"Good. Call him and get him in the air." Ian jerked his chin at Carter. "Can you go get Jake and Angie? We're out of here in five."
Without an answer, the man jogged out the door. Once he was out of sight, Ian grabbed Athos by the shirt and shoved him up against the wall. The agent grabbed his wrists but wisely didn’t resist. Ian let out a low growl. "If anything happens to my goddaughter because of you, you won't have to fucking worry about the cartel. You hear me?"
Regret filled the Athos’ eyes. "I hear you and I wouldn't expect anything less from you. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"I don't give a shit about your fucking apology. Just help us get Jenn back, then we finish this and guarantee Angie's safety."
Without waiting for a response, Ian released him and moved toward his bedroom. "Let's grab what we need and get the hell out of here. I'll call Marco from the road."
* * *
A few minutes after they were all in the air, Brody held out his hand to Boomer. "Did you bring my new toy?"
The man reached into his pocket of his jeans and handed the geek the piece of jewelry he’d asked him to grab from the war-room. Walking from the couch area to where Angie was sitting alone in the same seat she'd occupied on their first flight, Brody sat down beside her and asked her to hold out her left arm for him. She was still pissed about everything and now terrified Jenn had been kidnapped and possibly hurt or worse. When he finished attaching the gold bracelet to her wrist, she looked at it in confusion. "Um, Brody, I don't have any allergies and I'm not a diabetic or anything, so what's with the medical alert bracelet.
"It just says your allergic to bees, sweetheart. Nothing serious. In the meantime, if something happens, which we're going to avoid at all costs, I can track you with the GPS in there. If I'm close enough, there's also a one-way hidden microphone so I can listen in on what's going on around you through a receiver in my laptop. It's short range but the GPS is long range and if I need to, I can always," he coughed the word 'hack', "into a satellite to track you. No one wears ID bracelets anymore and I needed the room inside so I figured a fake medical alert was the best thing to use. It's a prototype and you're my guinea pig...sorry, figure of speech."
Still holding her hand, he hesitated a moment, as if struggling with what he wanted to say next. "Are you and I okay? I know you're still pissed over us bugging your house but, sweetheart, my friendship with you was...is the real thing."
She nodded and saw his tense body relax. Her voice was forgiving but tired. "I know, Brody. It's just everything hit me at once, you know? I've been independent for so long and I hate being left out of things which concern me. I'll get over it, but you better get your ass over to my house as soon as this is all over and take out every single one of those cameras and bugs." She gave him a glare to let him know she meant business. "Understand?"
"Yes, ma'am!" He grinned at her with his famous flirtatious expression. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were a Domme at times. That's called a switch, by the way. But don't tell Ian I told you. He'll shoot me for putting ideas in your head."
"Hmmm. Maybe I can have Jake train me to be a Whip Master."
He looked at her in feigned horror and they both laughed, glad they had a chance to clear the last bit of friction still between them. When he stood to go back to the rest of the group, she got up and followed, then took the seat at the end of the couch between Boomer and Ian's recliner which was in its upright position. Ian smiled at her but it didn't reach his eyes which were filled with worry. Angie leaned over and linked her right fingers with his left and set their joined hands on the armrest of the couch. His other hand was holding the jet's phone to his ear as he got the update from Devon. "Okay. Do what you can, call in whoever you need and call me with any updates." Disconnecting the call, he looked up and told them what he knew, which wasn't much. "There's been no word from the kidnappers yet, or agents, or whatever you want to call those assholes. No leads either. An APB was put out on the agency vehicle. Dev called in a few favors with the locals and so far they've agreed to keep the DEA out of loop despite the connection. He also put a call into Keon just in case we need to override the local law enforcement." Their contact in the FBI, Larry Keon, was the Deputy Director, otherwise known as the number two man in the agency, and would help them with whatever they needed. "Henderson is alive but still unconscious. He lost a lot of blood and they took him into surgery. His partner didn't make it. Dev's pulling in everyone he can and using our local contacts and snitches. Nothing so far."
