Scott spit out a mouthful of the sharp metallic tasting blood from having the butt of the gun smashed into his face. There were more injuries and he didn’t give a damn. This man, coming to see him, wouldn’t ever best him.
He was situated on his knees with two men—technically one man and one woman—holding guns on him. Scott didn’t ask. For whatever reason he was the one Chet wanted and for the moment he was wanted, alive.
Tyson was elsewhere and he hoped safe. Where the others were he also wasn’t sure. He trusted the men with him to keep them safe. He wanted Chet’s focus on him. He hedged his bets that Chet wouldn’t walk in the room and flat out kill him. at least not immediately. This had too much of an arrogant and methodical planning for that type of action.
Had instant death been the bastard’s goal, he could have blown up the building versus this game of cat and mouse that had been going on.
Timewise, not much had passed since the initial attack despite how many years it felt to him.
“Yes sir. We have him. No, he’s not going anywhere. Like I said, we have the boss.”
Expression contained, Scott gave nothing away. The only reason they had him now was it was his choice. He allowed it. He’d already cut through the zip cuffs on his wrists. Still, he remained. He wanted that fucking bastard who’d dared attack his family.
The woman watched him but kept her distance. She had the smarts between the two as the man instantly resumed his taunting after he ended the transmission to Chet.
“Not so big and bad, are you now? Nope. You ain’t shit. Probably never were but took the credit for what your men accomplished.
The man’s spittle landed on Harrier’s face and he remained unfazed. Outwardly anyway.
He was kicked in the side and grunted as the steel toed boot connected with his ribs. Scott moved with the force of the kick, ensuring not to reveal his freed hands. His mind had compartmentalized everything going on right now.
Concern for his wife. Check. Put away.
Fear of never seeing his children again. Check. Also, put away.
Not that he forgot about them for they were his first thought upon waking and the final before he succumbed to slumber. But he hadn’t survived this long by allowing himself to be distracted.
So that fear and that anger were to be channeled to something useful.
The door opened and through it stepped Chet Johnston. He narrowed his gaze before smoothing out his expression. Chet flipped up the covering his eyes that had allowed night vision. Or would have had the weather been better. Tonight, hadn’t been good weather.
He tugged the facemask down exposing thin lips surrounded by a few days of growth. His eyelashes were pale and sparse. It was his eyes, one brown and one blue.
Heterochromia.
The man usually wore an eyepatch, wanting to hide the fact he had mismatched eyes.
“Scott. Commander. Or is it still Harrier?”
“For you? You may address me as Captain Leighton. I had the pleasure of retiring honorably.” Arrogance tinged his tone.
Anger flashed in those mismatched eyes. Chet took two steps toward Scott, hand raised. Scott held his gaze, refusing to look away. Chet stopped. After a moment, he finished the distance, stared down at him then backhanded him.
“Your bitch hit me harder than that.”
Chet glanced to his right and Scott laughed.
“Not the woman.” He deliberately stared at the man there who’d hit him earlier. “Your bitch.” He put his focus back on Chet.
That earned him a closed fist this time.
Scott spat out more blood but never looked away from Chet’s face.
“What’s it like to lose so many? To know you’re about to die?”
“Have I meant so much to you, Chet that you’ve though about me all these years? Am I the only one? Do you have that much of a hard on for me? You want to suck my dick so bad you’ve spent years of wasted money and time. Then to cap it off you couldn’t even hit your target. You shot Jayde. Twice.
His own anger echoed through that last word.
Chet faltered.
“Aren’t you even curious to know how I bested you? What’s happened to your friend, Captain Jack?”
Time. He had to give more time to let Tyson began his plan. After so many years working together, at times it seemed they shared a brain. His friend would find a way in to where he was.
“What did you do to Jack?” He was curious even though he had doubts it was anything good.
“He could have given you up, you know.”
“No way.” Absolute conviction in his tone.
“I found out about this place. Your secret holiday gathering spot.”
Scott laughed. “Is that what you think? This was a secret? Let me tell you something, boy. First, I know Jack wouldn’t give up anything not only because I know him the with the same confidence I knew you wouldn’t cut it as a SEAL. And more than that, this wasn’t a clandestine meeting between lovers. This is a family gathering so everyone knew about it. Our families, Merlin’s command. Tungsten employees.” He narrowed his gaze. “All those we deem important. While you’re not in that group it wasn’t a secret by any stretch of means.”
His face flushed in the low light.
“I studied the plans here for months. Rigged the generators, had all of that in position before you even arrived.”
