Page 80 of Take Me Back
He offers a hand, and I clasp it halfway up his arm. “It’s good to see you, brother. Been too long. We miss your ass out there. Not the same just hearing your sexy voice over the comms.”
“Same to you. Your jokes aren’t the same from hundreds of miles away.”
As Leo tugs me up onto the dock, a hiss escapes my lips at the pressure on my leg when I stand.
“Shit, dude. What the fuck happened to you?”
“Vargas. He’s the one who sent this Vander Iman after me. Apparently he’s decided now is the time for revenge.”
“We scrambled the security footage, but if he somehow managed to get it back, watching you lead his wife out of the house would burn his pride something fierce.”
I was also the one who arranged for her to be accepted into an international women’s agency that provides new identities for narco wives and women escaping terrorist leaders and mafia, so if anyone deserves his anger, it’s me. The other guys didn’t know that detail. They just knew that she disappeared. In our line of work, you don’t ask questions. Somehow, Vargas must have found out, though.
“None of that shit matters. Only Kat.”
“Still pissed you only let us watch your wedding from the fringes, pretending we didn’t know your ass. What the fuck kind of brotherhood is that? You still haven’t told her, have you?”
I shake my head. “It wasn’t personal.”
Concord and Tanner help haul Julius out.
Rome stops beside us on the dock. “You bitches done catching up on what happened over the summer? Because we got a motherfucking rescue to execute.”
“Let’s fucking do this.”
“Hell yeah. Bird is ready to fly. We’re refueled and good to go.”
We head toward the massive house that sprawls along the island with some large outbuildings, toward what I can see now is a helipad.
“Who the hell owns this place?” My gaze cuts to Rome. “Or don’t I want to know.”
“Head of a deposed authoritarian government who has recently decided to adopt Buddhism and turn over a new leaf before he dies. Don’t worry, man; Rosh rarely comes here. He just keeps it outfitted in case he has to stage another coup.”
Rome’s connections never cease to amaze me.
“Then where can I get some gear? I’m ready.”
“Right this way, man.”
Leo waves us toward the house, and I follow him inside. After trailing him through a series of secret hallways, we end up in what looks like a bunker prepped for a nuclear holocaust. I pull on black fatigues, boots, body armor, a comm, and enough hardware to sink a small armada.
“Locked and loaded?”
“Let’s move.”
“Good. I’m getting antsy. Haven’t shot a gun in almost eight hours,” Fields says.
Because I was out of the office and Rome was using the Central American base to run ops while I was gone, I have no clue what mission they took on when I left. At this point, I don’t give a shit about anything but climbing in that bird and going after Kat.
Julius is on the couch in the living room when we get there.
“You gonna be okay?” I ask.
He nods. “As long as whoever owns this place doesn’t come back and kill me.”
“You’re straight,” Rome says. “We’ll radio for a friendly to come get you and take you to the hospital. God willing, you’ll see this asshole there in a few hours.” He nods at me.
I don’t give a shit about a hospital.
