“We’ve got a shooter!” I holler. Fucker’s using a silencer.
Lethal and Blueblood have gone into motherfucker-hit-man mode. Their night-vision goggles are on, their guns are spraying bullets to cover us and we’re all scrambling to get into the belly of the chopper—ASAP!
Everything happens so quickly. Slade forcefully throws Phoenix into the cabin without hesitation or apology. Ruby is snatched from Mathias’s arms, by Viking and flung over his shoulder before he gets the both of them inside. Mathias—who’s dripping blood on the beach from what looks like his ass—gets tugged unceremoniously inside, with Slade’s help. Viking hands Ruby’s body off to Mathias while Hazard reaches down for Whisper. There is no fucking about as Viking yanks me into the chopper with such force I roll across the floor and back to my feet on a groan, ready to take Whisper from Hazard.
“You two all right?” I shout at the Norwegian and Hazard.
“Hell yeah, just a graze. I caught a stinger in the calf,” Hazard gripes, making a noise of disgust. “That was too fucking close. I thought we got all the roaches.”
Viking takes charge. “Mathias… I’m Viking. Are you hit, bad?” He guides Mathias into a seat. He doesn’t wait for permission, he just takes Ruby’s body from him and slides her onto the next seat and buckles her in.
“No… I’m used to my ass being on fire,” he says with unexpected humor. And then hisses in a breath from the pain as he tries to proportion his body weight by leaning to his side. “I’ll live. Don’t worry about me.” He blows off his injury, but his eyes hold a lot of pain.
“Lethal! Blueblood! Get your asses in here right fucking now!” Hazard bellows.
Lethal and Blueblood dive into the cabin.
“Edge, you okay?” Hazard doesn’t miss a thing.
“I’m good, just a fleshy to add to my pissed-off-ness.”
I look to the sky to see the third helicopter has taken off and gathering distance.
“You’re bleeding, hermano, you need to sit the fuck down with your girl,” Lethal says firmly, turning me towards the seats.
I look up the short aisle where everybody is starting to plant their asses on either; the single seats on the left; two seats on the right or the back row, which has four seats.
Hazard’s decided to sit beside Doc Evelyn and her medical bags. He gives me a thumbs-up from the back row. Slade is shoving Phoenix into a seat and buckling her up while she swats at his hands. He ignores her protests and has her right where he can keep an eye on her.
I take the second row on the right and with Lethal’s help I get strapped in and have Whisper back in my arms. “Babe, I got you, you’re nearly free of this place.” I kiss her head and hope Jenny, her ragdoll, is still inside all these layers and close to her heart.
Lethal’s taken the seat on the left side of my row. He’s watching me. He can see the connection I feel for the girl in my arms.
“I’m still in here, Lethal.”
“I know. But now you have this girl consuming your mind and you haven’t even had time to think about how she’s going to impact the life you’ve built for yourself.” He looks out the window. “There’s major change in the wind, hermano.”
Our helicopter rises into the air. I close my eyes, feeling a great sense of relief we are on our way.
BOOM!
My eyes shoot open. There’s a flash of light and our chopper is making a hard right.
“First helicopter’s been clipped by an RPG.” We can all hear the pilots talking.
Christ!
“MAKE SURE YOU’RE ALL BUCKLED UP!” one of the pilots shouts at us.
“Hermano, you gotta strap her in beside you.” Lethal’s leaning across the aisle and pointing to the spare seat next to me. “It will be safer for her.” These helicopters can sustain a hit from a rocket-propelled grenade, but it depends on where you get tagged and how many times.
I shuck everything but the winter coat from Whisper’s limp body. Lethal helps me to strap her in. He tucks the pervert’s coat back around her body while I quickly pad the gap between our bodies with the blankets. She’s got the aisle seat, which is safer than the window, if we get hit and the helicopter lands on its side.
“Edge, my eyes are on her too, if we go down.” Lethal doesn’t hide the seriousness of the situation we are in. He looks past my shoulder. “Viking’s watching Mathias and Ruby.
I nod and say a few words to the man above—if he exists—can’t hurt trying.
Our bird is pulling further away and gaining distance from the shooter.
And then shit goes to hell in a hand basket.
BOOM!
“They’ve been hit again!” the pilot hollers. “Their helicopter’s going down!”
FUUCK!
