Jax

by Cristin Harber

  Jax wrote down the number and hung the phone up. What the hell was he supposed to do with that? Quickly, he called Ryder. No answer. Then he shot him a text message and watched… waited. No reply. Victoria wasn't available, obviously, and Jax didn't know what else to do. He dialed the phone number. "Err, hello. Is Ingrid available, please?"

  "One second, please," a receptionist said.

  Elevator music came on interspersed with commercials for the nursing home's robust senior activities.

  "This is Ingrid. Can I help you, please?"

  Jax scrunched his face and ran his hand over his forehead. "Hi, I'm calling on behalf of Seven Blackburn. You left a message for her, but she can't come to the phone."

  "It's an emergency," the woman said with such immediate disdain that Jax snapped out of his didn't–know–what–to–do funk. "I've been trying to reach her for a couple of hours now. And Victoria. She's the deputy mayor, and nobody can get ahold of her."

  If this lady only knew. "They're tied up at the moment with an emergency also. Is there something I can help you with?"

  "And who are you?"

  "Jax Michaelson."

  "Jax, in relation to Seven and Taini, who are you?"

  Taini was Seven's mother. Jax connected the dots to the conversation about the unwell woman at the coffee shop and how Seven had been taking care of her mom. But besides that, was this an interrogation or a medical emergency? He should've said that he was Seven with a bad cold and scratchy throat. "I'm her husband."

  A moment of deafening silence hung on the line before Ingrid likely picked her jaw off the floor. "Of course you are, Mr. Michaelson."

  What was that supposed to mean? "Just Jax. Jax."

  "Jax, Taini had a seizure. She likely had another stroke as well. The stroke probably occurred sometime last week, maybe two weeks ago. It was minor, and maybe even the reason that triggered the change in Taini's behavior."

  Jax should act as though he knew Taini or knew anything about what had gone on in Seven's life for more than the past few days since they'd gotten married. "Uh-uh." He had no idea what he was supposed to contribute to this conversation. What did this woman want from him? "Was there a problem after the seizure?"

  Ingrid harrumphed into the phone. "Generally, when something of that magnitude happens, people rush to their loved ones. Would Seven like to rush to her loved one?"

  "She would like to, but—"

  "Yes, I see."

  The snooty bitch. She didn't see anything. "Do you?"

  "Of course." Her condescension poured through the line. "I'm sure someone will stop by when they have free time—"

  "Listen up, lady, Seven would rush as fast as her gorgeous goddamn legs could get her there. But she cannot right now."

  "People forget about their loved ones when they drop them here. I see this a lot."

  "If Seven could've answered the phone, she would have. If Victoria, the deputy mayor, could've answered her phone, she would have also. You do whatever it takes to keep Taini alive, happy, healthy, and upbeat until I get there, Seven gets there, Victoria gets there, anybody she knows gets there. Do you get me?"

  "Well, um, yes—"

  "And if you ever so much as speak to my wife with that haughty attitude, you'll be looking for a job. I don't care if I have to replace you myself. Now, tell me what I can do to make Taini's situation easier. What do you need? Money? Medicine? An insurance card?"

  "Um… no. I believe I misinterpreted the situation. I'm, well, I apologize."

  "I'm sure." Jax took a deep breath, trying to chill out. "If there is something that might help Taini, please tell me, and I might be able to make it available."

  "A friend, even socially or casually, who could come over. To just sit with her. I think she would appreciate that. She hasn't been with us long, and… I think that it would help."

  Jax squeezed his eyes shut, not having a clue what to do. Short of calling through the Sweet Hills telephone book, he didn't know anybody other than Victoria and Ryder—that wasn't true, actually. "Okay, thanks very much." He hung up then quickly Googled the phone number for The Perky Cup.

  The phone rang twice before Sidney answered. "It's a happy day at The Perky Cup. What do you need?"

  "Sidney, it's Jax. I need a favor."

  "Oh, okay. Is everything o—"

  "Not at all, Sid. Can you help me?" He sent up a quick prayer that Sidney would listen and not ask a thousand questions, because Jax was at the end of his rope.

