Page 66 of Corey
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Holy shit.
José Barrera and his house were gone. Corey was helping Sera up off the ground when Brand blasted through his comms unit, demanding to know their location.
“We’re safe,” Corey reported. He scanned Sera from head to toe. She appeared a little shaken and smudged with dirt and grime, but she was beautifully, wonderfully alive and well.
The rest of the team checked in one after the other. Except for Xander. Corey’s gut did an awful twist, and he hoped like hell the other man had gotten out, but he had to focus on getting Sera to the SUV.
Most of the action had occurred in the front of the house, and they jogged across the back lawn without further incident. Whatever guards the Motley Crew had missed taking out, the Villarreal clan or the explosions had eliminated.
José Barrera had escaped, but they could worry about that another day. Their priority had been to rescue Sera. Mission fucking accomplished.
When they reached the cement block wall, Corey boosted Sera up. She carefully moved past the cut barbed wire. Brand and Chaz waited on the other side, and Corey urged her to jump. They caught her with ease, and Corey leapt down beside them.
Taking her small hand in his big, gloved one, Corey helped her through the hedges and straight into the waiting SUV. Hisgaze took in the rest of the Motley Crew who shared worried looks.
“Hawke didn’t report,” Brand stated in a flat voice.
“He pulled his comms out right before he took off,” Corey said. “Even if he survived the blast, he wouldn’t have heard you.”
“No one survived that blast,” Chaz said grimly, giving voice to what they all feared.
If Hawke had gone up in a blaze of glory, there was nothing any of them could’ve done.
“Fuck.” Brand raked a hand through his hair. “Fucking Hawke. Why did he go rogue?”
No one had an answer. Corey wished like hell Xander hadn’t deviated from the plan. But what happened was no one’s fault. Xander had chosen to take off without an explanation. Without sharing his plan with the rest of them.
A heaviness hung in the air as Corey slipped into the backseat with Sera.
“Xander?” she asked quietly, and he gave his head a slight shake, pulling off his gloves. “Oh, no.”
She covered her mouth with her hands, eyes brimming with tears, and Corey wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against his side. His heart hurt. As happy as he was to have Sera back safely, they may have lost a member of the Motley Crew. The hardest part was not knowing. Had Xander made it out? Or had the worst-case scenario happened?
On the drive back to the private plane, Brand called Mitch. In a low, sorrowful tone, he told their handler how Xander hadgone rogue, they’d lost contact with him and he’d never returned to the SUV after the Villarreals leveled Barrera’s house.
“Do you want us to go back and”—he sighed heavily—“search the rubble?”
For a moment, the line was quiet. “No,” Mitch finally said. “I want you to get on that plane and return home. I’ll send a team to look for Hawke.”
“Roger that,” Brand responded.
After disconnecting the call with Mitch, they rode in gloomy silence. Corey’s thoughts became heavier and guilt began to press down on his shoulders. If Sera hadn’t been taken, Xander wouldn’t have been down there in the first place.
Once again, he felt the crushing weight of losing a teammate. It never got any fucking easier.
But this time, he’d completed the mission and saved the asset. Sera sat beside him, safe and unharmed. Leaning into her as much as she was leaning against him, he buried his face in her hair and tried not to blame himself for what happened.
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On the flight back to Montana, Sera could feel Corey sinking into himself. And it absolutely broke her heart. She knew he felt responsible for losing Xander. But she was the reason they’d gone down there. If anything, it was all her fault.
“I’m sorry,” she said, looking up from her clasped hands and addressing the silent men surrounding her. “If Joel hadn’t taken me, you guys never would’ve—”
“It’s not your fault,” Brand interrupted. “Hawke chose not to follow protocol. No one forced him to take off like a loose cannon which, in fact, endangered the entire mission.”
“It’s no one’s fault,” Wes added, looking pointedly at Corey. “Brand is right. Hawke made a choice to go off on his own.”
