Broken Wings
Red River Recovery, Book 2
TL Schaefer
Contents
Praise for TL Schaefer’s books!
Character List
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Thank You!
About the Author
Also by TL Schaefer… visit www.tlschaefer.com/all-books/
Praise for TL Schaefer’s books!
RED RIVER RECOVERY
Duck and Run
“This fast-paced thriller will have you turning the pages late into the night.”
“Loved this action-packed romantic suspense, lots of great characters and dialog.”
* * *
CASI Series
Behind Blue Eyes
"Taut suspense, deep passion, and memorable characters left me breathless."
"Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down."
“I loved this book from cover to cover and look forward to reading more.”
* * *
Shoot to Thrill
“Highly recommend this riveting series! “
“If you like Nora Roberts or Linda Howard, you’ll like this series.”
"This book is a thrill. It offers the perfect blend of mystery, suspense, and romance."
"A thrill on every page. Don't read this if you're home alone."
* * *
Lunatic Fringe
"WOW...all I can say is if you really enjoy page turning, heart racing, paranormal romance, then this is the book for you."
"A nonstop, edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting read!"
"The author combines intrigue, suspense and mystery to make this story so wonderful to read."
* * *
MARIPOSA Series
The Summerland
"...spine-tingling suspense.”
"The characters are believable, the plot fast and furious, and the ending is explosive! Thumbs up!"
"... a great mystery to curl up and enjoy on a dark night."
"If you enjoy suspense, murder mystery this is a highly recommended book."
* * *
The Brotherhood
"I am definitely a new fan."
"Once I got started with this book I was completely addicted"
"You can't go wrong with this entire series"
The Paladin
"A fabulous addition to the series!"
"I highly recommend this series!"
"Redemption and love mix into a story that is unique, full of mystery, suspense and romance."
"The twists and turns of this tale will keep you reading long into the night."
"This is my first book by Ms Schaefer and I loved it!!"
BROKEN WINGS
Red River Recovery, Book 2
By TL Schaefer
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Published by Terri Schaefer
Copyright 2021
Cover by Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs
ASIN: B08TC9TCTR
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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold but can be loaned to other people. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected].
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination. www.tlschaefer.com
For August. You were the love of my life, my best friend, and my biggest cheerleader. You were taken from me too soon, and I will forever miss you.
Character List
Ethan Masters – Three years after the lowest point in his life, Air Force vet Ethan Mathews is trying to rebuild his world. He’s in debt to his boss and doesn’t have two pennies to rub together, but he’s sober and getting ready to score the biggest payout of his career… one that’ll erase his marker and make him a free man.
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Natalie Flynn – Security specialist Natalie Flynn is one job away from moving up to the corner office and taking a seat at her father’s side as Vice President of Arrow Security. Extracting a Ukrainian mail order bride from a dangerous engagement should be a piece of cake. But Petra’s got secrets of her own, and they’re about to make Natalie’s life explosive.
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Petra Mazur – Twenty-two-year-old Ukrainian mail order bride Petra will use everything at her disposal to get away from her fiancé, including Natalie.
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Greg Flynn – CEO of Arrow Security, former Green Beret Greg Flynn has made a name for himself and his daughter. Arrow is the best of the best, and he won’t allow anything to tarnish their reputation.
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Rob Hude – Former professional wrestler Rob turned his fame into a thriving repossession business where he recovers toys the rich just won’t bother to make payments on. His loyal, exceptionally talented crew of Cris, Ethan and Karla have made him a rich man, but one still wary of outside threats.
Chapter 1
The blades of the dove-gray Airbus 365 Dauphin helicopter began to slice through the already-humid early morning air as it began the start-up sequence. Too slowly for Ethan Masters’ liking.
He began readying the ten-million-dollar aircraft for flight from the rooftop helideck, keeping one wary eye on the shiny stainless steel elevator doors leading into the body of the thirty-story building beneath.
He’d been signed through security today sight unseen by his client, which meant he hadn’t had to resort to the usual gymnastics. He wasn’t about to let a chance like this slip by. Not when everything he wanted, everything he needed, rode on the outcome of this one, single, solitary job.
Beneath him the aircraft hummed almost soundlessly, like a thoroughbred straining to be set loose. He’d be happy to accommodate her within the next few minutes, if everything went according to plan.
To the east the sun was getting ready to breach the horizon, but it was already warm. He could tell it was going to be another Dallas scorcher, one where you sure as hell didn’t want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Not that it mattered in this baby.