  "Yes."

  Sidney didn't say a word after that. Jax could've kissed the guy. "Would Taini recognize your face?"

  "Taini as in Seven's mom?"

  "Yes, do you know another Taini?"

  "No, but yes, she would recognize me." Then not another word.

  God, Jax loved Sidney. "Can you leave work and have someone cover for you?"

  "Nobody else is here. June left early, and Peter called in."

  Again, Sidney for the win. His information was concise and done. Not great intel, but still, Jax could work with that. "I need you to get everybody out of the coffee shop and close up. Don't need to sweep the floors. Don't have to wrap the muffins or dump the coffee. Just kick their asses out and lock the door behind you."

  "Jax, I'm sure this is probably cool with Seven, but I'd like to talk to her first. This is our biggest moneymaking day of the week, and we need the money. So…"

  "Whatever revenue you expected for today, I will make up the difference personally and double it. Are you okay with that? Because Seven can't come to the phone right now, and I need you to trust me." He ground his teeth. "In lieu of not trusting me, which nobody in this goddamn world seems to do, I'll wire you cash. Just shut down and go see Taini. Seven can't be there. Victoria can't be there. Ryder can't be there. And Taini is alone after she had a seizure, and I don't know who the fuck else to call. Where do you want the money wired?"

  "Hang on." The phone muffled, but in the background, Jax heard, "Sorry, everyone, we're closing early. You have to go." More rustling. "Okay, I'm back. I don't need money wired. What nursing home is she at?"

  Jax dropped back on the bed and ran his hand into his hair, feeling as though he were running a small job with untrained operatives that had just worked out well. He filled Sidney in with all the information available, hung up, and went to go find Boss Man so he could be fired.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  With his head held high and his shoulders back, Jax knocked on the closed conference room door then let himself in to a room full of bikers, Sugar, and Jared. It wasn't often that a boulder of tension lodged in his chest, but it was there now. Part of that was frustration that he couldn't do as much as he wanted to help Seven with the team, and part of that was disappointment.

  Boss Man stood up. "Hey, I've been taking calls out here." Then he brushed past Jax and moved to the small conference room next to where they were.

  Jax turned on his heel and followed. He should be happy it wasn't a public flogging. They'd all had verbal ass-kickings by Jared—Jax more than others. But he would be flat out lying if he said his ego wanted to get canned with a live studio audience.

  Closing the door behind him, he turned around and said, "Look, no hard feelings. I'll head out. That's the way these things go sometimes." Then again, if Jared thought he had murdered Deacon, maybe volunteering to leave the city wasn't the best thing to do.

  Boss Man paced the length of the small room with one arm across his chest and the other one propped under his chin until he squared to Jax. "When I don't know a situation, I send out for reports. Parker pulls intel, siphons data. I'll ask you guys for recon. The team will get what we need. But if I don't know, I'll ask. And"—Jared straightened his arms—"when I'm wrong, I need to own that shit. Say that I'm wrong. I'm not perfect, and I don't expect you to be."

  He stopped, and Jax let the I'm not perfect sink in.

  Jared ran his hand over his beard, shaking his head reflectively. "The way I came at you earlier today?
I had assumptions, and that's on me. I'm sorry. Even if I still have questions, I owe you more than I gave you."

  Jax stared, overwhelmed.

  "When it comes to standing by my men, I see loyalty like I do consistency. Like I do the truth. There are very rare exceptions when that shit's not black and white." He dropped his hand from his beard. "And you? You're consistent. You call it like you see it. Not even one to talk shit behind someone's back. You give no fucks. Just say it to their faces. No one questions where they stand with you."

  "True."

  "I need to figure out what happened to Deacon, but if you say you didn't kill him, you didn't kill him."

  His jaw tightened as he tried to ignore the flicker of hope his job wasn't lost. "I didn't."

  "If you say you want Titan to be loyal and you'll be loyal to Titan, consider it done."

  Jax nodded.

