by Jen Talty
“I’m actually forty-five minutes away,” Dylan said. “Lucky for you I was at Area 51.”
“Can you get here?”
“I can and I’ve got a couple of buddies coming with me. Tell me where to meet you.”
“At the edge of town where the dirt road to my place starts. There’s a country store—”
“I remember. I’ll be there.”
Ramey ended the call feeling a little more confident about the situation now that he’d have two of his brothers at his side, but that didn’t help the fear that crept into his mind and body, taking over his ability to compartmentalize.
Mother fucker had Tequila.
And threatened to kill her.
No one threatened to kill someone he loved and got away with it.
His heart squeezed as he stepped into the elevator. His chest tightened and it became difficult to breath. He swallowed, but it didn’t help.
How could anyone fall in love with someone in a couple of days?
Okay, his brother, Nick, could. But not Ramey.
Nope.
Yep.
Fuck.
“We’re not going to let anything happen to her,” Logan said.
He tried to hold on to that concept as they made their way through the hospital and back out to the garage. For the next twenty minutes, as he sped through town, he did his best to focus on the sound of Logan’s voice and the plan that began to form, but every time there was a lull, his mind shot back to Tequila.
And Kyle.
He had to protect them both.
The Jeep skidded to a stop in front of the small store. The owner waltzed out, opening the side door, nodding to Ramey.
“A private room in a convenient store?” Logan asked, arching a brow.
Ramey shrugged. “I like to play cards sometimes.”
“Mom would kill you if she knew you gambled.”
“Oh please. It’s a pick-up game of Texas hold ’em and the stakes aren’t very high. Not like you’ve never played the game.”
Logan laughed. “Mia would ring my neck. She hates gambling.”
Ramey shook his head. “Now that is weird coming from a hacker.”
“Ethical hacker. There is a difference.”
The sound of sand and dirt being kicked up by large tires caught Ramey’s attention. A dark suburban parked next to his Jeep. Checking the area, he made sure no one else was in sight. He’d picked this spot, in part because they could go over the plan in the privacy of the poker room as well as he could see for miles around making sure no one was watching.
He looked to the sky.
Well, no one except those who had access to the… “Can you call Mia or her brother and have them hack the satellite—”
“On it,” Logan said.
Dylan stepped from the vehicle, all six-foot-four of him.
“He looks taller to me every time I see him.”
“Maybe you’ve started shrinking,” Logan said.
“That’s funny, old man,” Ramey said as he met his little brother half way and gave him a brotherly slap on the back. “What brings you to the desert that you didn’t call me ahead of time?”
“I just got here an hour ago and I can’t tell you.”
“Of course you can’t, Mr. Highest-Security-Clearance,” Ramey said. “How does the youngest one climb up the ranks faster than anyone else?”
“Because I’m smarter than all of you put together.” Of all the Sarich boys, Dylan had been the most reserved in his demeanor. The quiet, gentle giant.
“Hey, baby Dyl,” Logan said, giving him a brotherly punch on the shoulder.
“Jesus, will you ever stop with that shit.” Dylan punched Logan back. “You know I can take you, right.”
“That will be the day.” Logan laughed.
“Enough of that. Let’s go devise a plan that will save my woman.”
“What the fuck did you just say?” Dylan paused dead in his tracks. “You’re woman?”
“Yeah, don’t let Tequila hear you call her that,” Logan said. “I suspect she doesn’t like being considered anyone’s property.”
“She’s not my property,” Ramey muttered, wishing he could take the words back. Not because of how she might respond, but he didn’t feel like taking the razzing from his brothers.
“Please don’t tell me you went and fell in love.” Dylan visibly shook like a dog ridding itself of water.
“Heavy like,” Ramey said.
“It’s definitely love,” Logan teased. “And it’s contagious.”
“God, I fucking hope not,” Dylan said.
