But from the sound of it, unless something went extremely right, the other team would only be wheels down about thirty minutes before us. They might have left earlier, but they’re flying from North Dakota, while we came in from Kansas.
“All right, boys, time to go,” Gina says, and we all stand, going to the Hummers in the bay.
The plane isn’t going to do a full stop for us to get off. We have less than a minute to drive the three vehicles off this thing. I’m hoping the pilot is as good as Gina thinks to be able to do a stop-and-go long enough for us to get our wheels on solid ground and not just fall out of the damn plane.
The only warm and fuzzy I get is that her man, Mike, takes the first Hummer, and she gets into the last one.
I take the wheel of the second one, and Bass and Jumper get in with me. Casper is in the back with Gina and Walker. Bulldog and King are in the front with Mike.
The ramp starts to lower, and I turn on the vehicle. I glance at Jumper, who’s riding shotgun, bouncing on his seatlike a fucking crazy kid as the night sky is revealed. It’s so dark, I’ve got no clue if we’re close to the ground or not.
The Hummer in front of me floors it, and I follow right on his ass. I glance in the rearview mirror to make sure the boss is also with us and see headlights.
The second we’re off the ramp, I feel weightless while still strapped to my seat. The wheels have zero traction, and we’re flying through the air till we take a hard hit and bounce. Every one of us. I hit my fucking head on the roof, but other than cursing at it, I keep my foot on the gas pedal and swerve to correct and keep us from tipping over while following the other car.
“Shit, now we’re having fun.” Jumper’s giddy with excitement.
I look at him and then at Bass in the back seat. He’s shaking his head.
“Fucking adrenaline junkie,” he mumbles, but it doesn’t faze Jumper in the slightest.
“Hell yeah. Think we can try it backward?” Out of the corner of my eye, I see him look at me. I just give him a small shake of my head.
The radio sparks to life, and Jumper grabs it before anyone else does. “Can we go again?”
“We’re having General give you a psych eval after this,” Bulldog mutters over the comms.
“Oh, you boys are fun. We might have to do this again,” Gina laughs.
Casper must have been holding the button to talk, but Gina spoke before he could. I know Walker’s driving, and she’s in the back.
“Shut it, all of you. Flint’s got eyes in the sky. We’re clear the whole way through. Going to pull off about six klicks before the turnoff and meet up with our team. Follow the map just sent over.”
Each Hummer is not only equipped with radios between cars but also GPS synced to a satellite, courtesy of Fairy’s uncle, Jimmy Travis. He got us the eyes in the sky while the mafia, thanks to Brooklyn’s family running the entire East Coast and looking to merge with the West Coast, got us the names and numbers of the people to bribe.
Billy wanted to help, but C8 cut ties with her once she chose sides. We don’t fault her for it. King is the one who seems to be doubling down on this job to make up for what happened. Not that it was his fault. People die. He made a call. He sent out the medical team to get to her as soon as the threat was gone. He did what he could without injuring anyone else. He had no idea how bad she was till Jack told us. If Abigail had been open about being pregnant, maybe things would have gone differently. But they didn’t. C8 can’t blame him for not knowing and choosing his brother over a lay. Because as shitty as it sounds, that’s what she was at the time. He only realized too late that it was more.
Listening to the others talk keeps me just focused enough to not break protocol and just ram into the building myself. This Hummer is equipped with a shit ton of things, thanks not only to Bass, our weapons specialist, but me and my team. My guys wanted to come. They wanted to get some blood on their hands for what was done to their fallen brethren. But I said it was my call, my job, and thus my blood to spill. They backed down, not liking it but getting it all at once.
Casper wants a meetup with them after this. He wants to know everything. And I told him I’ll tell him everything. After. After we get Peaches. Alive or dead, she’s coming home, to me.
“Next left,” Bass says from the back seat.
I can see it just as well as he can on the screen, but I don’t point that out. I’m not in a talking mood.
We drive for about ten more minutes before we pull up to what looks like an abandoned house. The front wall is down, though the others are standing, but nothing shows life. Other than the two other Hummers parked out front.
We get out slowly. Just because we’re expected doesn’t mean we aren’t compromised. Things are going too well for me to think shit is fine and dandy. Especially after that little drop-off stunt Gina pulled earlier. It would have been fine if she had told us before, but there was no warning. When we left the compound and followed her, she introduced them as her team and said they were coming with. That was it, and we didn’t ask for signed affidavits on the matter.
Don’t get me wrong, Flint scanned them all with facial recognition. Unfortunately for us, there wasn’t a single thing on them. As if they’re ghosts, all of them. They’re either criminals or worked with them. But what choice do we have? They have more intel than we do. Not only do they have a tracker on Natalie, or so they claim, but they also have video footage. They found the girls on some surveillance from CCTV at an airport once they landed. Both of them appeared to be unconscious as they were taken from a plane to a car. We followed the car to the place Gina had shown us, but we had no other footage. They could have taken Ruby out someplacealong the road and we missed it, or they could have taken her through a tunnel. Apparently, under the building they’re occupying is a series of tunnels the cartel used before it was shut down by a military raid.
Or so they say. For all we know, they could still be operational. Casper told me about the tunnels he had to deal with when he went after Billy. That’s why we have so many brothers with us. If we each have to take a tunnel, then we will. No one is coming home unless it’s with Ruby.
Sometimes it takes a second, but we always find everyone—covert ops at its finest. Even from those we consider friends.
A flash of light has Bulldog signaling back before two people come out of the dark, holding guns pointed straight at us.
“Casper?” one says. I can’t make out anything about them, as we shut the vehicles off and were driving without headlights to keep us off anyone’s radar. Apparently, the road we used isn’t often traveled, and the less light the better.
