Page 10 of Fatal Thrill
“Trace!” Savanna flew across the room, edging past Jon to throw her arms around Hunter who stood behindhim.
Everyone else looked at Jaya and she stammered a bit before she threw back her shoulders and met Jon’s gaze head-on. “I’m helping Savanna with thewedding.”
Not many things could leave Jon with his yap hanging open. This, however, might be one ofthem.
He shook his head, hoping to clear his confusion. “You’rewhat?”
Hunter, his fiancée still in his arms, pushed Jon all the way into the room. “Youare?”
And then like a bad comedy skit, Bells busted in, stopped in his tracks, and looked horror-struck. “Please, God,no.”
To add to the skit, Sloane, off to the side, laughed like a well-timedsoundtrack.
Beatrice walked to her office chair and wheeled it out. “Ladies, would you mind continuing this discussion downstairs? I need to speak to Jon and the othersalone.”
Savanna kissed Hunter. There was a flutter of grabbing coats and leaving behind coffee mugs as Jaya scooted past Jon with a quick glance before darting out the door with Savanna andParker.
She looked…tired. And nervous. She hadn’t been feeling well when he’d left her,but…
The door shut with a solid click and silence descended. He threw a thumb over his shoulder. “What’s going on withthem?”
Beatrice sipped from her mug and sat. “Like Ms. O’Sullivan stated, she’s helping Savanna with the wedding. Hair and makeup. You can get the details after we’redone.”
Jon’s boots were glued to the plush carpeting. Part of him wanted to run down and hug Jaya right now, regardless of why she’d ended up here. Another knew that was a very bad idea. “How did thathappen?”
Bells plunked into one of the chairs while Hunter went over to pick up Sloane. Colton made prayer hands at Beatrice. “For the love of all that’s holy, you cannot let Jaya help with thewedding.”
“That is not my call, Mr. Bells.” Beatrice opened her laptop then shuffled a couple of folders. “Update me on the mission. Everything went okay once you returned the Suttons to NewYork?”
Everything had not gone okay, exactly. Jon took the seat next to Bells. “The FBI was not happy about our involvement. I explained that we’d been hired by Sutton Enterprises’ Board of Directors and had effectively done what they hadnot.”
Bells snorted. “The lead agent on the case, what was his name? Mullins? He didn’t like us showing himup.”
Beatrice looked up with an arched eyebrow at Jon. “Am I going to be getting a call from the FBI director, the Justice Department, or thepresident?”
The need for discretion and playing nice with official law enforcement was a top priority lately with Beatrice. She’d drilled that need into all of them over and over. “No, ma’am,” Jon said. “All is well. The Suttons were very grateful and smoothed things over with ASAC Mullins and histeam.”
Hunter paced slowly, bouncing Sloane as he walked. “Mullins gave Jon a lot of shit—it seemed almost personal to him—but Jon handled it like a pro. I guess previously consulting for the FBI might havehelped.”
Actually, that was the reason Mullins had been such as ass, but whatever. Jon didn’t give a flying fuck what that guy thought. “The Suttons were receiving medical care when we left to fly home. Both were bruised and dehydrated when we rescued them. We administered fluids, cleaned several minor wounds, and they were both feeling much better by the time we landed in New York. I checked on them right before I got here and they had been to the hospital where they were checked over, given additional fluids, and released about an hourago.”
“And the three men who kidnapped them?” Beatrice typed something on her keyboard. “Are they incustody?”
Sloane played patty-cake on Hunter’s face. The super soldier looked like he was in heaven. “We incapacitated all three men, boss, and then while Colton and Jon took care of the Suttons, I made sure the kidnappers wouldn’t go anywhere until theFederalesarrived. The three are in custody, although two are receiving medicalattention.”
“For?” Beatriceasked.
“Gunshot wounds,” Bells gleefully offeredup.
“Superficial ones,” Jon hurried to add. “But I wanted to make sure they understood that if we ever have to return to their stomping grounds to rescue American citizens from them in the future, the next time they won’t be solucky.”
Beatrice gave a slight nod, agreeing with his methods. “And Fleetwood? How did shedo?”
The dog had been christened Nicks by Jon’s mom when she’d rescued her from the streets. Stevie Nicks was one of Violet’s favorite singers. Upon arriving at Rock Star Security, Nicks received the codename Fleetwood. Jon had tweaked the spelling of her name, changing it to Nyx, since his was Nickleback, which on reports he often shortened to Nicks. Most of the guys referred to the dog as Princess Nyx because she could be quite demanding when it came to wantingattention.
“She nailed it.” Jon smiled, remembering the dog’s astute nose and senses. “The assholes weren’t too hard to track, but I let her take the lead and she caught the scent of our kidnap victims the moment we hit their last known whereabouts. They’d been hiding near a mangrove, watching for a Mexican Sheartail, when they were kidnapped. We found Natalie’s camera under some bushes and Nyx picked up the scent fromthere.”
“Good.” Beatrice made a note on her laptop, then handed Jon a sheet of paper. “Let’s start the certification process and continue her training. Here’s the list of upcoming dates in our area. Get yourselves scheduled for as many as you believe arenecessary.”
