Live Past The Edge (Dark Eagle Book 2)

by Julia Bright

  “Would you like to go with the team? I’m inviting you because you show respect. If your American is there, it would be nice for you to recover him, no?”

  She drew in a deep breath, ecstatic Barr wanted her there. “Thank you, I appreciate the offer. I have a bag here. I’m ready to go whenever you are.”

  “We’re leaving in an hour.”

  “I’ll catch a taxi. Let me inform my boss I’m headed out.”

  “Agent Edwards, this may not end the way we want it, but you understand we are doing what we can.”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  She headed next door to the supervisory agent’s office and informed him of the break in the case. If she called Jackson, this might get out. She couldn’t afford to offend Barr or anyone else at the CNP.

  Once they were in the cars traveling to the airport, she was informed they were headed into Italy. They had reason to believe Randy was being held in a villa in the Tuscany region of northern Italy. The GEO would do a night raid with the Italians leading the group. They would head in under the cover of darkness, hoping surprise was on their side. Her nerves were high. This could all go to hell. If they messed up, everyone could die.

  “You nervous?” Barr asked as they settled in their seats on the CNP’s private plane.

  “Yes, I am.” She didn’t want this raid to be botched. Her boss had issues with her, and if this went south, she might find a reason to get rid of her. But that might be nice. She could go back to the States and find time to spend with Jackson.

  Barr nodded and pulled out a folder. The team went over the information one more time, making sure they knew their roles.

  By noon they were on the ground in Florence. The national police force, the Carabinieri, were waiting for them on the ground. They loaded into a van which drove them north to Carmignanello, a tiny town about forty minutes outside Florence.

  The van stopped on the outskirts of town, and the leader of the Carabinieri turned to her and Barr. “We’re stopping here. The house is on the other side of town up a hill. We need to rest and refuel. Once it gets dark, I’ll have four men go up to scout the surroundings. They’ll find out what we’re up against.”

  She stuck with Barr, deciding it was best to stay with someone she knew. The huge Carabinieri officers didn’t intimidate her, not really, but she didn’t understand Italian as easily as she did Spanish. Some of the officers didn’t seem happy she was there, which she got. She was a stranger to them, and they and they had no reason to trust her.

  In the evening, before the sun dipped, they gathered to go over assignments. She and Barr would be stationed midway down the hill. They wouldn’t see action. Instead, they were in placed to watch for runners. If she saw someone, she was to alert the Carabinieri who would take care of the runners. She wasn’t to engage.

  5

  Through Kelsey’s genius, they’d obtained a set of papers which allowed them to travel into Italy under different names. It was illegal as hell and crazy as shit, but they didn’t want to be tagged as traveling to Italy if the FBI went looking for them. Being in Italy when Randy’s captors were killed could only lead to more scrutiny from the Feds, which was the last thing they wanted based on how Agent Hardy had been sniffing around Kelsey and Adam. One more strike against them, and they’d probably serve time for something. Over the few months, he’d killed two people working for Dark Eagle. They deserved to die, but the FBI may think otherwise.

  The drive from Milan placed them close to the compound after dark at about ten that evening. The tiny sliver of the moon did little to illuminate the countryside, allowing them to move in darkness. They had night vision goggles, but even those didn’t cut through the trees. They couldn’t see through the brick fences positioned midway up the hill either. Kelsey was working on hacking into a satellite to get them air support, but it didn’t look promising.

  “Let’s give her ten minutes before we move,” Adam said.

  “Sure.” His stomach twisted. He didn’t want to admit he was nervous as hell. Randy was in that compound. If they screwed this up, his brother could die because of their missteps.

  Time seemed to almost slow, then he felt his phone buzz. No support was the message from Kelsey.

  “Let’s do this the old-fashioned way,” Adam said.

  “I’ll take the path to the left. I’ve got ears on,” Jackson said before patting Adam on the back.

  Adam took off, and he started his move up the hill. They weren’t sure how many guards were on at the compound, but hopefully, there weren’t many. They could take them, maybe. The element of surprise was on their side.