Chapter 11
TEQUILA SAT IN the ambulance next to Kyle, her finger pressed against his wrist. His heartbeat slower than it should be, but it was steady. His breath was shallow, the low rumble of a snore made her think they’d given him either an intravenous anesthesia drug or a heavy dose of pain killers.
Nurse Bolton leaned against the ambulance doors, gun in hand. Tequila knew she could easily overpower the woman, but her real concern then was the fire power that Jasper, Brooks, and the man dressed in a black overhaul suit who who’d been hiding his face, held, and whether or not they valued the nurse’s life. Considering how high the stakes were, and the chain of command, leaving the nurse as low man on the totem pole, Tequila figured Jasper would put a bullet in the nurse’s head and not bat an eyelash.
Jasper and Brooks stood in front of Ramey’s chopper, talking quietly while the unknown man tinkered with the with the engine.
That couldn’t be good.
She tilted her head to the left, then the right, trying to get the right angle so she could see the man’s face, but no luck. She couldn’t even assess his size since he’d been hidden behind the helicopter the entire time.
“You do realize you’re either going to end up dead, or rotting in a prison for the rest of your life.” Tequila continued to contemplate a potential escape, but with Kyle unconscious, that would be difficult.
“You’re the only bitch that is going to die.” Nurse Bolton didn’t even glance over her shoulder.
“We’re all going to die someday, only I think I’m going be around to see the sunrise again.”
This time the nurse turned her head and let out a short laugh that sounded more like a pig squealing. “I’m going to enjoy watching you crash and burn.”
“So, that’s the plan? Make me fly away in a doomed aircraft?”
“You, Ramey, his stupid brother, your unconscious friend. It’s a pretty perfect plan.”
“Not even close,” Tequila said, trying not to laugh. “Ramey and I are about the best damn pilots known to the military. We’ll survive.”
“No, you won’t, and it will be a tragic accident due to mechanical failure and human error.”
“We don’t make mistakes.”
Nurse Bolton shook her head. “Stupid girl. Don’t you see? Ramey has been unstable for a while. It’s just too bad he has to take all of you with him.”
In the distance, the humming of Ramey’s Jeep caught Tequila’s attention. She squeezed Kyle’s hand and climbed from the ambulance.
Nurse Bolton raised her weapon, pointing it at the side of her head. “I won’t hesitate to shoot you.”
Tequila ignored the statement, focusing on the Jeep racing across the desert. She glanced at her watch. Exactly one hour from the time she called and barely meeting the deadline Jasper had set for her untimely demise. She forced her lips into a tight line, keeping them curling upward. Ramey and Logan wouldn’t wait that long to show up unless they had a plan.
Nurse Bolton’s cold and clammy fingers curled around Tequila’s biceps.
Tequila squelched the urge to bat the gun pointed at her face away, but figured that might end badly. It annoyed her that she was being watched over by the likes of Nurse Bolton.
The Jeep came to a stop about fifteen feet from where she stood. Ramey stepped from the driver’s seat, his face hard. “You okay?” he asked.
“I�
��m not dead, yet.” Tequila gave a quick nod, eyeing Logan as he moved around to the front of the Jeep, leaning against the hood, hands folded across his chest. Behind her, the sound of boots crunching in the hard desert ground sent a shiver up her spine.
“Glad you could join the party,” Jasper said, standing on the other side of her. “Now step away from the Jeep, walk slowly toward me, hands in the air.”
Ramey and Logan raised their arms, palms facing Jasper and took a few steps when suddenly both men paused. Logan went rigid.
Ramey’s eyes widened. “What the fuck? Roland?”
***
The desert sun had to be playing tricks on Ramey’s eyes, because no way could Roland have anything to do with a plan to steal a sixth-generation aircraft and sell it to their countries enemies.
“Sorry, brother.” Roland continued to close the gap, carrying an assault weapon in his hands.
“Don’t call me brother.” Bile crawled up his throat.
“It’s nothing personal.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Ramey said under his breath. “You’ve been fucking with my planes? Trying to kill me?”
