Page 68 of Take Me Back
“Get the fuck out!”
“Get to the exfil location!”
Rome must have been in the lead, jogging through the jungle. Tanner was next, then the husband and wife, and Luis carrying the kid. Concord and Fields took positions at the rear and fired back at the cartel assholes who had just got fucked out of the ransom.
The clients slowed, the husband and wife not up to sustaining this kind of pace, but Tanner kept up with Rome. Gunfire came out of the jungle to the left, and Luis yelled for them to follow him. He took the kid and ran down a game trail.
Fuck.
Tanner turned when he heard the gunshots and Luis’s yell. He laid down fire before going after them. Tanner yelled and Luis turned his head, missing what he should have seen right in front of him.
I watched on both feeds simultaneously as the unthinkable happened. Luis went over the edge of some kind of hole.A sinkhole?
The kid screamed and Luis cursed. His feed went black.
Tanner’s camera caught the wife as she threw herself over the edge after them. The husband yelled out in agony as Tanner bolted toward her, but was too late. When Tanner looked over the edge, three bodies lay at the bottom of a gaping hole in the jungle floor.
“LP is down. So are packages two and three. I repeat, LP is down, so are packages two and three.”
The cartel reloaded and sprayed bullets in Tanner’s direction. He dived at the husband and covered him.
“I’m hit!” he yelled, but it didn’t stop him from firing back.
Concord, Fields, and Rome came into view, firing and eliminating the threat.
Speakers above me announced my flight was boarding, but I couldn’t move.
Two clients and Luis. Tanner got hit.
I should have been there.
It should have been me. I wouldn’t have let this happen.
I waited for the last call for boarding because I had to force myself to watch as Rome and Concord rappelled down to retrieve the bodies.
I shouldn’t have left my team.
I walked out on them, and for the first time in the history of Rome’s outfit, they lost not one but three lives on a mission. None of the team came out and said it was my fault, but I shouldered the blame all the same.
Rome gave me three weeks before he asked when I was coming back in the field. When I told him never, he was stunned at first, but I think he finally understood. I didn’t deserve to be there with them.
So I sentenced myself to purgatory, watching over missions and handling everything that needed to be covered from the States.
Tanner called. Concord called. Fields called.
I didn’t pick up any of them. I knew they’d just want me to come back, and I couldn’t.
* * *
Present day
Rome probably shouldn’t have answered my call just now, but I’m thanking God he did.
It’s time I make peace with all of it, but first,I need Kat.
Genie-in-a-bottle island.I don’t know what the hell that means, and my only shot is finding a local who does. Belizeans have fished these waters for generations, and plenty of them know all the islands by name.
I pick out the nearest island with the most lights, and move in. It’s not Sweet Water, though. The resort must be close, but I’m not going back there. There’s no telling how many of the employees are in on it, and I wouldn’t trust them to tell me where anything is, even with a gun to their heads.
