Chapter Three
Jax
When I got Holly home safely, I was gonna blister her ass. If Wrath had spanked her more as a child instead of coddling her because of her cancer, she might take her safety more seriously. And yeah. I get why Wrath coddled the little princess. I coddled her too. And despite my bravado now, I’d continue to fucking coddle her. Why? Because the thought of losing Holly for any reason made me want to lose my Goddamn mind.
Mechanic gestured toward the screen where he was tracking Holly. “She’s not moving.” Since he’d landed our Osprey as close to Holly’s position as he reasonably could given the size of the aircraft, we’d been following her movements and heading steadily in her direction for the better part of an hour. The Phantom Badger we were using was loaded to capacity with men and equipment. Which was to say, me and Razor and some serious hardware.
Holly’s group had been headed toward a small village about six hours south of Rodadero. Which was bad. With the heavy traffic from Rodadero and Santa Marta to the U.S., there had been increased drug traffic south of Rodadero. The whole general area was considered very high-risk for traveling. ExFil had been hired to extract more than one goodwill mission.
“Have they reached their destination?” Razor was native to the area. He studied the screen from our end same as Mechanic did back at the Osprey. “See if you can zoom in. There’s a dirt road in that area they should be following to the village. It’s been a couple years, but that road is in exactly the wrong spot if they want to live.”
“Yeah.” I snagged a weapons vest and shrugged into it before checking my sidearm. “Bettin’ they’ve been stopped.” My vest had several extra clips as well as some grenades. “How far are we from her, Razor?”
He shrugged. “We can get there in the Badger in less than five. They’ll hear us, but as long as they’ve been stopped, that might be a good thing.”
I gave him a crisp nod. “Let’s move. Mechanic, have Iron and Tank ready in case we come back hot.”
“We expectin’ trouble, Jax?” Razor spoke softly, raising an eyebrow.
“With Holly?” One side of my lip curled up in a half grin. “Always.” I was trying to lighten the mood, but the truth was, my insides were screaming at me to get to her. I wasn’t as seasoned as some of the guys in Black Reign, but I’d done my time with Special Teams. The most important lesson I learned was to always trust my instincts. It had saved my life more than once. Now, I was counting on it to save Holly’s.
The ride took less than five minutes. Even before we got there, we could hear gunshots. Normally, Razor would have stopped before we got too close so we could scout the situation, but that wasn’t happening.
Without prompting from me Razor hit the accelerator hard, and we charged through the forest until we burst onto the road. Razor managed to maneuver the vehicle to a skidding halt between the small group of people and gunmen. We were practically on top of them, and even though we weren’t expecting to take fire and hadn’t put the roof on the Light Utility Vehicle, I was glad for the bulletproof glass on the door of the Badger.
I stood and fired over the window, taking down two hostiles. Razor got another one and the rest fled.
“We may have to ditch some ordinance.” I spoke through my throat mike to Mechanic, back at the Osprey. “Got at least ten civilians still alive.”
“Copy that. Dump it, then destroy it on your way out. It’ll have the added effect of takin’ out their road.”
“If you do that, you’ll cut off the village from supply trucks.” That was one of the women in the group. “We should leave.”
“I can’t fit all of you in this vehicle unless I drop equipment in the back. If I do that, I can’t let the locals take that equipment. My only option is to destroy it where I drop it.” I tried to be patient, but I needed to get Holly and get the fuck outta here.
“Can’t you drop it somewhere else?”
“Look, lady,” I snapped. “Either I dump the shit and destroy it, or I leave you here. Don’t care which. But if you stay, they will come back and they will kill you. Eventually.” I dismissed the woman as I scanned the group until I found Holly.
The lady protested or something. I dismissed her, but her voice was like a buzzing gnat in my subconscious. The only thing that mattered right now was Holly.
She sat huddled with her friend against the side of a large rock. Both women looked terrified. Blood streaked down Holly’s temple and she looked a little dazed. Her gaze locked on mine, and she let go of her friend and shoved herself to her feet, half running, half stumbling toward me. When she threw herself at me, I caught her with one arm, my pistol in the other as I tracked the area for threats.
“Jax! Oh, God! Jax!”
“I’ve got you, baby. Gonna keep you safe. But you’re gonna have to let me go so I can dump some stuff to make room for everyone. OK?”
She stiffened, then shoved herself away from me. “I’ll h-help.” She clasped her hands behind her back and took a couple steps backward, a not-so-subtle retreat. “What has to go?”
