Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
T orres breathed in the night air as he tried to calm his racing heart. Gabe. His son, the only person he loved the most in the world, was missing, and he didn’t know what to do with himself. Punching a hole through the wall didn't seem like a good choice. While Kade and the guys worked out a plan, he had to get some fresh air. The room had seemed to close in on itself and it became a struggle for him to breathe. He was hanging onto his sanity by a thread and he feared it would only get worse, if something happened to his son he had no idea what he would do, not to mention what Kade would do because as much as the man griped about it he adored Gabe. He looked over when the door opened.
“I just came to check on you.” Kade said softly as he made his way to Torres' side where he would always be if the man needed him. He almost wanted to laugh. They had been through so much shit together over the years, been hit, shot, tortured and he had to admit this took the cake.
Torres chuckled humorlessly. “I don’t even know what to say, man. I just got him and now he’s gone. What if he’s hurt…I…” He had to swallow hard to keep his emotions in check.
Kade grabbed the back of Torres' neck and pulled him into his chest where the man slumped into him. “Then we will rally around him and do whatever it takes to make sure he’s ok. I won’t rest until we get him back, Vince. I won’t stop. I will burn this fucking earth down to get him back, make no mistake.”
Torres felt better. While most people would assume Kade was exaggerating, he knew the man would do just that if it came to it and he loved the man a little more for it. Kade was and always would be his ace up his sleeve. People doubted him because he was blind but failed to realize that everything they did for the military all the training and most of the missions happened at night when there was little to no visibility, and while Kade may be blind in a normal man’s life, he had a skill set that no one else in the world had. “Thanks, brother.”
“Always,” Kade decreed. “Let’s go get your boy back.” He slapped Torres' shoulder and led him back inside.
Torres felt bad when he got a look at Leo’s face. His baby was pale and distraught. He pulled Leo into his arms and nibbled on his earlobe before he spoke. “It’s ok baby, we’ll get him back.” He held Leo tighter as his body shook.
“I’m so sorry.” Leo said, his voice catching in his throat, making it come out hushed and broken. “I’m so sorry Vince, this is all my fault.”
The catch and break in Leo’s voice made Torres livid. “Not your fault baby, and when I get my hands on that man, we’ll figure out what the deal is. He made the choice to go after an innocent boy. He’ll get what’s coming to him.”
“So…are we taking a road trip to Jordan, because I just got a facial recognition hit at the airport.” Cowboy said, turning his laptop around for them to see. He hoped they were. Maybe he could get some fucking sleep on the plane. He was getting too old for this shit.
Leo watched in horror as a man who looked to only be in his late twenties, early thirties carried an unconscious Gabe through the airport. “Oh, my God.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Catherine demanded, her voice shrill with panic as she stared at her son’s limp body.
“He’s unconscious it's the easiest way to get him through the airport without raising suspicion. He could just say Gabe is asleep, sadly most TSA agents wouldn’t bat an eye at that with it being a late flight. From what I can tell, his breathing is normal. He’s ok just sleeping hard, basically.” Doc said as he practically had his nose pressed to the screen to study the boy. “I don’t see any injuries, but that’s not to say he doesn’t have any. Cowboy, do you know where he’s going to land?”
“Two tickets for Ali and Yousef Masa, to the Queen Alia International Airport in Zizya Jordan.” Cowboy said. “Kade, if we use the jet we can probably beat him or arrive shortly after him. His village is a couple hours south of the airport, so he’ll have to get transportation somewhere. I’ll keep an eye out.”
“Get Hawk and Jet on it. They should be back at this point. It'll be easier to get them to head back to the airport than to get someone else. I’ll call the others. Torres, you want to lead?” Kade asked as they started to pack up.
“No, I follow you.” Torres grunted he didn’t mind leading, but he wasn’t in the right mindset for it at this point, and if Kade was involved in any way, the man was always leading whether he liked it or not. All the others only followed Kade.
“Got it. Let’s roll boys.” Kade called out, and they all filed out in the yard, Valk pouting as he returned to his master’s side, wanting to go with him and knowing he couldn’t. Valk always seemed to understand what was going on. “Levi, Ram, would you mind if Valk stayed here with you guys?”
“No, it’ll give me a chance to see what a service dog should act like.” Levi said laughing, Sheriff was coming along nicely but he was still a baby, not even a year old yet, so he had a lot to learn. “I promise I’ll take good care of your baby.”
Kade grinned as he leaned down to hug the man tightly. “I know you will brother if he gets to be too much call Saint, OK?”
Levi ruffled Kade’s hair. “I promise. Be careful.”