"Why did they take her? I mean Jimmy has never even met Jenn."
Angie wasn't seeing the big picture but the men were. Ian squeezed her hand. "Angel, they obviously don't know you well enough yet, otherwise they would've gone after one of your friends. It would've taken them a while to figure out who you would run to save. You have no other family except for Athos and vice versa. The only connection they could figure out fast is Brody since he helped you. Brody's trail led them to Trident. Their best chance to get you, and ultimately Athos, was to take either Kristen or Jenn. Kristen hasn't left the compound, so Jenn was taken. We'll get her back, but for now, we wait until they contact us."
Her bottom lip trembled but she didn't break down. "They want you to trade me for Jenn, don't they?"
Ian tugged on her hand until she stood and he pulled her down on his lap. Wrapping one arm around her hips and holding her to him, he cupped her chin with his other hand and made sure she was looking into his eyes. "That's not going to happen, Angel. I'm scared to death for Jenn's safety but I'll throw myself on the gates of Hell before I trade your life for hers. Once we find out where they're holding her, we're going to get her back...alive. It's what we do, sweetheart. Dev's called in some former team members who can get to Tampa fast. Boomer's dad is already on his way to help along with a few others. These bastards are going to rue the day they ever messed with Jennifer Mullins, I can guarantee you that."
Tiny chimed in. "Don't worry, Miss Angie. We got this covered."
Angie’s gaze moved to each of the brave men's faces and she saw their determination. She nodded but knew it was evident she was still terrified for Jenn's safety. Climbing off Ian's lap, she headed to the jet's bathroom, which was twice the size of regular airplane facilities and shut the door. It wasn't until she was alone, did she allow her tears fall. She didn't want them to know how upset she was because they had enough to deal with without her breaking down in front of them. It was a few minutes before she got herself back under control and began to splash some water on her face. There was a knock at the door, and she did a pat-dry of her hands and face before tossing the paper towel into the trash. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Jimmy, and instead of standing aside to let her out, he stepped into the small space with her and closed the door behind him. "What are you doing?"
He took her hands in his. "I wanted a moment alone with you and this was the only option. I'm sorry, Ang. You have no idea how sorry I am that you and Ian's niece are in jeopardy because of me. I'm sorry I put my need to avenge Mom and Ruthie's deaths before my relationship with you." He stared at their joined hands. Swallowing hard, he struggled to find the right words. "Before I got called in to my CO's and was told they'd been murdered, I was planning on finishing out my tour and then getting out. I was going to come home and ask you out on a real date." Angie gaped at her best friend while he lifted his sad eyes and shrugged his shoulder. "I know, crazy, right? But being away from you, so far away, I realized how much you meant to me. Somewhere in the middle of our letters, phone calls and my rotations home, I fell in love with my best friend. Hell, I'd been in love with you long before that, but refused to admit it to myself."
"Oh, Jimmy. Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"In the beginning, before...I was just plain scared. Here I was in Special Ops and a cute, sassy little blonde, who means the world to me, had me scared shitless, thinking she wouldn't say yes to a date. Besides, I wanted to tell you face t
o face. I didn't want to give you time to over-think things. Then my world fell apart and I was so bent on revenge. When Artie approached me with a way to get even with the dirt bags who sold drugs to my sister and millions of other kids like her, I took it. And I didn't like who I'd become afterward. I couldn't expect you to fall for a man who'd become so blood-thirsty he was willing to throw away the best thing that ever happened to him. You. You have been my world since the day I met you in ninth grade English and I picked up the book you'd knocked off your desk and gave it back to you."
She gave him a sad smile. "I felt that way too, but I thought you didn't want to ruin our friendship for something which might not work out."
