Chapter 8
Somewhere over the U.S.
Code Name: Raven
Jade unbuckled and pushed the button to recline Liam’s seat.
A blanket appeared over her shoulder. She looked up, smiled at Rafe, and took the cover.
These men might claim to be rough and tough, but all five of them were teddy bears at heart.
Although she’d never tell them that. She draped the blanket over Liam and stared a bit too long at the dried blood in his hairline.
A couple of inches over and the bullet would’ve hit him between the eyes. She shivered at the thought.
“He’ll be okay.” Dax nodded toward his leader.
“For which I’m grateful. But he shouldn’t have been shot in the first place.” Jade slipped back in her seat across the aisle. Her gaze locked on Liam. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. Occasionally, his fingers twitched as if he couldn’t escape a bad dream.
The man she’d connected with over missions. The one who knew her better than anyone else in her life had taken a bullet meant for her.
“It’s not your fault, you know that, right?” Boone crossed his ankle over his knee.
“Try telling my heart that.”
“You love him, don’t you?” Rafe’s blunt question startled her.
She jerked her gaze to him. Was it really his business how she felt about Liam? Then again, Charlie Team acted as one. What happened to one of them happened to all of them.
“I’m not sure if I can say love. I mean, we just met in person. Do I care about him? Yes. A lot. But I’m not sure the feelings are reciprocated. Well, not to the same degree anyway.” She met each man’s gaze. One by one, they grinned at her. “What?”
Dax’s eyebrows rose. “Raven, that man loves you.”
Jade’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t know that.”
Boone snorted. “Really?”
She glared at him. “Do tell. Why do you think so?” Tiredness had mixed with the constant ache of her body, giving her little to no patience.
“We all have our stories that shaped us. As close as our team is, we don’t know all the details of each other’s pasts. Liam laid his heart out to you by giving you intimate details of a mission gone bad. And knowing the comms were open, he put aside his vulnerability to tell you.”
Boone’s words swirled in her mind. Liam had done that, hadn’t he?
“Please, whatever you do, don’t play with his heart,” Dax pleaded.
“I have no intention of hurting him.” Jade’s concern centered around Liam ripping her heart out once he realized he couldn’t deal with her brokenness. No, the risk ran in the opposite direction.
“Stop that.”
She jolted at Rafe’s command. “Stop what?”
“Those thoughts running through your head.”
How had he known what she was thinking? Liam had that uncanny ability. Did they all have the same skill? “Do all you guys read minds?”
Dax chuckled, and Boone snorted.
“Hardly. But it’s not difficult to see where you went mentally.” Rafe said.
Wonderful. Even her thoughts weren’t private.
Since the first mission she’d worked with Liam, they’d connected in a way she couldn’t explain.
The plane grew quiet, and Raven dozed. Dreams and nightmares intermixed. But Liam’s confident face took centerstage.
A small bump of turbulence woke her. Her gaze drifted to Liam.
He stared at her, eyes half open.
She unbuckled and knelt next to him. “Are you feeling better?”
“A bit,” he whispered and closed his eyes. “Headache.”
“Can I get you something for it?” She brushed a lock of hair from his forehead.
“Please.”
When she stood to request the medicine, she found Boone digging through the medical duffel bag.
“Here.”
She took the packet and grabbed a water bottle from a stash in the galley. She handed Liam the tablets. “Take these.”
“Thanks.” The fact that he did so without complaint spoke volumes.
Rafe patted Liam’s leg. “Get some more rest. We’ll be landing in a couple of hours.”
Boone leaned forward in his seat, bracing his forearms on his knees. “The new cabin is ready and secure. Two SUVs are staged on the strip.”
“That was fast.” How did these men arrange things so quickly? And when? It wasn’t as though private conversations happened on this plane.
“Liam has connections on top of connections. You don’t run BlackKnight Security without backup plans stacked on top of each other. It’s a special forces thing.” Dax gave her a half-smile. “We’ll split into two groups. That way, we have two vehicles in case we need an extra.”
“I trust you guys. I really do. But I keep coming back to how they knew we were in Colorado. I didn’t contact anyone. Especially not after being abducted.” She knew these men. They weren’t careless. But the how continued to nag her.
“I’d like to know as well.” Rafe’s irritated tone cut through the interior of the plane. “The only way they’d know exact coordinates is if someone had access to our movements.”
