Twisted Wings

by Tina Saxon

  She walks out and goes into the spare bedroom. Panic rises and I glance around the room, wondering what she went to get. When she comes back out, she passes me, humming a song and walks into the kitchen. Whatever she had in her hand was too small to see.

  I jerk my head toward the kitchen when someone knocks. It has to be Stone. He’s probably wondering why I haven’t left today. And if I don’t answer, he’ll let himself in. Shanna puts her finger to her mouth, gesturing for me to be quiet. She digs through her bag and pulls out a gun. I violently shake my head. No! Don’t do it.

  Another knock. She points the gun at the door. I don’t want to make noise, but if he lets himself in, hopefully my strangled scream will at least warn him. When another knock happens, quicker this time, my heart sinks. He won’t wait much longer. We both stare at the door with apprehension.

  Silence. She glances at me, and I shrug, blowing out a breath of relief through my nose. Shanna walks to the door and looks out the peephole and turns toward me, smiling. “Oh. Looks like it was a delivery guy. I wonder what you ordered? Some lingerie for Max?” She says, unlocking the door. I tilt my head, confused. I didn’t order anything. She peeks out the door before opening it all the way and grabbing the package on my doorstep.

  She opens the package and pulls out a white stuffed bear. “Isn’t that cute?” She rolls her eyes and digs through the paper, finding a note. “Ain’t Max the sweetest?” She says in a condescending tone. She walks over and holds the card up for me to see. “Too bad you guys won’t be okay.”

  I read the note. We’ll be okay ~ Max. Relief hits me full force, I swallow hard to bite back the tears, blinking a couple times. Max didn’t send that note. He never signs with his whole name, which means it’s a decoy.

  And now he knows I’m not in here alone.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Max

  “I think we have our in,” Kase says from the other room.

  I spit my toothpaste out and rinse before walking in there. We’ve been watching all morning and minus a UPS delivery, there’s been zero action. Kase formed an extraction plan if we can’t find a way in without force. His plan is the last option, but as the morning wore on, it’s become more likely.

  He’s packing up when I enter the room, holstering his guns and sheathing his knives. “What’s up?” I say, confusion in my voice. We both agreed if we carried out his plan, we’d wait until night. It’s only two in the afternoon.

  “The two guards just left with the woman. And not with Rex.”

  “Let’s go,” I clip, grabbing my gun and phone off the table. I pull my shirt over my holster and we’re out the door in less than one minute. Time is not on our side with so many unknowns. Usually we would watch for schedule patterns, but I’m not giving Rex that much of my time. We’re doing this today. Last night, Kase found a dirt road where we can hide the car off the main road. We make the last ten-minute hike up the hill in five.

  They’ve been gone fifteen minutes and I hope we have at least another fifteen. I send up the drone and find he’s in one of the back rooms, which is perfect. Blowing a hole out of the wall in front of the house would cause too much attention. The house is far enough on the hill, people below will think a car backfired.

  Kase sticks a small amount of C-4 on the brick wall next to a window. Sticking my hand through the bars adjourned to the window, I tap a couple times. The curtains move and Rex comes into view. His eyes widen and he says, “Finally.”

  I shake my head in disbelief and have half a mind to flip him off and walk away. “Ready when you are,” Kase says, standing ten feet back with the detonator in his hand.

  “Step back,” I say to Rex, motioning for him to move away from the wall. The curtains close and I step aside, motioning to Kase the all-clear.

  Within a minute, there’s a hole in the wall, smoke permeates the air surrounding us. Rex doesn’t wait for the air to clear, he comes barreling out of the hole, coughing. “Big brother, I’ve never been happier to see you.” I stare at him through narrowed eyes. His response, normally snarky when I bail him out, is suspicious. “Dude, that woman is a psycho,” he clips, pointing at the house. I chuckle, bending over to work on his ankle monitor. “It’s not funny, jackass. She’s held me captive for over a month.”

  I get ready to cut off the transmitter but glance up at him. “I need you to pull your shit together. Once I cut this, it’ll ping her, I’m sure. So, we have to move as soon as this is off.” With limited resources and time, replicating the wireless frequency so it wouldn’t alert anyone when removed isn’t possible.