“Yet I’m still alive. What’s your end game here? You didn’t go for an all-out attack when you had the chance because of your God complex. Your ego’s been your downfall from the beginning. Your insane need for power and fear. Two traits for an asshole, not a SEAL.”
“Your friends are dead. Or will be soon. Once the last one dies, I will put a bullet in your head. That way you go out knowing you couldn’t save them.”
“You sure it’s my friends who’ve been killed?” He gazed pointedly at the lone man and woman in the room with Chet. “Looks like you’re down to two others not the fifteen or so you started with. Whereas with me, we don’t go down that easy. Especially when we’re protecting what’s ours.”
“The vehicle carrying some blew. I saw it.”
“Right, your proximity trigger. Almost clever the way you set it for a few miles out to lull the driver into a false sense of security. Bet we found it. Not to original having it on the only vehicle that wasn’t disabled. Our wives figured that one out and they didn’t have military training.”
Deeper red enveloped Chet’s face and Scott recognized how close he was to the tipping point.
Just a bit more.
One of Chet’s problems was—and there were many—his inability to control his temper. Which led to rash behavior.
He touched the mike at his neck and growled. “Kill them all.” The Chet rushed toward Scott.
He didn’t flinch. “You’ll never have the loyalty like I do of the guys I work with. Yours are driven and motivated by money. I’m disgustingly rich.” Scott let that sink in. “You may want to watch your back. It’s more than my men who could be after you.”
“You’re not the only one who is capable of having people be loyal to and follow them.”
Scott sneered. “Maybe not, but you’re not the type. Or have you forgotten what shit went down when you led your one and only mission.”
Chet narrowed his eyes and shook his head. Scott accepted the action for what it was, a warning. He didn’t give a damn.
“Don’t.”
Ignoring him, Scott flicked his gaze to the other two in there. “You haven’t told them? Your men and women who are supposed to be loyal to you. How do you expect that if you don’t tell them everything?”
“I will kill you.”
He snorted, utterly unimpressed with the threat. “So, you’ve already said. So, no point in me stopping. They should know your men died for no good reason. Just your—”
“We were finishing the mission,” he screeched, his face an ugly mottled red.
Scott spat on the ground. “The mission was over. Your ego got that team killed.”
He raised the weapon. “Not that team. My team. I was the leader.”
Harrier rose, a disgusted smirk on his face. “You don’t have what it takes to be a true leader.”
“You’re going to die.”
“And as their leader, I’m happy to offer my life for theirs.” A pregnant pause. “But we’re not dying today. We have a holiday to celebrate.” He shifted on his feet. “You are. Just like all those others you paid to work for your suicide mission. Your God complex is going to be your downfall. You assume because you came at me and my team while we’re on a vacation you’ll have the upper hand. That we would mistakenly be an easier target because our wives were with us.” He shook his head. “You were never so wrong.”
He stepped closer to Chet who tightened his grip on the gun in his hand.
“Remember how I downplayed our successes? All those ‘tall tales’ you heard about the famed Megalodon Team? They were all true. You think you knew.” Another head shake. “You had no motherfucking clue. I said it before and I’ll say it again. Should have killed us outright.”
A feral smile tugged up his lips.
“You’re a lot of talk. So why don’t you kill me then?”
Scott looked down his nose at him. “That’s Tyson’s pleasure.”
“He’s already dead.”
A ripple from the shadows.
“So, then his ghost gets to kill you.”
Tyson, Maverick, and Hondo all had a weapon on each of the guys in the room. Fear leeched into Chet’s expression.
“What are we doing with him.” Hondo asked.
Tyson stepped forward. “He lives for now. My Jayde dies, so does he.”
Scott mad a motion and the other two were secured. He followed Tyson out of the room and heard yelling from the kitchen area. A large hold in the wall allowed in more snow and wind. A few dead bodies of Chet’s crew lay unattended in a pile on the floor.
“Lex?”
She stared over at him, tears shone in her eyes but they never fell. “I’m losing her! Get me the fuck out of here!”
“Three minutes,” Landi cried out.
He gazed to Osten. The man’s expression was blank but he read his fear in there.
“We managed to get the blocker shut off and a call was sent out.”
Relief slammed him but didn’t eliminate the fear. Would they arrive in time?
“Who the fuck agreed to fly in this?” He doublechecked the bodies on the floor, well aware he wouldn’t be any good hovering over Jayde. He’d just get in the way.
“Raven.”
Captain Shea Worthington who used to fly Super Cobra’s for the Marine Corps and now was a member of Tungsten. She would fly into any weather and had no fear. He would get to the question of how the hell she had been so close later. Right now, he was just happy to know she was inbound.
“I see them!” Merlin called. “Get her ready to move.”
