Chapter 22
The next several days went by quietly. Knowing some kind of time crunch raced toward them, Issa did everything she could to heal. She minimized all activity. She slept. She took long hot soaks, and, with the passage of time, she grew stronger and stronger. She knew she was healing faster than most people. Necessity was part of it, then so was her relationship to the birds around her. She’d always reached out for her birds when ill and gained strength from them. She’d done it subconsciously in the beginning, but now it was conscious. She knew the birds had willingly allowed her to use their life force, as she called it, but she had to do it carefully. Roash had been shot as well by the kidnappers, thankfully they had been lousy marksmen. But, by taking small amounts each time from him and Humbug, and any others she could mentally call out to, she’d lived long enough to escape her kidnappers.
And it was due to her birds. Only she had thought of it as a natural balance.
Until she’d spoken to Stefan. And connected the dots. Other people didn’t do what she did. She didn’t know if that made her a psychic or a sensitive, but it made her different from the rest of the world. Again. Yet she couldn’t be upset about it. That relationship with her feathered friends had saved her life.
As she gained strength, as she could do more, Eagle let her. He worked with the birds outside, something she’d still avoided doing. She was afraid they were still being watched. She no longer had that same sensation but couldn’t forget the possibility.
On the third day after Tiger and Panther left, Eagle walked inside carrying a small box. She glanced at him and said, “Did that just arrive?”
“Special delivery.”
“All the way out here?”
He glanced at her and nodded. “The driver had been paid extra.”
If that hadn’t given her enough of an inkling, the hard tone in his voice would have. She got up very slowly, staring at the box, fear rippling through her. “That’s not good then, is it?”
“I’m thinking it’s not good at all.” Eagle walked to the kitchen table, put the box down, grabbed a knife, and slowly opened the packaging. It was smaller than the size of a book and a little bit thicker. When it was open, he pulled out a some of the packing paper and found a note. “No substitutions,” he said. He turned the letter so she could see it.
She stared at it and knew. “Please tell me they didn’t kill them.”
He shot her a hard look and said, “Those men won’t die easily.”
With her heart in her throat she watched as he pulled out an even smaller box the size of a matchbook. And she just knew. She turned away. “I can’t look.” She heard the sound of the box being opened, and then he sucked back his breath. She shuddered. “What is it?”
“A tooth. A tooth covered with gold.”
She clapped her hand over her mouth, her gaze huge as she stared at him. “Panther’s?”
He nodded, his face grim. “Panther’s favorite tooth. No way in hell they would’ve gotten that out of him unless he was either unconscious, dead, or pinned to the ground by a good half-dozen men.” He stared down at the box, pulling out his phone. He dialed Panther’s cell number. No answer. He dialed Tiger next. Still no answer. “We’re leaving.” He glanced at her. “A half hour ago.”
She nodded. “I’ll pack.”
No substitutions meant she had to go. She had to put Panther and Tiger ahead of her birds. She wished she could drive around and try to find Humbug and Roash, but it was a big world out there, and all she ever saw of them was in heavily treed areas. It would be impossible to find them.
She’d hoped Stefan could track them but apparently not. She also figured, with her connection to them, she should be able to, … but, no matter how hard she tried, even with sending them energy, she hadn’t received any images of where they were.
Stefan’s previous words whispered in her head. That she’d been the one flying with Hadrid. She’d been up there with him. Looking and seeing everything for herself. If that was true, she could do that with Humbug and see the world from his eyes—and maybe find out where he was.
But it took energy. And lots of it. Something she didn’t have. It was all she could do to get through a day on her own two feet. This trip would finish her. But she had to go. She couldn’t let anything happen to those two men because of her.
And she also knew Eagle wouldn’t let her go alone. He would go after those who went after his friends. She sent Roash and Humbug as much energy and encouragement as she could. From now on they’d have to do with a little less of her energy. It had nothing to do with distance and everything to do with resources.
Not true. There is enough energy for all of us. Just reach out, Stefan murmured in her head. It takes a little practice, then suddenly all the energy you ever need is there and available for you.