  He takes a deep inhale, pops his neck and nods. “Ready.”

  Kase is already down at the car on lookout. I press down on the bolt cutters, snapping the bracelet in half. We don’t waste any time making it down the hill. Rex stays right on my heels until we see Kase.

  “No one’s come yet,” he says, jumping in the car.

  I pull in a breath; the adrenaline pumping through me. Now we wait. Rex sits forward from the backseat. “We need to get the fuck out of here. Why are we sitting here?”

  Kase looks at him and back to me. “I thought you said he was good at his job?”

  I stare at him through the rearview mirror, shaking my head. If he wasn’t so emotional at the moment, he’d know what we are doing. “If your captor…” I use the term loosely since I’m sure he was there for disingenuous reasons in the first place “… passes us on the way down, they’ll have the small town searching for a silver Ford Taurus in a matter of minutes. If we at least wait until they pass, we can be down the mountain by the time they figure out you’re gone. As soon as word gets out, we’ll already be on our way out of town.” To be on the safe side, I have a contact meeting me at a local garage to switch cars then we have an hour drive to the border.

  He throws his body back against the seat, raking his hands through his hair. I kind of feel bad for the guy. “How mad is Mom?”

  “I haven’t told her you are alive yet.” His eyes widen in surprise. “We just found out last night where you were. We were too busy figuring out how to get your ass out of there without fatalities.”

  “I would have been okay if you came in shooting up the place,” he mutters to himself.

  “We had that plan, too,” Kase pipes up.

  I shake my head as he smiles and shrugs, the possibility not even phasing him. Turning in my seat so I can see Rex’s eyes, I ask, “What does she have?”

  His jaw tightens, he knows what I’m asking. I’m waiting for him to admit he fucked up and I’m not getting blood on my hands for his mess. His focus darts out the window, to the empty road. “There’s a diamond I’ve been searching for. It’s the Moussaieff Red Diamond. It’s only five carats, but because of its color, it’s worth seven million. It was stolen in 2002.”

  “Shit,” Kase whispers.

  “We did a job in Mexico a couple months ago. During our planning stage, I heard a rumor that Dante Abalos gave it to his daughter as a birthday present last year.”

  “It was a fucking rumor. The first time you heard the name Dante Abalos, that should have been enough to make you forget you ever heard anything.” Dante is the leader of a cartel in Mexico. When I found out his daughter owned the house on the hill, I figured it was no longer a rescue mission. It was a recovery.

  “I had to know. It should’ve been an easy job. Someone set me up. Sofia knew I was coming.”

  “Why didn’t you tell your team? Or fucking anyone?”

  He drops his head and sighs. “I’m a selfish bastard, I guess. None of them know about my obsession with the diamond.”

  “You’re also an idiot. And a lucky bastard. You better be glad Sofia liked you enough to keep you around for this long.” He scoffs as I turn back when Kase informs us that their car just passed. It takes a car fifteen seconds before it hits the first turn once it passes us. We pull out at twenty seconds.

  We’re able to pull into the garage with no interference after driving t
hrough back roads for a couple miles. Jorge is already waiting, closing the door behind us. I hop out of the car and remove a large manilla envelope from my bag. When Jorge approaches, we shake hands and I hold out the envelope. “Thank you, Jorge. I owe you one.”

  He glances in the bag and smiles. “I’d say we’re even.”

  We’re not even close. He’s taking a huge risk helping us and that money means nothing if he’s caught. He hands me keys to another car and our stop is quick. Rex stays quiet the entire time until we’re back on the road headed toward the border.

  “Thank you,” he says from the backseat.

  I glance in the mirror and nod. “You should call Mom.” Kase hands him his phone. I’m not ready to celebrate yet. I’m still angry that I had to leave Sydney to go save his ass. My mind wanders to what she’s doing, or what we could be doing. My fingers itch to touch her. Just a few more hours and she’ll be screaming out my name. Imagining those ice-blue eyes, staring up at me while she sits on the bed naked and wet…

  “Mom wants to talk to you,” Rex says, interrupting my vision. I grunt and grab the phone from his outstretched hand.

