Pairing my phone straight away to the Bluetooth, I’m screaming down the road.
“Don’t you ever fucking sleep, Bull?” Ghost’s voice mumbles as he answers my call.
“We have a problem. It’s go time!” I’m driving like a rally driver through the streets in the pitch-black darkness of the night.
“On it. Tell me what you know.” I hear him waking up his computer and we get straight into the details, and he starts coordinating our plan—earlier than he hoped, I know.
Ghost is fully awake and alert now. “I’ll be back to you after you do the pick-up. Don’t give him any details, but tell him to keep his ear to the ground. I’ll be in contact with him after. He needs to go to ground, because they will want to know how he lost his client. I can extract him if you think we should help him.”
“I’m not sure about him. But at the moment, I can’t do anything but trust him. He could have just taken her. But I’m reserving judgment until I have Asha back in my arms, safe.” My heart skips a beat at the thought of her in danger.
“Roger that. ETA to your pickup is seven minutes. Get in, get her, and get out.” His voice is mixed in with the tapping on his keyboard.
“Got it. I’m out.” Ending the phone call, I turn my focus out the window.
The moon is shining high in the sky, I’m sure the stars are gorgeous, if I had time to stop and look. Already on the outskirts of town, the houses thin out, one every so often and empty land in between. In the last minute, I have only passed one car as I’m speeding along the quiet road to the meeting point.
I’m sure there are dents in the steering wheel from my fingers gripping it so tightly. I’m throwing the car around corners and swerving over the center line, not caring. I own the road tonight, and I’ll take any risk to get to Asha quicker.
Rounding the last bend, I see the small break in the fence and the dirt road that leads to the left. There is no guarantee this isn’t a trap, but I keep driving down the road anyway.
I told her I’d die for her, and I meant it.
My headlights hit the back of Scott’s car parked off to the side.
My eyes dart all over the place, trying to look for signs of other people or vehicles hidden, though it is more open than I imagined and isn’t somewhere that would be easy to ambush me.
Trying not to look frazzled, I slow the car down and roll to a stop behind his vehicle. My headlights make the inside look like daytime. I see the back of his head but no sign of Asha.
I go through my normal pattern, checking gun, spare ammo, phone, burner phone. Stepping slowly from the vehicle, I try to keep myself in check.
In my head, I can hear the words I would have been thinking when I was an agent. Keep calm, stay alert, expect the unexpected.
Yet right now, all I’m worrying about is where the fuck is my girl.
The gravel crunches under my feet, my body on full alert. Scott’s door opening, I stop and wait for him to stand, facing me.
“Stay calm, she is lying on the seat and safe. Don’t do anything stupid.” For the first time since I’ve met Scott, he looks unsure.
“Open the door.” My voice rumbles through the still night’s silence.
His hand slowly moves to the handle, opening the door, and then he steps back.
My first vision is her beautiful blonde hair that is spilling off the seat.
Stopping my feet from acting on instinct and running to her, my eyes flash back to Hawk. “Move away!” I can’t even be civil. I watch him retreat away from the car a little more.
“I’m on your team. I always was.” When he is far enough from me, I allow my feet to finally take the steps I’ve been longing for since the moment I got here.
The adrenaline suddenly has me moving quicker than I know I should, but I need to touch her and make sure she’s breathing.
My girl is lying lifeless on the seat, curled up, eyes closed, but I can see her chest moving. Finally, the clamp that I’ve been feeling on my heart releases a little, not fully, but it’s moved an inch.
“Oh, my beautiful Asha, what have they done to you?” My hand touching her cheek, I feel her smooth warm skin. I don’t have time to stand here and take her in. She is alive and breathing; now I need to get her out of here.
Turning to Hawk, I’m torn on how I feel about his role in this whole thing. “How long has she been out?” I want to punch him but know I can’t and have to stay focused.
“About fifteen minutes. You probably have a couple of hours like that. I didn’t want to do it, but I knew she wouldn’t listen to me. She passed out from shock from something that Davina said to her on the phone, and then she came to, screaming and crying, totally irrational.” I can see the concern in his eyes. This is not the hardass that I have worked with or the guy that I have been battling with since he arrived on the scene.
Fuck, what the hell is going on!
“What the hell did she say to make her pass out?” Gently sliding Asha out of the car and into my arms, her body is limp and her breathing deep. As I walk to Seth’s Range Rover, Scott rushes past me to open the door.
Carefully laying her on the back seat, I grab a blanket to cover her and strap seatbelts over her just in case my driving gets erratic.
Scott starts replying, “I don’t know, man, but all
