The thought makes my steps pause, and I glance back at the computer. Maybe I should at least leave it open for Dad.
“Look at me, son,” Dad says, and I meet his eyes. “You’re coming home. There’s no negotiation in that.”
I almost blurt a whole lot of ‘what ifs,’ but I manage to keep them to myself.
Dad grips the back of my neck. “If I didn’t think you could do this, I wouldn’t let you go.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“It’s adorable you think that,” he says, smirking.
“There isn’t a system anywhere on this property that I can’t override,” I argue.
His smirk grows. “Voss, I’ve lived a long time without technology running my life. I haven’t forgotten my roots. Nevertheless, this isn’t a conversation we need to have right now. You’ll go in, get Brek, and get out. We’ll take care of the rest. Your only job is to rescue your boyfriend and come home to your family. Understand?”
I feel cowardly when my shoulders relax. But I know my strengths. They’re not fighting. I don’t have the stomach for it.
“Yes, and we’ll revisit this ‘not letting me’ topic when I get back.”
Dad smiles. It’s filled with amusement. Somehow, I think he’s right. If Dad wanted to keep any of his kids from doing something, I have a feeling he could manage. He’d probably do so without breaking a sweat.
In a way, Dad might be the most frightening one of us all. Including his sociopathic son.
I rest my hand on Axl’s head and lean over to kiss him. I close my eyes, breathing him in.I’ll be home soon, baby. And I’m bringing Brek back. We’ll be a family, okay?
Perhaps that should be a conversation with Brek before I promise it to my kid, but meh. I’ll take that chance.
Don’t grow too much while I’m gone.
I stand and meet Dad’s eye. There’s no goodbye. Dad doesn’t tell me to be careful or come home. He kisses my cheek and moves aside, allowing me to exit my office. I truly feel like I’m walking into a burning building entirely unprepared.
The Shuttled driver’s car is out front. Azlan, Isidro, and Wade are waiting there. The plan is simple and straightforward. Azlan, Wade, and I squish into the back. Isidro will give us a very smalldose of chloroform to knock us out when we see the truck pulling in. Just enough so that we’ll be unconscious during the transfer.
“Got your weapons?” Isidro asks.
I nod. “Yep. You?”
He smirks. “Yes. Take care of my boys, huh?”
I look at Azlan and snort. “Right.”
“In,” Isidro says as he moves behind the wheel. “We want to be early. Not late.”
I climb in, ending up in the middle, squished between two big guys. I’m not a small guy, but between Azlan and Wade, I might as well be twelve. “This is a long ride like this. We can probably stop just before the truck stop and swap out.”
That’s all the convincing Azlan needs. He gets back out of the car and sits in the passenger seat. Isidro grins at me.
“Here we go,” Isidro says.
The truck stop is over an hour away. The truck to hand over cargo is scheduled for almost two hours from now. I settle into the back of the car and watch the trees pass us by while Isidro takes us to the highway.
I can hear Mark’s voice in my head.Your heart rate is elevated, Voss.It makes me smile in acknowledgement. I’m scared as fuck. I’m terrified of what I’m going to find when I get there. Terrified that I’m too late. The likelihood of being too late feels increased because of the double shipment this month.
Sleep evaded me last night. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could imagine was getting there and not finding Brek anywhere.Learning that he was dead, but never finding his body, no matter how much I searched.
Equally bad was getting there and stumbling upon his body right away, only recognizing that it was him by his glasses or the shirt he was wearing the last time I saw him.
Fear makes my hands shake, and I fist them together. My leg bounces because even now, my body can’t sit still.