  The brick fence sat about twenty meters up the slope from his current position. The wall was his first target. He moved slow and low, keeping to the shadows.

  “I’m about ten meters from the wall,” Adam said in his ear.

  “Same.” His eyes scanned the field, searching for movement. No one was up ahead. He made it to the wall, and a wave of relief washed over him. It was only another sixty yards up the hill to the compound. They would make it.

  Jackson moved to the opening in the wall and was about to round the edge when something—someone moved. His heart sped up, and he froze. The person swung around, gun pointed right at him.

  “Fuck.”

  “What?” Adam asked.

  “Don’t move,” the person said. He stilled, thinking he recognized the voice.

  “Hold up, Bro, we’ve got company.”

  The person stepped closer and even with his night vision goggles he recognized her. His breath hitched, and she lifted a brow.

  “I’m taking off my goggles,” Jackson said.

  “Move slowly,” she said.

  He lifted his goggles and pushed down his balaclava. “It’s me, Marissa.”

  “What? How did you… You can’t be here.” Her voice was sharp, her anger evident.

  “Bro, stop your progress,” he said to Adam.

  “What’s going on?” Adam asked.

  “FBI.” Jackson stared at Marissa, wondering what the hell she was doing out here in the middle of nowhere Italy.

  “Fuck,” Adam said.

  “Move back behind that wall. What are you doing here?” Marissa’s voice stayed low, but he could tell she was pissed.

  “We found Randy,” Adam said weakly.

  “So did we. I have the Italian state police here. They will kill you if they see you. What in the world are you trying to play at?”

  “We’re not playing, we’re here to rescue my brother.” Jackson’s anger rose.

  “Well, we have it covered.” Her gaze went unfocused, and she nodded. “They’re moving on the compound in a few seconds. You and whoever else you’re with needs to bug out.”

  “Is Randy in there?” Jackson asked.

  She gave a sharp nod. “We’re fairly certain he is. We don’t know what shape he’ll be in.”

  His heart gave another squeeze. “I’d like to see him.”

  “I don’t know,” Marissa said. “You shouldn’t even be here. How did you know?”

  The crunch of leaves behind him sounded. He jerked his head around to see Adam approaching. Marissa moved, pulling him behind the cover of the wall.

  “Listen, both of you. Get out of here. Get rid of your military garb. If the Carabinieri sees you, you’ll be arrested or killed.”

  “I want to see my brother,” Jackson said.

  She shook her head just as the sound of gunfire split the air. They all three ducked. The gunplay was over quickly, and Marissa was back at him, telling him to go.

  “Get out of here now,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “My brother? Will you text me? Oh wait, I don’t have my cell, I have a burner.”

  Her lips thinned, and her words were harsh. “Just leave. I’ll text you when this is done. What is your new number?”

  He gave her his new number, and she entered it into her phone. He and Adam took off down the hill, making their way through the trees an
d bushes. His heart hurt, and his head spun. Leaving Randy behind was the hardest thing he’d ever done. How could they walk away from him? They made it back to their car and shed their gear.

  “Fuck, what do you think will happen?” Jackson asked.

  “No clue. That was close.”

  “Yeah. So what now?”

  “There’s one road up and down from that house. I say we wait in town and watch for them to leave.”

  “Okay, let’s do it.”

  Adam drove, taking them closer to the entrance to the villa. They waited, which wasn’t one of his strengths. His thing was action—moving in fast, striking hard, and then moving on to the next target. He’d give almost anything to be the one to find Randy.

  Agitation rode him hard. Then Adam placed a hand on his knee, and he realized he’d been tapping his foot and his fingers.

  “Sorry. Nervous.” He wiped his hand over his face, trying to push away the agitation.

  “I get that. We’ve got to stay calm though. We already screwed up.”

  “This is my fault. We should have waited. Maybe done more investigating.”