  “Hey, Ma.”

  “Well, I’m glad to talk to you too, son,” she says, offended at the tone of my voice.

  Despite my frustration with Rex, I crack a smile. “Sorry, I’ve got a lot of things on my mind.”

  “I’m sure you do, hon. I don’t want to keep you since Rex said you guys are getting on a plane soon, but thank you, Max. I know you and your brother don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, but you don’t know how much it means to me that you care enough to help him.”

  “I only do it for you,” I grumble.

  She laughs into the phone. “I’m okay with that. Now, both of you get back home as soon as possible.” Despite wanting to tell her I’ll bring Sydney with me next time, I keep my mouth shut. She’ll make a huge deal out of it, plan a party with the whole town. Instead, I tell her I will and hang up.

  The closer we get to the US, the easier I feel. Except the line at the border is ridiculous. I slow the car to a stop. “Shit.” There are at least a hundred vehicles in front of us. “Have I told you lately how much I hate you,” I groan to Rex’s reflection.

  He shrugs with a smirk. “Mom says you love me.”

  “So, Rex, you ever use your skills for good?” Kase asks, looking back at him. I bark out a laugh at the absurdity. Rex does nothing out of the kindness of his heart.

  “Much to my brother’s dismay, I have.”

  I spin my head around in shock. “Fucking when?” I’m intrigued to hear what bullshit comes out of his mouth.

  His jaw clicks and his eyes turn hard as he shakes his head. “You know what, never mind. You have this ill-conceived notion that I’m only a fuck-up. But you haven’t so much as said one word to me in five years, so you don’t have a fucking clue what I’ve been doing.”

  A horn honks from behind me as I stare dumbfounded at him. Turning around, I inch a whole five feet forward before I whip back around. “Don’t guilt me for not calling you. The phone works both ways, little brother. And obviously my ill-conceived notion isn’t so fucking ill-conceived since you ended up being held prisoner because you were trying to steal something and I had to bail you’re ass out.”

  He turns away from my glare, his face beet red, the vein in his neck about to pop. “Fuck you, big brother. I think I was better off being Sofia’s sex slave than being mocked by you.” He throws open the car door, gets out and slams it shut, stalking toward the booth.

  “Goddamnit!” I roll the window down. “Get back in the fucking car, Rex.” He flips me off as he keeps walking. “I’m gonna kill him.” The wheel takes the brunt of my frustration as I pound it. I can feel Kase’s eyes on me. “What?” I clip, turning toward him.

  “I’ve never seen you this emotional. Do you need to get out of the car and go for a run?” he jokes, referring to the time I made him do it. I glance over the sea of cars, inching forward a little more, pulling in my emotions. I glare at Rex walking in between the cars. “He can’t get across,” Kase says, waving his passport in his hand. “Give him a few moments to himself. He hasn’t had time to process his freedom yet.” Releasing a heavy sigh, I nod. He’s right.

  By the time we pull up to border patrol, Rex is sitting in the shade, leaned up against the grey shack. Kase rolls his window down and tells him to get in.

  “He with you?” the Border Patrol agent asks, watching him get in the car.

  “Yes.” I hand him all of our passports. He holds up mine, comparing my picture to me, then leans in and does the same thing to Kase.

  “Mr. Shaw, Mr. Nixon, nice to meet you.” He smiles, handing me back the passports. “Welcome back to America.”

  It’s not uncommon for federal officials to recognize me. Although, thanks to that damn article, new friends are popping up everywhere. I glance at his badge. “You too, Agent Rodriquez.” He waves me through and being on American soil puts me in a better mood.

  “Call Stone and tell him we’ll be there in two hours.”

  Kase picks up his phone and relays the message. “Hmm,” he says.

  The way he says it grabs my attention. “What?”