Don Ward had probably put an additional million into customizing the inside, making it plush enough for a prince. The amenities included some serious sound dampening, air conditioning, a fridge and a minibar. This chopper was top of the line, likely the most expensive thing Ethan would ever fly.
And he was repossessing it out from under the nose of one of the most crooked bastards in Texas.
Lights on the panel began to green up as the rotors spun even faster, and the aircraft began to vibrate more beneath him. Satisfaction raced through him in a rush. He loved flying, but sometimes, he loved repossessing fast, shiny things almost as much.
The rush of snatching a very expensive plaything away from an asshole who couldn’t quite grasp the concept of regular, on-time payments. Who shafted employees as much as he shortchanged the bank holding the lien on this chopper. Who helmed a company that included contract work overseas and had been Ethan’s distant boss three years ago.
Yeah, it was even better when it was from an asshole like Ward.
He hadn’t asked why Ward Dynamics had posted a job for a gig pilot, he’d just taken advantage of the opportunity. They’d been watching the corporation pretty hard once the chopper hit the recovery lis
t. Ethan had just been faster than any of the other agencies.
So here he was, at o’dark-thirty, taking this bird away easy as you please. His client’s destination was due south to Corpus Christi for the day, an easy two and a half or three-hour ride, cruising along at a hundred and fifty knots.
He’d filed flight plans for the seaside community, even though he had absolutely no intention of flying there. He’d lift off before the client ever made it up here then head out to the open country where he wouldn’t be in a major flight path and stay on the down low. The helicopter had range for twice the distance to Oklahoma City, and he’d use most of that laying false trails.
The maintenance logs on the Dauphin were tight. As much as Ward was a prick, he’d lavished attention on the Airbus, making it as flightworthy as anything Ethan had ever taken to the sky.
The unknown person who’d hired him had cleared him through security on the bottom floor, made this whole operation such a piece of cake he was starting to get a niggling feeling at the back of his neck telling him everything was about to go south.
Ethan had come an hour before his contracted time to familiarize himself with the Airbus, a handy excuse if anyone asked. No one had, and now he was ready to take off half an hour early. Before the sun was even up.
And then he was ready. He began to lift off, head the two hundred miles north to Oklahoma City and the yard at Red River Recovery. Exhilaration whooshed through him. There was the freedom of being in the air, untethered, but there was a bigger freedom in knowing that once he dropped this baby in the repo yard, he’d be a free man again.
He’d forgotten how that felt.
It’d been a year-long climb back from the lowest he’d ever been.
He was ten, then twenty feet above the deck and beginning to bank away from the building when the rooftop door opened and a woman and teen walked out, both dressed in long flowing tank-style dresses, ridiculously high stacked sandals, carrying enormous purses.
They looked like they’d walked out of a Beverly Hills spa rather than a Dallas high rise half an hour before the sun was even up.
For a long second he was sucked three years into the past. To a different rooftop in a different country, lifting off when he knew the women beneath him were going to die. Doing it anyway because he’d been ordered to. Feeling something break inside when he did.
He jerked back to the present, focused on the helipad.
Saw two different faces, American this time instead of Afghan.
A woman, maybe mid-thirties and a teenager who cowered beneath the noise and backwash of the chopper’s primary blade.
Shit. They were his clients. He looked at the woman again, filed away everything in his mind, to include the fact she was staring daggers at him. He could see it all the way up here, at an angle. He could also tell that she was cussing up a storm.
The teenager at her side just appeared forlorn and scared, like her future was winging away.
It was that look that had him cursing himself, and returning the helicopter to the helipad, dropping down slowly, then unlocking the doors from the master console.
The woman threw open the door, raven hair and flowery, flowy dress whirling around her as she pushed the girl in first, then followed, closing the door with an authoritative thunk before she banged on the plexi separating the pilot and passengers.
For a moment he was surprised she’d know to signal the all-clear that way, then he didn’t much care, because now his life had gotten much, much more complicated.
Natalie helped buckle Petra into the butter-soft leather seat, extracted the holstered nine mil out of her stupid purse. Belled the skirt of the colorful maxi dress around her, making sure her feet were clear, then donned a headset and pulled the weapon out of its holster.
Ethan Masters, if that was really his name, had some explaining to do. Now. She opened the plexi separating them, caught his surprised gaze in the rearview and leveled the weapon at him.
“Masters?” she asked. Because even though she was ninety-nine percent sure the jerk was the pilot she’d hired, she needed to be certain.
He nodded, even as a voice as smooth as caramel filled her ears through the headset. The southern accent coating that caramel made it even worse, like she was supposed to believe everything he said. “Sorry about the misunderstanding back there. You can put the gun away now and we’ll be on our way to Corpus.”