  “Jackson, don’t go down that path. We’ll chalk this up as a learning experience. We’ll institute rules, get everything in order. We’ll make sure we know what’s going on before we go in next time. The jobs we’ve done so far have been easy, well, easier than this. We knew this would be tough, and we jumped in because it was your brother. No matter the circumstances, we need to run our operations more like the military.”

  Jackson let out a huge sigh and shook his head. “I hated all those rules about waiting to go in on a hit, but I can understand why they were there. We almost got ourselves killed just now all because I wanted to rescue my brother.”

  “I wanted the same thing too. Had our target been anyone else, calmer heads would have made us wait, but it’s Randy.”

  Something midway up the hill drew his attention. “Lights. They’re coming down.”

  “We wait,” Adam said.

  Two men were on foot, moving quickly. They turned left and disappeared down the street. A few seconds ticked by before Adam asked, “Want to follow?”

  “I don’t know. I think we should—”

  Two vans came around the corner and pulled into the villa’s drive. They watched in silence as the vans moved to the top of the hill. Time kept ticking, and nothing happened. Then a black van and what looked to be ambulances pulled into the compound.

  The bakery on the corner opened, and Adam’s stomach rumbled. Hunger clawed at Jackson, and it didn’t seem like the team up there was any closer to coming down.

  “I’m starving. Let’s get coffee and food and sit at the tables outside,” Adam said.

  “Sounds good.”

  They headed into the bakery and the woman working behind the counter frowned at them. For a second, he wondered if they would have trouble, but she smiled and asked what they wanted. They ordered coffee and sandwiches, and he used the facilities while Adam watched the road.

  They took their food outside and sat so he could watch the compound and the road while Adam looked the other way.

  The town woke, and people young and old made their way into the bakery. A few of the men gave them sideways glances while the women smiled at them. The sun rose and turned the sky pink before golden and finally blue. After he finished his sandwich and had eaten a croissant, the first of the vans rolled down the hill and turned. An ambulance followed and another. He didn’t recognize anyone. Another van approached, and he was staring at the occupants when he spotted his brother. He looked thin and had visible bruises on his face. Cold spiked through Jackson, making him shiver as stared at his brother.

  Enough people were out that the van had to slow to let someone cross the street. That exact moment, Randy turned to look out the window. Their gazes met. Randy’s eyes went wide as recognition fired. The van drove on, but Randy turned in his seat, watching as they sped away.

  “I’m satisfied. We can head home now,” Jackson said.

  “Good. I sent a text to Kelsey informing her that your brother had been rescued.”

  “Thank you.” They both stood, and he reached out, grasping Adam’s arm. “I’m not sure how we improve our methods to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

  Adam met him with a hard stare. “We can’t be assured of anything. Both of us could be taken out on any mission. We both know with war, nothing is guaranteed. It was your brother. Emotions were involved. Next time, there won’t be the overwhelming need to rescue our target.”

  Jackson picked up the tiny coffee cup on the table. It was minuscule compared to what he usually drank. “I need an American coffee. Let’s get home.”

  Adam laughed before picking up his dishes to take into the bakery. “Sure. I’ll drive the first stretch then you can take the next.”

  They took in their dishes and thanked the woman who ran the bakery for such an excellent meal. She had no clue, or maybe she knew—it would be impossible for him to tell—that something significant had happened not too far from her bakery. He had his brother back, and that was all that mattered.

  Two words, Got Him, was all that Marissa texted. He wanted more information, but she was probably angry with him. Hell, he’d run right into her mission. If that had happened to him, he’d be pissed.

  Getting home took time. He wasn’t sure what they would have done if they’d rescued Randy. There were things they needed to work out before they took on a client in a foreign country.

  The dangers of war were known. Jackson should have treated this more like a war and less like an adventure. Going forward, he’d do everything possible to minimize their risks.

  Their first flight was short. When they landed in Paris, they hid their faked EU documents and traveled under their real names from there on out. He slept for most of the flight from Paris to Denver, waking once the plane started its descent. They’d driven to Denver which was easier than flying out of Cheyenne.