  Jared took a step closer. "If you want back on this job, Jax, I need you with us, man. I didn't follow my own standard operating procedure, and there are consequences for that failure. But I hope that it doesn't mean I'm a man down. Stay on, would ya?"

  Of course Jared Westin could apologize like a badass pro. There's nothing the guy couldn't do like a boss. "I don't want to leave Titan. Ever."

  "Good." Jared threw out his hand, and Jax shook it.

  "One more thing," Boss Man said. "In the process of pulling my head out of my asshole, I heard that you figured out the situation with the notes. We decoded Leyva and you saved us from a bloodbath."

  His brows arched. "Yeah?"

  "If we'd tracked Seven there anyway and gone in blind? We'd be fucked. I called in extra hands, Mayhem's dropping in. Whole new approach. Appreciate you looking out."

  Maybe that was why Ryder wasn't answering his phone, and Jax wasn't going to get upset that Titan likely tapped into his phone to learn what he knew. "No prob."

  "You good?"

  "All's good with me as long as Johnny Miller isn't involved."

  Jared smirked as he nodded his agreement. "Why don't you go in with me and tell them you're back? I think Johnny will particularly like that little bomb that he's staying home."

  Jax followed Jared out of the small room, feeling one hundred percent different than he'd thought he would when he walked in. As they entered the main conference room, Hawke stood up as Jared acknowledged him, and Sugar watched intently.

  He cast an eye to Jared. "As most of you know, Boss Man called in all of our teams and asked for men from Mayhem. Except for…" Jax turned to face Johnny. "You. You're staying home. I don't trust you. And you cause more problems than you've helped since the day I met you. You hurt my wife. And you put her kids in danger. Your ass is staying home."

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  The ins and outs of the rescue operation were catalogued in Jax's brain, but his mind was on Seven. He heard every word that Boss Man and Brock shared in his earpiece.

  This was the primary residence for Hernán and Esmeralda Suarez. It was the main place of business for the Suarez cartel. There was a larger presence of Suarez militiamen located on and near this property than anywhere else on earth. There were two classes within the militia: the trained militants and the hand-picked inner guard recruited from special ops teams across South and Central America.

  This was the largest offensive maneuver on a drug cartel that Jax had ever taken part in with the Titan Group. The Titan and Delta teams, plus there was an additional team that Jax had only heard about in passing and still didn't know the actual name of. They only went by ACES.

  ACES knew Parker well, but who didn't know Parker? From what Jax could tell, the team was based out of Titan's Abu Dhabi offices. There was also a large contingency from Mayhem. They were mostly gunners. Many were veterans. All were loyal to bringing Seven and her kids—their kids, they called them—home and willing to take command from Titan, no questions asked.

  "You ever heard of ACES?" Locke asked no one in particular as they sat in the belly of the Black Hawk, hovering low and fast toward their drop zone.

  "Nope," Bishop said. "I heard Roman mention the asses a couple times."

  "Beth and Caterina talk about the asses," Locke added. "I just assumed they were talking about Jax."

  The team laughed. He even laughed.

  "We're a whole team of assholes," a female voice cracked from the third Black Hawk.

  Jax had a feeling they didn't have a clue of the total expanse of Titan Group, and short of tapping into Boss Man's brain, no one ever would.

  "Focus," Jared barked. "All teams. All assholes."

  Jax smiled but needed to concentrate. Titan worked with many organizations on operations of all scale, but the large ones took the most strategic and tactical breadth. There was a hand-to-hand combat and assault offensive; and snipers nested in trees like birds ready to pick off tangos. Jax and most of Titan, Delta, and ACES were sitting in the bellies of stealth copters, ready to be fast rope-dropped over the tall brick walls of the Suarez compound outside of Leyva. Mayhem and some key Titan Group players had stationed themselves in tactical positions earlier.

  "ETA is a minute-thirty," Parker called through their headsets. "Calling time at the thirty, then the twenty, ten to countdown."