Our eyes are glued to the windows, watching the injured chopper tilting and swaying before it spirals out of control at a sickening rate towards the center of the solid lake below.
The wounded bird smashes a jagged path right through the hardened surface. The weight of it is no match for the lake’s own deadly form of icy quicksand.
All we can do is watch in horror—it happens so fast. The helicopter gets swallowed up as it sinks below the surface to its watery grave—and there’s not a fucking thing we can do to stop the deaths of the innocent men, who came to our aide, tonight.
BOOM!
“HOLD ON!” roars, one of the pilots. “Fucker clipped us on the tail.” And then we’re starting to swivel from side to side.
I catch Lethal’s grim look before I throw an arm across Whisper’s collarbone, trying to keep her limp head from jerking about as I brace for a forced landing. She is so thin and breakable.
And then I really start praying.
The pilots do their best, but this bird isn’t gonna stay up. “We’re going down!” the pilot confirms. Not that we hadn’t already picked up on that, the way we were being rocked about mixed with the noise of the engine and the rapid descent of the aircraft.
Curses fill the cabin. We start rotating and heading towards terra firma too fast. I hear Doc cry out as though she’s in pain. I look over at Whisper, she’s totally oblivious to the danger once again threatening her life and I’m thankful she is.
We’re being shaken about as the pilots wrestle with their dying mechanical beast and I do my best to keep Whisper’s limp head from flopping about too much in the seconds it takes to go down. The seat belts do their job, keeping us from being hurled all over the cabin and causing major injuries.
We make a body jarring emergency crash landing in a clearing of shallow snow, the helicopter coming to rest at an angle.
There’s movement in the cabin.
It takes a few seconds to fully come to my senses and unbuckle myself before checking Whisper over. The interior lights are still working, so I can see her head has been tipped back and startled, glazed over eyes stare back at me.
Lethal’s watching us, he gauges we’re both all right, and then he and Blueblood are out of their seats with their weapons in hand. The night-vision goggles are back on, and they’re out the chopper door without a word. A gush of freezing cold air rushes inside the cabin before they can get it closed.
Some fucker wants us all dead; they aren’t taking any chances.
I reach out and gently caress Whisper’s cheek, trying to soften the frightened look on her face. “Darlin’… I’ve got you, it’s Edge.” I’m not sure how much she retains from the drugs so I remind her who I am. I’ve got her unbuckled and in my lap, my injured arm protesting quietly. My suit jacket has soaked up a lot of the blood, but I’m smearing the seats with a sticky mess.
“Edge?” She understands, but still sounds sluggish. “You… came.” There’s a little frown on her forehead.
Fucking oath.
“Darlin’, I’m here. Not going anywhere without you.”
“Hurts.” She tries to raise the hands that are resting on my chest. There is only a subtle movement before she gives up.
“I know.” I want to roar at the predicament we now find ourselves in, but it won’t help. She doesn’t even know why she hurts. The drugs don’t last long. No doubt that fucker wanted her to be able to feel pain, when she was no longer a human-feast fucked-up platter. I know what it feels like to be shot through the foot, and she’s got holes in both feet and both hands.
Motherfucker!
I cover her feet back up with the blankets and get the pervert’s coat over her. It’s even colder where we’ve landed. My body is shivering in response to the freezing temperatures. I snuggle her closer to my chest and swing the cape around so it’s covering the both of us and gently rub her back.
Who knew I would be grateful for a fucking cape?
I look over my seat. “Doc, you okay?” I raise my voice to get her attention. I can see the top of her head and that’s about it.
“Cool as a cucumber,” she replies, her voice trembling as she tries a little humor on for size. She’s trying to cover up how frightened she must have been.
“I got her, she’s a real trooper.” Hazard’s gruff voice holds pride for Doc. “She’s a little shaken up. She just needs a few minutes and she’ll be right over to attend to Whisper. How’s your girl doing?”
“Another real trooper. Her eyes are open and she’s doing good… considering.”
“Fuck, yeah… considering.” He knows we got lucky with the landing.
I take a moment to look around. Nobody seems to be hurt anymore than when we climbed aboard. Most are out of their seats.
“What…happ… ”
“Bad guys shot us down, darlin’. We made an emergency landing.”
She tries to move her head and lets out a little sigh of frustration. She can’t move through the fog that has engulfed her.
