“I went ahead and grabbed this, too.” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and showed her the can of pepper spray she kept in the nightstand. “You won’t be needing it.”
That was fine. She had five more tucked away all over the house. She even had a big can of bear spray she kept in the barn for when she went riding.
Udall stomped over to grab her phone, and she noticed he had a dramatic limp on his right leg. He turned the phone over to look at the screen, and she held her breath, expecting him to erupt, but he just slid it into his shirt pocket.
Her heart dropped. Had Boone heardanything? Did he know Udall was there?
He wrapped his fingers around her upper arm, and his glove scratched her skin when he hauled her from the bedroom and into the large front room.
“Sit down.” He shoved her down onto their big leather armchair.
It wasn’t far from the kitchen and gave her an unimpeded path through the kitchen and to the back door.
“How did you survive the explosion?” She had to know. “They said the tunnels were pretty much destroyed.”
“I’d explored those tunnels and caves for weeks before taking those girls there.” He moved around the room, talking as he closed all of the blinds. “I knew them like the back of my hand. So, after I tossed that grenade, I hot-footed it to a tunnel that came out about a half mile from where your people were set up.” He smirked. “You forget, I was Special Forces, too.” He checked the lock on the front door. “I was almost clear when the cave opening collapsed on me and fucked up my leg.” He patted his right leg. “The only person I could get to help me was some hack doctor from a village about ten miles away from Aliabad. Sonofabitch fucked it up even more, which is why I didn’t get here sooner.”
“Okay, but how did you manage to get in and out of the country?” Someone was in deep shit for aiding and abetting this guy.
“A C-17 pilot got me onto the base in Charleston in the trunk of his car. I hid in a storage container, and he made sure it was on the manifest for his flight. When I was ready to head back to the States, we basically did the same thing in reverse out of Al Udeid.” He stopped and looked out the large front window that faced the front of the property, then closed the blinds.
His limp seemed to worsen as he moved around the room, making it a weakness she could exploit, if necessary.
You don’t spend your life around a bunch of overprotective alphas without learning a thing or two.
“How much did you have to pay that pilot to betray his oath?” She should probably check her attitude, but this guy tried to kill Boone.
“Mackie got himself into some trouble a while back with a local girl in Afghanistan. Her daddy wasn’t too happy about it and threatened to report him to his command. So, I paid the old man off.” He lifted one shoulder. “Mackie owed me one, and I collected.”
Luna made a mental note of the pilot’s name.
“How did you find this place?” To protect Boone’s anonymity, he’d purchased the property through an LLC that OSI created just for that purpose.
“Mackie saw your people at Al Udeid before they left. After that, it was just a matter of tracking their trip home.” He scoffed. “You’d be surprised what money can get ya.”
Udall’s smile disappeared.
“Q and A session is over. It’s time for you to call my old buddy Boone.” He tossed her phone at her.
She fumbled it in her hands and somehow managed not to drop it.
“Tell him you need him to come home.” Udall moved back over to the front window and peeked through the blinds he’d just closed.
Without knowing for sure whether Boone had heard anything, her smartest course of action was to assume she was on her own. She immediately started thinking of ways to get herself out of this situation alive. Her eyes scanned the space, and she noticed her car keys weren’t hanging on the hook by the door. He must have taken them.
Luna became angrier and angrier.
She and Boone hadn’t survived everything that happened only to have this disgusting piece of human garbage take it all away from them.
“I don’t give a shit what you have to say, but you get his ass here and make it believable.” He lifted the strap from his rifle over his head and leaned it against the wall by the front window.
His attention continually returned to the road leading to the property.
“He’s … he’s training today.” She acted like she was scrolling to his number. “What if he doesn’t answer?”
He tugged her gun and loaded magazine from his pockets and slammed the magazine into place with the butt of his hand.
“It would be in your best interest if he does.” He racked back the slide to load a round into the chamber and pointed the gun at her.
