Chapter Forty-Two
Feralyn
Dressed in dry clothes, armed with two Glocks, one at the small of his back, one on his thigh, Helios took my camera. In the same type of tactical pants as Helios, also strapped with two guns, Ares ushered me into the back seat of the Yukon.
Then we were reversing out of the garage with Helios behind the wheel and Ares in the front passenger seat.
The dizzying speed with which Ares had shoved clothes at me, grabbed shoes from my closet while I’d dressed, then dumped trainers next to me as I put on socks didn’t give me time to breathe, let alone think.
Then he’d deftly twisted my wet hair into a bun as I put on my running shoes before taking my arm and ushering me to the garage while grabbing his messenger bag en route.
My heart was now pounding harder than this morning.
But it wasn’t from sheer anxiety alone. The coordinated effort of him and Helios getting us out of the house in mere seconds had adrenaline coursing through my veins.
It was the same kind of rush I felt when I maxed out the throttle on one of the motorcycles Helios had bought me.
It was fear magnified, but with mental clarity.
Except right now, I was also harboring guilt.
“I’m sorry,” I said to both of them. “I thought I was…. I just should’ve told you both as soon as I saw… him.” The Vulture, Helios had called him.
Speeding off the barrier island, Helios took a sharp turn onto a main thoroughfare. “I should’ve known exactly what you meant when you muttered Eagle in that damn hospital eight years ago. So don’t fucking apologize. This is on me.”
I searched my mind, but I didn’t remember letting that detail out. Past a few defining moments with Helios, the rest of the hospital stay had been a medication-induced blur. “I don’t remember saying that.”
“You were on heavy pain meds.” Helios glanced at Ares as Ares took a tablet and an adaptor out of his messenger bag. “Get that shit sent to Cypher, then destroy it.”
“Wait.” The photos I’d taken yesterday morning were also on that memory card. “I have other pictures on there.” I’d promised my client, Rigan, I’d send her the shots I took of her berries, though that conversation now seemed like a lifetime ago.
“I’ll back them up to your cloud storage,” Ares assured me.
I didn’t ask how he knew where I stored my digital data, let alone how to access my account.
Ares hacked. So did Helios, to an extent.
He’d shown me more than a few ways to protect myself and erase my digital footprint.
But Helios had told me Ares’s skills were far more advanced than his.
All of which didn’t distract me from the real fear I was trying to keep locked down so tight that I didn’t fall apart.
But my mind kept replaying what Helios had said on the phone.
Once Feralyn’s secure, we’re fucking hunting.
Then another memory played, one from eight years ago.
I’m going to kill those two Delta Force brothers of yours.
The Vulture had known Helios and Ares were Delta Force. I should have told Helios that when he’d rescued me, but after he’d said they were all dead, I hadn’t.
Now I needed to.
If this Vulture knew that about them then, and he’d been able to find me today when I used my Ferrah alias for everything, he may already know where Helios was taking us.
“Images sent to Cypher,” Ares clipped. “Traffic cams en route wiped, and Opa Locka security feeds are on a loop for the next fifteen minutes.” He stowed his devices back in his messenger bag as Helios pulled into the private aviation airport.
When I saw all the parked planes and the few taxiing or landing this time of night, my irrational fear of flying immediately made my stomach drop.
“Copy,” Helios answered Ares as he parked by his new Cessna Citation Longitude while a sleek Norton V4SV superbike pulled up next to us.
“I’ll grab the gear and start prechecks on the Citation.
Read in Chaos,” he ordered Ares. “Get him started on prechecks for the Phenom. Then you’re second chair with me. ”
“Roger that.” Ares got out of the SUV.
Helios glanced back as he opened his door. “Wait till I come get you.”
Before I could acknowledge him, he was out of the Yukon and at the rear lift gate, shouldering several large black duffel bags.
A moment later, my door opened, and Helios was issuing orders. “Walk in front of me, straight to the airstairs. Anything goes south, don’t fucking hesitate. Get on board, lock the cabin door, grab one of the stashed Glocks in the cockpit, then call Nix. Copy?”
I’d lived with Helios’s dominance every day of my life for the past eight years, and I’d seen him in action when he’d rescued me from that abandoned bunker. But I’d never seen Helios in full operational mode like this.
His demeanor, his unequivocal competency, his unwavering authority, it all calmed my anxiety in a way I couldn’t begin to explain. But I still needed to tell him about eight years ago. “The Vulture, he said something when…. Back then.”
