On Thin Ice (Special Ops)

by Capri Montgomery

  The fact that the darkness was still pervasive told her it was still too early in the morning for sunrise. Jet had used his flashlight even though he hadn’t wanted to use that particular instrument. They couldn’t stay put and they couldn’t safely navigate the terrain without more light. The moon was still full and high in the sky, but that didn’t mean there was enough light to go walking in the wild without an additional aid.

  They walked in silence until they came to an area dense with trees and shrubs. She didn’t know why he was stopping until he guided her behind an area with trees and brush covering. “I have to end this. I want to get you to safety, but they’re too close and we won’t make it down that mountain if I don’t end this here. I need you to stay—” He held up his hand when he saw the hint of protest getting ready to leave her lips. She didn’t want him to fight the last two. Those two scared her the most. Those two were the most lethal and they wouldn’t fight fair. She knew they wouldn’t. “I need you to stay put. Do not move unless you have to. If I don’t make it you run. Do you understand me? You run.”

  She felt the tears falling from her eyes onto her cheeks. Her lips quivered as he gently brushed away her fallen tears with the pad of his thumb. She nodded, unable to speak, unable to think really. She didn’t want to picture a world where Jet didn’t make it out of this. He leaned in and kissed her softly before leaving her where he put her. She could see him as he walked back a little and then hid on the other side behind bushes. He gave her a hand signal to stay low so she stopped trying to watch him so that she was able to stay low.

  It seemed like forever, but she knew it hadn’t been long before the lights from their flashlights started to reach them. Once everything started happening it happened fast. They hadn’t seen her hiding; maybe that’s why Alexei hadn’t stopped trying to double team Jet long enough to find her.

  She was determined to stay put until she saw Daniil grab Jet’s arms from behind. They fell backwards with Daniil holding Jet on top of his body; his back to Daniil’s chest as Alexei kicked him. There was no way she was going to let him do that to her man.

  She had every intention of following Jet’s demand that she run—well, maybe she didn’t have every intention of following it because she didn’t run. She came out fast and jumped on Alexei’s back wrapping her legs around his waist and clawing at his eyes with her short nails. She pressed her fingers as hard as she could seeing as though he was shaking her furiously like a wild bull trying to get a rider off his back. She held on tight trying to keep him away from Jet, and it had worked. The last glimpse she had of Jet he was already getting free of Daniil’s hold. She, however, was going to lose her grip and she knew it.

  She tightened her legs because she knew the bulk of her strength was in her legs. But when he reached his fist back and pounded it on her thigh and then went to work on the lower parts of her leg that were wrapped around his body she lost her grip. With one solid motion he had flung her over his shoulder, throwing her a few feet away from him onto the ground. She impacted the hardened earth and rolled a few more feet from the force of the impact. She thought she would soon be dead, but when she looked up Jet already had Alexei in a death grip. Alexei wouldn’t get out of that one so easily. Within seconds she heard the unmistakable sound of bones breaking and then Alexei’s lifeless body hit the ground.

  She breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. It was finally over. They couldn’t hurt her or him anymore. She looked up to him as she struggled to her feet. His lip was bleeding and she was sure he would have massive bruising on his body from where Alexei had kicked him in his ribcage.

  “Oh, Jet,” she whispered as she let her hands gently touch his abdomen. “You’re hurt. I know you’re hurt.” The tears flowed freely and she didn’t try to stop them.

  “Bruised,” he told her; “but not broken. Trust me when I say I know the difference.” He hadn’t made any move to hug her and she was sure that was because he was hurting a lot more than he let on. Even if he didn’t have any broken bones she doubted that meant he wasn’t feeling any pain.

  “Tough guy,” she whispered as she shook her head. “You don’t have to be so tough you know.”

  He winked at her. “We should get moving.” He bent over Alexei and searched his pockets until he found her necklace. “I believe this is yours.”

  She smiled and accepted the necklace her father had given her. “Thank you.”

  He nodded.

  “At least it’s over now. That was all of them.”

  “I’ll still feel better once you’re home.”

  “Ah, yes. You must return the package to the original safe location.”

  “You were never the package, Akira. Don’t ever think you were, because you never were. Understood?”

  She would have smiled, but her lip was still hurting from the split lip the last guy gave her. She nodded. “I’ll be your package, Jet. You can unwrap me anytime you want.”

  “Oh I am going to hold you to that, precious. I have to get you home first. Your mother and father are probably worried sick about what’s happened to you.”