Kade rolled his eyes. “Don’t jinx me, damn it. The blind guy is always the bullet magnet.” He huffed as he straightened and made a rude gesture at Levi, making him snort with laughter.
Saint snickered. “It’s sad but true.” It really was if someone got shot on a mission nine times out of ten it was Kade, and he wasn’t a big target. The man knew how to blend in; he just had really shitty luck when it came to being shot.
“How many times have you been shot now?” Levi asked teasingly.
Kade grumbled and shuffled his feet. “Seventeen.”
Ram had to force himself to stay seated as Kade and his nephew teased each other, and he learned new history about Kade making him want the man even more. He internally sighed and rolled his eyes. His obsession with this man was bordering on crazy. The man’s smile made his stomach flutter, and he desperately wanted to touch Kade, to see how he would react, to trace his lips and see if they were as soft as they looked.
“Hold on boys.” Sanem called out as she rushed to the kitchen, and came back a second later with a cardboard box filled with snacks and sandwiches. “Can’t have my boy getting hungry. Kade make this man hurt for scaring that baby.” She said sweetly as she handed him the box and kissed his cheek.
Kade’s smile was breathtaking. “With pleasure.” He passed the box off to one of his men and opened his arms, knowing the woman wanted to hug him, and chuckled when she threw herself into his arms, rocking him back on his heels with the force of it.
“I knew I would wear you down.” She teased in his ear as she hugged him tighter.
Kade snickered. “It’s not like I put up much of a fight.” He told her truthfully, she had been nothing but kind to him and once he realized the woman didn’t have it in her to hurt him, it was pretty much a done deal.
“No, but you were worth the wait.” She mumbled, squeezing him tighter.
Kade’s heart jumped. He’d never had someone tell him he was worth anything. He tried not to get lost in the past and just enjoyed the motherly hug he’d never gotten in his childhood. His mother had always been a harsh woman, from the time he could remember it was his older brother Carnage who took care of him, taught him to read and write, how to ride a bike, to shower by himself, hell his brother had even potty trained him when he was not much older than Kade himself.
“Jet and Hawk are ready. They had just landed when I called. The jet is up and running. We just have to board.” Doc called out as he ushered the others to the car.
“I’m coming.” Leo stated, grabbing a sandwich as he passed and kissing his mother on her cheek.
Torres opened his mouth to disagree when Kade snorted. “Dude, try to tell him he can’t come and see what happens. Catherine, you’re staying here. I can’t deal with you and focus on getting your son back, so do us all a favor and let Sanem entertain you.” Kade stroked Valk’s ears before he walked out of the front door. Leaving his baby was always hard for him. That damn dog meant so much to him and leaving him physically hurt.
Catherine didn’t speak, but her glare said all she wanted to as she watched Kade walk away.
“Are you sure about coming?” Torres asked, pulling Leo away from the others. “It’s ok if you want to stay here, it’ll be safer for you.”
Leo raised a brow. “I’m not saying I want to start joining you on your wild adventures, but you may need someone other than Kade to keep you in line and I want to see Gabe for myself.” His brows furrowed. “Do you not want me to go?”
The insecurity and doubt in Leo’s voice gutted him. “Of course I want you to go. I just don’t know what we’re about to walk into and it could be dangerous. You aren’t trained for this kind of thing, so I just wanted to make sure you really were thinking things through. Cowboy or Hawk will most likely stay behind at a secure location so you can stay with them while we go get Gabe, because I love you, but I’m not taking you into that type of situation without protection.” Torres’ brows furrowed as Leo’s eyes widened in shock. “What? It’s not that I think you can’t take care of yourself, it’s just….oh….” It clicked with what he had said, and he swallowed hard.
“Vince, please look at me.” Leo said when the man’s eyes lowered to his boots, and refused to come back up.
“I’m good.” Torres muttered. He didn’t want to see the rejection in Leo’s eyes, especially after everything that was happening. He just had to open up his stupid mouth and spew shit Leo wasn’t ready to hear. In reality, he’d been in love with Leo for a long time, even longer than they had been together. He’d just loved the man from afar before he grew a pair and put himself out there. Leo had always fascinated him from the time when he was overseas and he had seen a picture of Saint and all his brothers taped to his bed; he'd always been drawn to Leo. His happy blue eyes shined bright when he smiled and he wanted to be the person to make that happy so that he would smile all the time.
Leo grinned. “I know your boots are fascinating, but I need you to look at me.” The blank look from his man when he finally grew a pair and looked up made him chuckle. “I love you too, Vince.”