  “Stone says she hasn’t left her apartment all day.” I twist my wrist to look at the time on my watch. Four fifteen. I mean, I knew she was tired, but I’m surprised she hasn’t at least left to get groceries. Nothing in her fridge would be good. I pick up my phone and call her. When she doesn’t pick up, concern builds in my stomach. “Did you check her apartment before she got there?” Different scenario’s flash in my mind but the one that stands out, freaks me the fuck out.

  Kase puts him on speakerphone. “Hudson cleared the apartment right before we got there. There wasn’t enough time for someone to slip in. Hudson also took the night shift and we’re right outside her door. No one went in, Max.”

  “Are her curtains still closed,” Kase asks.

  “Yes.”

  She’s just taking a day off from the world. Who could blame her? I drum my thumb on the steering wheel, thinking of the best way to approach this. The minuscule possibility that someone is in there with her, they’ll recognize my guys. “Can you see her door from where you’re parked?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, if she answered, you’d be able to see her face?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Let me make some calls. Call you back.”

  I call a buddy of mine who works for another security team in Los Angeles. We come up with a plan. His technical guy is small compared to the rest of the team, so he won’t look like a threat. He’ll pretend to be a delivery guy. These days random people deliver packages from Amazon all the time, so he won’t look out of the ordinary. We just need her to open her door. We call Stone back with the details. Now, we wait. Except this time, with Sydney, I’m the most impatient fucker there is.

  “Who’s Sydney?” Rex asked from the backseat. I want to tell him to shut the hell up. It’s his fault if something happens to her. I would have been there with her, had it not been for him. I pull into the airport, heading for the hanger where we park my plane.

  “She’s a girl,” I bark. In the corner of my eye, I see Kase look back and shake his head. That’s his warning that he’s about to die.

  As we’re walking up the stairs to board the plane, my phone rings. My heart slams against my ribs in anticipation. “Talk.”

  “We have a problem.” I’m halted by the tone in his voice. On the last stair, I grip on to the rail and grit my teeth for control. Kase and Rex stand in the doorway awaiting the news.

  “When someone finally opened the door, it wasn’t Sydney.”

  I throw my phone across the tarmac. “Fuck!”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Max

  One word.

  Hey was all it took for me to lose my shit on Rex. I stare down at my swollen hand, opening and closing my fist to make sure I didn’t break it. It didn’t
matter at the time he sounded genuinely concerned. Or that he wanted to help. All that mattered was that my girl was in trouble and he’s the reason. Now, I’m stuck on this plane going out of my mind.

  Kase yanked me off, sending me to the back of the plane. Instead, I came into the bedroom. I always thought I’d be the type to remain calm when someone I loved was in trouble. The voice of reason with Aiden and Kase, that was me. I’m the one who told them to pull their shit together. But now I get it. The anger inside me burns and I can’t control my actions.

  The plane descends from the quick forty-five minute flight from San Diego. Well… usually it’s quick. Today, it feels like we’ve flown across the country.

  Kase already has a chopper waiting for us since it’d take us over an hour to get to her place in traffic. Fucking LA traffic. I thought New York City was bad. The chopper will get us as close to Sydney’s apartment as possible, and then Hudson is picking us up. I might regret not calling the police or FBI, but I can’t risk them fucking it up. If that woman is still there, Sydney’s alive. Statistically. As soon as the plane hits the ground, I storm out of the room. Passing Rex, holding a bag of ice on his face, I stop and ask, “Is it broken?”

  He shakes his head. “Nah.”

  “That’s too bad.” I crack a smile, sort of feeling bad, but not really. “You plan on helping?”

  He stands up. “If you’ll let me.”

  “Your breaking and entering skills might come in handy.” A whisper of a smile sneaks up on his face, but he pulls it back. I stick out my hand and we shake. “Sorry,” I mutter. He nods, knowing no verbal acceptance is necessary.

  All three of us run to the chopper and we’re three blocks from Sydney’s apartment complex in ten minutes. Stone pulled the blueprint of the complex and sent it to us while we were in the air.

  “I still don’t know how the hell they got in there,” I say, studying the file, mustering up all the self-control that I know is inside me. Having a little time to think has helped me stabilize my thoughts. “There’s a window by her door and a window in her bedroom. Neither are broke.”