by Linzi Basset
“Pish-posh, Jax, I’m just happy to see you. Did you know that I was also taken away from my dad?” She asked with a slight catch in her voice. “And that my mom is dead?”
His gaze softened but he didn’t budge from his hiding place behind Paige. “I heard. I’m sorry about your mom but I’m glad that at least you had someone to look out for you.” His voice thickened. Even his own mother had rejected him in favor of the prince.
“Yes, I had Lauren, who married my dad and we’ve become a happy family.” She tiptoed around Paige. “Come on, Jax, aren’t you happy to see me too?”
“Of course, I am, Becca but I’m not exactly a little kid anymore.”
Rebecca eyed him with narrowed eyes. Her hands lifted to her hips and she tapped her foot on the floor. The rat-a-tat drew Jaxon’s eyes to her small foot encased in silver sneakers. He snorted.
“Still playing a princess, Becca? Believe me, royalty isn’t all that great as it’s made out in fairytales.”
“Jaxon,” Paige warned quietly to which he sighed and ambled toward the island.
“Want some juice?” He asked Rebecca with a twinkle in his eyes. “You’re still a halfie—no bigger than a midget,” he teased and lifted his hands in pretend fear when she responded by tossing her hair back.
“Jaxon, this is Samantha, Rhone’s girlfriend and the gorgeous redhead is Lauren, Keon’s wife,” Paige introduced them briefly.
“Uncle Rhone has a girlfriend? Wow, that’s a surprise. Uhm, I don’t mean anything bad,” Jaxon backtracked quickly when he noticed Samantha expression. He realized it was a sore point with the beautiful blonde woman.
Paige nudged him and said warningly. “Better watch out, Jaxon. You’re looking at one of the best snipers the US Government has ever had.”
“For real?” He stared at the petite woman in awe. “How’s that possible? She’s hardly taller than Becca.”
“I’m tall enough,” Rebecca snipped, still annoyed that Jaxon didn’t seem as excited as she was to see him again.
Jaxon ignored her. “What kind of rifle do you use?”
“Did I use. I’m not working for the government anymore. I locked away my rifle so to speak but when I did use one, I favored the XS1 TrackingPoint Sniper.”
“Awesome. I read an article about it once. Will you show it to me some day?” He asked in a hushed whisper.
Samantha laughed. “Maybe—”
“No, she won’t,” Ethan said sharply from the doorway as he joined them.
“But Dad—”
“But Dad nothing. I don’t want you anywhere near guns and knives and shit. No, Jaxon, it’s not open for discussion,” Ethan cut him off when he opened his mouth to protest further.
Ethan pulled Paige into his arms and kissed her on her cheek. “Stop glaring at me, my sweet.”
“I suppose you’re going to tell me I have no reason to?” she snapped while tugging at the black outfit he was wearing. “Just exactly where do you think you’re going?”
“To New York. I want to be there when Rhone and the team catches that bastard.”
“Are you out of your mind? You’re still recuperating from a knife wound and now you want to go gallivanting around more danger. Are you chasing death, Ethan Brodie?” She censured.
Ethan smiled and tapped her on the nose. “I love that you worry about me so much, my sweet, but it’s unnecessary. I’m completely healed.”
“Like hell you are,” she snapped.
“Shall I remind you of last night, luv?” He chuckled as her mouth snapped shut. Her cheeks bloomed like a red tomato.
“Don’t try and distract me, Ethan. You’re not—”
“Enough, Paige. I’m going and that’s the end of it. There is a double security team in place so you and Jax will be safe.”
“I’m coming with you,” Jaxon opined and drew back his shoulders. If Paige wasn’t so upset, she would’ve burst out laughing at how similar the two males looked standing next to each other.
“No, Son. You’re not.”
“But Dad!”
“No, Jaxon. I need you here to take care of Paige. She’s very important to me and you’re the only one I trust to take care of her. Will you do that for me, Son?”
Paige snorted at the blatant manipulation, not believing him for one moment, but it had the desired effect on Jaxon. His shoulders slumped. He placed a protective arm around Paige. He was already almost a head taller than her.