“Everything, honey. Anything in the back of this vehicle needs to be offloaded.” I hated not being able to comfort her like I knew she needed, but we didn’t have a lot of time. And if worse came to worst, I’d grab Holly and take off. I would not hesitate to leave every single person in the fucking group behind if it put Holly in unreasonable danger. If that happened, she’d never forgive me. Or herself.
“Got it.” And she went to work. Honestly, the work would help her focus on something other than what had just happened or what would happen next.
It didn’t take me, Razor, and Holly long to completely empty out the bed. While we did that, the group gathered their dead to take with us. Only one or two of them didn’t help. Both were in obvious shock.
The second the last of our weapons and ordinance was unloaded, the group started loading into the truck. They managed to get all but one of their dead in the back before we left. They’d argued for a few seconds before Razor put the vehicle in gear and sped off. Most of the group yelled and screamed at us to stop and go back, to get the last of the bodies, but Razor and I were in silent agreement that we needed to get back to our transport. Pronto.
Holly was between me and Razor. I had my left arm around her waist, my gun still firmly in my right hand as Razor pushed the vehicle as fast as he could. She trembled but said nothing. Holly gripped my thigh with one hand and the hand around her waist with the other. Seconds later there was a deafening BOOM! as the ordinance detonated behind us. Hopefully, even if those guys came back with reinforcements, the destroyed road would at least slow them down.
“We can’t leave the village like this!” A young man a few years older than Holly leaned forward from where he’d piled in the back with the others. “We have a responsibility to fix what we broke!”
“Report it after we’ve gone,” I snapped. “Or I can toss you out here and you can fix it yourself.”
“I’m not tucking my tail between my legs and running home! If you’re military, you should know I’m Christopher Alistair the third, United States Senator Alistair’s son. My Secret Service detail was killed, so you have to act as my detail. That means I’m in charge.”
“Ain’t military, kid. We’re in the private sector, and we’re here for her.” I indicated Holly. “Only reason you’re with us in the first place is because it wasn’t in her best interest to leave you behind. If that status changes, you’ll find yourself on your ass on the side of the road, no matter who your daddy is.”
Up ahead, the Osprey was powering up. Razor approached it and skidded the vehicle to a stop several feet away.
“Everyone out!” I yelled, tugging Holly out my side of the vehicle. Never letting go of her hand, I trotted with her to the transport while Razor drove ahead to pull the vehicle into the Osprey. I urged her to the front of the plane and the troop seating. When I would have helped her fasten her seatbelt, she brushed my hands away and did it herself. I knew then she’d be all right. For the first time since Wrath had told me what was going on, I felt the band around my chest ease up a little. It wouldn’t be completely gone until we landed safely in the Black Reign compound with Holly safe and sound.
ExFil had arranged for a midair refuel for us to head home. Once the refueling was complete, all there was left to do was wait. Mechanic and Razor had the bird well in hand. They’d let me know if they needed me. In fact, I expected Razor would be back with us soon. Once they got everything settled from the refueling and all the other pilot shit they did, Mechanic wouldn’t need Razor until we got closer to our destination.
I turned slightly to look at Holly. She still gripped my hand, but didn’t meet my gaze.
“Hey, baby. Look at me.” She sucked in a breath and blinked several times, like she’d been startled awake. She obeyed, looking up at me with wide, vulnerable eyes. “That’s my girl. Are you hurt? Did you get hit?”
She looked slightly confused, then stiffened. “I-I hit my head.” Her voice was high-pitched and slightly husky. “When the bus wrecked.”
“Do you know what happened?”
“Not really.” She frowned, rubbing her temple as though she had a headache. If she’d hit her head, she likely did. “The bus swerved, and we hit something. I’m not sure when those men got on the bus. But I don’t think it was too long after we wrecked.”
“You’re right. This is what the cartel does.”
“But… no one uses that road other than supply vehicles. And those only come once a month at most. The villagers know to stay off the road and it’s the wrong time of year for the cartels to be moving their products north.” She rubbed at her head. “This should have been relatively low risk.”
I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling her that no place in Columbia was “relatively low risk,” but didn’t think now was the time. Once she’d had time to process everything that had happened, and accepted my claim on her, I’d have plenty of time to address her life choices. And I was afraid this one wasn’t going to go away any time soon. She’d taken ten years off my life.