  “To us,” she told him. “My dad thinks the world of you, Jet. I don’t know if you noticed that or not, but he does. My mom thinks the world of you too. It’s why they keep inviting you to events.”

  “Funny,” he said with humor in his tone. “It’s not your father who kept emailing me.”

  “Dad hates email. He hates the phone too. He’s more of an in person kind of guy. It’s why he went over to South Korea to check on the plans for the company the government had asked him to think about building over there. He ended up being taken to North Korea and being held captive there; I guess you can see why that would put a damper on things.”

  “I had no idea that’s why he was over there. My information was that he was in North Korea on his own and got caught. However, when I reached him he told me he was in South Korea and that armed men had come into his hotel room one night and then taken him across the border. I believed him, but I didn’t know why he was in South Korea in the first place.”

  She nodded. “The President asked him to consider building there. He said it would help strengthen our ties with South Korea even more. I think they were planning on using him for something else, but if they were my dad didn’t say. Either they didn’t tell him or he didn’t tell my mother. She told me when he went missing because she was angry—very angry—that his country would put him in jeopardy. It was the first time in my life that I had heard her call it “his” country. Up until that point it was always her country as well. I think she was so angry that she might not see him again, so afraid that she might lose him that she wanted to disown the reason he was over there in the first place. If you hadn’t brought him home I don’t think she would have stayed here. I think she would have sold everything, renounced her citizenship and went back to Japan.”

  “You think so?”

  “She loves him so much. I think his death would have broken her completely.”

  “And what about you?”

  “I’m an adult. I’m old enough to make my own choices, but I don’t know. They were all I really had, other than skating. At the time I had Keiko and Demetri, but they were my only family. I guess I would have gone with my mom. I wouldn’t have renounced my citizenship though. I was born here. While I have spent some time in Japan I don’t know if I would want forever there. America is my home. It’s like asking somebody who is used to one world to move to another. I could probably adapt, but I don’t know how happy I would have been. Change is not always a good thing.” She told him as they walked together.

  “What happens next? Do I have to go back into the city?”

  “I’m hoping your father can pull a few strings. I’d prefer to get you home. The media is definitely camped out by the station and there is a certain cop that’s happy to oblige.”

  “Nathan?”

  “How do you know about him?”

  “I heard the men talking about him
.”

  He growled. “Friend or foe?”

  “I am not sure, but I think he would be their foe. I heard Alexei call him Nikifor. He said he was stupid if he thought a name change would save him. I don’t know what they meant though.”

  “I think I do, but I’ll hold off on my theory until I talk with Alex.”

  “Ah, the guy you tried to pawn me off on.”

  “I did not…”

  “Yes you did. I am not stupid, Jet. I knew what you were doing. I also knew it wouldn’t work. I don’t care how young Alex is; I have no interest in him on that level.”

  He chuckled. “You’re too smart for your own good,” he teased her.

  “For your own good,” she corrected him. “You will not be able to twist my emotions.”

  “And I won’t try to,” he told her. “I was wrong. When I’m wrong I have no problem admitting it. I’m sorry I didn’t trust your heart and your feelings sooner.”

  “You trust them now?”

  “I trust them now. And I trust your brain too. You think things through, not just feel your way through them and I should have…I should have embraced that. I was scared and I let that fear keep me from you.” He took her hand in his. “But no more; I won’t fight this, us, anymore.”

  “Good,” she breathed an air of happiness into her lungs. She was safe, he was safe, and he loved her; he really loved her.

  Jet was exhausted by the time they made it to the truck but he pushed through that exhaustion. Now was not the time for his body to give out. He could sleep on the plane, or once he got her home, but not now. He put her in the truck on one side and then got in on the other. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned it on. “Time to call for the chariot,” he smiled at her. He started the truck and put the heat on for her.

  “Alex, it’s Jet. I have Akira and we’re on our way down. I need Aaron to pull some strings. I don’t want to take her back into the city. I want to get her on that plane and get her home.”

  “I’ll ask him to make some calls.”

  “What calls?” He heard Aaron say.

  “Tell him I have her, and we’re on our way down now.”

  “He has her.”

  Jet could hear jovial sounds of relief in the background.

  “What about the enemy?” Alex continued talking to him.

  “Extinguished,” he said. “That’s part of the favor. I’ve killed four men and I know there’s a lot of paperwork involved, but I need to get Akira back to Texas first.”

