Page 83 of Call Sign: King
Not for the first time, Ryder realized how lucky he was to have the Black Sky Ops team at his disposal. He wasn’t too proud to admit that he would have never been able to pull off the rescue they just did without their talents. Not only because he was only one man, but because this mission had been too personal for him to lead.
More importantly, having Torch in charge gave Ryder the luxury of holding his wife tight in his arms, her head tucked under his chin, nuzzled against the crook of his neck.
Her quiet, “I’m so sorry,” was a gut punch.
Pulling her body away from his just enough that he could see her face, he answered. “What the hell could you possibly have to be sorry for? None of this is your fault.”
“Yes, it was. You were right. I never should have asked you to come to my premier with me a few weeks ago. We’ve gone four years without any problems. That was the turning point.”
“Baby, the only reason we made it this long was because Vladimir almost died. He wasn’t in any condition to search for me until recently.” Realizing she still looked skeptical, he added. “Maybe he wouldn’t have tracked me down quite as fast without me going to your premier, but it was just a matter of time. He would have found me —us— eventually.”
He could see her considering his words.
“So, what happens now? Is it safe to go back to the way things were?” she asked quietly.
That was the million-dollar question. One he hadn’t dared hope they’d need to worry about, at least not until after he got his wife out of Vlad’s clutches and safely away.
Ryder suggested the first thing his gut told him to do. “We have plenty of money. I won’t lie. Part of me would love nothing more than for us both to retire, buy a private island somewhere in the Caribbean, and live the rest of our lives in seclusion. But… “
“If that’s what it takes to be together, I’ll do that in a heartbeat,” Khloe asserted, hugging him again without letting him finish.
“I appreciate that, and even reserve the right to change my mind in the future, but there is no way I’m depriving the rest of the world of Khloe Monroe. I’m probably never going to leave your side ever again, but there has to be some way to make this work.”
Instead of Khloe being happy with his commitment to her continued career as he’d expected, she burst out crying.
“Hey, what’s this? You’ve been so strong this whole time.”
He pulled her out of her hug again to try to figure out what had happened.
“I’m so selfish!” she cried. “I forgot to ask about how Trevor is doing! And Ricky… and Reaper and Tank. You talking about never leaving my side reminded me of how they all risked their lives for me back in Toronto. I really have been so worried about them.”
Christ, his wife was an angel. After all she’d been through and knowing they hadn’t even gotten her safely out of Russia yet, here she was worried about others.
The problem was, Ryder didn’t have a good update to give her.
Pushing down the temptation to gloss over how serious the men’s injuries had been, Ryder gave her the last update he’d received.
“I haven’t talked to Hawkeye or MacGyver since we landed here in Russia yesterday. They are in charge of the cleanup back in Toronto.” He paused, knowing that didn’t answer Khloe’s question.
“Trevor is alive but was still on a ventilator after getting out of surgery. One of the bullets hit the edge of his heart and broke a rib. The doctors say it was a miracle he didn’t die at the scene.”
Torch was clearly listening in as he added from the front seat. “Hawkeye saved his life at the hotel with a defibrillator and CPR.”
Ryder hadn’t planned to share that gruesome detail with his wife, at least not yet, afraid it would make her more upset knowing how serious her best friend’s injuries had been.
“Thank God you have a medic on your team,” she gushed, thinking of the positive.
Ryder finished by adding, “Ricky and Reaper were doing fine when I was at the hospital, but Tank… he took two bullets to his abdomen at close range. It didn’t look good last time I got an update.”
“I thought he was indestructible.”
“We all did,” Torch added about his teammate. “I’m hoping he pulls through.”
Arriving at the gate to the industrial park that housed their small air strip brought the discussion to a close. Torch saluted out the window at the rest of Ice’s men who were standing guard at the property, making sure they didn’t have any unexpected company following them.
Ice brought the SUV to an abrupt halt just feet away from the mobile stairs already deployed from the Condor, waiting for them to arrive. Next to the Condor, Thunder could be seen performing his pre-flight checklist on his matching plane, Eagle. With two squads working on this mission, they’d have two full planes pulling out of Moscow.
Doc was the first person to approach as they exited the SUV, rushing to give Khloe a huge hug.
