Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Jump groaned as he rolled over to stop his phone from making noise. It was three in the morning, which meant something terrible was going on.
To get moving, Jump did four burpees before pulling on his clothes. He grabbed a breakfast sandwich and popped it into the microwave while his coffee brewed.
He needed to write a note for Blakely. He hated leaving her, but this was the reality of his life.
When he showed up at base, he wasn’t really surprised to see Kevlar’s team walking into the building, too.
It was weird doing a mission with Wave gone, but having the guys on Kevlar’s team going in with them would be great.
“Hey, Jump,” Preacher said.
“Good morning.”
Preacher chuckled. “Yeah, right?”
He shrugged. “Probably better than tomorrow.”
“True that.”
“I guess we’re about to figure out how tomorrow will be.”
T came in, his smile wide. “Who’s ready for some fun?”
Jump patted him on the back. “I’m ready for more coffee.”
“Oh baby, more coffee. Talk dirty to me.”
Jump rolled his eyes. “You’re such a goof.”
The door opened, and a captain walked in.
T straightened up, his expression changing.
Jump held back his laughter. The last thing he wanted was a captain thinking he was laughing about their mission or being here.
He was just surprised at how fast T could change from goofing off to being totally serious.
The captain began speaking, detailing what they were up against. A group of eight high school students had been taken hostage in Uganda and had been taken over the border to South Sudan and were being held for ransom.
Jump hated this for the kids. They were probably afraid. Some of them were most likely injured. This was a terrible situation, and he was glad the brass had jumped on this mission and gotten the ball rolling instead of waiting.
There were other situations they were monitoring and had been for months, but those would be taken on in the next few months as long as the status didn’t change.
A lieutenant took over, giving more details, and the reason they were going in now. The chaperone with the kids had been killed, and one of the kids had a broken arm. He’d broken it yesterday and intelligence wasn’t sure how long the guy would survive.
They were headed out on a flight in an hour. They would be briefed with updates when they were closer.
After the meeting, he made sure his pack was well stocked. Before they left, he sent a text to Blakely, hoping she would be okay while he was gone. Willa and Pen would step in and make sure Blakely was okay.
Hopefully Grayson would be caught. The man wasn’t just a nuisance. With him setting the fire, he was now a criminal. When the police caught Grayson, he needed to be locked up for good.
The plane took off long before dawn. They were on their way to a mission that would hopefully be successful.
Blakely woke up, excited to see what the day would bring. She left the bedroom and called out for Jump. She found the note in the kitchen and her shoulders slumped.
Jump had told her that sometimes he had to leave on missions without warnings. She drew in a slow breath, wondering if she could do this.
It would have been weird if Jump would have come in to wake her up. They’d kissed, and she was interested in him, but they weren’t at the point of sleeping together. Leaving the note had been the right thing for him to do.
She poured coffee into a mug as she reread the note. This was what it would be like if she was with Jump. Was she okay with it?
This was much better than the prospect of being with Grayson. She wanted a future and a career. With Jump in her life she could have something good for herself.
Her phone rang, and she answered without checking who was calling. “Hello.”
“Hey, it’s Willa.”
“Hi. What’s up?”
“Just checking in to make sure you’re okay. That first day can be tough.”
“Oh, so Cy is gone. I guess that makes sense.”
“Foster is gone, so Pen is alone, too.”
“Oh.” She sipped some coffee, realizing she really knew little about all of this. “I really don’t know anything about this stuff. I mean, Jump told me with his job he might be called out, but honestly, I’m surprised they are all gone.”
Willa chuckled. “I knew nothing about it in the beginning. So Pen and I were getting together this evening for dinner. Want to come over?”
“Sure, if that’s okay.”
“Of course. I’ll swing by and pick you up.”
“Thank you.”
“Sure. We support each other when the guys leave.”
“That’s so cool.”
“Awesome. I’ll be by at around six.”
“Sounds great.”
The call ended, and she sat at the table and lifted her coffee to take a sip, but thoughts of her future had her up and moving to grab the tablet Jump had showed her the day before. She wanted to look up potential jobs and careers she could have.
It was overwhelming as an adult to look at her future and try to come up with an idea of what she wanted to do. There were so many things she could do with her life. Now she just had to narrow down what really interested her.
Her thoughts slid to Willa and Pen. In the cult, friendships had been highly discouraged, especially friendships between women.
Women having friends was seen as a huge sin.
The first year after being free, she wouldn’t even talk to other women.
It had taken a lot to get her to even be friendly with her coworkers.
She guessed that made her cold, but learning how to deal with the concept of friends had been difficult.
Looking back, the first few months she’d absolutely been rude. Now she was much more chill about meeting new people and developing what could be described as friendship. She was friends with Jump. Of course they’d been tossed into a weird situation, and she was glad Jump was such a good person.
She would spend this time while he was going figure out what she wanted to do in life. She hoped she had some answers by the time he got home. The thought of having him back here made her stomach tighten. Would he still want her when he came back? She hoped so.