"I didn't. I thought if it didn't work out, I'd lose you altogether. And when I was finally ready to face my fear..." He took a deep breath and let it out again. "Sawyer is good for you. I watch him watch you. You come before everything else for him. I can't say the same and you have no idea how sorry I am for that. At one point in my life I thought we were soulmates, you know? Now I think, while you may have been mine, I was never yours. But if he ever hurts you, there's going to be hell to pay." She started to say something but he shook his head, stopping her. "I want you to be happy, baby, and despite everything going on, I see the way you look at him too. I know you're in love with him and I'm okay with it. Well, maybe not at the moment, but I'll get there. Maybe when this is all over, I'll start looking for my true soulmate, if she's out there. But honestly, Ang, you're going to be a tough act to follow."
By the time Athos finished talking, Angie was crying again. He pulled her into his arms and held her until the tears stopped a second time. Then he let her go, but not before he placed a lingering kiss on her forehead. "I love you, Ang. I always will."
"I love you too, Jimmy Andrews. You'll always be my best friend."
When the two of them stepped out of the bathroom together, Ian saw her swollen, red eyes and she could sense the anger blasting through him as his stare shifted to the man who'd made her cry. But before he could say or do anything, Angie walked over to him, climbed back into his lap and wrapped her arms around him, needing to soothe him along with herself. She felt his body relax when she whispered in his ear, "It's okay, Ian. He had some things he wanted to tell me but it's you I want to be with. He'll always be my friend, but it's you I'm in love with."
Ian tugged her hair, pulling her head back until he could look into her eyes. He had to see the truth there–she was in love with him. Her heart belonged to him and only him. He leaned down so his mouth was next to her ear and spoke so no one else would hear. "And I'm in love with you, my sweet angel."
CHAPTER 18
When they arrived back at the compound they were met with an almost full parking area outside of the Trident building. There were several government-issued vehicles, marked Tampa P.D. cars as well as personal vehicles belonging to whoever Devon had managed to get in touch with. Jenn had about forty surrogate uncles from SEAL Team Four, all whom would drop everything for Baby-girl but only a few of them were close enough to Tampa to get there within a short time frame. Even Beau knew he was 'on-duty' and had attached himself to Angie's side, as if knowing she was the human who needed him the most. Boomer's father, Rick Michaelson, and Devon approached Marco and Ian's vehicles which they had driven home from the small airstrip.
As Boomer greeted his dad, who was also a former SEAL, Devon got down to business and filled them all in. "Still no word from the kidnappers and we can't figure out why because it's been over three hours. They've gotta still be in Tampa somewhere because Angie's their objective. In addition to Rick, we've got Bannerman, Rad and Urkel inside the conference room doing what they can to coordinate everything and try to figure out where they may have her. We also called Chase and asked him to spare whoever he had on hand, which was only five guys with the experience we need." When necessary, Trident contracted additional manpower from Chase Dixon, who owned Blackhawk Security. It was his two men who'd been assigned to protect Jenn. "But he'll have more tomorrow if it goes that long. He's at the hospital with Henderson, who's still in surgery. His folks are on their way from Jacksonville. I told Chase to book them a room at the Hilton up the street from the hospital and bill it to me. He told me to fuck off, he's got it covered.
"We're keeping the DEA out of the loop until we know who we can trust. Instead, I called Keon. He's stuck in D.C., but contacted the local office and told them to help us out in any way they could. Unfortunately, it means Frank Stonewall is here and he's not happy about it."
The local FBI Special Agent in Charge had been far from thrilled with his supervisor, Trident, and Carter after he was shut out of the investigation when Carter killed the hit-man targeting the team several months ago. While the rest of the team groaned at Devon’s announcement, Carter smirked. Last time he and Stonewall met, the SAC almost crapped his pants when the pissed off operative lit in to him. It would be interesting to see the fed's reaction to seeing him again.
"Angie!" All heads turned as Kristen came running from the residence building straight into the other woman's arms and held her tight. The two of them tried hard not to crumble but they couldn't stop the few tears which fell down both of their faces.
Ian walked over and stood next to them, rubbing his hands up and down their backs in comfort. "Kristen, why don't you take Angie up to your apartment for now, hmmm? There are too many people inside the offices and you'll just be in the way. Take Beau with you and we'll let you know when we hear something." Turning his head toward Angie, he added, "We're doing everything we can. We'll find her and bring her home. I promise."
