Page 179 of Back in the Saddle

At my words, Jeff said nothing, but his arms did.

They got tight.

I let him leech what he needed from me for a while before I pulled a bit away. He lifted his head, I peered in his eyes, and I whispered, “Let’s get to the hospital.”

* * *

There was maybeone good reason to go to a hospital. That being because you were having a baby. All the rest, it was known by all and sundry, were clearly not fun and games.

I could confirm, of the variety of reasons you went to the hospital, the reason we did it sucked huge.

The news we received upon making it there sucked exponentially huger.

Javi’s other soldier died on the operating table.

I wasn’t sure how the men corralled Javi and Jeff into a Denali and to the Nightingale Investigations & Security offices (along with me).

I just knew, a half an hour after Javi and Jeff were dealt that second blow, we were there, in Mace’s office, and Cap and Raye, Roam, Knox, Brady and Gabe were all there too.

And, obviously, Eric.

Raye and I sat on a couch in the back of Mace’s super slick office.

She held my hand.

I couldn’t tear my eyes from Jeff, who was sitting in a chair in front of Mace’s desk, leaned forward, both of his hands wrapped around the back of his neck.

Javi was pacing.

No one said anything, and they were giving Javi loads of room, something I understood because the vibe he was emitting was terrifying.

Eventually, Mace decided it was time. I wasn’t sure he was right, but I didn’t have a choice.

Because he remarked to Javi, “I think you understand it’s time we debrief.”

Jeff shot straight, but I got wired when Javi suddenly stopped pacing and faced off against Mace.

“You wanna tell me why the fuck we’re in your offices?” Javi demanded.

“Because I need you to tell me what went down tonight,” Mace stated calmly. “And then we need to talk about how we’re gonna navigate the future.”

I jumped when Jeff surged out of his chair, and I was about to do the same, but Raye gave my hand a warning squeeze, so I sat still.

Tense and ready to intervene, but still.

However, Jeff just started pacing like Javi had done.

“You got your thing, we got ours,” Javi belatedly answered Mace.

“Your team was nearly halved tonight, Montoya,” Mace said quietly.

A muscle jerked up Javi’s cheek and his gaze intensified on Mace.

I reckoned the first part was emotion at the mention of his lost brothers, the second part was surprise that Mace knew so much about Javi’s crew (safe to say, I was surprised too).

Nearly halved meant it wasn’t a very big crew, news I also found surprising.

Mace was still going quiet when he said, “Please tell me you did not order that raid.”

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