“They’re from my last hit. I killed my target, but the son caught me in the hallway. I shot him, but I guess I didn’t kill him. Now they want revenge.” I should have shot him twice to make sure. The rest of the palace had been searching for me, and I didn’t have time. How they figured out who I was and understood what Vanessa meant to me was a mystery.
“Do you know where they are?” Cane asked.
“They’re probably taking her back to Morocco.” There was nowhere they could go where I wouldn’t find her.
“How certain are you?” Crow asked.
“Based on Vanessa’s description. We spoke before they ambushed her.”
Another jolt of pain moved into Crow’s eyes. He did his best to fight it, but he struggled.
It broke my heart, so I couldn’t watch. This was all my fault. If I’d left the job sooner, this wouldn’t be happening right now. “I’ll get her back. I promise you.”
Crow wouldn’t look at me.
Cane looked at his brother, the same throbbing pain in his eyes. He didn’t comfort his brother because there wasn’t time, but he certainly felt the same agony.
I put what I needed in a bag and walked out, heading back to the entryway. I set my bag on the doorstep then pulled out my phone. Several months ago, I put a tracker in her ankle just in case she tried to run off. After she went out drinking one night, she’d made the idiotic decision to walk home alone. The only reason I knew that was because I’d been watching her tracker like crazy. Now I used it again, hoping they hadn’t found it.
It was still working.
And as I feared, they were headed straight for the airport.
Crow and Cane joined me outside where an SUV was parked. Blacked-out and ready for battle, it was just as good as a tank.
“They’re headed to the airport. No way to make it on time.”
“How do know that?” Crow asked.
Now wasn’t the time to hide my mistakes. “I have a tracker on her. They haven’t found it yet.”
Crow didn’t react to the statement. “Let’s hope they don’t find it. You’re certain they’re going to Morocco?”
“No doubt.” I was willing to bet my life on it. They were arrogant enough to assume I wouldn’t figure out what happened to her since I wasn’t there. They’d obviously been watching the place, and when I left, they made their move.
“Alright.” Crow carried the leather bag over his shoulder. “We have a chopper that can take us to Northern Africa. We’ll have another team on the ground with the equipment we need to go the rest of the way.”
I would also call Max and bring in the boys. “Alright. Let’s get moving.”
Conway came out of the house, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. “Father, what’s going on—”
“Son, I don’t have time. I’m sorry.” He ran up to him and gave him a quick hug. He kissed him on the forehead before he turned away. “I love you. Tell your mother I love her too.”
Speechless, Conway watched him go, terror written all over his face.
We jumped into the SUV and took off.
Every minute that passed was torture.
I was terrified, more terrified than I’d ever been in my life.
I’d been shot more times than I could count, and I’d stood on the doorstep in front of the pearly gates more than once, but I’d never been afraid.
This was real fear, raw and heavy.
I feared what they were doing to her. I feared…
I couldn’t even think it.
I called Max when we were on the chopper. “I need a favor.”
“You just retired, and you already need a favor?” he asked, thinking this was all a joke.
“Max, Vanessa has been taken.”
He turned quiet.
“I thought I killed the son in Morocco, but he must have survived. He’s the one behind this.”
“You’re sure?”
“No doubt. I’m in the chopper now headed to Africa. Vanessa’s father and uncle are with me, and they have a group of men meeting us on the ground with vehicles and artillery. But I need more help than that.”
“What do you want me to do, Bones?”
“I need you and the guys. I’m sorry to ask, but I’ve got to get her back.”
“Bones…you aren’t part of the team anymore.”
“I realize that—”
“And we already put our asses on the line for her just two months ago.”
“I get that—”
“I can’t help you, Bones.” He spoke with pain in his voice, like he hated denying me. “Shane is on a mission right now. I have to run operations from the office. I can’t turn my back on him.”
“Shit.”
“I can send you some extra men, maybe a dozen, but that’s the best I can do.”
“I’ll take it, Max.” I thought my boys would be there for me, but if they were in the middle of a mission, there was nothing that could be done. I was on my own.