by J. L. Drake
“It’s fine.” I let out the air I was holding.
“Everything okay?”
“Yup.” I patted Tripper’s head. “Just needed to get some air.”
He waited for a moment with his face hidden from the moonlight.
“All right.” He stepped back into the forest and disappeared as quickly as he appeared.
God dammit, they were good. I shook off my nerves and let their nearby security calm me. Ten more minutes, and I reached the bottom of the beast. I stared straight up but couldn’t see the top, and Tripper made an uneasy whine.
“It’s okay, boy.” I patted his head. “I know what I’m doing.”
I dropped my gloves and replaced them with some powdered chalk.
“See you in a few. It’s all about feeling your way,” I eased the toe of my shoe onto a small foothold and lifted myself up.
I would do anything to calm the wild storm that brewed inside me.
Chapter Nineteen
John
“Wow, Savannah, this looks amazing.” I sipped my coffee and took in the transformed living room. The entire cathedral ceiling had black and silver balloons with long curls of ribbon, six feet long, twirling down from each one. The mini bar was now a “full station” bar complete with champagne flutes and a keg of beer next to it, which made me laugh. Savannah always thought of everyone. A giant silver and black cookie jar stood on a table all its own, and adjacent to it was a serve-yourself candy buffet for the kids. Abigail, June, and Mia were in the kitchen preparing all our favorite foods. This would be a night to remember and one we’d been anticipating for what seemed like years.
“Thanks.” Savannah let the last balloon float to the ceiling.
“Dammit!” June yelled from the kitchen, and Savi shook her head. “Was this Mark? It feels like Mark!” She held up the Furby, and I saw Mark slip outside. “One of these days, it will find its way into the trash, young man!” she called out the side window.
“I hate that thing, John.” Savannah half laughed, but I knew the women hated it, therefore we loved it that much more. Besides, all the blame should be on Keith. It was his idea to bring it here and torment Mike. “Where’s Sloane? She was going to help us this morning.”
I nodded to Doc Roberts as he stepped into the room, hands in his pockets, and his lips a thin line. He seemed uneasy as he stood and looked at the decorations.
“She was up before me, so I’m assuming she went down to the Tin House and got lost in her work again.”
“You two didn’t sleep at the Tin House?” Doc Roberts asked. I shook my head, curious as to why he would ask that. “Does she often sleep at the main house?”
“Just the once, I guess.”
Doc rubbed his finger across his bottom lip as he mulled over my answer.
“What’s on your mind, Doc?”
“Not sure yet. I wonder…” He trailed off in thought.
“Anything you want to tell me?”
“She seemed a little off yesterday, and I just want to make sure she’s all right.”
“I’ll go check on her.”
I set my coffee down and headed down toward Tin House. The more I thought about what Doc had said, the more I had to agree she did seem extra quiet last night. I brought up Frank’s number and gave him a call.
“Okay, Black just like I told Logan, I have no information on North Rock yet. I’m hoping you guys can ship out in a day or two, but nothing has changed in the last fifteen minutes.”
It was no secret we were itching to head south, but painful as it was, orders were orders, and we had no choice but to obey. My gut told me there was more to what was happening than we were being told right now.
“I’m actually calling for a different reason. Have you heard from Sloane lately?”
“No, why? Should I have?”
“She just got back from her trip yesterday and seemed a little off. I just wondered if she had said anything to you.”
“No, not a word, but now you mention it, she hasn’t returned my last two calls. That’s not like her.”
“I’ll make sure she calls you. I’m just heading down to talk to her now.” I stuck my phone in my pocket and opened the door to the Tin House.
“Hey, Sloane, where are you?” I called and waited for a response. When she didn’t answer, I took the loft stairs two at a time and checked the bathroom, but there was no sign of her anywhere. The towels were dry, and the bed was made, but I noticed she had changed. Her clothes were lying on the bed. I heard Tripper whine outside the door and raced down to meet him on the porch.
“What’s wrong, Trip?” I leaned down and moved my gaze to his eyes and tried to read his thoughts. “Trip, do you know where Sloane is?” At the mention of her name, he started to whine again. He trotted down the path a few feet then turned back to look at me. “Okay, you’ve got my attention. Lead the way, buddy.”
Tripper had spent a lot of time at Camp Green training and learning search and rescue techniques. He’d proven time and time again how smart he was, so I knew not to ignore his behavior. As we came around a bend, Mike was checking a camera and replacing the battery.
“Mike,” I called as I jogged closer, “have you seen Sloane?” He heard the urgency in my voice and pulled out his radio.
“Beta Eight, step out.” The soldier dressed in white and gray camo stepped out and removed his sunglasses.
“Have you seen Sloane Harlow this morning?”
“Yes, sir. I approached her at zero six hundred in this very spot to make sure she was all right. She seemed jumpy but fine. Said she just needed a walk.”
“That’s it?” I asked, confused as to why she was out so early.
“Yes, sir, but I did watch her head toward the bottom of the peak.”
“Are you sure you don’t mean to the east of the peak?”
“No, sir. She went south.”
