I’d never been so attracted to someone both physically and emotionally. The shared text messages had made me proud of her, pissed at her, lusting forher. She’d become a friend...then lover. But mostly, she’d become everything I ever needed.
Clenching my hand, I rubbed at the sudden ache in my heart.
I fucking miss you, Needle.
I shook my head. “A phone. Do you have an in-flight phone I can use?”
She nodded. “I’ll get it for you.” Disappearing down the back of the aircraft, she returned with a satellite phone.
The moment I turned it on, I forgot all about her and focused on rallying every plan I’d put into place before Jasmine called to say Nila had been taken to Africa.
How long ago was that?
A decade? Two?
Shit, it felt like an eternity.
The first call was to Tex.
He answered on the first ring, almost as if he sensed the magnitude of the situation and the peril his daughter was in.
“Arch speaking.”
“It’s Jethro.”
His voice turned sharp. “You said you’d call me hours ago, Hawk. What the hell happened?”
“Change of plan.” I swiped a hand over my face. “Look, they took her before I could put everything into place. It’s happening right now. You need to gather whoever you’ve been working with and get to Hawksridge this very fucking second.” My heart charged with gunpowder. “Can you do that?”
“What the fuck happened? Is my daughter okay? Tell me what the hell you did!”
“She is for now, but she won’t be if we don’t move fast. Get ready. I’ll meet you outside the gates to the estate in—” I checked the clock. Landing was in two hours. The local airport I’d ordered us to land in was closer to Buckinghamshire than Heathrow. Every extra minute I gained on my father counted. On a commercial service, Cut would’ve had no choice but to land at Heathrow.
Local time would place my arrival at late morning.
I’m closing in.
Working out the time differences, I said, “Meet me at eleven thirty a.m. Bring everything you have. I’ll tell you what we need to do when I’m there.”
“Jethro—”
“No, I don’t have the time to console or repeat myself—just be there.” I hung up and dialled the next man on my list.
Kill answered on the third ring.
“Speak.”
“Kill, it’s Hawk.”
“About time you fucking called. Been sitting in this damn bed and breakfast waiting for the green light to move.”
“You’re in Buckinghamshire?”
“Where the fuck else would I be? I said I’d come. I came. Brought three of my best men with me, too.”
I slouched in my seat with gratitude.
Thank God for friends in random places.