“Not all the planes. Brooks fucked with a lot of them.”
Ramey made his way over to Tequila. “Where’s Kyle?” he asked. He needed to rid his mind of the betrayal standing behind him, with a gun to his back, and focus on how to make sure they made it out alive.
“They gave him something to knock him out and he’s been out cold in the back of the ambulance for the last hour.”
He glanced in his brother’s direction, making eye-contact for a brief moment, before they both scanned the area searching for any sign of Dylan or his team. Being in the middle of nowhere made it difficult to make a surprise entrance, which was the entire reason Ramey liked living there.
Currently, he was re-thinking that philosophy.
He was rethinking a lot of things, but that would all have to wait.
“Why, Roland?” Ramey asked.
“Does it matter?”
“It does to me.” As they walked past the ambulance, Ramey glanced inside the bay doors. Pretty stupid on their part to leave Kyle unattended, unless what they gave him was slowly killing him, a thought that made the hair on the back of Ramey’s neck stand at attention.
No sooner did he have that thought, did the nurse walked toward the ambulance and climbed inside.
“Money. Lots of money,” Roland said.
That made no sense to Ramey at all. Roland’s family was wealthy, a fact most people knew. It’s how he could get the best doctors and treatment for his little girl, even though it hadn’t saved her life. It’s also how they funded their project. Ramey glanced over his shoulder. “You’d betray your country, me, for more money?”
“I’ve got nothing else to live for,” Roland said.
That, Ramey could understand to a point.
“You should be asking why Brooks and Jasper are doing it, though.”
“Does it matter?” Ramey tossed Roland’s words back at him as he stopped in front of his helicopter. He turned around, facing his captors. Tequila on his right. Logan on his left. Dylan hopefully somewhere close.
Roland stood like a solider would who was on high alert, guarding something. Brooks and Jasper, on the other hand, were in a relaxed position, which Ramey could exploit.
“It might matter to you,” Roland said. “Go ahead Brooks, tell Ramey why you’re betraying your country.”
“This is stupid,” Jasper said, shifting his weight. “Get in the helicopter.”
“Hey,” Logan said, raising his hands to the side. “I’ve got nothing to do with this, so if I’m going to die today, I’d sure as shit like to know why.”
“Me too,” Tequila said. “I know that Jasper wants to sell the plane and the weapons system to the Koreans and needed his guy on the test runs to do it, but I have no idea why.”
Jasper took a few steps forward, getting in Tequila’s face.
Ramey tried to come between them, but Roland stopped him with his weapon. Ramey glanced between the metal object stabbing him in the gut and Roland’s face.
He still struggled with believing Roland could turn on him. He understood grief and watched what losing an unborn child had done to Nick. He knew people snapped all the time. But the man, staring him down with a stone-cold face of a killer, hadn’t snapped.
“I was well on my way to becoming a General, but because of politics and one mistake, I was passed over and ended up here, in this God forsaken land to oversee idiots like Ramey. It’s a bullshit job and a demotion with no chance of moving up. When a Korean operative approached me with this opportunity, I jumped on it.”
“You know, the Koreans will torture and then kill you after you deliver the plane,” Logan said.
Jasper laughed. “They need me. Unlike my own damned country.”
Ramey’s fingers twitched. He wanted nothing more than to be able to land a quick jab on Jasper’s nose, breaking it. “Killing us isn’t going to make the problem of my tests flights go away.”
“Oh yes it will,” Brooks said, with a stupid smile on his face, one that Ramey would really like to remove.
“Not all the paperwork has been filed, so making a few adjustments so it appears poor Ramey was unstable, burned out, and incompetent, won’t be so hard.
“That is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.” Ramey’s laugh was cut short when Roland raised his weapon.
“This is about the time we should be telling you to climb into your chopper, but I’m not going to do that.” Roland whistled, then turned his rifle on Jasper.