I looked at Mike, confused. There would be no reason for her to head that way, as it was the hardest route. It was my route.
“Oh, my God.” Mike covered his face with his hands, while Beta Eight disappeared back into the trees. I folded my arms and waited for my brother to spill it.
“It was supposed to be a surprise,” Mike uttered in disbelief. “We had a deal that she wasn’t supposed to climb without me there, and we always used ropes.”
“Climb?”
“She wanted to feel the rush and release that you feel when you climb. She wanted to be able to share that with you.”
Before his last words were out, I hurried past him and headed south at a flat-out run. Tripper raced ahead and beat us there. About eighty feet up from the ground, I saw her clinging to the cliff face.
“Holy shit.” I turned to look at Mike. “Get a rope up there.” As Mike raced off, I dug into the gear we kept at the base of the mountain and fastened my harness on. I didn’t have time to do my ropes but knew Mike would drop us one. I began to climb.
I knew this side of the mountain like the back of my hand. No one but Mike and I had ever attempted to climb it free solo. Even with ropes, she would have faced many challenges.
Minute by minute, I pulled my way up the mountain, avoiding the slippery parts where the iced had formed. Internally, I cursed her for being so reckless, but this was not Sloane’s normal behavior, and I wondered where it was coming from. I was confident Mike would never have put her on the mountain without proper direction. I forced all thoughts from my mind and concentrated on the climb. Just as I reached the forty-foot mark, I planted my feet and shouted up to her.
“Sloane? Just stay still. I’m coming up behind you.” I heard her say something but couldn’t make it out. I continued to talk to keep her calm as I made my way toward her. I was careful to keep a distance between us until we were at eye level.
“Sloane, look at me. Open your eyes.” It took her a second, but her lids fluttered open, and I could see the sheer panic. “What happened? Any chance you can tell me why you’re up here?” I coaxed. A tear slipp
ed out, and she swallowed hard.
“Bad luck just seems to follow me these days.”
I wanted to question her, but now wasn’t the time. If her emotions were this raw, things could go south very quickly. I needed to keep her calm.
“Okay, let’s get you down from here.”
“I…” She squeezed her eyes shut once more. “I think my muscles are frozen.”
“That happens when you’re scared, but you’ve done this with Mike before, yes?” She nodded. “Then you know how to go back down from here.”
“Yes, but about thirty feet ago. I’ve never gone this high.”
I let out a frustrated sigh and focused on getting her down. I heard Mike’s whistle and the sound of the rope as it scraped against the rock and hit my side. I grabbed the cleat that was fastened to the end of it and secured myself then inched closer and carefully attached the rope to secure her to me.
“Okay, we’re both fastened tight. Now lean into me. We’re going to rappel down together.” I could tell by her lack of reaction that my words weren’t getting through. She was like a layer of ice frozen to the mountain.
Having been in this type of situation before, I understood what was happening in her head. Slowly, I slid my hand over her back and my foot across her legs until I was completely covering her with my body.
With my lips close to her ear, I whispered, “Fear is the enemy, and courage is your weapon. Dig deep and look for your strength.” She gave a tiny nod, but her eyes were still squeezed shut. “What do you see?”
“You.” Her breath shot out fast, and I smiled before I covered her hands with mine and pried her fingers lose from the rock. She gasped but allowed herself to fall with me.
“Mike has us, Sloane. It’s okay. He won’t let us fall. Just move with my body, follow my lead. I’ve got you.”
I continued to talk to her until the moment our feet touched the ground. She sagged against me, and I turned her around and pressed my mouth to her icy lips. I devoured her mouth, needing her to ground me. The desire to have my way with her was consuming, so I pulled away.
“I’ve jumped from planes, I’ve been shot, I’ve come face to face with cartel, but that,” I pointed up the mountain, “just scared the living shit out of me. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I wanted…I just wanted to feel free!”
“Then take a hike!” I was fuming. “Not scale the side of a mountain!”
“I never expected them to be there,” she blurted. “I never would have put her in danger if I’d known, but one minute we were fine and having fun, and the next we weren’t.” Her hand flew to her stomach. “He hit so hard, I couldn’t catch my breath.”
I blinked at her. “Who hit you? What are you talking about?”
“Then I made her lie. I made her lie!” She hiccupped through a sob. “Every time I try to do something nice, it backfires. I’m like a black cat on the thirteenth floor.”
I started to speak, but she burst into tears, and I just held her in confusion.
Mike appeared at a run, looking fit to kill, but when he saw Sloane, his expression changed. I waved him off, giving him the thumbs up that she was okay. I let her cry for a few minutes, knowing whatever was bothering her was big. As the clouds grew heavier, I felt her shiver with the cold, and I knew snow wasn’t far away.
“Let’s get you inside.” I took her by the shoulders and slid my hands down her arms and tucked her close to my side as I led her back along the path to the Tin House.
I couldn’t keep my eyes off her while I moved about the kitchen. She stopped crying, but she seemed to be back in that fog that held her trapped the last time something bad happened.