She opened her mouth to answer him, but he was gone as soon as he arrived. She pondered his words as she quickly threw together her few things. What would it take to communicate like he did? But with her birds? Or was that what she was already doing?
She was grateful for the last couple days as she’d gained that much more strength. Her shoulder was still sore, her torso still achy, some of the cuts—especially on her feet—were not quite healed, but, by and large, she was fine. Although she did get tired fast. She made the bed and went back to the kitchen to find Eagle on the phone.
She had to get her passport and money from the bank in town. She wasn’t sure how soon they would leave, but she knew she needed food. Checking the contents in the fridge, she made several sandwiches and waited until Eagle was finished with his call.
He put his phone away. “Gray’s coming, and one of the guys who helps unload the feed will join him. They’ll look after the birds for three days. That’s as long as we’ve got.”
“Hopefully we won’t need that,” she said quietly. “I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. But these assholes, they’ll be sorry.” He downed his sandwich in four bites. “We’re leaving in thirty minutes.”
“I have to stop by the bank to get my passport. And I need money.”
He nodded formally. “We’ll hit the bank on our way.”
He glanced at the bags on the kitchen chair. “I see you found the bags. Are you packed and ready to go?”
She nodded as she took a bite of her sandwich.
“Good, I’ll be back in five.”
*
Eagle wanted to believe his friends would be fine. But he’d lost so many in Iraq and Afghanistan, he had no intention of losing these two guys. They’d survived some of the worst missions anybody should be forced to endure. To think he might’ve sent them into this kind of danger made his gut churn.
At the same time it just made him angry. Those men would pay for this.
In his bedroom he pulled out the contact list that he hadn’t looked at in years. They were all good men. And he knew that, if they’d made a similar request of him as he was about to make of them, he’d have dropped everything and gone to help too. At the top of his list was Hawk. Right now he needed him with them in Ireland—if he could free himself of whatever else was going on. A text wasn’t going to do it. He sent a quick message, asking, “Can I call?”
The response came instantly. “You damn well better.”
He got up, walked into the master bedroom, closed the door, and called. When his friend answered, he filled him in on the case.
Hawk being Hawk and very short on words, waited until Eagle was completely done and then said, “What kind of a shitstorm are you in now?”
“It’s Tiger and Panther that I’m worried about. I can’t go over there and leave her here. It’s her they want.”
“I’m with you on that,” Hawk said in a hard voice. “I have men I can call on. Two of them are in England. They’ll have no trouble getting over there. I’ll have to track a third one down. I’ll figure out if we need more. Any idea how many assholes we’re facing in Ireland?”
“I don’t know,” Eagle said. “The men who tortured her were here in Colorado. They snatched her on the other side of Denver.”
“Did she ever give you a location as to where she was held?”
“No, no idea.”
“Well, she had to come from somewhere,” Hawk said in exasperation. “You still living alone and away from everyone?”
“Well, I was,” he snapped. “You can see how well that worked.”
“Yeah, life’s like that.” Hawk’s laughter rolled free. “I’ll meet you at the airport.”
Like that, Hawk hung up.
Eagle’s mind raced as he tried to come up with a plan that would keep them all safe and find out whatever the hell was going on and get them back home again. He walked to the kitchen to find Issa sitting at the table, hugging a cup of tea.
He stopped and realized just how alone she really was. She didn’t have a network of soldiers to call on like he did. The men he knew were the best there ever were. If anybody would help save her life, it would be him and the guys. The thing was, he was okay with that. If there was one more battle, one more underdog that needed saving, he was up for it. Especially if he was saving her.
*
Dylan answered his phone and said, “They’ve taken the bait.”
The boss chuckled, his voice dark, deep. “Of course they did. Now to make sure we intercept them on the other end. No mistakes. This has been going on for too damn long. I want it finished now.”
“I’m on my way back. We should be able to catch a flight today.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Watching the cloud of dust disappear as Eagle and Issa drove away, Dylan moved steadily, retreating through the trees back to where he’d parked his vehicle off the road. He and the boss had to move fast now. He didn’t want to be on the same flight as Eagle and the girl. But Dylan couldn’t afford to be too much later behind them.
This was where things got dicey. He had to keep everybody happy—and keep himself alive.