Risky Romance (Wolf Security #4)

9. Grant

CHAPTER 9

Grant

As I hovered over the cornfield, my chopper’s floodlight sliced through the darkness, sweeping across the rows of tall stalks in search of Cody and that damn woman.

When John called me twenty minutes ago, he’d yelled at me to get the chopper in the air, but I couldn’t understand his damned slurred words. The stupid bastard was drunk and so angry he didn’t make any sense. I’d assumed he was rambling about burning the cornfield to eradicate that bug, but when he finally strung his sentences together, dread raced through me.

That woman from Border Force posed a massive threat to our operation.

How much did she know? Did she even realize what she’d stumbled into?

I fucking hoped not, or we were all screwed.

I swept the light along the corn rows, desperate to spot them, but the field was massive; they could be anywhere. John and Bruce’s motorbike headlights bounced all over the place as they raced through the stalks, trying to mow down Cody and Jewel.

Bruce should have eliminated her straight away. What the hell was he thinking, just tying her up? What was his ultimate plan with her? He certainly couldn’t just let her go. And who was the dickhead that chose Jewel’s brother to drive the merchandise down to Rosebud Wharf?

I’m dealing with fucking idiots.

The risk of exposing the drug operation beneath that cornfield hung over me like a guillotine. The lab was well disguised and had been in use and contained for over a decade. But if Jewel contacted the authorities and they started crawling over this place, they might find everything.

Maybe it was already too late. Maybe her brother had gone straight to the cops. Did John even think about that?

This drug lab was my last source of income. I needed it. But I needed my freedom more. Maybe I should take off now, while I still had a chance.

A streak of movement darted between cornrows below.

“Yes. Got you.”

Cody was in front of Jewel, leading their frantic escape through the rows of stalks. As I shifted the controls, angling the chopper right over them, I lit their asses up with my spotlight.

I grabbed my phone and dialed John.

“You got ‘em?” John yelled over the roar of his motorbike.

“Yes! They’re in my spotlight. Get over there!” I hung up, and with my heart racing, I swept the floodlight left and right, desperately trying to keep track of them. They moved like field mice, darting through the corn at a frantic pace and dodging in different directions so fast they were nearly impossible to follow.

A gnawing helplessness surged through me as I watched the chase below. Cody and Jewel twisted and turned, weaving in and out of my light, shifting direction non-stop. My blood boiled as John and Bruce kept missing them and each time they closed the gap, Cody and Jewel would dart a different way.

“Hurry up!” I bellowed.

One of the motorbikes got so close, I thought it was over, but they slipped away again with Jewel in the lead.

“Son of a bitch!” I dialed John again. “What the fuck are you doing? Get them!”

“It’s not that easy,” John yelled back, breathless. “You fucking do something! Make them head back to us.”

“Goddammit.” Tightening my grip on the controls, I darted over Cody and Jewel and lowered the chopper in front of them, aiming the spotlight right in their faces. Cody’s cowboy hat that never left his head flew off and Jewel raised her arm, probably trying to shield her eyes from the debris that peppered them from my downdraft.

Cody grabbed her hand, dragging her forward, and they raced straight toward me. “Son of a bitch!”

He knows I can’t stop him.

The motorbikes were too far behind.

Oh fuck! He’s going for the fence line.

I rang John again.

“Hurry up! They’re nearly at the fence,” I screamed into the phone. “Get them!”

Cody and Jewel sprinted from the corn, dashed across the narrow strip of grass that bordered the plantation, and slipped through the barbed wire fence. My spotlight became useless as they plunged into the dense rainforest next to the cornfield.

“Shit. Shit!” I thumped my fist on the console.

The motorbikes skidded to a stop at the fence. Rage shot up my spine. “They’re getting away!”

As the motorbikes raced along the fence line, aiming for the gate a mile up the paddock, I attempted to track Cody and Jewel with the spotlight, but they vanished into the thick jungle, swallowed by the shadows.

“Fucking hell!” Fury blazed through my veins. We had to stop them and find out what the hell Jewel knew.

I dialed John. “You let them get away, you stupid bastard!”

My heart pounded in my chest.

“I’ll head to the road and cut them off,” he yelled. “Don’t worry. We’ll get ‘em.”

He ended the call.

There was only one road into the plantation. Cody wouldn’t be stupid enough to go that way, but he had to. The only other option was trying to cross the Daintree he’d run into, but that rainforest was brutal. He would never make it out the other side.

I hovered the chopper above the treetops, scanning for signs of movement, but I couldn’t see them.

Maybe they’ll die in that jungle. Or maybe I really should get the hell out of here before it’s too late.

If Jewel got to the authorities, it wouldn’t just be my income stream on the line, it would be my freedom and my life. I gripped the controls tighter, my knuckles turning white.

Cody and Jewel better hope the jungle claims them before I do.

Either way, they’re both as good as dead.