“You have a drug in your system. Don’t fight it; let your body thaw out by itself.” And not before Doc Evelyn can give you something purely to mask the pain.
“Edge… Rose… ba… by…” She’s determined, but runs out of steam. I know she wants to say more.
“Sweetheart, later you can tell me what’s on your mind.”
A few tears steal from the corners of her eyes as she mouths ‘baby’. She’s still unable to blink so she can’t brush them away with her lashes.
Ahh…hell. I can’t tell her about Rose and the baby now. I wipe the tears away with my gloved thumb, smearing a line through the dark makeup underneath her eyes. “Darlin’—”
“Everyone all right?!” one of the pilots shouts out saving me from answering Whisper. He lifts his headgear revealing Joel-the-genius-hacker. His dark hair is ruffled and his Clark Kent glasses are in place. He runs a hand through his hair taming it back into place.
There are various mumbled responses, all are positive from the cabin.
The second pilot reveals himself as Whisper’s blond BFF—Lincoln. He comes out of the cockpit with a limp from the cast on his leg. His eyes lock onto the girl in my arms.
Boxer really didn’t trust us doing this without any of his men close at hand, and I am grateful this time. I gather Lincoln was initially along for the ride, but with that leg of his, two pilots—no matter the handicap—are better than one when you’re about to crash.
“Edge”—the blond BFF nods at me, before sliding into the vacant seat—“how’s my girl?”
“Lin…coln?” she pushes his name out. Her eyes are closed again because the sheer energy needed to keep them open is too much.
“Yeah, honey,” he says gently. “It’s me in the flesh and Joel. We came to rescue you.” Why do I want to roll my eyes?
Because jealousy is a bitch who wants to come out and play, so I tamp that green bitch right the fuck down.
He smooths the hair away from her face, raising a worried brow at me, but keeps a lid on the questions he really wants to ask. He can see she’s suffered.
“Honey, you just sit tight with Edge.”
I’m glad he can’t see the damage to her hands and feet. I don’t want any questions in front of her, now that she’s more alert. She might not remember anything, but I don’t want to take the chance of upsetting her if she knows she’s been nailed to a table.
“What’s Joel doing?” I ask Lincoln.
“Letting the other pilots know we were hit and are all okay. They are staying on track and not deviating from the plan.”
Slade’s standing up and clicking his fingers to get all of our attention with his phone to his ear. He finishes talking and disconnects. Another set of Boxer’s eyes.
This was what Boxer was doing at Miss Catherine’s house when he was talking so intently to Slade, for hours. Slade was gonna be TeamSwitzerland—neutral. Or as close to neutral as Boxer could get. Slade knew about Ghost coming to the event, and he’s Adam’s contact from our end. Slade is loyal, but he also knows how to be a team player and get the job done—TeamSwitzerland.
Slade announces, “I’ve let Adam know our coordinates, and he’s going to wait for a call from me, letting him know when it’s safe to go back and collect Ghost in the Agusta. Then they will fly us out of here. We just have to sit tight until then. We don’t want Adam and Ghost getting shot down by an RPG or anything else that fucker might have up his sleeve.” He holds a hand out towards the blond BFF. “Lincoln, if—”
“I’ll let Joel know and he’ll speak to Ghost.” Lincoln already knew how that sentence was going to finish. He’s up and heading to the cockpit.
“Cooolddd… ddd... dddd.” Whisper’s teeth are chattering. Fuck Cezar to hell and back. She’s getting more feeling back in her body and that can’t be a good thing, with holes everywhere.
“Here.” The Norwegian is handing a thick blanket over my shoulder. “She needs it more,” he says, resigned to Ruby’s fate. Acceptance has set in.
I look over the seat to see Ruby’s lifeless, bloodied body still strapped in the seat she occupies. It’s a gruesome sight. Something I don’t want Whisper to see. I want to cover Rose’s body up with the blanket, but Whisper needs it. I tug the rest of it over my shoulder and add another layer of warmth to my sweet and wild girl.
“Ma… thi… as. Is that…you?” Her slow, weak voice is tearing through to my soul.
Mathias grips the back of my seat as he pulls himself up on a contained groan and comes around to take the vacant seat, hissing as he sits down and favoring one side. “I’m here, little rabbit.” Little rabbit? He swipes at his brow. He looks feverish. “Turns out I was a good guy after all.” Mathias tries to joke, but it comes out half-baked. The guy sounds like he’s in a lot of pain.
