Page 42 of Her Unflinching Warrior (Omega Sky)
“Goddammit.”
Bootprint.
For the first time in his life, Gideon saw red. It colored everything he was looking at. He shook his head and looked down at Jada. She wasn’t moving, and he was scared to death.
Gideon thought for more than a second, then hustled his ass to the galley and made an icepack. He got back to Jada in record time. “Are you with me, Angel?” he asked.
Still nothing.
He took a couple of pillows, one to elevate her head, then took all of the bullshit decorative pillows and shoved them up against the side of her head so they’d hold the icepack in place. He bent over and started to whisper in her ear.
“I fucked up, girl. I was such a dumbshit. I see that now. Open your eyes and I’ll lay it all out for you so you can gloat.”
He traced his fingers from between her eyebrows, down her nose, then tapped the end like he’d done in Kentucky. “Wake up for me, Angel. I need you to open those gorgeous brown eyes. Don’t you want to hear what I have to say?”
Gideon felt his throat begin to close up.Don’t let me be too late. Not like Pops. He couldn’t bear it.
What am I talking about, I won’t be able to bear it if she leaves me? I need her. I need her in my life. Please, God, don’t take her away from me.
“Jada, I am too old. I’m fucking ancient. What’s more, I’m damaged goods. But if anyone is strong enough to handle me, it’s you. You were right all along. I’ve needed someone exactly like you in my life for forever. You told me, but I just wouldn’t listen.”
Gideon looked down and grabbed her left hand because it wasn’t swollen. He opened it up so that he could kiss her palm. “You have to be okay.”
He looked down at her, his stomach roiling with anguish, then his brain clicked into gear.
“Fuck me! Angel. Hold on. Just hold on for a minute.”
Why hadn’t he thought of this before? He ran out of the cabin and rushed up to the cockpit. No keys. He should be able to hotwire the motherfucker. How stupid was he? He pulled out his phone.
“Ryker, get back here. We’re taking the yacht to the marina.”
“You have the keys?” Ryker asked.
“No, going to hotwire it. So come back.”
“Can’t. I found one of the charges. It’s set to blow in fifteen minutes. Gideon, this place is fucking huge, I won’t be able to find whoever Jada was talking about. What I can tell you is the C-4 is not enough to take out the whole house. There has to be another bomb somewhere. This was easy to find, so I’m sure I can find the other one.”
“Goddammit!” Gideon knew there was no way that Ryker was going to leave an innocent behind, not if he could help it. It just wasn’t in his nature.
“Get the fuck out of there in five minutes,” Gideon ordered.
“I’ll evaluate things in five minutes, now let me work,” Ryker answered. Then he disconnected the call.
“Fuck!”
Gideon needed to concentrate on his task and work fast. He looked at the console. He’d never seen anything like it before.Think man, electronics are electronics. He ran back down to the cabin where Jada was and saw that there was no change. He started praying as he grabbed his pack and headed back up the stairs to the cockpit.
He analyzed the control panel. The first thing he spotted was that the yacht had an electronic kill switch, which was good news for him. That meant that somewhere on the yacht was the equipment he was going to need to hotwire this ship, and if he had to guess, it would be really close to the starter switch and battery. Gideon hauled ass to the stern so he could access the engine. He skidded on his knees and when he got there, he started clawing through his pack for tools.
He looked at his watch. Two minutes had passed.
He used his flathead screwdriver to take off the panel covering the engine, while his eyes scanned for anything that looked like it might be an emergency kit. Red caught his eye and he lunged. He pulled it to him and yanked it open.
“Yes!”
He pulled out the battery-operated screwdriver, then made quick work of removing the panel. He peeked in the goody bag again—yep, it had everything. He saw the wires and a three-wire ignition. He was in business! He connected the right wire from the on terminal to the negative terminal on the battery.
He glanced at his watch, four and a half minutes had passed.
