Well that didn't go as planned. He was foolish for letting his heart prevail when his head had served him well for many years. Since he'd learned his intoxicated ex-wife was responsible for killing Adam, he'd locked his heart away in a tight little box where it had stayed for fifteen years, safe and sound. Now, this little mama had wormed her way in and unlocked that box without him even realizing it; she was going to break his heart again.

Exiting the truck, he glanced over at Jax as her jaw tightened and she walked toward their team members who had gathered around the back of the Beast for a briefing. Lincoln waited for him at the side of his truck, Abe giving his ear a little lick.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah."

"Doesn't look like yeah. Dodge this is what Gaige and the rest are worried about. You two having issues affects all of us."

"We're not having issues."

Walking alongside him, Lincoln grunted. "Looks like something is off."

"Yeah. I all but told her I love her and she said we'll talk later."

"You love her?"

"No. I don't know. It's the damnedest thing. There's just this something that I can't let go. A kinship or feeling that a spiritual person would say meant we are destined to be together or something. I don't know what to think about it. I don't know what to do about it. The only thing I know is she feels right for me."

Lincoln laughed out loud and slapped him on the right shoulder. "Well, I'll be damned, you are in love with her."

"I don't know."

They neared their teammates and Gaige started right in explaining their mission. Go in. Investigate. Capture any men left inside. Collect their money. Seemed easy. Their client had strict instructions – no more Santarinos left doing business. Period. Permission to help with the investigation from the feds, helped that along.

"Dodge, how's the shoulder this morning?"

"Good. Pain is minimal, I slept great last night, feeling better."

A few chuckles echoed through the group, but not many as the look on Josh's face sobered the chucklers down.

"Good, so you'll be stationed here on the radio. Stay in the Beast, keep the computers rolling and watch the drone footage and body cams. Ford, Josh and Jax will have cams on. I've got the links already set in the computers."

He handed the body cams out and the team members instantly began putting them on. Gaige finished, "Lincoln and Wyatt you'll be positioned at the back. Body cams go in first and look around, Axel and I will go in next, two paces behind and protect you as you search. Cam team, get in and rush the bums out; immediately begin searching for remaining minions first, documents, stolen property, maps and anything else we can use to shut this operation down. The back team will be ready in case we need backup inside, or if the drones show us another exit point as we're flushing out the criminals."

The group nodded and Dodge's jaw tightened. He hated not being able to go in and help with this. He hated even more that Jax was going in first. Deadly position. His eyes floated to hers and she nodded, gave him a thumbs up, he mouthed “For Jake”, she blinked the tears and mouthed, “For Adam.” Then adjusted her flak jacket and camera and then she turned and began hiking to the entrance with Ford and Josh.

Climbing into the Beast, his stomach in knots, his back and jaw tight, he positioned himself in the back with the computers. Gaige had them set up in a semi-circle on a shelf built just for this, against the backseat. Both of the computer screens were divided into four squares, to which drone footage, body cams and the two stationary cameras were projected. His teammates voices came over the radio as Jax said, "At the entrance."

Ford and his group replied that they were in position and then Gaige responded the same for his group. Once again Dodge mumbled that sitting on the sidelines was the worst form of torture. That said, sitting on the sidelines while the woman you possibly love was walking into danger was the actual worst form of torture. Note to self - don't get shot and sit on the sidelines again.

The body cams showed on the screens and he couldn't decide which camera footage to watch - Jax's camera to see what she was seeing or Josh's camera because he was directly behind Jax and he could watch her. His eyes bounced between the two cameras to the point he had the beginnings of a headache. Jax turned to Josh and nodded. Watching her camera, he saw she was at an entrance, a door in front of her. Reaching forward, she checked to see if it was locked. Nodding to Josh, he moved forward and rolled the ACE or Advanced Cutting Explosive, along the frame of the door. Jax moved back, but he could see her on Ford's camera. They moved back and ducked around the corner. Josh came running toward them and ducked just in time. The bright light filled the screen as the explosion flashed, then light from where the door lead to the tunnel. Ford ran toward the doorway, Jax behind him and then Josh. Debris still floated in the air and obstructed his view now and then.

Gun shots fired and his eyes roamed the cameras to see where they came from. Suddenly he couldn't see any of his team, just what their cameras saw. Jax shot one of the men ducking behind a sofa, pointing a gun at her. Ford did the same. Soon Josh appeared on Jax's camera, as he hugged the wall but advanced further into the building. Ford followed behind but Jax stayed put. He saw her turn to check the entrance they just made then turn back to watch Ford and Josh.