Instead, I leaned in to brush a kiss on her forehead, wrapping an arm around her. She rested her head on my shoulder, but didn’t quite relax. She still didn’t let go of my hand, but other than that small gesture, she didn’t move. I thought she might be close to falling asleep, but she slowly pushed away from me. With a sigh, she let go of me and laid her hands in her lap.
“Talk to me, Holly. I’ll make everything all right if you’ll tell me what you need.” I meant it too. She was breaking my fucking heart.
“This is all my fault.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“What’s your fault, honey? You’re not making sense.”
“That you’re here. This plane. All that money everyone spent. This time because I did something stupid.” Tears had been streaming down her cheeks in a steady flow since I found her. The only time she seemed to be able to fight them off had been unloading the Badger.
“Honey, I’m here with all this shit because I will always come for you. By any means necessary. Bad choice on your part or not, I will always come for you.”
She sucked in a small sob but held on to her emotions by the tiniest of fingernails. It wouldn’t take much for her to shatter.
“Hey, man!” The angry demand came across from me. I wanted to drive my thumbs into his fucking eyeballs. “I’m filing a formal protest against your company when we land.” Fucking Chris Alistair the fucking Third. There was every possibility either me or him wouldn’t make it to Lake Worth alive. And he was too big a pussy to even think about taking me.
“For doin’ what? Savin’ your sorry ass? I can see how that could get me in trouble. Especially if you’re as big a pain in your old man’s ass as you’re starting to become in mine, but also because you weren’t my problem or my job. Holly is the only person I was authorized to spring. I’m beginning to think it might be best to remedy that mistake right now.”
“You left that whole village with no way to get food or supplies! If they die, it’s on you. And I’ll tell every reporter I come across that you committed genocide.”
“Do you have any fuckin’ idea what you’re talkin’ about?” Razor plopped down in a seat on the other side of Holly putting her solidly between our wall of protection.
Alistair gave Razor a withering look. “I know exactly what I’m talking about,” he snapped. “It’s the only road in or out of that village! How are they supposed to get supplies without that road?”
Razor chuckled. “Fuuuuck. Did you know they made ‘em this stupid, Jax?”
“I mean, I’ve heard stories.” I shrugged like it was really no big deal. “Not sure I believed ‘em. Till now.”
“Son, the villagers that close to the Amazon want nothing more than to be left alone. They couldn’t care less if people show up with stuff they’ve never heard they needed. They distrust the few things that could make their lives better. No. Those trails you call roads are made by the cartel. If you went into this situation and didn’t bother to find out, you really are fuckin’ stupid.”
Razor waited until Alistair finally dropped his gaze before speaking to me. “Got you guys a small space with a little privacy if you want to look her over. Make sure she’s not injured and in too much shock to feel it.”
“If anyone gets a private room here, it’s me, you asshole.” Alistair piped up again. “ I’m the important one here. I don’t care what you say, I know you were sent to find me. Not her. She’s nobody! You’re supposed to do what I say!”
“Hate to tell you, bro,” I took over before Razor lost his cool. I could practically see steam coming out the other man’s ears. I felt pretty much the same way, but Razor was bigger than me and his punch was harder than my punch. “But real life don’t work that way. No one knows you guys were missing. The only way your father knows now is if your body man got a message off to him, and my boss ain’t sayin’ nothin’ if he did. Nothin’ gets by Cain. No matter how recent the development. So you’re on your own. No one knows you’re in trouble. Nobody is sending you help. Nobody.” The threat wasn’t even thinly veiled. Razor was ready to do his worst, and I was right behind him.
“Of course they knew! They sent me help! You’re here, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” I continued. “Because her family hadn’t been able to speak with her in several hours, and I wasn’t willing to wait another two or three hours they’d agreed upon before finding out where she was. Like I told you in Columbia. You’re only here because it was of no benefit to her at the time for me to leave you behind. I don’t give a good Goddamn who your daddy is.”
“OK.” Razor stood. “That’s our cue to leave before I have to explain to our boss how a senator’s son accidentally smashed his face and fell out of the plane on the way home.” He wasn’t joking. The only question was which one of us would follow through first. Looked like it would be a tight race.
The room Razor took us to wasn’t much. Just a small conference type room someone had furnished with a cot in addition to a desk. There wasn’t room for more than two large men or maybe three small women, so adding the cot to the room made it tight. On the desk was a basin of water and some washcloths. On the cot was a change of clothing for both of us and a couple of blankets and pillows. Other than these added luxuries, the whole plane was spartan. ‘Cause, you know, military cargo and troop transport. The Hilton, it was not.
