***
Axel rubbed his fingers over his forehead. He knew Castello was right, he didn’t have the experience or the know-how to go on a rescue mission. He
already knew that if he were there it might cause a distraction, or he could fuck something up. But damn it. His heart fucking hurt. Krystal was his baby sister. He was meant to protect her.
He leaned against the stone wall of the cave; despite the heat and humidity, it was cool enough in here to ensure that he wasn’t sweating bullets, and his shirt wasn’t damp as it would be if he stuck his nose outside.
A huge clang made him jerk and spin around to see what or who was behind him, “Fuck.” The clang was followed by the grinding sound of gears turning behind the walls. “What the hell?”
It was the sounds filtered down the corridor and a whirring noise, followed by the sound of engines, that told him what was happening. Axel bolted for the door at the end of the long corridor. The helicopters were firing up.Damn it.He pumped his legs, giving himself a burst of speed. Last night when he and Cas had walked down here to watch the sunset, it had seemed too short. Overnight, in his head, the corridor grew to about ten freaking miles. His body slammed off the door, his hand already on the handle, but it refused to budge.
Shit, you forgot the code,Axel’s fingers froze as they often did when he stood at an ATM,what the fuck is the pin code? Argh, c’mon, c’mon.
Pressing the digits, the keypad flashed green before the door unlocked. By the time he made it to the metal catwalk above the hangar, two Blackhawks flew from the mouth of the dormant volcano Rock had built his safehouse in.
“Fuck!”
“Sorry, Sir?”
Of course, there is someone here to hear you bitching. Argh.The questioning tone of a voice from below him made him mentally kick his own ass. “Nothing.” Axel moved from the stairs to the ground level, “I’ll, uh, get out of your way.”
“Of course,” The older man paused in winding up a hose pipe. “You know, Sir?”
Who the hell is he calling Sir? Axel was confused but answered anyway.
“Excuse me?” He could be polite; this man had done nothing to him.
Castello, his ass was in for a beat down when he got back. If he got back.
Shut up!
“It’s a harder job to stay behind and watch them go to war.” the man said. “You never know if or when they will return.” He gestured to the sky,
“All we can do is send them off with an, ‘I’ll deal,’ or ‘be safe,’ and pray
they make it back.” The man turned the hose winder once more, the nozzle dragging across the basalt.
Axel knew the dude was right, and if he had stayed in the war room he would know what the plan was, instead of now having to sit here chewing his nails not knowing what the hell was going on.
“If you go to the war room,” the man nodded to the door, “I know one of your men, Cade, and Kalon are TOC. I’m sure they will let you in.”
Jeez, was this guy reading his mind?“Thank you.”
“Hang in there, son,” the man pushed the reel of hose pipe to the far wall and placed it in line with four others. “The ones who work here are good. If your man is half as good, they will be back before dawn.”
His man? How the fuck?
The man chuckled, “When you have worked in the shadows as long as I have, son, you learn to read situations better than most people can read a map.” He grinned at Axel’s confused look, “Plus the toss you over his shoulder and racing outta here like his ass was on fire show I saw as you passed through here last night... Dead giveaway.”
“Oh,” Axel scrubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin. “Yeah. I guess it was. I’ll go check the war room then.”
“Yup,” The man waved at Axel. “Nice talking to you.”
“You too.” Axel made sure to close the door after him, listening for the double lock as Grif had told him to last night before he made his way to the room where hopefully he could see what was going on.
Chapter 15
“This is gonna be a goatfuck.” Castello murmured the words as quietly as possible to Zack. They were sitting side by side on a Blackhawk as they flew toward Checkpoint Alpha on their mission plan.
