Page 39 of Quinn

I glared at Connor before sitting and pulling Arabella onto my lap.

What the fuck are you doing? You know there’ll never be anything serious between the two of you. A relationship would never work, you like being single too much.

I told the voice in my head to fuck off even though I knew it was right.

“After you called I had Jake take a few men and they kept an eye on arrivals into Girua. I had a hunch they wouldn’t have been able to catch a flight for a while and it proved to be correct.”

Jake nodded. “The flight arrived a little after five and it wasn’t hard to work out which were the Sangumala. Thirty or so men all in a group together kind of stand out like a sore thumb. I’m guessing they still have no clue who we are and would have no idea we knew they were coming.”

“Where are they now?” I asked no one in particular.

It was Jake who answered. “They piled into two PMVs belonging to the mission at Drusilina. We followed them to the turn off onto the mission’s private road before coming back here.”

“Are they at the mission or do they have their own campsite?” If they had set up at the mission things could get ugly. There were women and children on the site.

“No idea.” Jake shrugged. “I’ve sent a couple of men in to check it out so we’ll know more when they get back.”

I turned my focus to Connor. “Plan?”

His eyes darted to Alex. “Depends on where the arseholes are. Alex has ten extra men to offer so all up, we’ll have thirty-five. I would think it’s more than enough to put an end to their terror. If they are camped out separately, we can go in and blow them to hell. If they are at the mission it’s gonna be tricky because we’ll have to get the women and kids to somewhere safe.”

“I guess we wait then.” I placed fingers beneath Arabella’s chin and turned her face towards me. “How did the hospital visit go; what did the doctors say?”

“Everything was good but I have to go back in tomorrow morning for another scan. The machine wasn’t working, but the doctor said she couldn’t see anything that was wrong. She wanted to refer me to a psych to deal with mental issues, but I’m not going.”

“Arabella, we talked about this,” Natalie growled. “If you don’t talk with someone about what you’ve been through, you won’t recover from the experience.”

“I’m recovering just fine, Nat. I don’t need to speak to some stranger who thinks they have all the answers to what might be going on in my head. I’ll work through it on my own.”

I leaned forward and kissed Arabella’s cheek. “We’ll talk about this back home, honey. You’ve been through a lot and it would help for you to talk to a professional about it all.”

She spun to face me. “No, we won’t discuss it further, Quinn. I’ve made my decision and I’m not talking to some shrink who will likely cause me to have more issues than I already have. I appreciate everyone’s concern, but my answer is a very firm—no!”

There was something in Arabella’s eyes that told me she was hiding something about the hospital visit but it wasn’t the time or place to pursue the issue.

I didn’t agree with Arabella, I believed she could benefit by speaking with a professional, but I would respect the decision she’d made.

“You would have to be the strongest woman I know,” Tania mused and the rest of us murmured agreement.

***

It was early when I strode down to Connor’s office, I knew he’d be there working on a plan to finish Sangumala.

The building was quiet when I entered but I could hear muffled voices coming from upstairs. Taking the steps two at a time, I strode along the hall to the conference room where the voices were coming from.

I pushed the door open to find about forty men drinking coffee and studying maps laid out on the table.

“Glad to see I was included in your plans.” I sounded irritated and angry because I was.

“Quinn.” Connor had a guilty expression on his face, at least he had the balls to know he’d done the wrong thing by not keeping me informed.

I crossed the room and helped myself to a coffee—strong, black, as I preferred.

“Were you going to bother letting me know what you’re planning, or was I to sit at home like a good little boy while you took care of the baddies?”

Connor sighed, knowing he was about to experience my anger yet again, but this time I felt it was with good reason.

“Sit down.”