Page 57 of Rescuing Rebecca
“Fuck off.” Unable to resist defending his manhood, Grant shook an arm loose and cupped his inheritance, copping a feel to verify he did indeed still have his big dick attached. Both balls too. “Rest assured, all my parts are present, accounted for, and in excellent working condition.”
“Osti,” JP swore. “He really did break his head.”
“Nothing wrong with my head,” Grant grumbled.
“Maybe not the one in your hands,” Tom One said.
“But the one on your shoulders…” T-Two added.
“She’s fucked.” JP finished.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Mind still reeling from the events of the last twelve hours, Cody half-listened to the conversation going on around him. Huddled in the back corner of the hangar with Zander, Chase, and Jamie, he couldn’t quite get his brain to come to terms with the reality of their situation.
Grant…
That motherfucker. How dare he? How dare he throw his life away without so much as a second thought for the rest of the team. Without a single goodbye. Without an iota of care for what losing him would mean to Gray. To Cody. To all of them.
Fucking asshole. His bullshit sacrifice for the greater good? Wasted. There was no such thing as the greater good. Not anymore. Those in power had turned the world into a dumpster fire. A raging inferno of epic proportions. The sacrifice of one man?
Didn’t even register.
Yeah, they fucking needed Jay. He was an asshole too. Driving off a cliff at Mach One with his God damn hair on fire. Who does that shit? Assholes with hero complexes. That’s who. Cody wanted him to wake up just so he could knock some sense into him before he knocked him right back out.
And Tak—aiming a sniper rifle at them—and pulling the trigger. What in the actual fuck? Where’d he come from, and who did he work for? Volkov? Johnson? And if he had a neural chip embedded in his head, why was he pulling his punches? He didn’t miss. Not from that range. Not from any range. So the fact they were all still alive meant something.
What exactly? Take a wild guess. Propose an implausible theory. Because right now. At this moment. When they were scattered. Beaten. Broken. Hanging on by their jagged fingernails. Nothing made sense.
“What about you?” Chase switched his focus from Zander to Cody; his brow cocked in inquiry.
“I agree with Z,” he said, keeping his voice low in case Ryder had supersonic hearing to go along with her superhero level of pain tolerance. “She saved Jay’s life. We can’t leave her with a round of thank you hugs and a bullet in her chest.”
“Taking her to the lodge could be a dangerous move.” At the head of their Kumbaya circle, Chase turned his attention to Jamie. “With Halia and Summer to protect, you have the most to worry about. What are your thoughts?”
Jamie rubbed a hand over his beard stubble, and the gold wedding ring he wore caught the light. “She’s stable, but she needs surgery. I can’t do it here. And unless she gets more blood, which we don’t have, she won’t survive a long haul by land. Plus, there’s no telling what kind of damage she’ll incur if she’s bounced around like a rubber ball on a boat. Flying her out is the only way to ensure she makes it. After she risked her life for us today, I can’t take a chance with hers.” He breathed deep, his own aches and pains visible in the way he shifted his weight to take some of the pressure off his bad knee. “I say we bring her home so I can perform her surgery safely. It won’t take long to get her back on her feet. Once we do, we’ll figure out what comes next before we let her go.”
“Alright.” Chase nodded. “It’s decided. Ryder comes with us. I’ll get on the secure comms and bring Adam up to speed. What about Rebecca?” He looked over at the unconscious woman lying on a wool blanket next to Jay’s evac stretcher. “Should we wake her?”
“She’s had one hell of a traumatic day,” Jamie replied, a frown marring his features as his gaze shifted from one patient to the next. “With her fear of heights, it’ll be easier on her and best for all of us to keep her sedated until we land.”
“Okay then, let’s get ready to move out. Z, finish fueling the Black Hawk and conduct a full pre-flight inspection. I don’t want any unnecessary delays, so flag any significant damage or potential issues right away.”
“Roger that,” he replied.
“Cody, you’re in charge of securing the payload—lock down everything we don’t need. We’ve got some weather moving in, so let’s be extra cautious. As soon as I’m off the call with Adam, I’ll give you a hand with the last of the gear and weapons. I want no trace of us left behind. We were never here, got it?”
Cody acknowledged his orders with a crisp nod. “Got it.”
“Doc, do me a solid, and take a load off.” Chase pointed with his chin to one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs.
“I’m fine,” he grumbled. “I don’t need any special treat?—”
“I know you don’t,” Chase said, cutting him off. “But we’ve got a long flight ahead of us, you already have three people who need constant medical supervision, and who the fuck knows what kind of shape Kincaid’s in. Take a break. Shore up your energy reserves. Then prep your patients for transport. We’re wheels up as soon as Grant gets here and everyone is on board.”
Hallefuckinglujah. The knot of dread in Cody’s chest unraveled a little more, and even though he was still angry—okay, scratch that, he was still a lot fucking angry—he found himself able to breathe a tiny bit easier than he had in the last several hours.
Sweet Jesus, talk about your needle-in-a-haystack miracle. If he were a religious man, he’d be crossing himself, falling to his knees in prayer, and thanking God for the intervention. How the hell the JTF2 had managed to find Grant, never mind haul his frozen carcass on board a fishing trawler, would go down as one of the greatest mysteries of all time.