“What the fuck? Get that thing out of my face.”
“Nope,” Roland said.
Brooks raised his weapon, pressing it to the back of Roland’s head. “You stupid man.”
“I’m the smartest one here,” Roland said with a smile. “You can put a bullet in my head. I really don’t care. But if you do that, Jasper here takes a good fifteen rounds before I drop, and if you think Ramey is going to kill you, you’ve got another coming. He’ll make sure you get court-marshaled and spend your final days in prison as a traitor.”
“That’s an excellent point,” Ramey said. “I’d put the gun down.”
In a flash, Brooks took aim at Logan.
Ramey sucked in a breath as Brooks pressed the weapon at the center of Logan’s forehead.
“Oh fuck,” Tequila said.
Ramey turned his head to see Kyle step from the ambulance with Nurse Bolton following behind. Too many weapons pointed at his people. Where the fuck was Dylan.
“I’m really getting tired of this,” Jasper said. “Put down the fucking gun, Roland. You’re not going to kill me.”
“You’re right, I’m not,” Roland said, nodding. “But they might.”
One hundred paces due east of the hangar, toward the main road, the desert sand flew through the air as three armored military vehicles approached.
The hum of helicopters in the distance echoed off the tin hangar.
The second Brooks shifted his stare, Logan disarmed him.
Out of the corner of Ramey’s eye, he watched Kyle disarm the nurse. Roland held the rifle against Jasper’s chest, whose face had grown pale.
“Interesting turn of events,” Tequila said, her voice rolling over his ears. Sweetest thing he’d ever heard.
“Do you feel like you were left out of the action, because I do,” Ramey said.
She nodded.
“I can’t be left out.” Ramey cocked his fist and swung at Brooks. The crackle of his knuckles hitting Brooks square on the cheek never sounded so good.
“No one threatens my brother.”
Logan laughed. “I’m not baby and I’m not in a corner.”
“What?” Logan shook out his hand, feeling he warmth of Tequila’s fingers around his arm.
“It’s a line from the movie Dirty Dancing,” Tequila said.
“Dirty what?” Ramey asked.
&nbs
p; “Chick flick from the eighties. Something Mia makes me watch every once in a while. Not really that bad, actually,” Logan said as he took Brooks by the arm.
“Don’t get any ideas about chick flicks. I don’t do chick flicks.” Ramey waggled his finger at Tequila.
“Hey, there’s Dylan.” Logan pointed toward the lead armor vehicle that stopped near the ambulance.
“I thought he only had the couple of guys we met at the convenience store, not half of Delta Force, or whatever organization our little brother is working for these days,” Ramey said.
“Those are my people.” Roland held out his rifle. “Hold this for a second.”
Ramey took the weapon, still not sure what to think of Roland or his role in this insane conspiracy.
Roland unzipped his overalls, then ripped open his shirt, uncovering a wire.
“You mother fucker,” Jasper said in a low growl. “You…You…set me up?”
Roland laughed. “You really think I’d turn on my country and my brothers? I might have lost the one thing that meant the most to me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything or anyone left to love.”
“How long have you known about their plan?” Ramey handed the weapon to Tequila, staring at his friend.
“Right after you ejected from the first plane crash. I knew something wasn’t right. Once I figured it out, I didn’t know who I could turn to, so I went off base. I kept rechecking your test runs, and I kept finding things that had been tampered with. I fixed what I found and documented everything. We didn’t have enough, so when I got the call today, they put a wire on me and here we are.”
“Sorry I doubted you.”
“Did you really think I’d not only commit treason, but betray you?”
“You were holding an assault rifle on me.”
“I wouldn’t have shot you,” Roland said. “And by the way, while they thought I was making sure your helicopter would go up in flames, I fixed the leak, but you need to replace a couple of parts.”
“Thanks for the heads up.” Ramey watched Roland walk away, with Brooks and Jasper. He handed them over to the military police. He looped his arm over Tequila.
