“I got called in. Someone needs my help.”
I wanted him to help whoever asked for it, but I also didn’t want him to leave—without me. “Let me come with you.”
He sat at the edge of the bed, almost considering my offer before he shook his head. “It’s not a good idea.”
“Please, I’m ready.” I balled the sheets up around my chest and begged like a child.
“This isn’t one of the more dangerous missions, and I could use some backup.”
Was that a yes? “I can come with you?”
“Sierra, just because it isn’t dangerous doesn’t mean it’s not important.”
I nodded and jumped out of bed to get ready. “I got it. I’ll do anything you say.”
“Okay.” He huffed and stood up. “I don’t have time to explain right now. Get dressed and pack your gear. The helicopter will be here in five minutes.”
I was nervous.
Excited.
And as much as I hated to admit it, a little scared.
With my bag over my shoulder and my gun in the holster at my side, I felt ready for anything. There was also a blade secured in my boot and a smaller pistol tucked on the inside of my jacket, but Parker assured me I wouldn’t need any of it. It was all just a precaution and to get me comfortable going into the field fully armed.
By the time I got outside, Parker was waiting beside the helicopter, his expression unreadable. The wind made his hair blow wildly and the only thing I could hear was the sound of the roaring engines.
I jogged across the snow until I reached his side. “I’m ready.”
“Are you sure you want to do this? Once we get on that chopper, there’s no turning back.”
There was no hesitation in my voice. “I’m positive.” This is what I wanted to do with my life. If I could help someone who needed it help, I would be there.
He searched my gaze for confidence, and when he found it, he opened the door and waited for me to get inside.
I climbed up then tossed my bag in the bin. After I sat down, I put my helmet on and strapped myself in.
Parker sat beside me and did the same thing. “We’re ready for takeoff.”
The pilot gave us a thumbs-up before he ascended into the air. The powdered snow was blown into the wind as we rose above the house. Everything became more distant as we moved further into the sky. The sun was about to peek over the mountains, but it was still dark in the valley. Everything started to feel real in that moment. I was actually doing this. Just a few months ago, I was a college student unsure of what to do with my life. But now, I was on an adventure with the man I loved.
Parker watched my expression through the glass shield of my helmet then his hand inched toward mine. Our fingers interlocked together in a tight embrace.
We were in this together.
The helicopter landed directly on the strip at the airport, and we quickly jumped out before boarding a small plane. It was tiny in comparison to a commercial jetliner, and only a few people could fit on board.
Parker immediately jumped in the cockpit and started flipping switches, talking to air traffic control on the intercom. Nonchalantly, he slipped his restraints over his shoulders and kept working.
I took the seat beside him and stared at all the gadgets. There were two steering wheels, one on each side of the cabin. Parker kept talking through the intercom then ceased communication. He turned to me with excitement in his eyes. “I’m teaching you to fly.”
“Right now?” My jaw dropped as fear and excitement pulsed through me.
“As long as we’re going to be in the air, you may as well learn something.”
I was a quick learner but flying a plane didn’t seem like something you just picked up on a Tuesday morning. “Okay.”
Parker slowly taxied to the runway and lined himself up with the marks on the ground. After the lights changed, he hit a few switches and the plane took off at full speed. We accelerated from zero to fifty miles an hour in a second—literally. Before I could panic, we were lifted into the sky.
Parker concentrated on what he was doing but he had a hint of a smile on his face.
Boys with their toys.
We got past the cloud bank then leveled off. After that, the ride was smooth.
He put the plane on autopilot then turned to me. “Ready?”
“For…?”
“Your flight lesson.”
“How about you tell me about our mission first?”
“Grab the yoke.” He motioned to the steering wheel in front of me. “We can do both.”
“I’m not sure about this…” I tentatively reached for the yoke and held on to it with white knuckles.
He stared out the large window in front of us. “It’s important you learn to operate anything that moves. You never know when you might need to get away from someone fast.”
“I agree, but let’s go over our mission first. Where are we going?”
“Greece.” He leaned back in his chair and watched me.
“Why are we going there?”
He grabbed his pack from behind the seat then pulled out a folder. “Here are the details.”
I looked between the folder and the yoke. “I’m kinda busy here.”
He chuckled. “You can let go. It’s on auto-pilot right now.”
I released a deep breath and opened the folder with photo and papers. “Why don’t you do everything digitally? Who uses paper anymore?”
“Paper can be destroyed. Anything with a digital footprint cannot.” He examined the radar then the altitude.
I read through the file. “Michael Richards is a nuclear physicist, and he’s working on a classified project for the Department of Defense. Is he working on something illegal and we need to stop him?”
“No. Keep reading.”
I scanned through the dossier. “His son was abducted?”
Parker nodded. “A terrorist group needed a weapon for their own purposes. When they demanded Michael hand over the apparatus he was working on for the U. S. government, he refused. Now, they’ve taken his son in retaliation. Unless Michael hands over the weapon, they’ll kill his son.”
My stomach dropped. “That’s terrible.”
