“I know you think I’m saying it because you did or because of the adrenaline.I realized it when so many guns were aimed at me.I love you.I don’t want to just keep going through life.Going through the motions.I want to live and have adventures, and I want it all with you.”She rushed the words out, hoping he hadn’t changed his mind.
“You have terrible timing, sweetheart.”He indicated the cleanup in progress.
“We have the rest of our lives.If you’ll have me.”
Jack kissed the tip of her nose.“You won’t be able to get rid of me now.”
Their moment ended when the police rushed into the room.Jack pushed her behind him to keep her safe while Luke spoke to the men in charge.Whatever he said made them relax, and they spread out to help.
Jack turned around to face her.“They are going to want to question you.Remember, you can’t mention anything about us and our group.”
“I think the cat’s out of the bag.”It wasn’t like they could erase people’s memories.
“We have a cover story; we’re FBI on a raid that went bad.You were an innocent victim.”
“Okay.”Andrea nodded before she was whisked away.She kept glancing over at Jack, not wanting him out of her sight.She wanted this to be over so they could talk privately.They had a lot to discuss.
“Ma’am, I have some questions for you,” an officer stated, holding up a notepad in readiness to take her statement.
Chapter 43
“Another successful mission,” Rob said proudly an hour later when those who’d survived were taken into custody.Nick had arranged transport for them to be taken to a special location.None of them bothered to ask where since Nick would never tell anyway.
They were still in the conference room to survey the police cleanup and make sure they didn’t ask too many probing questions.
“It depends on your definition,” Jack replied ruefully.
“Bad guys are captured, and we still have the drive.I’d call that success.”
“It almost wasn’t.”Jack wasn’t normally a Debbie Downer, but something was bothering him about this mission.At first, everything had gone smoothly.Andre had walked in and made the switch.Then Greg called, stating Carlos was heading into the building.
The team couldn’t risk coming out of hiding and blowing their cover.Then things escalated inside, and the buyer knew Andrea wasn’t Holly.It had taken everything inside of him not to rush to her rescue or put a bullet in the back of the guy’s head for threatening the woman he loved.
He had finally had enough when Carlos’s men stormed in.Jack didn’t know who fired first, but once the first shot rang out, he took down two guards and made his way toward Andrea.
“How did he even know how to find us?”Jack asked, thinking out loud.
“I don’t know.The same way he followed Holly.Tracking,” Carson suggested.
“We can call the coroner who stashed her to see if anything was on Holly that could have led them to Florida,” offered Luke.
“But it doesn’t explain how they knew where to find Andrea.”Jack started pacing as his mind turned.He felt like he was missing something.Something vital.“How did they know she’d be at the bar?”
“Holly could have been there, and they followed her,” Drew mentioned.
Jack hadn’t considered that.He had only been watching Andrea, not thinking about another person who looked like her.“Okay, plausible.But what about the buy today?The time.The location.None of us had been followed, and they showed up just a few minutes after it started.It was planned.”
“He could have gone through her phone before she fled and knew about the buy.He attacked in Florida to try and get to her before,” Greg spoke up, sharing his input.
Shit.He should have known.Jack could have hit himself.“The phone.I bet the bastard put a tracker on it.”He had unintentionally endangered Andrea.All this time, she’d had a homing beacon on her.
“That’s how they knew where to go,” said Luke, looking just as unhappy as Jack.
“We’ll have to make sure to disable it before we give it to Nick.There’s too much vital information on it to just get rid of.”
“Agreed.I’ll start working on it,” Barry commented.
“I’m sure Andrea will be all too happy to give it up.”
