Noble pulled the hood off the prisoner, “Joe?”
“How did you find me?” Joe said hoarsely. Thank you, thank you.”
“Just doing our job,” Noble pressed the button on his coms. “TOC, Eagle, we have the package, ETA fifty klicks.”
“Roger that, Eagle.”Max replied.“TOC will be ready and waiting with the lights on and the coffee warm.”
“Copy, TOC, Eagle out.”
“How did you find me?” Joe asked again.
“Here, drink this.” Noble twisted the top off a bottle of water and handed it over. “You’ll debrief when you get to the US.”
“How’re you doing, Joe?” Rick concentrated on the turns. He didn’t dare take his eyes off the road, not even to glance in the rear-view mirror. Beside him, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Saxon was half turned in his seat but still keeping an eye on the outside.
“Alive, and nobody is threatening to cut off my head.” Joe croaked. “So I’d say pretty damn good.” He looked at the driver and inhaled a breath. “Hey, I know you.”
“Yeah.” Rick nodded. “Rick Jones.” He clamped down on the inside of his cheek, waiting for the verbal punch he was sure would come.
“The guy who set the White House gossips into overdrive by kissing me on the lawn?”
“Yeah, umm… sorry about that.”
“Nah, it was awesome,” Joe shrugged. “I got dumped by the girl I couldn’t shake, and my mother stopped trying to set me up with her friends’ daughters. When she starts asking me when I’m gonna get married, I just remind her of that day, and she backs right off.” Through his scraggly beard, his teeth flashed as he smiled at Rick. “You did me a massive favor. I owe you.” He took another sip of the water. “Looks like I owe you twice now.”
“Just doing my job.” Relief and a multitude of other emotions blasted through him. Fuck, he had spent years thinking he’d fucked up. That he’d ruined the other man’s life. Finding out he hadn’t… fucking awesome.
“Take us home, R.”
“You got it, babe.” He winced as the words were out of his mouth.
“Ah, so the wind still blows in that direction,” Joe said.
“Yeah.” Rick chanced a glance in the rear-view mirror. “It does.”
“Good for you, man. Good for you.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Rick?”Saxon hit pause on the news. Holy fucking shit, did he just see that? He replayed the segment and watched it again. Yeah, he fucking did. “Rick, get your ass in here, stat.”
“I’m in the shower, babe.” Rick’s voice was muted by the sound of running water.
Saxon couldn’t move from his place on the couch, he kept staring at the screen in disbelief. “Get the fuck in here now.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming, keep your britches on.” Rick came down the hallway and into the living room.
“Watch this,” Saxon rewound the news segment again and hit play.
“What—”
“Just watch it, damn it.”
Rick blew out a breath. Since they had gotten back from Afghanistan yesterday, Saxon had been jumpy. He’d been wondering if the man was having second thoughts about their relationship. But now, with how his hands wrapped around Rick’s and the way his fingers were stopping the blood flow on Rick’s hands, he had to guess it was a no.
‘Today at the US Embassy in Rome, US Ambassador Kendrick Jones announced his candidacy for the Presidency in 2024...’
The words the news anchor was saying sank into his brain. “Nope, I don’t need to see this.”