  Jax worked through the final checklist before they got the kids and his woman. Adrenaline pumped, and his mind hyperfocused. He could picture the maps, where Colby Winters would detonate charges, the blueprints, and assumptions of where the kids would be and how they would be guarded.

  Best case scenario and most likely was that Hernán and Esmeralda would be swiftly evacuated by the inner guard. Worst case was that Esmeralda had taken to the kids and would fight to stay with them. Psych-ops reported she was likely a sociopath, and children were likely a hobby. That was about the only good thing Titan had going for them.

  "Sixty seconds," Parker said in his com piece then continued the countdown as promised.

  The three helos would drop men simultaneously.

  "Inbound, you are… ten, nine"—the hatch to the helicopter opened—"four, three, two, and—go."

  One after the other, his team jumped and rolled to where the black night met the ground. Titan would hit the main house, and ACES would subdue the inner guard's housing. Delta would do the same for the foot soldiers and slow the outpouring of what would arrive when the alarms blasted, with the help of Mayhem, who would then serve as backup for Titan's main team.

  There were motion sensors, dogs, thermal imaging, and guards that they didn't have a bead on ahead of time.

  The sniper and spotter teams worked in tandem, subduing obvious threats now that all teams were on-site. Alarm systems disabled. Guards taken out. Tangos were sighted, and shots called.

  The unexpected voices of ACES flowed with smooth familiarity with Parker, Brock, and Jared, while Mayhem's communication was less practiced but still as familiar.

  Bishop and Locke broke right. Winters stayed dead ahead of Jax with the detonator trigger in hand. Best they could tell, getting through any door at the Suarez complex would require significant explosive effort.

  Jax and Nicola ran with their close-range assault rifles as his backup. She fanned left and high against the brick of the house then spun around and dropped to her knee, barrel up and finger on the trigger.

  Lights that hadn't been shot out flooded the expansive, manicured yard as Jax saw Sugar taking a position similar to Bishop, Locke, and Nicola.

  Now that Jax had teammates accounted for, he stayed on the pivot, keeping Winters covered as he stayed at the door. Having attached the explosive charge, Winters backed up and positioned back-to-back with Jax. "Detonation in—"

  "We've got vehicles," ACES called. "Moving fast. Snipers."

  "Got them in sight," Ryder said. "Shit. Freaking MRAP."

  "I've got the Lone Ranger," called Cash.

  Winters motioned to Jax. "We gotta get in there."

  He agreed. "They get close, I'll keep them out."

  An MRAP exploded in the near
-distance, lighting up the sky. "Two more."

  Target practice on those armored vehicles was nearly impossible. The shot had to go up and under, exploding into the engine.

  "Detonating—three, two, one." The front door blew off the Suarez house. "Here we go."

  There were six of them, but two more MRAPs held an untold amount of manpower.

  "They're coming straight for the main residence," Cash reported.

  "Winters." Jax slung his rifle down. "Throw me something."

  Bishop hustled over, nabbing a block of explosives from Winters too. "It's come down to a game of chicken." He held it up as the headlight of the MRAP became visible. "Cheers."

  Jax had to smile, maybe feeling as though his team were also his guys for the first time. "Let's go."

  They ran as the MRAPs came straight for them, stopping long enough to light the fuses, then rushed toward the war vehicles.

  Jax and Bishop pulled sharp in opposite directions as the MRAPs came forward. They threw their charges.

  Jax sprinted and dove, covering his head, rolling hard as the two blasts shook the ground—the MRAPs crashed in fiery accidents, mangling against one another.

  "Go, go," Ryder said. "We'll clean up behind you."

  Jax hit his feet, and Bishop was by his side three strides later, knocking gloves against his. "That was badass."

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  The lights were out, and the power had been killed. Jax kept his night-vision goggles on as Bishop signaled they were inside.

  "First floor, secure," Winters responded.

  "West wing, clear," Sugar said.

  "Nicola? Locke? Status update now," Brock demanded.

  A rustling noise crackled through Nicola's mic piece. "Working on it—second floor, east wing, third door down after the sitting room. I see the two packages."