Page 89 of Her Unflinching Warrior (Omega Sky)
“Shit, and we let him get away,” Kostya said with disgust.
“How did the op go down?” Gideon finally asked.
“Uh.”
This time it was Gideon who raised an eyebrow. Then he winced. Raising an eyebrow hurt.
“Tell me.”
“As soon as your alarm came in, I busted ass over to your place. Nolan and I beat the sheriff by seven minutes, tops. Your neighbor was there, and he helped to get Lucy back to his house, and that’s where Nolan took Neil. They had a car seat, so Nolan was able to take Neil straight over to Sebastian and Gianna’s house. He didn’t tell them ahead of time what went down.”
Gideon agreed with that play.
“And you?” Gideon asked.
“Jesus, I was standing there with my dick in my hand, needing to do something, but not knowing what to do. There I was, with two dead men near your bedroom, blood in the hallway, you and Jada gone, and knowing the sheriff will be there any minute. Both yours and Jada’s phones are on your nightstands, there was no way to track you, so I drive Nolan’s Jeep, then my Bronco over to the neighbor’s driveway and call Kane, who forwards me to Dex.”
“And that’s when Dex tracks a warehouse at the Colonna’s Shipyards back to Risk Guard.”
Kostya nodded. “Half the team is out of commission, you know that. Night Storm and a bunch of ours are back at Fort Knox playing reindeer games at the Urban Combat Training Center. So, I had Ryker and Linc. I gave coordinates to Jase and Jonas but they were camping.”
Gideon nodded, and Kostya continued.
“By the time we got the info, the three of us were loaded for bear. The problem was the docks were really busy by the time we got there. There were two container ships. They were unloading at the same time, and there was a shift change. One of the ships had come in from China and must have had high-end product, because security was tight.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, your warehouse was basically surrounded, and the last thing we wanted was civilians injured. Ryker was the one who came up with the idea of coming through windows on the second story.”
“Good man, it got us out alive.”
“Yeah, but fucking Miles, Kendall, or whatever the hell his name was, got away. We did capture one of his guys alive.”
Gideon was getting impatient with the replay of events. “Okay, thanks for the blow-by-blow. Now that we know I only have trouble walking and talking, and nothing’s wrong with my thinking, get me out of here.”
Kostya sighed. “Gideon, I really—”
The door flew open and a pissed-off Ryker came into the room. “Thank all that is holy, you’re finally awake. Let’s get you back to Kostya’s. Jada is a royal pain in the ass without you there.”
Gideon shot Kostya a ‘told ya’ look.
“Fine. I’ll talk to your doctor,” Kostya said with an air of resignation. As he started out the door, he turned to Ryker. “Keep his happy ass in bed until I’m back,” he ordered.
“Aye, aye.”
Kostya left.
Ryker looked around the room, then zeroed in on a little cupboard in the corner and opened it. “Shit, man, all that’s in here are some grungy sweatpants. Can’t smuggle you out in these. I’ll be right back.” Ryker left as fast as he came in.
Now Gideon’s head was swimming again. He needed out of here. He needed to make sure Jada was okay. Flashes of her being tortured in that barrel of water, then scraped raw against the rusted sides would remain with him the rest of his life.
Besides that, there was Kendall Douglas. Bile rose in his mouth just thinking about the fact that because of him, Jada had been put through hell. Not just two days ago, but also the sexual trauma back in Oregon.
Set it aside. It’s time to focus.
The door slammed open again. Ryker stood there holding a pair of scrubs. “I couldn’t find shoes. This will have to do.” He turned, then backed in a wheelchair. When the door closed behind him, he threw the scrubs at Gideon. “Dress.”
Gideon had to take it slow, getting out of bed.