Ford kicked open a door and flipped on the light then stepped back out. Josh did the same in another room. They continued on, and then Jax advanced toward them. Axel quietly reported, we're in.

He breathed a sigh of relief and watched as they advanced. Josh kicked in another door, looked inside then stepped out, and motioned to Jax. Must have found the office. She'd go in and look around while the rest of the team secured the rest of the house.

A motion on one of the cameras caught his attention, and he saw two men climbing out of an escape hatch in the mountain. Tapping the comm system he said, "Two men on the east side of the mountain just came out of an escape hatch about one hundred yards from the main entrance. Out."

Gaige's voice was low when he responded, "Copy. Wyatt?"

"On it."

More shots were fired within the house and his eyes darted to Jax in the office. She continued to rifle through drawers and files so she wasn't in the fray. Josh kicked a gun away then stepped over a dead body and he knew where the shots had come from. All Josh said was, "Three."

With the two that had run out and the three now dead inside, that meant five men in the Santarino compound working. Pulling up his phone he called Jared Timm, their computer guru extraordinaire. "Yeah."

"Jared, I need some information."

"Whatcha need brother?"

"Did either Victor or Mangus Santarino have kids? I don't recall any mention of any from either family."

Tapping could be heard on the other end of the line as his eyes watched the cameras. Wyatt had almost caught up with the two running down the mountain. They may be younger, but Wyatt was huge and those long strides of his made him run faster than you'd dream a man of his size could move.

"Yes, it seems Mangus and his wife, Sophia, have a daughter named Francesca."

"How is it that information was left out of all the reports we had?"

Tapping. Silence. More tapping. "Hmm, well it looks like after they had her, there was an attempt on Mangus' life and they sent her away. She went to the Italian countryside with caretakers and Sophia spent the majority of her time there with Francesca."

"There should have been hospital records."

"Nope, no hospital records. They've either been wiped or they never existed. The Santarinos are a very wealthy family so they probably paid someone to keep her birth off the record."

"How old is Francesca?"

"According to school records she's around twenty-four now."

"I don't know how you get this shit, Jared, but I'm damned glad you do."

“My bill is coming.” Chuckling sounded then a click and the line went dead.

He checked Jax's camera and she was still looking through papers and tossing some into a briefcase she’d found alongside the desk so he allowed his eyes to float over to Wyatt. The two people Wyatt was closing in on both had short dark hair, jeans and button up white shirts. From this distance he couldn't tell if one of them was female, but he'd hear it as soon as Wyatt captured them.

Josh entered the office Jax was in and he could see her face on his camera. Her smile was breathtaking, even through all of this. He opened the comm unit to hear what she was saying. "I've found routes in and out of the country. I've got some of Mags's contacts in the Ozarks and I have shipping companies owned by the Santarinos and the dummy companies to hide their ownership."

"Great work as usual, Jax."

She beamed at her brother again then continued to pack things up. Josh turned to look out the door then Ford announced, "All clear."

Wyatt's voice came over the comm units. "These are fucking girls."

*

Later, they convened at the compound to wrap up this mission. Gaige entered the conference room where they all waited for the final wrap up and release from this mission.

“Hey everyone, so I just got off the phone with my Federal contact. Mags is in jail, she’s charged with a shit ton of federal crimes against her, so she won’t see the light of day. Turns out, Georgia had a record in her country which is why she was so eager to come here and work for Mangus. It got her out of Dodge, so to speak.” Nodding in his direction, Dodge smiled and nodded.

“They’ve rounded up the bodies and between you and me, my contact said he isn’t happy about the body count, but it’s less than last time, so he’s counting that as a win. Plus, as a bonus they have the Santarino girl and her friend.”

Chuckling around the table and a little ribbing between the team members halted Gaige’s report, but he allowed it to happen. Bonding and all.

“Finally.” Gaige’s eyes met Jax’s. “Jax, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but Stan passed away this morning. Doctors said he didn’t have long and turns out he didn’t. He did tell a nurse at the hospital that you were the cutest little spitfire he’d ever met.”

Jax’s eyes watered and her shoulders slumped but she didn’t break down and cry. Not yet anyway, but maybe later. She was a tough Little Mama. And he was in love with her.

“Okay, great job team. Hawk is being released today and I’m taking the Beast to pick him up. Bed rest for a few days, then therapy and he’ll be good as new. Your pay will be deposited in the morning.”