She was curled up on the couch in dry clothes under a warm blanket. Tripper was in his usual spot, nuzzled up to her. I handed her a hot cup of coffee and sat on the chair across from her, sipping my own brew.
“Okay, Sloane, let’s start from the beginning. Tell me what’s going on.”
She brushed a tear away and took a deep breath to steady herself. “I was doing really good chasing up my leads, but the word spread quickly that I was digging, though I still managed to gather enough evidence to continue in the direction I’d been going.” She shook her head as though realizing she’d gone off course with her story. “I was homesick, and when you told me your mom and sister were coming, I was so excited to see them.”
As she went on with her story, the coil in my stomach wound tighter and tighter, and when she got to the part where Henry punched her, I put my mug down so hard it made her jump. I leaned forward and covered my mouth with my hand and waited for her to continue. I’d killed before, and the urge was strong in me now, but want and need were two very different things.
“I asked her to lie for me. What kind of a person does that? I just didn’t want to lose you. I couldn’t risk that again. I put Ellie in danger, but you have to understand, I love her like my own sister. I swear, John, I never would have brought your family into this if I thought for even a second that they would find me.”
I could barely keep up it with her story. So many things raced through my head.
“When I got home, Doc Roberts seemed to know, and I needed something to clear my head. Mike had only ever taken me to the sixty-foot mark, but I wanted to keep going. It went okay, but then my foot slipped, and I lost my concentration and got stuck. I went through everything he taught me, but I was so confused inside I just couldn’t get it back.”
“Hold on.” I held up my hand to stop her story and pushed to my feet. I moved to the table to lean against it while I processed what she was telling me. “Does Frank know any of this?”
She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it.
I shut my eyes and mustered through my frustration and anger. I wasn’t angry so much with her, but the men she was dealing with were clearly a lot more dangerous than I’d realized.
“It didn’t work the last time, so what makes you think he can fix it this time?” She looked at me in defeat.
“So, you were just going to, what? Ignore what happened and hope they’d go away?”
“It’s the mob, John.” She tossed her hands in the air with a heavy sigh. “They never go away. You need to know someone to make them stop. Right now, I don’t. I just need some time to figure this out.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that.” I had to curb my temper. “You don’t make deals with these people. They kill for pure enjoyment.”
“Yes,” her voice went hard, “and hit women without a care in the world.” She moved to stand closer to the fire with her hands on her hips. “I’ve had some awful clients before, but none like them, and I made it clear that I didn’t want their case. It was quite clear to me that they all knew Henry’s son had pulled the trigger. But they wouldn’t give up and insisted on me.” She jabbed at her chest. “No isn’t a word in their world.”
I stared at her as something gnawed at the side of my brain. I tried to pull it forward, and as I did, it hit me.
“What?” She sensed my change in mood.
“I think I may have an idea.” I checked the time and cursed. I put my hands on my hips and took a long breath. “Look, we have to be up at the house, ready to go for the party in one hour.”
“Party?”
“Are you hurt? Other than your stomach?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“I’ll make some calls, and I need you to go get ready. I’ll meet you up at the house in forty-five.”
I went for the door when she called out. “John? What party?”
I had forgotten that she’d been gone for a while and wasn’t in the know. “Family reunion-slash-we’re happy to be alive party.”
Before she could question me more, I raced out the door and up to the house.
“Where are you going?” Cole shot me a confused look.
“To pull a favor from a stranger.”
“Is it smart?”
I paused on the stairs and
couldn’t make eye contact with my brother. “I hope so.”
Once inside my room, I opened the closet and dug through my belongings. My special black gear that I wore while on our missions to Mexico was right where I left it.
I felt all around the top of the suit until I found it and pulled back the fabric over my left chest. I dug two fingers in and fingered the tiny business card and tugged it free. The three little letters above his name popped out from the fibers on the card.
I quickly dialed the number and waited for him to answer.
“FBI, Cooper Collins.” His voice was all business.
“This is Recon John Black. We met in Mexico in a diner—”
“That’s right.” He cut me off. “How’s your friend?”
“He’s well, thanks. Look,” I rubbed my head and looked out the window at the Tin House that blended with the trees, “you said if I ever needed some help, I could call you. Well, it turns out I need some help, if the offer still stands.”
“It does.”
“I have a problem with some members of the mafia in Washington.”
There was a long pause, and I heard a door shut.
“The mafia?” He seemed confused. “How did a member of the US Army get tangled with a member of the mafia?” He chuckled like he was more entertained than shocked.
“My girlfriend is a lawyer, and she got stuck with a case she didn’t want for some guy named Henry. Seems his son was found guilty, and now this Henry guy refuses to accept his son’s fate. He’s been roughing her up over it, and the last time things got a little out of control. I was hoping maybe you knew someone at the agency who could put an end to all of this.”
“Mm,” he mumbled, “I think I know someone who could make some calls.”
I filled him in on the details, and to my surprise, he had gotten wind of that case several months ago. I guessed the news of Henry’s son spread quickly and rattled some higher up family members. That was the mob for you; everyone seemed to know everything.
“I would really appreciate that.”
“Give me a few days, and I’ll be in touch.”