The two women nodded, neither one trusting themselves to speak at the moment. Ian kissed both women on the head, lingering longer on Angie's. Then he watched they staggered back to the apartments, their arms around each other in mutual support as Beau trotted beside them. Taking a deep breath, he turned back toward his now extended team and gestured for them to head into the offices. It was time to make good on his promise.
Inside, Colleen was sitting at her reception desk, calling in an order for pizzas and two cases of bottled water for the men who were now occupying the conference room. Devon's office, as well as two vacant desks in a small bullpen area behind her, were also in use. The young secretary's eyes were red and it was obvious she'd been crying earlier. As they walked by her, she gave them a watery smile filled with trust as if she had no doubt the Doms would do everything they could to save Jenn's life.
Brody went straight to his war-room, unlocked it and started booting up the different computers he would need. Curt Bannerman, who’d been their back-up computer specialist in the Teams, joined him, taking a spare chair and rolling it over to assist his fellow geek. Neil 'Rad' Radovsky and Steve 'Urkel' Romanelli gave Ian and the rest of the team lazy salutes while staying on their respective phones with their contacts, trying to find where Jenn might be being held.
Inside Devon's office, the five men borrowed from Chase were checking their weapons and waiting to be called to duty. One was on the phone and from the sound of it he was talking to his boss and checking on Henderson. Ian would have to find out about the slain bodyguard later to see what they could do to help the man's family deal with their loss. Earlier on the plane, Ian had told Devon, who agreed, they would take care of all costs for the funeral and burial. If he had wife and children, they would make sure they were well taken care of. It was the least they could do for a man who had given his life trying to protect Jenn.
The conference room was filled with three FBI agents, including a scowling Stonewall, two uniformed policemen and two plainclothes detectives from the local P.D. If the situation wasn't so serious, Ian might have laughed when Stonewall paled at the sight of Carter walking into the room. As it was, he heard Boomer chuckle behind him when the kid noticed the same thing. Carter in turn gave the SAC his best Dom glare, then ignored the fed and got to work, calling his own contacts.
Also present in the room were Colleen's Dom, Reggi
e Helm, and Ian's cousin, Mitch Sawyer, both of whom shook Ian's hand and offered whatever help they could give them. Mitch asked, "What should we do about the club? Do you want me to shut it down for the night?"
Ian looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. They still had about three hours before the club opened at nineteen-thirty hours. "Yeah, the less people here at the compound the better. We don't know how long this is going to last. Whatever you do, don't let the members know about Jenn, otherwise every Dom will be showing up to help and while I'd appreciate it, they'd be in the way. We have enough personnel here as is."
Mitch nodded. "I'll send out the mass text from my office." He turned to Tiny. "Do you mind helping me call the staff? I want to make sure everyone knows not to show and the phones will probably start ringing off the hook when the members find out we're closed, wanting to see what the problem is."
Ian spoke in a low tone to Reggie so he couldn't be overheard, "I'd appreciate it if you took Colleen home with you. She doesn't need to be here for this and the less you know the better. We may need you after this is all over."
Reggie was one of Trident's lawyers, and this was Ian's way of keeping the man out of the loop for when the shit hit the fan. If Reggie needed to defend them in court for any reason, like for a murder charge, it gave him plausible deniability. When lawyers spoke to their clients accused of crimes they rarely asked them outright if they were guilty or not. They didn't need to know in order to defend their clients, and usually didn't want to know.
Right after the two Doms and Tiny left with Colleen in tow, the phone rang and Ian picked up the line on one of the conference room phones sitting on the table. As soon as he heard the computer-altered voice, he began rapidly waving his other hand and snapping his fingers to alert everyone in the room that the kidnappers were making contact. Everyone stopped in mid-sentence and remained silent. Marco ran out the door toward the war-room to tell Brody to start tracing the call as Ian hit the speaker button so they could all hear.
His Angel: Trident Security Book 2 Page 21