Page 121 of Secret Mission

Settling in the back, I fight the nerves in my stomach. There’s a war going on there.

In twenty minutes, we’ll be landing at the estate. And then we’ve got to hurry.

“Guys, how are we just going to land, won’t that call the attention of the guards?”

“It will.”

“What are you thinking?” I ask, not at all good at waiting for Justice’s plan to play out.

Truck’s voice blooms in my headset. “We go in like we own the place.”

My gaping is met with his glance over his shoulder.

“Seriously?”

Justice talks as we begin lifting off the ground. “Sometimes, that’s the easiest thing to do.”

Now my heart is trying to escape my chest. “But what about the guards?”

“Like I said, I’m going to be the distraction.”

I press a hand to my sternum as the beat throbs behind the bone. It’s hard to tell what these two are up to, and they haven’t even talked about it. But they’ve worked together, so maybe this is normal for them.

Truck’s solemn countenance gets even more serious.

The chopper floats up, leans forward, and zooms over the grassy field. Right into an oncoming storm.

I cover my eyes, my nerves pulsing like neon signs. “This seems like a terrible idea right now. I forgot about the weather.”

“We’ve got time.”

Truck seems sure. And lord knows, we’re going fast enough to outrun the devil. I just hope we’re fast enough to outrun my father.

Truck banks us left and pulls up on the thing he’s got in his hands.

My stomach dips, my throat goes dry. No other helicopter pilot I’ve ridden with has ever done the things he’s doing.

“I hate to admit that I find this exciting.”

“Course, you do, Gator. You’re a SEAL at heart,” Justice jokes.

When the helicopter settles into a straight line with the ocean ahead in the distance, the blackening clouds off to our left, things feel a lot more real.

I’m breaking into my father’s house, stealing information. It’s an ugly necessity.

A tightness forms under my lungs.

Who is he? Because the man I thought I knew isn’t the same person anymore.

“Drop me in the field just to the south of the house,” Justice says into the headset, interrupting my spiraling thoughts.

“Copy,” Truck replies, his eyes scanning the horizon, body relaxed, his capable hand easily gripping the controls.

Heat floods through me.

I never thought about men like him before. Now I can’t imagine being with anyone else.

“You ready, hotshot?”

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