Page 19 of River

“The cook wants to go home with us; he has family in Chicago. He is going to poison the guard’s food for us. We will show up there tomorrow night dressed as guards. We’ll open the prison so everyone can get out. And rescue our guys,” Faron said.

“It sounds easy, but what if it’s a trap?” I asked.

“If it’s a trap, then we will all be dead,” Faron said.

I glanced at Kat. “I want you to stay out of this. If it’s a trap, I want you to get the hell out of here as soon as possible.”

“I’ll be waiting with the vehicle. How did you think you would get out of there?”

Gideon will wait with the vehicle. I don’t want you anywhere near that fucking prison. Kat, when I give you an order, you will listen to me. I want you to stay here.”

“If I stay here, you would have to come back throughtown to pick me up. That doesn’t make any sense. I’ll wait in the jeep with Gideon.”

I sighed and nodded. Of course, she was right; I just didn’t want her close to that prison. “We need to get some sleep. I’ll take the first watch,” I said, stretching.

“I’ll take the watch. I’ve had sleep. You three need it more than me,” Faron volunteered.

We waited an hour after the guard's meal the next night before heading out. I was still nervous about all of these plans. I never trusted people making plans that I wasn’t involved in. So, as we snuck around the back of the prison to make sure no guards were walking on the walls, we heard others talking inside.

Gage helped me onto the wall, and I saw the prisoners talking. “You need to get out of here before someone finds out what happened,” I said. “Do you know where the Americans are?”

“They are chained to the wall of their cells. All the guards have the same keys, so any key will fit.”

“Can you point me in the right direction?” I asked as Gage, and then Faron jumped from the wall.

That building they are in is to the left. There are other prisoners chained to the walls. How long before they wake up?”

“They’re not going to wake up.”

“Okay, I’ll help.” He ran to a guard twenty feet from us and grabbed some keys. We did the same when we saw the guard lying on the ground. It took twenty minutes before we came upon the two Army Rangers. They each had to be carried out. They were unconscious, and it looked like a knife was used on them.

When we got to the Jeep, Kat started working on them. She poured alcohol on their knife wounds. Then shepoured water on their face; one woke up swinging. Unfortunately, Kat got a punch in her eye before she had time to duck out of the way of the arm swinging.

I could see her eye was already swelling. “Gage, you’ll have to finish for Kat,” I looked at her, knowing that was painful. I’ve had plenty of black eyes in my time. I handed her a wet cloth, and she put it over her eye.

“I’m thankful you two came for us. We’d still be walking,” I explained.

9

Kat

Why was he ignoring me?Maybe he didn’t want a relationship with me after all. It would be breaking the rules. I decided to act like nothing had happened. We’d been home for two weeks, and while River worked, I did everything I usually did, only speaking when asked a question.

But when Gage brought me a little German Shepherd puppy, I couldn’t hold back my tears. Then, the whole team walked in with their puppies. We had all of them, and Farron even had the mother.

“I swear to God, I love you guys. This is so beautiful. I went back to the shelter to get a puppy, but they told me they’d all been adopted. You adopted all of them.”

“River adopted all of them,” Gage said. “He went to pick up the one that peed on his boots and decided to get the whole litter. So now we have to teach our puppies not to pee or poop in our homes. I’m not a fan of potty training puppies.”

I chuckled, knowing how much Gage likes to keep his place spotless. Hopefully, potty training won’t take too long.Maybe River does want to be with me if he adopted all the puppies and their mother. His door was closed, so I’d thank him later.

But just five minutes later, Miss Hot-Ass Charlotte walked in and went straight to River’s office. I heard them laughing, then silence. Thirty minutes later, they walked out of his office and out the front door together.

Gage went to the door. “Where are you going?” he asked.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” River said, and my heart shattered.

Why can’t I have a happy life? I worked and ignored the guys, knowing they were watching me. Finally, I finished up and stood, picking up my puppy. I walked to Gage’s office. “I’m off to the pet store,” I said with a smile. I wondered if he could tell it was a fake smile.

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