“Rose?” she breathes out. She’s not gonna let this slide. I don’t think her mind can focus on much else.
The Norwegian curses quietly in his language, like a man lost for any other words to that small plea. “I’ve got her here with me, little rabbit. She’s now safe. Honey, you worry about you and leave Rose to me.” He’s gentle in his response, but he knows the lie he speaks. The lie that is hard for him to swallow. “You feeling warmer?”
She nods slowly, like she’s under water, eyes still closed.
“One day, little rabbit, I’ll tell you the story about a man who went undercover for many years to help stop Cezar from ever hurting another woman again.”
“’Kay,” she sounds like she’s drifting off.
“You doing all right, Mathias?” I question him because he looks and sounds like shit.
Mathias brushes my comment off with a dismissive swipe of his hand. “Yeah…might need to get this bullet out my ass sometime soon. Not feeling so good before I got snipered—now feeling even less cheery.” It was meant to come out blasé, but there’s more to that comment as fresh beads of sweat bubble on his forehead.
I think Doc needs to take a look at both Whisper and Mathias—ASAP.
“Hazard… how’s the Doc really doing?” I call out. I don’t rule out she may be in shock. The two of them have been awfully quiet these past few minutes up the back.
“She hurt her head.” What?
“Why didn’t you fucking say so, before?” I look over my seat to see Phoenix two rows down from Doc standing next to Slade, and they’re both being dismissed by Doc with a wave of her hand.
“I’m good. I just needed a little help fixing myself up,” she sounds nervous, but waves her hand in the air at me. “I’ll be there in a tick.”
Hazard stands and says something to Doc, then heads down the aisle motioning to Viking, Slade and Phoenix to come with him. He sits in the single seat across the aisle from Mathias and leans forward, resting his arms on his knees.
“Mathias, you know of any hidden escape doors in the kitchen?” Hazard asks him, looking very serious.
“No. First time I’ve been to this place…why?”
“What you thinking, Prez?” I can see from the way he’s frowning and scrubbing his hand across his bearded jaw, he’s got something he’s chewing over and it needs spitting out.
“I’ve just been thinking about our shooter. It’s a long shot... I was in the kitchen with Torque shooting it out with Kane—the scarred one—when you requested help in the great room. Torque went to help you. I thought I had Kane’s name etched into my bullet when the fucker threw a vanishing act. The bullets had stopped zipping about and he’d gone silent. I thought he was trying to outsmart me—which wasn’t fucking gonna happen—but he’d up and disappeared on me. He was gone. Poof!
“Checking the time, I knew I was gonna roast if I spent any more time looking, so I got outta there. I think the chances are high he’s our shooter, and there was a hidden escape door or something in that room—had to fucking be. He sure as fuck didn’t sneak past me.”
“Mathias—”
The Norwegian cuts me off. “Here.” He hands me his phone. Evidently he can read minds, anticipating what I was going to ask him. “Top one is Kane’s number.”
Joel and Lincoln have both reappeared having heard Hazard’s thoughts.
“Joel—”
“Say no more, Edge. I can track that fucker for you. Give me the number. I’ll find the bastard if he’s still in the area.” He can read minds too.
I give him Mathias’s phone.
“Slade—”
“I’m right with you, Edge. I’ll get a hold of Adam and tell him to sit tight until further notice.”
Lincoln joins the party. “If Kane’s in the area, then he will be dealt with by Ghost.” Evidently they can all read minds.
Quicker than I could have imagined, Joel is confirming the cocksucker is in the area of the burning house and on the move and then he’s connecting with Ghost.
He looks over at me, his phone held close to his ear. “You want him dead or brought in?”
“Dead!” I say with great conviction. He killed good men in that chopper and he tried to kill Whisper and Doc Evelyn. I don’t want him getting off on any technicalities. If he’s dead, he can’t come after Whisper. Loose ends tidied up.
Joel nods, confirms with Ghost what I said and disconnects. “Ghost is now tracking him on his phone and he will kill the fucker.”
And then things take a downward spiral for Whisper. “Ahh… ” Her brow wrinkles as she starts to squirm in my arms, releasing small whimpers of pain. “Edge…” she grits out.
“I know darlin’, you need pain relief.” I’m fucking helpless as a new born pup.
“Hazard, get Doc over here stat and bring that medical bag of hers.”