“Very well. I’ll stay, but you better come back. Do you hear me, Dad?”
“I’ll be back before you even know I’m gone,” he promised and squeezed him around the back of his neck. He leaned in and pressed his forehead against his.
“You promise?” Jaxon pressed.
“I promise, my boy.”
He dragged Paige against him and kissed her soundly and with no regard for their audience. The kiss was short but so passionate it made her toes curl. Her eyes fluttered open.
“I will be back, Paige, so stop frowning at me.”
“Preferably without another wound, if you please.”
Ethan chuckled at the chill in her voice but his heart warmed at her concern.
“I’ll give it my best shot, my sweet but you’re such an accommodating nurse; I might just go looking for another wound so you can—”
“That’s not even remotely funny, Ethan.” She seared him with an annoyed look. Ethan planted another quick kiss on her lips and then he was gone.
Silence descended in the kitchen. Everyone was caught up in their own thoughts.
“I brought my bathing suit. Shall we go swimming, Jax?” Rebecca prodded eagerly.
Paige pushed Jaxon toward the door when he hesitated. “Go, it’ll do you good to relax. Besides, we have some girl stuff to talk about.”
“I’ll meet you at the pool, Becca,” he mumbled with a reproachful glance at Paige.
Paige ignored him. It was evident that he was struggling to find the same childlike rapport with Beckie that they had when he was seven years old. Eight years was a long time and both of them had grown older in the meantime.
“Okay, already! No chit-chat,” Samantha said. “What are we going to do? I, for one, am not happy about our men being in danger.”
Lauren sighed. She’d been waiting for Samantha to find her way into Rhone’s op since the day the men had left. It had been a week and Samantha was chafing at the bit, so to speak.
“They’re competent enough to handle the situation, Samantha. Don’t let your overactive imagination run away with you again. You know what Rhone’s reaction will be if you pitch up there,” she said soothingly.
“Well, I don’t like it. We haven’t heard from them since Sunday.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder in a defensive gesture. “Besides, they won’t even know we’re there.”
Lauren shook her head with a sidelong glance at Paige for some assistance.
“Ethan explained that they’re keeping radio silence as much as they can. They don’t want anything to go wrong,” she offered her two cents worth.
Samantha tapped her fingers on the counter. Slow at first and then faster until she slapped her palm down.
“We’re going to help them,” she announced in her usual impulsive manner. “Well, Lauren and I are,” she said to Paige. “We need you here to take care of Beckie and Jaxon.”
“Samantha, I don’t think it’s such a good idea. I know you’re an expert shot but—”
“But nothing. If they’re dealing with a crime syndicate, the chances are that there will be a sniper or two on the scene. I need to be there to make sure he doesn’t hurt any of our men. Lauren is just as good and besides, the more guns, the merrier it is, right?” She negated Paige’s concern brightly.
“I doubt Rhone is going to agree with you,” Lauren said dryly.
“Well, tough. I need to go and make sure my man is safe,” Samantha asserted.
“Forget it, Paige,” Lauren smiled at Paige who opened her mouth. “Once she’s mad
e up her mind, it’s useless trying to change it. Very well, Sis. I’m in. What’s the plan?”
“Come now, Lauren, you know me. We’ll strategize on the way there. Let’s go. Time’s a wastin’ and we still need to twist Max’s arm to tell us where they’ll be tomorrow.”
“Max? Why not just ask Richard? You know he can’t say no to you,” Lauren teased. “Don’t worry, Paige. We’ll be careful.”
“You better be and please come back in one piece.”
“Of course, we will,” Samantha chirped and hugged her briefly. “We’ll drop off Beckie’s clothes on the way to the Summers Field private airfield. I have a couple of contacts who will be too happy to fly us there in a chopper.”
* * * * * * * *
“Got you, you bastard,” Max exclaimed.
