Matt looked at the camera, “Malik, the asshole with the shades is cleared.”
“Roger that.”
Castello filed away the information, he was surprised to see Matt Garrett knew Zack well enough to be confident to invite him into his home without clearance through their systems. How had he even known that Zack would have refused to be cleared? Hell, he and Sage knew most of Team Panther from their time in Delta Force together and they had to have their identities verified. There was a story there between Matt and Zack, that was for sure.
Still, if it didn’t affect his operations, he guessed any old history between these two didn’t matter a damn. Maybe. He didn’t bat an eyelid that Malik, even though he had worked with them in Mexico, had refused to admit Zack when he couldn’t verify him. This was what they dubbed Forward Operation Base Panther. This was where Panthers families lived and probably had more
fire power and warriors than there were Secret Service in the White House.
Matt gestured to the other man who guarded the gate, “Y’all remember Jonah.”
“Yup,” Castello nodded to Jonah Montgomery, former Delta Force Sniper, with an unconfirmed kill list of nearly two hundred. His sniping skills had saved a hell of a lot of guys down range in multiple war zones across the globe, before his and Matt’s relationship earned them a dishonorable discharge under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Any of the team who didn’t know Jonah from his time in the military would for sure know him as one of the top country music artists of their generation. Although, Jonah had stepped back from the limelight after a ghost from the past had come hunting him with an assassin.
“C’mon,” Matt nodded at the camera and the electric gates slid back to allow Castello and his team to enter the compound. “Follow us to the house.”
“Sure.” Castello opened the door of his truck and got in. He was more than ready to find out what the hell was going on. “We’ll be right behind you,” he heard the engine in Zack’s truck growling to life. His fucking idiots, some days they wished for the rigid rules that came with serving in the military, but on the other hand they loved having the freedom to make their own rules. Even so, he was still Boss, they all knew what they signed up for; he and his guys, especially Zack, were going to have a come to Jesus meeting about following orders.
Chapter 19
Axel leaned against the pillar on his sister’s front porch. She had moved here to Texas not long after they got back from Mexico, that run in with Brendan Givens had ensured Krystal no longer wanted to live in Miami. He supposed there could be worse places to live than in a secure compound with a bunch of former Special Forces soldiers.
There were eight houses in a neat circle. Their own little mini village in the middle of a Texas Ranch. He chewed on the corner of his lip. Watching the drive was getting him nowhere, it was official, he was an idiot. Doubts and second thoughts slammed into him, the voices in his head reminding him he was nobody. The stupid kid who would never amount to anything. He hadn’t even kept his sister safe. What the hell was he thinking, phone calls, emails, and FaceTime didn’t mean anything right?
Despite all the reassurances and ‘I’m coming back for yous,’ deep inside, the knowledge remained that if Castello didn’t call, didn’t come, it would rip his heart to so many pieces, like Humpty Dumpty it would never be put together again. Maybe that, along with the threat of Brendan Givens, was what had prompted him to run. To come here to visit Krystal and the kids.
Oh, he could tell himself all he wanted that he was just checking on her.Lies!
His internal voice yelled. He had run because he was a damn coward. Instead of waiting and seeing what happened, he had bolted.
He pulled out his cell, pressing the button to light up the screen. “No fucking signal. Argh.” How the hell could they live here with no signal? He’d been here three days and it was already making him batshit. Without Malik allowing him to use a laptop, he would never have been able to check his business email, never mind his private one.Idiot, he would have called you ifhe was coming for you!The knowledge that he had no signal reminded him that if Castello had called, he wouldn’t have been able to see it didn’t help him feel any better. Fuck, just fuck!“Enough.” Grumbling to himself, Axel mentally booted his ass, he was done with waiting and wondering what if. He turned toward the door, he was getting his fucking keys and driving somewhere he could get service.
Beep, beep.
The sound of trucks coming up the drive was nothing new. Vehicles and trucks came and went here all day. The hooting horn? That was new enough to make him stop and look. He frowned at the two black SUVs following
Matt’s truck up from the gate. Huh? Those, he didn’t recognize. When Matt turned the truck in his direction rather than heading straight ahead to the main house, Axel shaded his eyes with his palm, the harsh Texas sun glinting off the windscreens reflected into his eyes. He lifted a hand to wave at Jonah as the first truck drove past him. Turning, he was curious to see who was driving the next.Castello!
“Castello!” His heart did a double tap. Speeding up, that phrase the books used, ‘going to thump out of his chest!’ Oh yeah, that was true, his heart felt like that.Shit what do I do? Run to him, wave? Play it cool. Fuck,fuck.He was so not prepared for this.
Their eyes met through the window, brakes screeched, and the truck stopped. “Axe?”
“Hi.” Axel drank in the sight of him, looking for bruises, cuts, any sign he was moving awkwardly. “Um, welcome home.”
“Axel?”
Disbelief, shock, and Axel wasn’t sure what else filled Castello’s voice.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Axel had been just about to move, to go to him, but the question stopped him cold. Fuck he didn’t want him.You are an idiot.He looked left, then right, then over his shoulder.House, go now.
“You are an idiot.”
Krystal’s voice behind Axel made him jump. He knew he was an idiot, she didn’t need to highlight it, thank you very much. “He is here because you are a damn idiot, Castello Moran. Want to try that greeting again?”
Axel’s mouth hit the deck. He was so sure of it, he actually put his hand under his chin and pushed up. His sister was bitching at Castello and not at him? She had called Castello an idiot and not him? Ah fuck, he was totally confused.
Castello shook himself, his face cleared as if he had shaken out the cobwebs and found the answers he was looking for. Taking the steps two at a time, he stopped directly in front of Axel, “You are really here?”