“Michael won’t do it, so our team was called in to grab the child before they disappear. I think they’re afraid Michael might give in if they start torturing his son.”
How scary that must be for the child. “How old is he?”
“Ten.”
I cringed, hoping he was still safe and sound.
Parker patted my thigh. “We’ll get him back.”
“Yes, we will.” And I intended to kill a few assholes along the way. “What’s this weapon they’re after?”
“That’s classified information, but between you and me, I think it’s a suitcase-sized nuclear device.”
“They make those?” I didn’t want to think about the ramifications of such a device in the wrong hands.
“It’s remotely triggered, so someone can place it inside a building or in a neighborhood and kill hundreds or thousands of people. And the assailant doesn’t even need to be in the room.”
“Oh my god…”
“Yeah. It’s a biological weapon that doesn’t require any casualties to implement. I prefer to think of it as a coward’s weapon.”
“Now I understand why Michael didn’t give it up right away.”
“He understands what’s at stake if he does. But he’s a father…” Parker’s voice trailed off without explaining any further.
“So, they’re in Greece?”
“Terrorists always pass through Greece. It’s considered a relatively safe country, but a lot of illegal stuff goes on there. We have contacts inside that say it’s one of the first places they go after an operation.”
I nodded in understanding. “We’re going to intercept them?”
“That’s the plan,” he said. “They took the kid about six hours ago, so we should both enter Greece at the same time.”
“I’ll do anything you tell me to do if it helps get that little boy home.” There was no way I was going to let that kid slip through my fingers.
Parker turned my way with a smile on his lips. “Atta girl.”
Parker turned off auto-pilot and prepared for landing. “Your belts are on?”
“Yes.” I checked them again just in case.
Parker made a wide turn past the airport before he straightened out and headed to the runway. The lights on the pavement guided us, but there were so many, it was difficult to distinguish where we were going. Parker explained what the lights meant, and without looking even slightly disturbed, he descended to the ground in a smooth landing.
“You’ve done this a lot?”
He smiled and kept both hands on the yoke. “A few times.” The plane bounced up and down along the runway, but I hardly felt the wheels make contact with the pavement.
I didn’t breathe until we were safely parked next to a hangar. “Now what?”
Parker threw his straps off then grabbed his pack. He reached inside and pulled out a white Kevlar bulletproof vest. “Put this on.”
I grimaced as I held it in my hand. “It’s so thin. Does it work?”
“It’s made from the strongest and lightest metal in the known world. I forget I’m wearing it sometimes. It’ll fit under your clothes with ease.”
Parker placed something deep inside his ear then he grabbed another and handed it to me. It was peach color, and it blended so well with my palm I struggled to see it. “Put it in your ear.”
I shoved it near my ear canal until it felt snug.
Parker pressed his fingers to his ear like he was adjusting it. “Chase, it’s me.”
A man’s voice came over the intercom. “Great. Just when I thought I was going to have a good day.” The voice in my ear was full of teasing sarcasm.
“You know you find my voice sexy.” Parker zipped up the bag and shoved it under his seat.
“Sexy in the way a turd looks in the toilet, maybe.”
I tried not to smile at the exchange. When I imagined two ex-Army protectors speaking to one another, I expected their conversations to be much different than this.
“You’re into some weird shit, you know that?” Parker laughed.
Chase didn’t miss a beat. “I learned it from you.”
A ghost of a smile was still on Parker’s lips. “Chase, this is Sierra.” He turned to me like he wanted me to say something.
“Uh, hi.” I wished I sounded more confident, but I wasn’t anticipating a meet and greet on a tarmac.
“Oh, finally.” Chase’s voice was playful. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
I tried not to smile. “I haven’t heard much about you.”
“Okay, okay,” Parker said. “We can do introductions later. What information can you give me?”
Within the span of a heartbeat, Chase dropped the jokes and turned serious. “They’re going to land in exactly…three minutes.”
“They haven’t arrived yet?” Parker scoffed.
Chase ignored Parker’s arrogance and continued. “There are three men altogether. They’re armed, but not wearing protective gear,” Chase said in a formal voice. “If you ambush them, they won’t be expecting it. The likelihood of success for this mission is high.”
“Got it.” Parker checked his gun to make sure it was loaded before he slipped it inside his chest holster. “Where are they landing?”
“Let me check the satellite.” Chase fell quiet over the line as he typed on a computer. He came back a moment later. “In the same zone you are, judging by their coordinates.”
“Sounds too easy.” Parker winked at me again. I hoped easy was a good thing.
“What can I say?” Chase said. “You were in the right place at the right time.”
“Can you take care of the cameras?”
“Already did,” Chase responded. “They are on a repeat loop. By the time air traffic control notices, you’ll be gone.”
Parker nodded as he looked out the window. “We got it covered.”
“I’ll stay on the line.” Chase went quiet.
Parker turned to me. “This is what we’re going to do—”
“Nice meeting you, Sierra. My wife, Sadie, is already planning a party for when you get back stateside.” Chase’s voice came over the line briefly before he went quiet again.