It was four in the morning. Max and Richard had been working nonstop, trying to find the flight plan of the private plane; to no avail. Someone with a lot of power had managed to lock it so tight, no one at JFK was willing to release the information. They had to resort to checking all planes leaving the airport around the same time, via satellite feed. It was a slow process, filtering through everything until they were able to pinpoint three possible locations. They hit the jackpot with the second one.
“Rhone, are you there?”
“Did you find it?”
“Yes. It’s a private airstrip on Nantucket Island. I’ve already sent you the coordinates. It’s on the Northern coast in the Wauwinet area. According to information it belongs to Akram Jasem. He obtained US Citizenship fifteen years ago but has remained loyal to the Royal House of Saudi Arabia. According to the logs we managed to hack into, the prince had been using Akram’s airstrip at least once every four months. I guess that’s how he managed to stay under radar. The best way to approach unseen would be from the west, although we don’t detect any guards at this point. Maybe they’ve become complacent because they’ve never been caught. I’ve already cleared you to land at the Sankaty Head Golf Club. From there it’s approximately twenty miles to the airstrip.”
“Got it. Good work, Max. I hope you and Richard are taking turns to rest,” Rhone said while he quietly woke up the rest of the team. The van didn’t offer much comfort, but they had to keep the stake-out until they got confirmation about the prince’s whereabouts.
“Who needs sleep? Stuff like this is like adrenaline on tap us. Go get them, Rhone. Oh, Ethan’s already in New York and will be waiting for you at JFK.”
“Ethan? Why am I not surprised?” Rhone said with a chuckle. He would have done the same if he had been in Ethan’s shoes. “Max, please inform Alex. He said he’d join you in the ops room, to be on standby when the bust goes down.”
“On it.”
Rhone ended the connection. “Get us to JFK, Lance. I can’t wait to get this fucking over with,” he growled and filled them in on the information he had. “If we can get to the airstrip before sunrise we might be able to do a sweep undetected.”
“Are you thinking there’d be no guards?” Jack asked with a wide yawn.
“From what Max had said, there might not be; not around the hangars anyway.” Rhone stretched his legs and groaned. “This fucking van wasn’t made for tall fuckers like us.”
“Ah, Max just sent us the satellite link to the airfield. Check your phones,” Keon said. His voice sounded thick from sleep. “He’s right; I don’t detect any movement anywhere. No harm in being alert when we approach, just in case.”
The rest of the trip to JFK and to Nantucket Island from there was spent discussing strategy. By the time they approached the airfield through thick shrubs, they were wide awake and geared for action. Rhone’s fist locked above his head in a stop motion and they hunched down.
They perused the area through night vision binoculars.
“Clear. Keep low and move fast. Only shoot when absolutely necessary. Ethan, your leg okay, mate?”
“I’m good. Don’t worry about me.”
“On the double. Let’s go,” Rhone said and started moving forward. They formed a double format behind him and Keon and moved quietly and quickly to the closest building. They found the plane in the largest hangar.
“Be alert. Ethan, you’re with me inside the plane. The rest of you, check the hangar.”
Everyone moved in different directions while Rhone and Ethan entered the plane, which surprisingly was standing open.
“They’re either very confident no one will come looking or it’s a trap,” Rhone murmured. “I’ll take the cockpit, you the back.”
Ten minutes later they met at the airplane door. “Nothing,” Ethan said as he looked around. “It doesn’t make sense, Rhone. This plane is luxurious but not equipped to carry a load of sex slave across the ocean to the Middle East.”
“I agree. We’re missing something.”
“Everything’s clear, except for one very sleepy security guard. I gave him a gentle tap on the head to make sure he doesn’t wake up and tied him up in a storage room at the back,” Keon reported as he, Lance and Jack stepped into the plane.
“Money is clearly not a problem for the Royalty of Saudi Arabia,” Jack said with a low whistle.
“Yeah, slavery is a lucrative business, especially with the oil-rich sheikhs,” Lance said with a sneer.
“Wait a minute,” Ethan said as he walked to the back. “It doesn’t go all the way to the tail of the plane. There must be a hidden hold . . . the cargo hold. We need to check down below.”