They’d already gotten a blanket beneath Jayde as she lay on the table for mobility. There wasn’t any way a stretcher was going make it over that rubble around the hole.
“Osten, hold there. Move, Ernst. Let me get right where you are. Lift and carry on my mark. We don’t move until they’re ready.”
Tyson grabbed a section of blanket and so did Scott.
The sweeping light from the chopper light the night and second later, armed men piled out. Mac, Jason, Grey, and Brodie. Behind them hopped out Albany Schovanec, another doctor they sometimes got to do some work for them. Relief poured from him. Not that he doubted his wife’s ability, but she needed help.
“Fuck, it’s about time,” Lex snarled as Albany wedged in across from her, withdrew a needle and stabbed it in her chest.
Jayde’s body convulsed once, then stilled. Panic flared within him.
“Let’s move, on your count, Lex.”
“Three, two, one. Lift.”
Scot was in on it and they hurried her out the hole and into the chopper. He smiled at Shea who sat at the controls, looking over her shoulder as they got Jayde inside.
Tyson scrambled in beside his wife as Lex and Albany also got in. Osten was also in the bird. Scott slid the door shut and he’d not even moved away before Raven was lifting off, well aware that time was so precious.
Tears burned his eyes as the chopper vanished into the wintery night. He squeezed his eyes shut, needing a moment. Stay strong Jayde. We love you. He recalled in South America that it had been Tyson lying there fighting for his life and Jayde hovering over him as they raced to the carrier.
αβ
Maverick held Tempest tight to him, eyes closed as he buried his face into her hair. He didn’t want her to see his tears and how fucking scared he’d been that he would lose her. Her arms were frim around him, moisture from her tears soaked the front of his shirt.
It was over. They were safe.
Almost.
Brushing their mouths together, he whispered, “Are you going to be okay?”
“No, but I know you have other things to do.”
He cupped her face, thumbs brushing along the lingering tear tracks as well as the new warm drops spilling free.
“Mitawin.” The endearment was ripped from his chest as he struggled for a way to make her feel safe once more.
Her chin wobbled. “All I can think is how lucky I am to not be in Tyson’s shoes and it begin you hovering near death.” She sobbed. “Or God, had our kids been here for this mess. Then I feel like shit for that because I love Jayde and can’t begin to imagine what Tyson is going through.”
“It’s natural to feel this way, Tempest, and he would understand. We all know how important she is. To everyone.”
Her nod wasn’t strong and he wondered for a moment is she was beating herself up for more jealousy toward Jayde the wives all used to have. All of the men looked out for Jayde. She was the first woman to break up their little group.
No, to complete it on an entirely different level. They let her in. Hell, she’d been given the nickname the Megalodon Amazon. A part of her beat in each of their hearts and always would.
“Mav.”
He turned his head to see Mac Williams, another Tungsten operative, approaching with a M-16 cradled comfortably in his arms.
“Go,” Tempest said.
He kissed her once more and slid away. “What?”
“We got the rest of Merlin’s explosives that weren’t detonated. All bodies are stacked in one room. Harrier’s with the bastard and the others. We have SUV’s coming for everyone.”
Mav stole another glance to his wife, she stood in a circle with the remaining women there. All but Lex and Jayde. They had bowed heads and their arms were around each other.
“We can handle the cops if you want to go.”
“No, but thanks. I am curious, how you got here so fast though.”
He flashed a grin. “We were actually in Wyoming have a party ourselves.”
“And the chopper? Guns?”
“We commandeered those.”
“Thank God you did.”
Hondo, Harrier, and Jeb entered the room with the only three left alive.
The room fell silent and Chet didn’t appear as cocky as he had previously. Scott kicked at his knees without warning, taking him to the floor. Same thing happened to the other two there. The wives looked at the trio before ignoring them. He knew that wasn’t easy for them. They were protective like mama bears for sure. Chet and the others had duct tape over their mouths and he met Scott’s hard gaze.
“Law’s on the way.”
“Good. I’m itching to kill this fucker.” He gazed around the room. “Everyone else okay?”
Subdued confirmations came. Hondo and Jeb stood guard over the trio as Scott approached him and Mac.
“Thanks.”
Mac shrugged. “Just wish we could have made it sooner.”
“You came, that’s what matters. Any update on the chopper?”
“Nothing.” Maverick rubbed his eyes. Adrenaline had begun to wane and he was tired but wanted to get to the hospital. She needed their support.
Much later lights and sirens pulled up to the destroyed lodge. Parts of it were on fire, some of the vehicles still burned.
He shared a look with Merlin and went out with Scott to meet the cops who were spilling from their noisy vehicles.