“It’s not much, but we can wash the worst of the mud and grime off us, change clothes, and get a little rest. Got another five hours before we get home. I don’t know about you, but I’m beat.” I wanted her to understand I wasn’t leaving her here by herself, but didn’t want to be obnoxious about it. She might not want to admit it to anyone, including herself, but I know her well enough she needed me with her right now.
“Yeah.” She picked at her clothing. She was smeared in mud, but I thought I could help her get the worst of it off. The trick was to take charge and do what needed doing without seeming like I was taking charge. That was the quickest way to get Holly to completely withdraw and push me away, and there was no way I was letting that happen. She sighed and looked over her shoulder. “Thanks for coming after me, Jax. I owe you one.”
“I told you, Maddog. I’ll always come for you. No questions asked. I will always be there.” I tried to use the road name she and Blade had come up with to help her be strong for a little bit longer, but I knew she was done. She’d had all she could take.
Tears that had slowed now flowed freely again, but Holly still held on to her control. She was trying to fight me when she didn’t really want to.
She put a washcloth in the basin and left it there. Then she pulled off her tank and stepped out of her shorts. Her shoes and socks followed, and she stood facing away from me in nothing but her bra and panties.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d help me wash the grime off my back. I’m tired and sore and I can’t reach or see everywhere I need to get.”
“Well, that went much easier than I thought it would.” I gave her what I hope was an amused smile when I was more relieved than I was prepared to admit she needed my help.
“I can’t very well have the road name Maddog if I’m too big a pussy to admit to someone I trust I need help when I do, now can I?”
I chuckled softly before leaning in and kissing her temple. The more I gave her little kisses like that, the more I had my lips on her skin in even the most platonic of kisses, the more I wanted to taste her lips, to slip my tongue into her mouth and taste her until she was whimpering with need in my arms. Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time. Didn’t mean I wasn’t going to have the pleasure of holding her. I was going to wrap her up in my arms while she slept and keep the nightmares at bay. Because I knew from experience, the second she closed her eyes the nightmares would definitely come.
“Nope. If you’re gonna have a name like Maddog, you have a certain reputation to maintain. I’m proud of you for livin’ up to your name, baby.”
That got a genuine snort of laughter from her. Then she chuckled. It didn’t last long, though. As I started washing her back, her chuckles turned to quiet sobs. I got the worst of the dirt and mud, then helped her put on the T-shirt Razor left for her. I reached under the shirt and unfastened her bra and helped her thread her arms through the straps and her sleeves. Holly didn’t protest once.
I almost helped her into the soft cotton pants without having her remove her underwear, but I knew she had to be uncomfortable. They hadn’t exactly been wallowing in mud, but it looked like she’d landed in a puddle at some point. So, without saying anything or making a big deal out of it, I faced her away from me and pulled her panties over her hips and let them pool at her feet. I used the cloth to wash her hip where she was starting to bruise. She must have landed on that side because she had dried mud from there to the top of her thigh. She winced once but didn’t move or say anything. She didn’t balk at my care of her, or the fact that I’d just removed her underwear without her permission.
When I wrapped my arms around her and held the pants in front of her, she took the material and stuck her feet into the holes. With a muffled groan of pain, she paused and gripped my wrist to steady herself. I didn’t waste time or ask if she wanted my help. I pulled them up her hips and tied the drawstring in a bow at her belly button.
I did my best to keep my touch as clinical as I could. The very last thing I wanted was for her to feel like I was taking advantage of her vulnerable state of mind. I turned her to face me before I picked her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I sat on the cot.
I reached for one of the blankets lying beside us and draped it over her before pivoting a quarter turn on my ass and resting my legs on the cot so I could fully recline with Holly draped over me. She lay her head on my chest and continued to cry softly until she finally drifted off to sleep with me rubbing her back in a gentle caress.
As I lay there holding her, another band of pressure released from my chest. Not only that, but a deep satisfaction filled me at having her in my arms like this. Wrath was right. I had loved Holly from the moment I saw her. It had taken time to develop into the love I felt for her now, but it had been there from the start. I had to figure out a way to keep her from pulling away from me, because now that I knew what it was like to have this woman sleeping so trustingly in my arms, I knew there was no way I could ever let her go.