His words, while soothing as hell, were a big fat lie. There’d been no misunderstanding. He’d been ditching them, there was no question in her mind about that. So now she and Petra were stuck on a multi-million-dollar helicopter with the guy who had been stealing it and had used her to get on the helideck.
But paybacks were a bitch.
“Change in plans,” she said, just as calmly, as coolly as he had. Forced steel into her tone. “We’re heading to El Paso now. Divert and go low as soon as you can do it without attracting attention.”
His hazel eyes narrowed as he considered her. “All right, you’re the one with the gun. But El Paso is a hell of a lot further away than Corpus. We’ll likely have to refuel, and I’m pretty sure you can’t hold a gun on me for over five hours.”
“You’d be surprised,” she said, and settled back into the soft leather to see what he would do.
Because, as much as she might have a weapon, it wasn’t like she was going to shoot him. He was flying, she didn’t know how to operate the helicopter, and had no way of getting into the cockpit anyway.
If he hadn’t tried to steal the damned chopper she’d have ordered him to switch their destination without changing the flight plan. She could be persuasive when she needed to be. It was her hallmark. Her talent. Smoothing things. Persuading people to get her way.
But not today.
He shrugged, then caught her gaze in the mirror once again. “You running from Ward?”
At least he wasn’t stupid. But she still didn’t know who he was beyond his name, didn’t know his game. “Nope, just changed our minds. We want to go shopping in El Paso instead.” Which was maybe the most nonsensical thing she’d ever said, but it wasn’t like he could call her out on it.
His eyebrow raised in response, almost disappearing into the sandy-colored shag of hair on his brow before he nodded. “All right then. Since we have to refuel anyway, we’ll head south for a bit, maybe half an hour, then swing west. I know an airfield that doesn’t ask questions where we can get gas.”
She’d just bet he did.
He considered her again, appeared to be weighing something in his mind. Then he shrugged again, which appeared to be his go-to mannerism. “Ward is a douchebag who doesn’t quite get the concept of paying his bills. I’m not stealing this bird. I’m repossessing it.”
Natalie held back a snort, then stopped trying and laughed. Laughed long and loud. “That’s fantastic.” Then she sobered. “But we’re still going to El Paso.”
The thought that Ward hadn’t made the payment on one of his biggest symbols of success was hysterical. The chopper, and the ability to go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, had been one of his biggest bragging points. And his Achilles heel.
The pilot, maybe-Masters, was talking again. “Fine, doesn’t matter to me one way or the other. I’ll drop you off in El Paso and then be on my way.”
She couldn’t argue with that. It wasn’t as if she’d planned on using the helicopter to get back home anyway. Her job was to get Petra to the border, into the hands of one of Arrow Security’s partners, and then catch a flight to the company’s headquarters in Maryland to debrief. The thumb drive tucked into her bra that held a shit-ton of Ward’s files was just icing on the cake.
Ward might try to come after her, but Arrow Security wasn’t exactly operating out of a garage. With offices in most major cities, and satellites in England, Germany, France, Spain, Mexico and Brazil, her family’s company eclipsed even Ward’s multinational corporation.
Settling back into one of the ridiculously high-end lea
ther bucket seats, a luxury she’d grown up with and was more than accustomed to, she rubbed Petra’s shoulder, took in the girl’s wide eyes and immediately felt bad.
She wasn’t sure if Petra was terrified by the helicopter flight or the gun Natalie still held. Could be both.
Giving the young woman a reassuring smile and pat on the knee, she went over their scenario one more time in her head, to get it straight, to make sure there were absolutely no mistakes.
Her father didn’t accept mistakes.
Twenty-two-year-old Petra was a mail-order bride from the Ukraine. Which was older than usual. As with most women put in this position, her plan had been to get herself established and then begin to bring her parents and siblings to the United States.
Natalie didn’t know the whole story about how Petra ended up in the U.S., about to be married to Ward, but the woman had made it sound like her family had asked for Arrow’s intervention.
Which sounded weird, since Petra was being married off, so surely the family couldn’t afford Arrow, but Greg had pulled Natalie off a companion job for the pop star of the year and sent her inside Ward’s organization as, of all things, a bridal consultant, nonetheless. No one really knew what that was, and Ward wasn’t about to deny his beautiful bride-to-be anything.
At least on the surface. Natalie probably could have strolled into his home without modifying her appearance one little bit since he seemed to view women as decorations. At least until he needed something from them, like sex or a convenient punching bag. His security guys would have eventually figured out it was Natalie, but rumor had it they didn’t seem to worry overmuch about females in general.
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