  He heard Alex relay the message and somewhere between his relaying the message and the next set of words Aaron had already taken the phone from him. Jet didn’t know anybody who get Alex’s phone away from him and not suffer bodily harm.

  “They owe me big favors and one of them was to get my girl home safe and then the deal was that we would call it even. I’ll pull some strings. I’m getting my plane in the air shortly. It’s already fully fueled. It will be there for you soon. Alex can give you the details. I need to go wake up some people and finish calling in the last of my favors. Tell Akira I love her; that we love her. We’ll be here with open arms when she gets home.”

  Jet finished his conversation with Alex, making sure he got the coordinates for where to meet the plane before hanging up the phone.

  “Your father sends his love—and your mother’s love as well. He’s going to ease the way for us to get out of here without going back to the city.”

  “That sounds like my dad. He rarely calls in favors. When he does things it’s because he wants to, not because he wants something in return. A lot of people owe him for one reason or another, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him call those favors in, except once and that was for my mother. Do you know they were thinking of making her leave even though she was married to my father and was contributing to society instead of milking it for every cent it had? Jerks,” she frowned. “My dad called in a favor to get her citizenship application approved.”

  “I would have done the same thing,” Jet said. “If I had that kind of clout.”

  “I bet you do,” she nodded. “You’ve helped a lot of people—saved a lot of people. I bet they all would give you anything they could. I know I would. A simple thank you just doesn’t seem like enough.”

  “You’ll never have to utter those words to me, Akira. I saved you because I wanted to; because I love you and I didn’t want to lose you.”

  “And I love you because I want to, because my heart was always yours and I’m not taking it back. Just so you know, when I give my body to you it’s because I love you and not because you saved my life. Now, where are we going?”

  “I have to take Henri her gear back. I’ll figure out what to do with this truck later.”

  “Henri…” she sighed. “She’s probably gorgeous. With a name like that she has to be otherwise people would pick on her.”

  He laughed. “She’s beautiful and she’s tough. Trust me; nobody in their right mind would bully that woman over anything, but especially her name. Lethal doesn’t even begin to describe her.” He took her hand in his and kissed the back of it before releasing it and putting both hands back on the wheel.

  He navigated the terrain down the mountain, back to the path which was easier to take in the truck and then made his way to Henri’s place. The sun was cresting the sky at that point and Henri was already up doing target practice.

  “Jet, I see you brought somebody rather beautiful to meet me.” She smiled as she approached them. “I’m Henri.”

  “Akira,” she extended her hand and shook Henri’s hand.

  “I’m glad my information was accurate.”

  “Highly,” he nodded. “You won’t have to worry about them invading your space here.”

  “I wasn’t worried. I have enough ammunition to go to war with a rather large country. I think I’m covered.” She assured him. “So what’s next for the two of you?”

  “I’m dropping off your gear,” he smiled at her. “I didn’t use even one bullet so you still have a full load.”

  “I prefer guns. This guy prefers going hand to hand. Crazy man,” she looked at Akira and smiled at her. Henri was right, if he could avoid gunfire he preferred hand to hand combat, but it wasn’t always avoidable in which case he had no trouble pulling the trigger.

  “Her father is going to pull some strings to make it easier for us to get out of here without going back to the city. I need to get to a pickup location, but I need to get this truck back to the city too.”

  “I’ll take you to your pickup and I’ll get the truck back. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Thanks,” he patted her on the shoulder. “Let me help you get this gear inside.”

  An hour later and he and Akira had cleaned up as much as they could given their lack of a change of clothes. Henri was too tall for any of her clothes to fit Akira, but she had let her have one of her tank tops to change into. He also had received the phone call that told him it was clear to leave. Aaron had told him the local authorities wanted full credit for the rescue. Jet was fine with that. His rescue missions were best if people didn’t know who he was. Trying to blend in worked best if people didn’t know he was “that” guy who rescued the famous figure skater. He wanted to keep his anonymity when it came to things like this otherwise he might have to find a new profession.

  “So what about Nathan, also known as Nikifor?” Henri asked as she drove them toward the landing strip.

  “Apparently his parents went underground in the witness protection program. It’s why they dropped off the radar, and he, being underage, went with them. His father wanted out, and as you know…”

  “There is no out.”

  “Exactly. Anyway, Nathan wanted a real life. He wanted to be a cop and for some insane reason he wanted to be that cop in Alaska. Apparently he was always drawn to the wilderness of it. What he wanted was the wide open spaces.”

  “Seems stupid to get his face plastered all over television in a high profile cas
e.”