Page 86 of Jaeda

“She ain’t blood, and I ain’t a chap anymore. You know that woman is bad.”

They all murmured in agreement. Maddie was a beautiful older woman and didn’t look anywhere near her age. If anything, she could pass for Mia’s older sister.

“A’ight, a’ight,” Titan said, quieting them down. “Time to get to business. Shut up and focus.”

I muted the phone as he gave them their instructions and focused my attention back on Jaeda.

“What kind of mission are they on?” she asked.

“Human trafficking.”

“I hate those. Even more so now after what happened with my brother.”

“How’s he doing mentally after that?”

“He holds a lot of guilt over the loss of his team. He doesn’t think we know, but he makes monthly deposits to the families.”

“I imagine it’s a hard pill to swallow. I haven’t had to deal with losing anybody super close to me like that, but it was a close call with my mom. Speaking of her, we had lunch today.”

“Did you make up?”

“We did. She apologized, and she wants to meet you.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“I’d love for you to meet my parents whenever you’re ready. No pressure. I will say you won’t get the welcome I did, so there’s that.”

She giggled. “Here you go.”

“I’m just saying!”

She rolled her eyes as she leaned in to peck my lips. “I’d love to meet them. Just let me know when.”

“How about Saturday? I know you have Sunday dinner with your people.”

“Saturday is perfect.”

“We’re all set,” Titan said, capturing our attention.

“Let me let you work,” Jaeda said, standing. “I’m going to raid your fridge.”

“Have at it.”

She pecked my lips then walked off, but not before I slapped her ass. Refocusing my attention, I prepared to guide Titan and the crew through the corridors leading to the bunkers where the victims were being held. I’d gotten the blueprints of the building after being given the location a few days ago.

“We’re in,” he said. “Body cam’s on.”

My screen populated with the dreary image of the abandoned building. The six of them had body cams in the front and the back so I could keep an eye on them from both angles.

“All right. Go straight for about fifty feet and take a right.”

I watched as they made their way down the hall, sniper rifles trained and ready. As they turned the corner, a man appeared. Titan aimed and gave him a headshot. His body hit the floor with a thud. The crew didn’t miss a beat as they stepped over him and kept going.

“Make this next left and take the stairs down to the bottom.”

Again, they followed my direction. Even though we had done this many times before, I always got nervous, watching them oncamera. It would fuck me up if I had to watch any of them get hurt or, worse, die.

“Straight ahead,” I said.

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