Page 130 of Creed

“Jwosh!” She ran up and jumped into my arms. I shut my eyes and let it sink in that I was finally holding her. I missed her so damn bad, and she was on my mind constantly.

“Where’s your mom?” I asked.

“Sweeping in dare.” She pointed at a bedroom door.

I set her down and gave Jenny a nod as I quietly walked over and opened the door. There she was, my sweet pudgy girl, sleeping peacefully on her side. I gently took a seat on the side of the bed and looked down at her. Damn, I was so relieved. I pushed a hair from her face to get a better look and her eyes fluttered open. She looked confused but when she looked at me her eyes flew open.

“Josh! Thank God!” She pulled me down for a hug and I laughed because she couldn’t sit her pregnant ass up quick enough. She held on to me for dear life. “Are you okay? You didn’t get hurt at all?” She was shaking as she held on to me.

“No, it was successful and there were no casualties on my team. We are the first ones in and the others will be in this evening. Have you seen my family?” I was worried about them as well.

She was still holding on to me. “Your dad and Keith are in your apartment with Julia and her family. They’re all fine. Any word on Creed?” She pulled back to look at me.

“No, I’m sorry. Communications are still down, and Axton would probably know better than me.” My eyes dropped and I looked at her belly. “Holy shit, it’s only been a week. Those boys must be growing fast.”

She laughed. “Who says they’re not girls?”

I chuckled. “Definitely not Addie. You know we have to break her of this boy thing before these guys are born.”

Morgan sighed. “We’ve been working on it. She’s made it a whole day without sticking her tongue out at Dillon. They even played house with the other kids. Oddly enough, I think Dillon might be a future submissive.” She giggled.

I laughed. “Addie is definitely the boss of all boys. She will be a General someday”

She reached up and slid her fingers through my hair. “You’ve got some explaining to do to your family. To say they were shocked when their house was invaded, and they were forced into a bunker is an understatement.”

I groaned. “A lot of secrets have been told I presume. We have a lot of nondisclosure’s to have signed before anyone gets to leave.”

“Do you know how much longer we will be down here?” She asked.

“I’m not sure. We are expected in the command center now to debrief. If I learn anything new I will let you know. Go ahead and get some rest, I probably won’t see you until tomorrow if Axton doesn’t have any news. I need a shower and some sleep.” I kissed her forehead and left the room. Addie gave me one more hug before I left and walked into the command center.

Axton turned and smiled. “Welcome home, buddy.” He gave me a side hug and a slap on the back.

“Its good to be back. How long until the rest of my team is expected?” I asked as I took a seat.

“They’re doing what you should be doing. Have you checked in on Morgan or your family?”

“Morgan yes, dad no. He’s going to have a lot of questions.” I didn’t think I had the energy.

“So will Keith. He’s been snooping around. Mostly just trying to figure out how to escape this place. They’re upset that they haven’t heard from Mia yet.”

I sat back in my chair. “She’s fine in Louisiana. The whole state was cleared from what I heard. Honestly I was surprised New Orleans wasn’t on the list.”

I looked up and saw my team begin to file in and we moved to the conference room. I asked the main questionbefore any of us sat down. “Any word from Creed or General Pendleton?”

Axton took a seat and pointed at my chair. He looked at the door to make sure it was shut before answering. “Pendleton reported in but not Creed. I guess he had to hit the sand running and there’s no word yet. There is some chatter that’s unconfirmed that it was a heavy loss mission. They got the target and as much out of him as possible, but they ran into some trouble on their way out. The same shit as always. They get the job done but something happens on the way out. We do know the last communication that was the list sent over to Pendleton was from Creed himself.”

“No word on an evacuation mission?” I was not optimistic after hearing that news.

He nodded. “Yeah, remember Barnes from Seal Team 6 we met a few years back?”

I nodded.

“They sent him in with a team, but they’ve also gone dark. That was all I was told. I’ve not said anything to Morgan. I don’t want to upset her when nothing has been confirmed.” He said.

“Yeah, that’s probably best. Any thoughts of putting a rescue team together?”

He shook his head. “No, Creed made me agree to stay out of it before he left. Our focus was to stay on our contracts. We’ve already had to put off one mission and probably more if communication isn’t restored soon.”

---