  Kelsey met them at the door with his phone in hand. He had four calls from his dad. The first was to remind him how terrible of a person he was. It got worse before his dad called to say Randy was headed home.

  “I didn’t mean to listen in,” Kelsey said. “He’s harsh.”

  “Yep, that’s my dad. It’s why I left home when I turned seventeen and joined up.”

  Her brows knit tight and she frowned. “Do you need anything?”

  He shook his head. “No, I’m going to do the ‘rip the bandage off’ treatment and just call him. I’ll be outside.”

  “Okay, we’ll be in here. Give me your bag, and I’ll wash your clothes.”

  Guilt filled him. “You don’t have to.”

  She shrugged. “It’s not a problem.”

  He handed over his pack and stepped outside, dialing his dad. He hated that his dad couldn’t talk to him without being critical. Their entire relationship had been mired in hate because his dad felt it was his duty to treat him like crap.

  “About time you called. Your brother is on a plane. I guess it would be too much to think you’d be here to meet him.”

  “I’ll see if I can get a flight out.”

  “You’re a no-good waste of a human. I can’t believe someone as irresponsible as you are is my son.”

  “I’ll see you in a few hours.” He hung up and pocketed his phone before closing his eyes as he let out a roar. Birds took off from their perch in the trees and a couple of horses spooked.

  The rage inside hadn’t been calmed with that yell. Jackson wanted to rail and scream. The urge to punch someone grew each second, but there was no way he would start a fight with Adam.

  “Hey, you okay?”

  He turned and saw Adam standing a few feet behind him, muscles tensed like he was ready to be punched.

  Jackson blew out a breath and let out a growl. “Fuck, I’m sorry. The guy is a bastard.”

  “Hey, you have a home here. Don’t ever question that. Both of us want you here. You�
�re our family.”

  He rolled his shoulders and sighed heavily, doubt and anger still riding high. “When I get back, we’ll go over our strategy and unpack our mission.”

  “You flying out there today?”

  Kelsey stepped out, her phone in hand. She looked different, but he wasn’t sure why. Maybe like she’d put on a few pounds, but he sure as heck wouldn’t say anything to her about gaining weight. That was the last thing any man should ever tell a woman.

  “There’s a flight taking off from Denver in four hours. I can get you a spot on it,” Kelsey said.

  “Sure, I think that’s the best bet.” The last thing in the world he wanted to do was fly home and see his dad. Going home wasn’t for his dad, it was for Randy. “I’ll be back soon,” Jackson said as reality sunk in. His dad would give him a blistering round of chewing out over and over again. Nothing had changed since he’d left home, and nothing would. His dad didn’t think he was a good person.

  “You know you belong here, right?” Kelsey stared up at him, her eyes wide, her expression serious. Adam was a lucky man. This woman was good through and through. Jackson pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head, glad he had friends like Kelsey and Adam.

  “If I had a sister, I’d want her to be like you. You’re the best. Both of you are the best. I’ll come home in a few days and get back to work on Dark Eagle business. I’ll help you develop more rules, and we’ll unpack this mission.”

  “I don’t like you heading out so soon after getting home, but I get it. Go be with Randy.” Adam pulled him close and thumped him on the back twice before letting go.

  After changing and packing a bag, he drove away from the ranch, wishing he didn’t have to leave. He slept on the flight to Virginia, waking just before the plane touched down at nearly ten that night. He picked up a rental car and drove to his dad’s house. A block from the house, he parked and stared at the place, wondering if he was crazy for coming back. The lights were blazing, and it looked like people were moving around.

  He couldn’t stall anymore. He pulled his car to the curb in front of the house, knowing he’d have to move it later. After two deep breathes, he pushed open the door and headed up the steps to the house. Everything was perfect from the lawn to the bushes. As a kid and teen, he’d been responsible for keeping the lawn perfect. If one blade of grass was out of place, he would have to do the whole yard again. His dad was a stickler. One day, he’d been forced to spend six hours cutting the grass with scissors.