Page 82 of Rescuing Erin

“How many?”

“Fifteen. By the weapons and the rest of the gear they’re well-funded. No patches. One guy has a tat on his forearm. Ace got a picture.”

“What’s it of?” I asked Rocco.

“A peacock feather.”

“Same guys,” I told Zane.

I’d seen the same peacock feather tattoo on one of the guys that had held Erin and me. The question remained, who did they work for? Greenwold? Militrix? Or the Omni? Hell, at this point I was almost positive they weren’t mutually exclusive. All three seemed to tie together in one giant clusterfuck.

Chapter 29

“Jasmin. Gerard. May I speak to you both in the hall?” Garrett asked.

Jasmin stood and made her way to the door. “When did you get back? I thought you were in Pennsylvania?”

“Just now. Everyone else is still with Melody.”

Jasmin and Gerard disappeared into the corridor with Garrett. The normally smiling, easy-going man looked haggard, almost as bad as Gerard, who hadn’t moved from his post by the door in the last hour. Hadn’t so much as spoken a word, as a matter of fact. The tension in the room was stifling. My mom, for all her tough talk earlier, was pulling into herself. She was still as polite as ever, but her voice was monotone. Not even the twins cheered her up.

“Is anyone hungry?” I asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

“Thirsty?”

Again, they didn’t verbally answer, instead shaking their heads in the negative.

“Okay. Snap out of it. My mom was right. We should not be sitting here breaking down. Olivia, how many missions has Leo been on since you’ve been with him?”

“A bunch.”

“Violet? What about Jaxon?”

“A lot.”

“Ivy?”

“Enough to know you’re right. Zane would be pissed if he knew I was sitting here worried to death.”

“Right. So snap the fuck out of it.”

“Erin Lynn,” my mom gasped.

“Mom. You’ve heard Jas drop the f-bomb about five million times.”

“But, Alice—”

“Has a daughter in the Navy, a husband, and Colin is her son for God sakes. She’s heard it, too.”

“It’s unladylike, dear.”

“Maybe so. But it feels really good to say. You should try it. Call it stress release.”

Ivy, Violet, and Liv all chuckled but it was Liv who spoke up. “Come on, Mrs. A. You should totally try it.”

“Olivia, what would your mother think of you dropping the f-word?”