Shadow raised his hand, and Loki held up a hand. Wrecker glared at both of them and reached for his sidearm. Loki grinned, yeah, since Jaci insisted on no guns at the table with Buddy, Wrecker wasn’t going to find it there.
“Okay, well, Tony, get ready to go to Carole, and we will set up so we can listen. Also, we need to make our connections to lay the trail, and see if we can use the large lot closest to this place to get out of here,” Jaci said, and they nodded. Game on, Loki thought, her brother was going to be gone, and Shadow busy. He might be considered an uncaring dick, but they would have time to kill, and he was totally making his move.
Chapter Thirteen
Jaci watched her brother walk out the door, and she went back into the office where Shadow was already getting things ready. Buddy was with Loki who was calling his club, he was attached to Loki’s hip and followed him around just watching intently. Jaci thought it was cute, she didn’t think Loki was aware how the little boy seemed to want to be with him, she knew Loki was the first man to ever pay attention to him in a positive way. Dammit, they were taught not to get involved, but with Buddy, it was impossible.
Since she started with the CIA, it was all about the job, only it. She felt a tug at her heart when she thought about the future. Carole had told her she was retiring to a desk, she was moving assignments, so she was stationed in California. Jaci had already asked for a reassignment as well, not the desk job, but Jaci was offered a promotion of sorts, which she was tempted to take. It was in training, and the thought of finally putting down roots was appealing, especially since her brother was apparently getting out as well.
She stared at Loki and wondered if she told him she was going to be close if he would want to see her again after this was all over. It was strange finding someone you were attracted to on a mission. Up until now, she had never let it affect her work, but there was something about him. Working with him was a rush, she liked the way he thought.
Everything was changing, and when Carole was arrested, Jaci had thought about her future and what she wanted. Slipping into the training role would be awesome—regular hours, not living out of a suitcase, yes it was all appealing. Jaci needed to focus. Once this was over, well, then she could figure out what she wanted to do. One thing she did know, Buddy wasn’t going to be a casualty of this assignment. She wasn’t going to let that happen.
“Hey, Wesson?” she said when she walked into the office. “I was wondering if you could do me a favor?”
Wesson turned and smiled, she saw the pipe hanging from his lips. “Come on, girl, tell me what you need while I have my morning bake. And you can also tell me what you thought about Doc. I know you talked together.”
Jaci raised and eyebrow, “I thought our conversation was secret?”
“Well,” Wesson said. “I hate to tell you, me and Doc, we don’t have secrets.”
“Now that I would love to hear about.” Jaci laughed and followed as he walked out of the room.
Carole leaned forward and said, “Okay, so you want me to get put in solitary?” Tony nodded, and Carole grinned and continued, “Thank God, I was so sick of being good. You know being in jail, it really gives you a different look on life. I mean, you wonder if you would survive in a place like this. The rules, they go out the window, and when you’re supposed to be on your best behavior, well, it makes it doubly hard. These bitches are fierce, and I have been just letting it slide, well...let me tell you. But now I can do what I have wanted to do since I got in here, there is this one bitch…”
Anthony stared at the older woman, seriously, this whole day has completely knocked him on his ass. His sister and now her partner, they weren’t what they seemed, but seriously it didn’t matter, he had to roll with it and keep his sister safe anyway.
“Okay, well,” Tony said and leaned closer. “Once you are placed in solitary, you are going to put this on your wall,” Tony said and shuffled his papers and pushed the small little transmitter Shadow had given him toward her. Carole just put her finger over the small dot and nodded. “Good, now be ready, we don’t know what time we are moving. So we’re going to need to stop talking about this right now, the jammer in my phone is about to wear out, and they’ll be able to hear us again.”
Carole nodded and then she looked calmly around the room. The guards were just getting ready to barge into the room, they hadn’t been able to hear, and it pissed them off. But when Carole cleared her throat, she said, “You need to get me out of this prison,” she sniffed. “I can't take it much longer, it is horrible.”
Tony smiled softly at her and said, “We will be ready soon to present your case, only another night and tomorrow, we will make sure we get you out of here.”
Carole sniffed, “I am innocent. I can't believe they are doing this to me.”
“I know.” Tony sighed and then said, “Shall we talk about your case?”
Loki nodded as he listened with a half ear to Wrecker and his mother. He was waiting for Fling to come back on the phone. Their biggest hurdle right now was to figure out how to get the fuck out of this country without anyone knowing they were actually here.
Jaci leaned close to the computer and whispered something to Shadow, and he narrowed his eyes, asshole, he thought and then turned around.
“Sorry, Loki,” Fling said into the phone. “We are looking at something right now to get you out, but until it is for sure, I can't say for certain it will work.”
Loki looked up at the ceiling, everything else fell into place but this, it was pissing him off. Any other country would be different, but this one was surrounded by countries they seriously did not want to piss off and get involved. It would be stupid to try to cross the border here.
So far they had called four or five of the contacts for the Furies, but they were either wrapped up in another situation, or they were too far away to get into place to help. It was pissing him off.
“Okay, keep working it. Tonight we are going to get Carole, after that, we will all focus on getting the fuck out of here.”
