Page 84 of Call Sign: King
“Oh, thank God you’re here safe and sound,” Doc gushed.
“No one is happier than I am,” Khloe assured, hugging her back.
Glancing back at Ryder with a broad smile, Gretchen added. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I’m pretty sure that husband of yours is just as happy to have you free.”
The women’s smiles soothed another layer of the anxiety that had been building up the minute Rita Skeeter had broke her story weeks before.
“I’ll remind you ladies that we can’t be happy yet. We need to get the hell out of dodge. Let’s get on board.”
Doc took the lead, talking over her shoulder as she climbed the steps.
“I’ve got everything ready in the bedroom suite. I want to check your injuries as soon as we take off.”
“I’m fine…” Khloe tried to reassure her.
Ryder weighed in. “I agree with Doc. You’ve been through so much. I want her to check you over.”
He hated to let go of her hand once inside the cabin, but he reluctantly told Khloe, “You go with Doc. I’ll be right there. I need to talk to Crash and Burn for a few minutes.”
Khloe’s soft, “Yes, sir,” was a sucker punch. Those two words were normally reserved for their private time… in the bedroom. Maybe at Black Light. Certainly not with the entire BSO team.
Unable to resist, Ryder leaned in, kissing her bruised forehead, afraid to hurt her further. “Such a good girl.”
It took five minutes to get the rest of their gear packed up and both crews ready for take-off. Before they could leave, Ryder joined Ice and his team on the Eagle.
Surrounded by the cabin full of special ops soldiers, Ryder cleared his throat to get the men’s attention. “I wanted to say thank you. I won’t get mushy on you…”
“Thank God for that,” Magic joked from right behind him.
“I couldn’t have done this without you. Khloe is my life…”
“Lucky bastard.” This time it had been Ice interjecting.
“Yes. I am the first to admit I am one lucky bastard.” Unable to think of the right words, Ryder shifted, telling the crew. “You’ve all earned an extra week of downtime, and I’ll be talking with Santa Clause, but I think you can all expect a nice bonus for this mission.”
“Fuck that,” Ice said before clarifying. “Not the money part. We’ll take that, but we don’t need the week. Somebody has to keep working to pay the bills around here.”
Everyone started laughing. Ryder would fight that out with them later. Thunder and Cat had joined them from the cockpit.
“Thanks for dropping our boys off safely in Turkey. I’ll see you two back in Texas soon,” Ryder said to his newest pilot.
“Roger that,” Thunder agreed before looking a bit uneasy. Glancing around, he decided he could speak freely. “FYI, Doc asked me to have Allie check in on Axel. She’s been making sure he’s eating and now that the Queen is safe, she’s gonna badger him to get some rest. And having been on the receiving end of her badgering, I can assure you she’ll be successful.”
The fucking lump in his throat was back. Like Khloe’s earlier guilt for forgetting to ask about Trevor, Ryder realized he hadn’t checked in on Axel since they’d finished the mission.
“Tell her thanks from me. It means a lot that she’s there with him because I’m sure Howard isn’t the best company with both crews away from The Ranch.”
Having met their supply agent, everyone broke into a good-natured chuckle at the truth in those words.
He’d only been away from his Queen for five minutes, but Ryder found himself jogging up the stairs to the Condor to join Torch and the North American team for the flight home. Crash met him at the top of the steps.
“We ready?” the pilot asked.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Ryder confirmed.
“At least we don’t have a half dozen Moscow police cars chasing after us this time,” referring to their harrowing escape four years earlier.
“Thank fuck for that. Let’s head home to The Ranch.”
