Fucccck!In all the years these guys had worked with him, Castello knew he had never given them a reason to doubt his sanity in the field. This move right here? This was a reason.Well, shitballs. He forced himself to pull back.
“Asshole.” Axel stumbled back as soon as Castello released him and gestured to the guys around them watching the show with their mouths hanging open, “How do you sleep at night knowing people think you are a dick?”
“With no underwear in case they want to kiss my ass.” Castello shot back. Jesus, he’d met this man less than an hour ago and already he was digging in under his skin. “Move.” He pointed to the direction where they had left Sage and Connor at their mobile TOC, “That way. Now.”
“Dick.”
“Yup.” Castello agreed, “Don’t care. Move.”
“I can hogtie him, Boss.” Zack drawled, “If it wouldn’t make too much noise, I could shoot around his feet and make him go, like they do in the movies.”
“Shut it, dumbass, you may be from the great state of Texas, but you’re no fucking cowboy.” Castello waved Zack, Rafe, and Balas on ahead. They had five klicks to go to their TOC, and he wanted to put as much distance between him and the mine as possible before daybreak.
“You don’t understand.” Axel was grateful and all that these guys had rescued him, he was, he just needed to know what Gavin Kony knew about his sister, damn it.
“When we get to TOC.” Castello crowded close to Axel, forcing him to take a step back. “You endanger my men by forcing the conversation here.
Move.”
Axel blew out a breath, he could see he wasn’t going to get anywhere.
Maybe once they got to whatever TOC was, he could slip away into the rainforest or something. It was a damn good thing he grew up in Florida, not many of the creatures here scared him. Except maybe the big cats. Those
made him consider peeing his freaking pants.
***
Deeper into the rainforest, after tripping and stumbling over too many roots and debris on the forest floor to count, the team finally reached the approach to the more secure area they had moved their mobile Tactical Operations Unit to, just before going out to rescue Axel. Castello scanned the area, looking for anything out of place. Trying to catch a glimpse of where Connor had set up in a nest to guard Sage’s back. Thank fuck. He couldn’t even see a leaf moving, good. The kid was learning.
“TOC, this is Lynx One, do you copy.”
“Lynx One, TOC.”Sage’s reply came almost before Castello had finished speaking,“I got you, Boss.”
“Lynx One approaching from the north with gear and package.”
“Copy that, Boss,”Sage replied,“Lynx is clear to enter.”
The team moved as one, Rafe and Balas in front, clearing the area for them to walk safely. This may not be the Middle East where IEDs were a constant danger. Nope, here in the rainforest, it was more animal traps with teeth, similar to the kind used in the arctic for trapping bears and wolverines that were the problem. Rafe led them to a path where the forest floor fell away into a drop on the left-hand side, then stepped off the side with Balas jumping after him, and disappeared over the edge.
“What the hell?” Axel stopped in his tracks when Zack, too, jumped over the edge.
“Shh.” Castello shushed Axel. “There is a ledge.”Seriously dude, don’tstart acting like some of those idiots who are too stupid to live. You survivedin a damn MC club as a kid, you just did a few rounds with fuckers whowould shoot their granny if it got them an extra buck. Why the hell are youpanicking now?He couldn’t figure it out. All the intel they had received from Grif showed Axel Shaw was a solid dude. In Castello’s opinion that remained to be seen. People changed over time. No matter who they were. Experiences and life changed everyone. Finding him here in the Congo, that in Castello’s opinion was a huge fucking red flag.
Axel approached the spot where the first two men had disappeared and looked over the edge. Okay, Castello was right, there was something. Maybe a mountain goat would call it a ledge. Axel, not so freaking much, he would call it a notch, or maybe an almost sticking out rock. Ledge? Not a fucking chance.
“Turn around, go over with your feet first,” Castello told him, “I’ll grab your arms to make sure you don’t fall.”
“Uh.”
“You’ll be fine.” Castello nodded to the edge, “As soon as your feet show over the edge, one of the guys will grab you and help you into the cave.”
Cave? There was a cave? Axel knew he was being an idiot. But damn it, his last chance to find his sister and nephew lay with Gavin Kony. If he missed him, they were gone forever. He had no idea why Brendan Givens trusted Kony. Axel knew as soon as the mob’s enforcer had access to blood diamonds, he was going to disappear. And if he knew it, why the hell didn’t Givens? “I want to talk to Grif when we get down there.”
“Sure.”
Axel frowned at Castello’s quick answer. Was the man yanking his chain? There was no reason for them to help him back at the mine. No reason for them to have brought him here. They could have just killed him anywhere along the five kilometer or so walk if dead was their objective. “Okay.” He turned and got onto his knees. Looking up at Castello he frowned at the weird look on the man’s face. Then noticed where his eye level was—dick level, and with Castello standing so close to him, if he blew out a breath, he was quite sure Castello’s dick would feel the rush of air through his camo pants.
Why the fuck are you thinking of his dick? Get your ass over the damn drop.