He hung up the phone, and then Jaci turned and looked at Buddy who was coloring a picture. Shadow had his adult coloring book with him and pulled it out for the little man. “Uh, Loki, could I have a few minutes, alone.”
Loki looked at her and smiled. “Of course, come on.”
He led her down the hallway until they were at his bedroom door. “Oh, well, I figured maybe the kitchen, so I can, you know, get something ready to eat.”
“Nah,” Loki said and opened his door. “I have a few things I need to get from my room. We can talk while I find them.”
Jaci looked back down the hallway. “My brother…”
“Is fine, he is spending as much time as he is allowed, and then he will be back here. No one knows he isn’t who he says; his cover is solid. Now come on.”
Jaci looked again and then nodded and walked into his bedroom. She moved to where the chair in the corner was, and Loki grinned and turned. He liked it that she was unsure of herself. It was kinda cute.
“What’s up?” Loki asked and walked to the closet and pulled out his bag and began to dig through it.
“Oh yeah,” Jaci stuttered and said. “I uh, forgot something, I mean, I forgot to tell you something.” She closed her eyes and groaned in her head, seriously, she was acting like a complete dipshit. This was not her, well okay this was totally her when she went on a date with a man, but at work, this was so not her. Get it together, she thought, and then took a deep breath. “Sorry, with everything going on I completely forgot something.”
Loki looked at her and said, “Okay, what?”
Jaci took a deep breath and said, “Well, when I was at the first safehouse, the one where I met Buddy? The reason I left there was because someone gave me a warning. I mean, kinda a warning.”
Loki frowned. “Someone?”
Jaci sighed and said, “Well, the reason we were here in Singapore was to find Victor Burns and to get some information as well. Anyway, someone
hacked my camera, and well, they said they were Victor.”
“He contacted you?” Loki asked incredulously.
“Well, that’s who he said he was, I’m not so sure, but also, I was wondering if possibly he was trying to draw me out. You know, to get me arrested as well. But the weird part is, if he knew where I was, why the hell would he hack into my computer? He could have caught me with my pants down,” she said slowly.
Loki frowned and then began to pace. “It doesn’t make sense, you are right.”
“He also said he was innocent, that he wasn’t the one who was releasing information,” Jaci said, and Loki shook his head.
“Okay that is a bit of a stretch, the information that has been gathered on him is solid. I would assume, that right now, he is running out of places to hide, so he is cooking up some scheme to cover his ass. I mean, how long do you think he could hide, no country is going to allow him refuge for long, the pressure of the United States would become hard on any country. He was limited to countries who were a little less underdeveloped, one that actually had poor relations with us. But even at that, it was still a chance if they would offer him asylum. Right now, he is grasping at straws, his avenues are being cut off because he knows every agency is hunting him. The official line is of course capture, but you know as well as I do they also said Dead or Alive.”
Jaci nodded. “If we had the chance we were to take him out by any means necessary.”
Loki nodded. “Yeah, I know, and all the people, they could not be wrong in this. Seriously, his signature is on every file.”
“That I agree, but still,” Jaci said biting her lip. “There is just something nagging at me. Why help me, why help now. Your mom and I, we weren’t even close, not at all. It doesn’t make sense, and we need to figure out why.”
Loki ran a hand through his hair and looked at Jaci, she could have been killed. Victor Burns could have killed her, and he wouldn’t even have known her. It wasn’t acceptable dammit. In this life, there was only one thing certain, it was trusting the people you stood with. Jaci trusted his mother, Loki trusted his family the Furies and his mother, now it extended to her and unfortunately, Shadow and Wrecker. Focusing on her he grimaced, hell, knowing his mother did this was hard enough, but could he take the chance with her.
Closing his eyes, Loki turned around and growled at the room, motherfucker, this was what Boomer, Ridge, and Torch tried to tell him. Hell, even Fling tried to tell him he would know when there was a woman he wanted to claim.
He turned back and said, “I am a biker.”
Jaci looked confused. “I know.”
“My club is in San Diego,” he said.
She nodded and said, “I know, your mother told me.”
He stared at her intently, and then he said, “Your brother mentioned you took a position in Cali with my mom.”
She raised an eyebrow in surprise, her brother knew, how the hell had he found out, she hadn’t told him yet? She had been worried about telling him, figuring he would be a little put out.
“Uh, yeah, well, I didn’t know he knew but okay,” she said confused even more.
“Well okay,” he said and then turned to the door and opened it and said, “We will talk when we get home.”
Jaci had no clue what the hell was going on, but she assumed he meant to talk about Victor Burns, she nodded and said, “I will see if I can find anything else out. Something is off, I don’t know what, but we need to make sure who we are going after.”
Loki turned and then grabbed her and pulled her up, he stared down at her and then kissed her hard and fast. She was breathless when he broke the kiss, then he let let one of her arms go, and pulled her after him as he walked to the door. He gently pushed her through and then shut the door on her before she could turn and look back.
What in the holy fuck was that about? she wondered and then shook her head and walked down the hallway slowly.