An impenetrable mask descended over Helios’s expression. “What?”
“He knew you and Ares were Delta Force.”
Unexpectedly, Helios merely nodded once. “Not exactly a secret with all the missions we executed in theater. Let’s move.”
“He said he would kill you and Ares,” I blurted.
Dropping the bag in his left hand, Helios gripped my chin.
“Woman. There isn’t a single fucking scenario where that piece of shit is gonna get the jump on me, Ares, or any other of the Tier Ones we work with.
That motherfucker is only alive because he’s been fucking hiding for two goddamn decades.
Now he’s not, and I’m gonna end this. You hear me? ”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“No, Feralyn. Do you fucking hear me?”
Drawing a breath, knowing what he needed, what I needed to show him, I nodded. Then I spoke, clear and calm. “Yes. I hear you.”
“Good.” He jerked his chin toward his jet. “Now get out of the car, woman. Let’s fucking move.”
I got out of the armored SUV.
Standing next to Ares, his helmet in hand, tattoos showing above the collar of his leather riding jacket, his dark hair sheared military short, Chaos turned his head and focused his blue-eyed gaze on me. “Feralyn.”
His call sign befitting the lethal, almost-unhinged energy he gave off, the former Tier One had always frightened me. “Hello.”
“Keep it moving,” Helios clipped.
I climbed the airstairs and headed into the main cabin of the luxury jet.
The plush leather seats and couch, the sleek galley, the bedroom aft cabin, the full bathroom with a shower, the ceiling height of six feet—which was tall for a private jet, all of it struck me every time I boarded.
Every inch of the high-end finishes and cutting-edge technology was in direct contrast to Helios, but somehow, when you put the two of them together, when Helios stepped into the cockpit, they fit.
Maybe it was the very dichotomy of a battle-hardened, scarred assaulter and a thirty-million-dollar jet that worked—neither tolerated anything less than excellence in their proficiencies.
Dumping his bags while I took a seat, Helios issued orders as he grabbed a cell phone out of one of the duffels.
“Buckle in and stay seated.” He swiped across the cell.
“It’s not gonna be a long flight, and we’re taking off ASAP.
Once we land, I’m doing a quick turnaround.
” Squatting next to me, he held out the cell.
“You need something, call me or Paragon HQ. I programmed my new burner number, and you know Paragon’s. ”
“I do.” He’d made me memorize it years ago. “Where are we going?”
Something flickered in his expression. “It’s a house, and it’s secure. Before you ask, I don’t know for how long. Saint’s gonna meet us there, and you’ll sit tight with him.”
“Helios—”
“Not arguing, Haven. That’s gonna be your job in all this—wait and trust me. No tears. No making yourself sick with worry. You copy?”
Already sick, already swimming in fear and anxiety, I tried to swallow it down. Then I made him make me a promise. “Don’t sacrifice your life to end his.”
“Woman,” he stated flatly, like I was insulting his capabilities.
“I mean it. Come back to me.”
Cupping the side of my face, Helios lowered his voice. “I’m coming back to you, Haven.”
“Promise me,” I begged, desperate.
He recited the Unit motto he’d adopted and lived by. “One step ahead.”
They weren’t the exact words I wanted to hear, but I didn’t have time to say otherwise.
Ares came up the airstairs, and Helios dropped his hand.
Glancing between us, Ares unshouldered his messenger bag.
“The Phenom is cleared for taxi. Chaos is spooling up. He’ll get in the air before us, but then he’ll hold back and pick up our six.
Already did the walk around, and Cypher got us clearance.
Securing the cabin.” He pulled up the airstairs and locked the door.
“Good copy.” Helios stood but kept his head tilted as he glanced at his watch. “Ghost flights?” he asked Ares.
“Affirmative, but Cypher recommended passing the LZ, swinging east, then banking back for a southwest approach.”
Helios glanced at his watch again. “That’ll add flight time and have us landing past dawn.”
“It’ll ensure ghost flights,” Ares countered.
“Fucking Christ. Copy. Relay to Chaos,” Helios ordered Ares.
“Already done. Taking second chair.” Ares headed to the cockpit.
“Roger that. Coming.” Helios looked back down at me. One hand on his hip, the other gripping the back of my seat, he stared intently for a moment, like he wanted to say something. But then he tipped his chin, headed to the cockpit, and folded his tall frame into the left pilot’s seat.
Moments later, my body was pushed back into the leather seat as the jet lifted into the dark night.
I suddenly wondered how many women Helios had done this for.