Parker cleared his throat to get my attention. “As I was saying, this is what we’re going to do. You’ll cover me from here while I take them down, grab the kid, and then come back.”
“Whoa…what?” Was I missing something? “You want me to duck and cover the entire time?”
“We’ve been training, but that doesn’t mean you’re ready to go fight with the bad guys.” Parker shook his head from his seat.
“Then why did you bring me?”
“You need experience.” He shrugged. “You have to start somewhere.”
I wanted to scream like a child who wasn’t getting their way. “Parker, I can handle it. Besides, I have a better plan.”
“Oh yeah?” he said incredulously. “Let’s hear it.”
“We hit the plane together. You go straight for the guys, and I go straight for the child. He’ll be stuck in the crossfire, so I can get him out while the men are distracted.”
Instead of shutting down the idea, he considered it. “That might work.”
“See? I’m a lot more skilled than you assume.”
Parker’s eyes unfocused as he planned out the operation. “This is what we’ll do. We’ll enter through the cockpit’s left side. I’ll go first and take down the pilot—”
“What if he’s innocent?”
“Innocent?” Parker looked at me like I was crazy. “He’s not.”
I put my hands on my hips, surprised he wasn’t thinking through the obvious. “Um, what if he was forced to fly it?”
“He wasn’t.” Parker said it quickly like he had information I didn’t. “We’ll ambush the cabin, and I’ll take out the rest of the guys. You focus on getting that kid to safety.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Are you ready for this?” Parker looked out the window and focused on the bright lights headed for the runway beside us. A plane was descending, preparing to land. “Because if you aren’t, there’s nothing wrong with that. I can handle this on my own.”
“Of course, I’m ready.” I wasn’t scared of anything anymore. Especially not when an innocent life was on the line.
Parker searched my gaze for sincerity, and when he found it, he nodded once. “Alright. Here we go.”
The plane had landed, but no one opened the door to vacate it. We ran across the asphalt near the wing of the plane, staying out of sight.
Slowly, we inched forward to the door just behind the cockpit. With his gun raised, Parker spoke into his intercom. “Chase, open the door and release the stairs.”
He worked on his side of the line. “Someone just activated it. Be prepared.” Chase fell silent again.
The air pressure changed, and a loud beeping sound emitted as the door opened and the stairs rolled out.
My heart was pounding as fear and excitement burned inside me. This was what I signed up for, but I couldn’t believe it was really happening.
A man descended, and he wasn’t at all what I pictured. He wore dark jeans and a black t-shirt. He had dark hair that was slightly curly, and his chin was covered in scruff. He had beady black eyes, the kind that would be in a nightmare.
Parker grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him off the ladder, catching him just before he hit the ground. Then, quicker than I could see it happening, he snapped the man’s neck and rolled him under the plane.
I stood there in shock.
No one else descended the stairs, and I wondered if they saw what had happened. Our plane was in the distance, so they could have put two and two together.
Parker beckoned me with his hand as he ascended the staircase. His gun was raised with his
finger hot on the trigger as he stepped inside and did a quick sweep of the place. No one was in sight.
Chase’s voice came over the comms piece in my ear. “They’re in the rear and aren’t moving. I suspect they know you’re coming.”
We were walking straight into a hornet’s nest.
Parker didn’t look the least bit concerned, but he motioned for me to stay directly behind him. Slowly, he approached the rear of the plane, his gun held at the ready.
I grasped my gun and kept it pointed slightly to the right, making sure I didn’t hit Parker in the back if I pulled the trigger prematurely. This was nothing like the training I’d been doing all my life.
This was real.
Parker reached the door then stood to the left while I took the right. Using hand signals, he told me to kick the door open so he could get in first. When he lifted his middle finger to indicate a count of three, I slammed my boot into the door and it flew open.
Parker aimed his gun and prepared to fire, but he didn’t pull the trigger.
I stayed against the wall and couldn’t see what was happening. I wanted to ask but it wasn’t the time for me to be curious.
“A bomb?” Parker scoffed, unimpressed. “You guys never change it up, do you?”
I poked my head around him and saw the ten-year-old boy sitting on a queen size bed. He was shaking and crying, his tears falling silently. His arms were taped to his sides and a bomb was strapped to his chest. According to the digital timer at the front of the device, we only had one minute to disarm it.
Damn.
A man on our right spoke, startling me because I didn’t even realize he was there. “Leave now or the bomb will kill us all.” The threat didn’t feel empty. We had less than a minute to live if we didn’t do something fast.
Parker and I exchanged a look, and without saying a word, we knew what to do. He rushed for the bomb, and I shot at the gunman on the left even as I ran to the one on the right. My bullet entered the man’s shoulder and he staggered back. Before the man on the left could correct his balance and shoot me, I kicked him hard in the knee. The cracking sound filled the cabin, and he cried out in pain. When he fell to his knees, I kicked him in the face. Just to make sure he was totally incapacitated, I shot him again as he fell to the floor. When he didn’t move, I turned my gun on the man beside me. Without blinking, I pulled the trigger and ended his life.
Intense - Aspen Drake & Emily Cain Page 14