Chapter Fourteen
Jaci moved slowly to the edge of the property across from the prison. Everything was set, it was almost time to get Carole out. Tomorrow they would be announcing she was to be executed, that was after the farce of a trial they prepared. Well, that wasn’t happening. She felt Loki come up beside her.
Her brother was on the other side of the building, he was going to go to hit another corner, the three would meet outside the wall, blow it, and get Carole out. Well, they hoped so. Anthony had gotten the call from the prison, informing him there was an altercation with Carole and another prisoner. He wouldn’t be allowed to see her until tomorrow right before the trial. Of course, her brother played it perfectly, he had yelled in the phone and promised their State Department was going to be notified.
There were five cells in solitary, and Shadow was currently sitting on the side of the hill with Buddy who they couldn’t leave at the house in case something happened. So Shadow took responsibility for him, and since all he had to do was get close enough to hack into the mainframe of the prison, it was cool. No way would they allow the boy to be any closer.
Loki pushed his ear. “Hey, you got her yet?”
Shadow said over the com, “Not yet, almost.”
Tony whispered. “The guards are going inside, the shift is changing, we need to move.”
“Just a second,” Shadow muttered, and then Jaci looked at Loki who was staring at the guards they could see.
“We need time to cut the fence,” Loki muttered.
“Second,” Shadow said, and then they heard. “I am in, okay, she is in, fuck a duck.”
Jaci pulled her head back, and she said, “What?”
“She is not in solitary, she is in the medical wing,” Shadow said, and Loki frowned. It was toward the front where they went through the first checkpoint. It was less secure than the rest of the prison because the prisoners were only taken there if they were incapacitated or worse.
“Not good,” Tony whispered.
Jaci closed her eyes and then opened them. “Change of plan.”
“Ya think?” Loki snapped and pulled back reaching for Jaci, he swore when she was suddenly not there. “What the fuck?”
“What?” Tony snapped.
“Jaci is gone,” Loki growled and looked closely.
“WHAT?” Tony yelled in his ear.
“Dude, shut the fuck up, we can't afford anyone to know we are here.”
Jaci was breathing heavily as she crawled on her stomach, arm over arm across to the electric fence, and she whispered, “Shadow.”
“Yea,” the man said softly. He hadn’t smoked a joint before leaving. It was the straightest she had ever seen him, and she was impressed, mostly because the look in his eye was deadly. She understood it.
“Plan B,” she whispered, and he cursed softly. They had discussed this already, there was no going back, they didn’t have time to work out a new plan, and honestly, nothing else would have worked. She had planned this before she called Loki the first time anyway, she had only wanted backup.
“What the fuck is Plan B?” Tony snapped.
Loki shook his head. “There is no fucking Plan B because Plan B never fucking works. Dammit, Jaci, get your ass back here, and I will make some calls. We can't do this quietly, and it will make a statement.”
“No,” Jaci said softly and pulled the gun out of the back of her pants and put it on the ground in front of her. “Did your mother ever tell you about our training?”
Loki frowned and said, “What? Why?”
“Shadow, make sure we do this right,” Jaci said.
Shadow answered, “I got you.” She heard Buddy whisper something, and Shadow said, “What?”
“Shadow?”she asked.
“We are good. Little man just wanted to tell me something,” Shadow replied, and she nodded.
“On five,” she whispered.
“What the fuck is on five?” Loki snarled. “Wesson, what the fuck is on five?”
“Answer him goddammit,” Tony yelled.
“Get ready
to cover,” Shadow responded.
“Cover what?” Loki said.
“Five…four…three…two…one…” Jaci said, and Loki looked closely to where she was. He saw her sit up, hit her com to silence it, and take the knife he saw her put in her pants and touched the fence.
“What the fuck?” Loki yelled as he saw the sparks flying, she was electrifying herself.
“Get ready, the guards will be coming, take as many out as you can. She will be captured and taken to the infirmary. Tony, set your charge but make sure you stay there, Carole and Jaci will be coming out the front, not the back. Loki, you need to move around to the south side and make sure you cut the fence for them,” Shadow snapped, and Loki frowned.
Loki was trying to grasp that Shadow had just given him an order like he was in charge or something. What in the fuck was going on with his mission? He snapped his attention back, shit, he was out of sorts, and now wasn’t the time. Shaking it off, he moved quickly.
Raising his gun, Loki shot at the men who were pouring out of the building. There was yelling, and he saw more sparks fly as Jaci arched a little. Good lord, she was going to kill herself. He didn’t know he said that out loud but then Shadow answered him.
“More like winning an Academy Award, there is not enough juice to kill her, let alone give her a tiny burn. It’s ‘cause I put a little gun powered on her knife just in case.”
Loki kept firing, taking down a few of the guards, but also watching Jaci. There were too many, and they were getting too close, he couldn't fire anymore unless he wanted to hit her by accident.
“What the fuck is happening?” Tony yelled.
“Set your charge, they are taking her to the infirmary, adjust the timer, give them ten minutes and then blow it. Carole and Jaci will come out. Loki, get to the south side and cut the gate when I say so,” Shadow ordered, and both men did what they were told and moved. Although the entire time both men were cussing him out, and Loki was planning on ways to punish Jaci for doing this.
Backfire (Furies MC Book 4) Page 9