them into an accident. “Come on Asher, I know I fucked up.”

For the past handful of years, he’d been working as a security guard for the housing community. His ex-wife Ginger and his daughter Fawn lived in with her new husband, Oscar Madison. The small apartment near his ex-wife allowed for him to watch over them without them being the wiser until tonight. Now, Ginger’s new husband was currently bleeding in the back of his SUV, and their nine-month-old son, Declan, was wailing like a banshee.

At first, he’d been content to watch his ex-wife live her new life with their daughter. She deserved to be loved and cherished, something he’d never been able to do because of his job, or at least that’d been what he told himself when he divorced her when Fawn was younger. Then little things started happening. Wyatt and Jake had noted the times when Oscar would come home at one or two in the morning. The occasions when Mr. Yamamoto’s associates—he used that term lightly—would show up with work for Ginger, sometimes at crazy times of the night. Then he started digging, unable to let things go. It was like worrying at a drying scab. The more he pulled at loose ends, the more came away from the skin.

There’d been several points he thought to approach Ginger about what he found on Mr. Yamamoto, yet he held back. He didn’t want to appear he was interfering with Ginger’s new life, but because he couldn’t find anything on her new husband—which should have relieved Jake, though didn’t—he held back. The little digging he did on Oscar turned up the guy was actually FBI and Jake knew his new partner, Thomas Kaine. He realized, by the brief interaction he had with Agent Kaine, the guy was one of those lifers who liked the meaty cases. Jake shuddered at the thought as to the reason Oscar lie in the back of his SUV was because Thomas and Oscar had uncovered something that shouldn’t have been.

Jake thought about going to Asher when the strange things began to happen at the gated community, then thought twice about it. It’d been four years. What would they say to each other? Things were always complicated for Jake. He was a mercenary for hire, a special forces guy through and through. Jake killed people for a living and when he’d been offered the job with Asher; he jumped at it—mostly because of the pay. Jake had also enjoyed the freedom he gained, along with his government independence. Yet those things paled compared to his wife and daughter. He’d just been too stupid and hardheaded to figure it out until it was too late.

Jake’s driver side mirror shattered as he kept hitting redial on his phone. Fawn’s screams, along with Ginger’s harsh sobs as she held the rag to Oscar’s chest, and Declan’s cries, tore Jake to shreds. Both of them, Oscar and him, had brought death and destruction to Ginger’s door, something he promised himself he’d never do, no matter what.

“Wyatt, shoot to disable their vehicles. I know you can do it, son.” Fuck, he hated getting the kid involved, but had it not been for the boy and Jake paying attention as he had, he feared Ginger and Fawn would have died along with Declan, too. “Shoot their engines. You got this. I trust you.”

The kid nodded, pulling his gun from the holster. It’d taken him a while to get his carry permit, but Jake had been there every step of the way. “Sure, shoot out their engines and disable them. Piece of cake.”

The back window shattered as a bullet went through it, lodging in the dash somewhere. Fuck. Asher needed to answer his damn phone. If he didn’t, Jake wasn’t too sure any of them would make it out of the situation alive.

“What the fuck are you doing calling me asshole!” Asher rough voice filled the cabin of his vehicle.

“I’m coming in hot. I need your help. Please, Asher. You were the only one I could turn to.” He glanced behind him in the rearview mirror. There were two vehicles along with a motorcycle, keeping up with his erratic driving. Farther back, one blocked an entire lane of cars where Wyatt had taken it out.Good job, kid.

The shuffling in the call's background drew Jake’s attention back to the road in front of him. They were almost there. The next exit was the abandoned road the base was on. From there, it was only another five minutes before they could slip into the cover of night and onto the base he’d called home for nine years before the day he fucked everything up.

“Where are you?” Asher asked, his tone clipped.

“Coming up on the exit. ETA seven minutes. I need medical on standby with Rae, please. Oscar Madison has been shot.” He glanced down at the wound on his right side. He thought nothing vital had been hit, but he was losing blood. About the only thing going for him at the moment was the adrenaline.

“Oscar?” Asher paused. “As in Thomas’ new partner?”

“The one and only. Look, it’s a long fucking story, and I don’t have time to tell you about it right now. I have to concentrate.” Already sweat beaded on his brow. His insides were on fire as well. Maybe the bullet had hit something vital.

“I’ve got a drone going up now. I’ll have a visual on you in thirty seconds.” Asher went silent while Jake concentrated on the windy country road. “There you are. Boy, you weren’t kidding when you said you had company. We’ll take care of them.”

“Leave one of the sons a bitches alive. I want to question them,” Jake snapped.

“Is this you getting your head out of your ass?” Asher hedged.

“Fuck, yes, it is. I need a family apartment for now as well. I have Ginger and Fawn with me, along with Ginger’s nine-month-old son Declan, and my partner Wyatt. Let Rae know Oscar has been shot in the chest area. Upper right area about two inches under the collarbone.”

“And you?” Asher pressed. “Wyatt?”

“Don’t worry, we’re fine. Wyatt’s got my six. So are the girls and Declan.” He came around the last corner and hit the gas as the gate to the base came into focus in front of him. The chain link monstrosity opened quickly just as tracer rounds lit up the night sky. Asher hadn’t been kidding when he said they had a drone. He couldn’t even see the damn thing.

“On your left,” Asher said, as one of their armor vehicles raced past them, stopping the remaining vehicles from chasing them.

Jake didn’t let up on the gas. He came to a sliding stop in the underground parking lot just as the elevator doors opened and Rae, along with Asher, Noah, and a girl he’d never seen before, came running. Even though his blood pumped through his veins, keeping him able to move, his energy was waning. He fumbled with the rear gate and when he opened it; he stumbled out of the way.

“Didn’t get hurt, huh?” Asher was in his face in an instant as Rae made quick work of getting Oscar out of the back of the vehicle along with Ginger, Declan, and Fawn. His former commander threw Jake’s arm over his shoulder to help support him, giving Jake a minute to rest, while Wyatt came up on Jake’s other side to help. “What the fuck is going on, Jake?”

Shit, he must still be in trouble—or maybe he looked worse than he felt—if Asher was calling him Jake. “Not sure really.” The memory of the evening was still a jumble of images in his head. “One minute peace and quiet, then not. Their house is gone. Whoever those guys are torched it the minute they dragged Oscar out. Had Wyatt and I not been watching them...”

Asher quirked a brow as he started toward the elevator with Jake. “Watching them?”

“We won’t fucking apologize,” Jake spat. “Saved them, didn’t we?”

“Yes, you did,” Asher murmured. “You did. So, what happened next?”

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