Chapter 12
When I returned to the table, Maddox and Ronan were both on their phones.
I set the beer down and patiently waited for the calls to end.
Ronan was telling whoever was on the other end that he was sending a helicopter to Alaska with a team of guys.
Maddox stood up from the table and left the room.
Ronan hit the end button on his phone and set it down.
“Let’s wait for Maddox to come back before we tell ye what’s going on,” he said as he let out a huge sigh. Maddox came back into the room and dropped his phone onto the tabletop.
“My guys are on their way to the compound to get the chopper. They should make it to Alaska before they can move her again. We will have to send in a cleanup crew afterwards, so if you could get that set up, we should have everything in order.” Maddox was speaking to Ronan.
“I will go make that call right now. Do ye want to fill Joslyn in on what is going on?” Ronan said, rising from the chair.
“I got it,” Maddox replied as Ronan left the room.
He turned his attention to me. “Joslyn, we found Charlotte. She is on her way to Alaska. It is only supposed to be a pit stop, but that is where we are going to get her back. We have a team of guys getting on a helicopter right now, and they are going to intercept the plane in Alaska when it stops to refuel.”
I slowly nodded my head. I had nothing to say. It was very obvious that now we had nothing to do but wait.
“They will call me as soon as they have her secured. So, try to relax. We have it under control.” Ronan came back and reseated himself, opening the beers. He passed each of us one and took a swig.
A short while later, the doorbell rang, and Maddox went to answer the door, retrieve the food, and tip the driver.
He returned and passed out the boxes. I picked at my food, while the men inhaled theirs.
I was worried, but they didn’t seem to be worried at all.
It did slightly put me at ease, but I needed one of their phones to ring.
I finished my beer and then went to the kitchen to get another.
I grabbed the bottle of whiskey as I walked by.
Sitting down, I twisted the top off and took a swig from the bottle.
I cracked the beer and chased the whiskey.
“So, Maddox, sunlight? Does it kill you?” I asked, starting to feel warm from the alcohol.
“No, it doesn’t kill us. At least not right away. We can go in the sun; we don’t burst into flames. It is uncomfortable and it burns more than it would you, but sunscreen does work, and we just cover as much as we can. It was daytime when we showed up here today, remember?”
“Yeah, I guess it was. Sorry, that’s not what I was thinking about at the time.”
“That is understandable. There was a lot going on at that very moment.”
“Yeah, my cousin had just been kidnapped. So, how long do you think it will be before we hear anything?”
“It shouldn’t be too much longer before we get a call dat dey ’ave ’er,” Ronan said, placing his hand on mine, attempting to give me some comfort. I forced a smile and picked up my beer, taking a sip.
Maddox’s phone rang. He put it to his ear as he rose from the chair.
A few moments later, Ronan’s phone rang.
He too got up from the table to answer his phone.
I sat at the table alone, waiting for one of them to come back and tell me what was happening.
This was nerve-racking. I stood up from the table and was going to find one of them when Maddox walked through the doorway.
“The plane didn’t stop in Alaska. Which means one of two things—neither being good. Either our informant has been exposed, or he is done helping us.” As soon as Maddox finished his sentence, Ronan walked into the room clearly agitated.
“Save it. Maddox already told me. So now what is the plan? Tell me one of you has a plan to find her and get her back.” They looked at each other, and my heart sank.
“Okay, let me make this as clear as possible. You two have been sitting here talking all this shit about how you handle things. I am going upstairs because it’s the middle of the night and this whole thing has been exhausting.
I am going to try to sleep for a few hours because you have also made it quite clear that there is nothing that I can do, even if I was allowed to.
When I wake up, I fully expect the two of you to have a plan to get Charlotte back. ”
I turned around and walked out of the room, up the stairs, and down the hall to my bedroom. I went in and shut the door behind me. The exhaustion overcame me as soon as I was between the sheets with my head against the pillow.
* * *
When I opened my eyes, it was dark in the room.
I could see the sunlight peeking through the sides of the curtains.
It was the moment of truth—did these guys get this shit figured out?
I crawled out of the bed and quickly utilized the bathroom.
Heading down the stairs, I began looking for Ronan and Maddox.
I found them in the kitchen, drinking coffee and talking.
“Morning. Any news?” I said, getting a mug from the cupboard and pouring myself some.
“One of us needs to get to de compound in order to get de information out quicker and start running a recovery operation. We can’t work from ’ere to get it all done fast enough,” Ronan said, not really giving me any concrete answers.
“So, are we all going to the compound then?” I probed, wanting to know more information. I was beginning to get nervous that we weren’t going to get Charlotte back at all. If we did, would she be the same, or even still be alive?
“No, only one of us is going to go. The other is going to stay ’ere with ye.
I already called and dey are sending a team ’ere for backup.
We don’t want ye to be vulnerable at all; dey already ’ave Charlotte, and it would be safe to assume dat dey are going to try to get to ye next.
” I could tell that Ronan was worried about keeping me safe.
I was just worried about getting Charlotte back.
“So, who is going and who is staying?” I asked.
“Maddox is staying ’ere wit ye, and I am going to get a ’andle on tings.
We each ’ave our roles. Sometimes dose roles overlap, but in a situation like dis, it is pretty cut and dry.
I ’ave to ’andle dis because Ray is not ’ere, and ye don’t know enough yet to be able to oversee de operation.
I don’t want to leave ye, but I am leaving ye wit someone who is completely capable of keeping ye safe. ”
“Whatever is the best option is the one I want. I want Charlotte back and whatever is going to do that the fastest is what needs to happen. Do what you were trained to do, and Maddox will do the same.”
I wasn’t willing to spare his feelings or mine. I wanted to be realistic. Ronan was hot, smart, nice, great in bed even, but Charlotte was my priority, and I wasn’t good at tact. If what I said bothered him at all, his face didn’t show it, and I was thankful for that.
“So as soon as you have news, you’re going to call and let us know?”
“Yes, I will call ye as soon as I ’ave Charlotte. I will not be calling before den because de less people dat know where she is once we find out, de better.” I had to agree with that. “I’m leaving as soon as de guys get here to back up Maddox.”
“Okay, well, I am going to go take a shower and put on some clean clothes.”
I went to my room and pulled leggings and a tank top from my closet.
Grabbing my undergarments and headed into the bathroom, I made the water as hot as I could tolerate and stepped inside.
It felt soothing as it washed over my skin.
I felt as though I had been in a perpetual state of anxiety for the last week.
Wishing I could get some normalcy back in my life but knowing that was a thing of the past. I relaxed in the sanctuary of the shower.
Here I was. The one man in my life that I trusted was gone.
Forever. I would never tell my mom about any of this because I wouldn’t want her to be involved.
Charlotte knew the bare minimum, and look where she was—we didn’t even know.
Now I had committed to something I didn’t know enough about.
Is this really what he wanted for me? I felt betrayed that he never told me any of this.
I trusted him, and he kept everything from me.