Page 98 of Thaddeus

“Border Patrol?” Kyle asked.

“Admiral made a call. You have one hour until we’ll have to get creative on your exfil.”

“If we get close to that leave—”

The man cut off Kyle. “That’s not happening. We’ll adapt.”

“We brought you drysuits in case you wanted them.” He nodded to the pile of vulcanized rubber suits.

Declan took over the conversation and watched as we passed the lights on the Imperial Beach pier flying by and the runway markers for the IB air field came into view.

We were halfway to the border.

Almost there, agápi mou. Just hold on.

Fuck. I scrubbed my hands over my face and felt a hand on my shoulder.

Brooks was in my space scowling at me.

“What?”

“Don’t do it. We’re almost there.”

What the hell was he talking about?

“Do what?”

“Brother, I see it. I recognize it. I’ve been there. Your mind is wandering. We’re five minutes to drop. Five after that, we’ll be breeching the storage building. Don’t slip.”

With a lift of my chin, I gave him a halfhearted agreement.

I was staring off into the water, I could feel the boat rocking as the pilot guided us closer to Mexico, but I was not there. I was stuck back in the empty hotel room. A place she should’ve been safe. The very place she should’ve been asleep waiting for me. The place I made love to her and made her mine. Where she told me she loved me.

Fuck.

My jaw clenched and my heart hurt so fucking bad I couldn’t breathe.

“Stop it,” Declan barked. “You have thirty seconds to get your head back where it needs to be or I’m pulling you.”

“The fuck you are.”

“No, really, Thaddeus, I will. We have one shot to get your woman. Kyle, Max, and I take point. You and Brooks are overwatch. If you deviate from that, I’ll shoot you myself.”

“I’m hitting the container,” I argued.

“The hell you are. We don’t know what we’re walking into. You’re holding on, but barely. If there’s something in that box you don’t like and you snap, we’re all fucked. You’re not taking point. You’re gonna follow orders. We’re gonna grab your woman and we’re gonna haul ass. That’s the plan. That’s what’s gonna happen. And just to add, if I were in your place, I’d expect you to make the same call and keep my ass in check so I didn’t get us all killed.”

I hated he was right. If I lost my shit, everyone could die. I should’ve gone at this alone. Slipped away after Autumn called and handled business.

Brooks gave me a nudge, and reading my thoughts the way he always could, he shook his head.

“Copy,” I bit out.

“Good. You wanna drysuit?”

I glanced around the boat and as expected none of the guys had donned one. The water would be cold but nothing we couldn’t handle.

“I’ll pass.”