Page 50 of Redeeming Violet

“Who are you?” I whispered back.

He didn’t answer; instead, he pulled me out into the hot humid jungle air and my breath caught in my throat.

I was going to die.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jaxon

“Extraction One, you copy?” Panther’s voice crackled in my ear.

“Loud and clear, Extraction Two,” I answered.

I adjusted my plate carrier, knocking my knuckles against the three mag pouches attached to the molly straps that lined the front of my vest, double checking each pouch had the extra ammo I needed. Eric and Declan were two steps behind me; they too were scanning the area as we made our way through the jungle. Linc, Zane, and Leo flew down to Rio once Tex had confirmed Ortega had been seen in the area. The man he was sending in to pose as the buyer had not checked in. I didn’t like the lack of communication. Any number of things could’ve gone sideways, and without his confirmation he’d made contact, we were still blind.

“We’re coming up on your two,” Panther said. “We have a clear shot to the target, I’d say we’re one klick ahead.”

“Copy.”

“They’re making better time. Fucking jungle snake slowed us down,” Eric complained.

He wasn’t wrong. A nasty bitch of a snake had coiled around his leg; it had taken us a few extra minutes to cut Eric free. Leo, Zane, and Linc were a little more than a half a mile ahead of us to our right. They would take the east side of the building while Eric, Declan, and I would take the west. The best intel we had was from a territory leader Declan knew. He’d confirmed an American woman was inbound and Ortega himself had put word out that there were to be no one in the area of his warehouse for the next two days.

Zane had promised Tex was working his magic, but since we’d entered this God-forsaken jungle we haven’t heard from him either. Violet had been gone nearly twenty hours, the window of finding her was closing in. This was our only hope. If she wasn’t here, we were fucked. There’d be no time to regroup before the sweet spot ran out. That was assuming Ortega needed the time to get his affairs in order and meet with the buyer. He could’ve already had everything in place to make the exchange; Violet could be long gone by now. Even the mere thought of that made me grind my teeth and my gut to clench. I’d been doing a good job keeping myself under control, but the longer this went on the harder it got. I needed to keep my emotions in check; however, thoughts of some asshole putting his hands on my woman was enough to make me see red.

All we had to go off of was assumptions and the unfortunate wisdom one gains dealing with fuckwits that indicated Ortega still had her. We continued to trudge along the mucky jungle trail, staying clear of any marked roads. The air was thick, and the bugs were out in full force. Sweat dripped down my neck and my long-sleeve camouflaged shirt was drenched. We were almost at the rally point when Zane’s voice came through the comms. “Eyes on target, no movement, no prize. We’ve set up shop.”

They’d located the building but either didn’t see Violet or couldn’t see into the building.

“Copy that. Sights in?” I asked, needing clarification.

“Negative, Blue. No sights in,” he returned.

His answer gave me hope she could be in the building. My step quickened, and my heart rate jumped.

“Slow is fast, fast is slow,” Eric said. “Slow your roll, brother. Be smart.”

His reminder had me slowing my pace a fraction. He was right. I needed to be smart. My emotions were a tangled mess. I had to find a way to harness my emotions, separate myself from the man who cared deeply for Violet, and be the operator I was trained to be.

I nodded my acknowledgement and we continued the last hundred yards as the building came into view. I checked my two o’clock, there was no sign of Zane or the others.

“Extraction Two, I have eyes on the target.”

“Copy. You’re in my sights. Proceed.”

After Zane had recognized our location, the three of us moved into position on the west side of the building, confirming there were no windows on this side of the building but there was a door.

“Extraction Two, we have a door on west side,” I called over the radio.

“Copy. Other three sides are tight, no exit,” Leo answered. This was the only way in or out of the building. “Viper and Ghost are making their way to you.”

I caught sight of Zane and Linc to the left but was more concerned with the number of vehicles around the building. There were at least two that were in good working order; the other three junkers may or may not be mobile.

“Possible eight tangos,” Declan called before I had a chance to.

“I can feel it, brother,” Eric said to me when he came to my side.

“What’s that Wolf?” I asked. Eric always had some great saying before we went into battle.