Boone’s jaw flexed. “Or our technology.”
“The computers are secure. I’d stake my reputation on that,” Rafe grumbled.
“Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to imply it was your equipment.” Dax’s forehead scrunched. “I don’t have an answer to the security breach. We’ll dig into that once we’re on the ground. Until then, I’d love to know more about our Mexico mission and Raven’s kidnapping. Who set that into motion and why?”
“It all circles back to the Echo Team’s compromised op. It has to. I suggest we focus there.” Liam’s eyes remained closed. “Ever consider whoever they hired to abduct Raven double-crossed them? And that they used us to reclaim their prize?”
Well, now, that was a thought. And not a pleasant one. Jade reached over and laced her fingers with his. His pained expression worried her. But his attention to his team, even when injured—classic Charlie One.
“What makes you say that? Referring to the Echo team disaster. I’m still processing the Raven thing.” Boone puffed out a breath.
“Seems to me, all the chaos started with that op. The off-the-books rescue. The threats. Her abduction.” Liam’s eyes opened to slits. “Raven, did you have any problems before you reported your concerns about the black-market sales for the military GPS codes on the new equipment?”
Jade considered his question before answering it, mentally running through the sequence of events.
“No. My job was fairly normal for what I do. Or at least I thought it was. I’d found evidence of tampering but didn’t believe it at first. I analyzed and reanalyzed the data and reported my concerns.
When Echo Team vanished, and you all went in and rescued them, I regretted leaving it to the normal chain of command and not pushing it up the ladder.
After that, I discovered someone squashed the reports, or they disappeared altogether.
” She met each man’s gaze, then focused on Liam.
“You think someone is trying to shut me up?”
“I do. Call it instinct. There might not be any more to it. But I believe the person selling the codes is involved—somehow.” Liam’s eyes closed, and his breathing evened out.
“I agree with boss man.” Xander’s comment came through the comms, startling her. “Twenty minutes out. Buckle up, boys.”
Would she ever get used to the constant hot comm in her ear? The guys tended to leave them on but muted for privacy when they weren’t all together. Easier access to communication. And it did help on the plane since they were spread out and didn’t have to shout.
“Sorry, Raven. Didn’t mean to leave you out.”
She chuckled. “I’m not offended, X-Man. Do we need to raise Liam’s seat?”
“No, let him rest. I don’t plan on crashing.” She could hear the smile in Xander’s words.
The low drone of the engines filled the silence, and the plane dropped in altitude. Her ribs still complained, but the pain medication Dax had given her soon after taking off had helped her muscles relax, so her body didn’t hurt like it once did.
Boone caught her eye. “We’ll get answers once we have you tucked away again. But don’t ever forget, we have your six no matter what.”
Jade held her breath, willing the tears not to fall. She had five bodyguards determined to keep her safe. But she had a horrible feeling that it was only a matter of time before the threat found her again.
Shadow Pines, Tennessee – New Safe House
Friday – 1600 Hours
Call Sign: Charlie One
Three hours of rest had done Liam a world of good, but the ride from the private airfield to the safe house in Shadow Pines, Tennessee, hadn’t helped his headache or the lingering nausea.
They’d arrived at the cabin hidden by pine trees a little while ago.
A wide front porch had greeted them. The place appeared secluded and safe enough on the outside.
Although after Colorado, Liam refused to make the mistake of assuming again.
He rested against the worn black leather couch in the living room of their new temporary home.
His head throbbed behind his eyes. Since the attack, he’d thanked God on repeat for his men and that the sniper hadn’t hit Raven.
Charlie Team had stepped up and taken care of business, getting them away from danger.
He’d known he could count on each and every one of them, but today proved it—again.
Bootsteps scuffed the hardwood, breaking through his thoughts.
Boone had slipped inside the back door. His HK416 rested against his chest. “Perimeter’s clear for now. Dax took over. He’ll alert us if anything is hinky.”
“Good.” Even with the comms hot, he’d muted his. And since he hadn’t heard other chatter, he assumed the rest of the team had as well.
Boone leaned his rifle against the wall and scavenged the kitchen for food.
Liam rolled his head to the side and watched Xander spread their gear across the coffee table. “Find anything?” Give him another hour, and whether his head stopped killing him or not, he’d join the search for answers.