“Fuck me,” Keon spat when he managed to pry open the steel door they’d found hidden behind large black containers in the cargo hold.
It was a large square room equipped with shackles and chains attached to the walls and the floor.
“Fucking bastard. From what we overheard, it’s clear that the syndicate never uses this kind of transporting. Looking at this setup, it means he has more than one supplier of slaves.”
“This is exactly the confirmation we needed of Prince Khalid Saud’s involvement in human trafficking,” Rhone raged. He glanced at his watch. It was approaching six am. He tapped his earpiece to activate the speaker phone. “Max, is Alex with you?”
“Yes, Rhone, I’m here.”
Rhone explained what they had found. “Lance has just sent visuals to Max. We’re going into radio silence mode from this point on. We have no idea what time to expect them and we don’t want to alert anyone of our presence. How far out is your team?”
“They’re approaching as we speak, Rhone. ETA five minutes. Keep the channel open so we can hear what’s going on. Stay out of sight until they arrive with the merchandise. As soon as they release them into the prince’s care, you take those fuckers down. My team is under your command, Rhone. Don’t let any of those bastards escape.”
“Believe me, none of them will,” Jack growled.
“I need the royals alive, Rhone. We need to find out who the mole is in the FBI and CIA. They are the key to sinking the Sixth Order.”
“We’ll do our best,” Rhone grunted, “but my team’s safety comes first. If we need to take them out, we will.”
Rhone gave the orders to the covert team as soon as they arrived and within minutes quiet returned to the airfield.
“Are you sure your leg is okay, Ethan? I don’t want you to have a setback. We can handle this,” Rhone said quietly where they were waiting behind rows of cargo containers just outside the hangar. He searched Ethan’s face for any signs of fatigue but he appeared as fit and robust as always.
“I know, but I have to be here. I want to make sure that bastard can’t get to Jaxon again. This ends here, Rhone. One way or the other.”
“Agreed,” Keon interjected while he glanced toward the buildings surrounding them.
“You look worried, Keon. What’s up?" Ethan asked as he settled next to him with his back pressed against the container.
“Something worries me about what Lauren said last night when I spoke to her,” he mused and looked at Rhone. “Did you speak to Sammy?”
“Yeah,” Rhone said in a drawn-out response, his eyes narrowed in thought as he ran their discussion back in his mind. “Goddammit! I’m going to whip her ass blue if what you suspect is true, Keon,” he snapped when the penny dropped.
“Care to enlighten me?” Ethan drawled.
“They’re here,” Rhone snarled. He picked up his binoculars and scanned the surroundings, concentrating on the rooftops of the buildings.
“Might as well give up, mate. You won’t see Ace unless she wants to be seen.”
“When will the goddammed woman realize that I don’t need her to watch my back?” Rhone’s frustration was palatable in his dark tone and tense shoulders. “I swear, the next time I go on a mission, I’m chaining her to the bed again.”
Rhone could feel his heart hammering inside his chest but none of the emotions showed on his face. The thought of Samantha and Lauren in danger, infuriated him. But it scared him even more.
The dawn was ebbing into daylight. The horizon turned different hues of purple, orange and yellow as the sun started to rise higher. He couldn’t stop time and couldn’t afford to go hunting for the hard-headed woman who refused to listen. She danced to her own tune and in the process could very well jeopardize their operation. Everything hinged on the prince’s actions. They couldn’t afford to fuck this up. Samantha never shot to maim. She aimed to kill, especially if those she loved were in danger.
He tapped his earpiece. “Richard, I’m not going to ask but you better listen carefully. Tell her that no one dies here today and if she knows what’s good for her, she’ll retreat now.”
“Yeah, will do, boss,” Richard’s voice sounded dry. The fact that he didn’t question Rhone was proof that Keon had been spot on. Rhone understood Richard’s reaction. No one told Samantha to retreat.
“Heads-up, Rhone. There’s movement at the main gate. Two vehicles approaching,” Max warned over the earpieces.
“Stay low. No one moves. It’s probably airfield personnel,” Rhone barked. “Lance, Jack, are you guys ready to move?”
