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The whole plot was outrageous. Of course I wanted him to be safe, and I knew if he ended up in enemy hands, his fate would be worse than death, but all the same, I couldn’t believe they could pull such a stunt without notifying his loved ones and spare them the heartache.
“I just got off the phone with his mother. They all were notified before the report was released.”
“Well, I didn’t get a call! Obviously!” I spat back, instantly regretting my harsh tone. Aaron was only trying to help, and I knew he wasn’t the problem.
Rachel sat down beside me and began to stroke my hair, like I was an upset child. I was about to push her away, but the simple touch had a calming effect, and I gave in to it, leaning against her.
Aaron nodded. “You’re right, you should have. But Jack didn’t have time to go through the paper chain to get you added as his emergency contact before he shipped out. That’s why he asked me to…” Aaron’s voice trailed off as he glanced beyond me for a moment, gathering his thoughts. His dark eyes returned to mine and he continued, “Jack asked me to be the one to tell you if anything happened. He made me swear that if anything happened to him on tour, that I’d drive to Irvine, find you, and stay with you as long as it took for you to be okay. That was a promise I made to him.”
I nodded, my heart stretching and breaking all at once. The fact that he’d made his friend give him an oath before leaving spoke volumes to his feelings for me, and the depth of how much he cared. It warmed me from the inside out and I clung to that feeling to get me through the reality of the situation.
“You both are welcome to stay here with me as long as you need to. Either way, I’ll make sure you know what I know.”
“Thank you, Aaron,” Rachel replied, her arm wrapped around me as her fingers still toyed with the ends of my hair.
He nodded and took that as his dismissal, striding from the room with long, powerful steps.
“It’s going to be all right, Holly,” Rachel said once Aaron had left the room.
I rested my head down against her shoulder. “That’s what everyone tells me. I just want him here. Right now.”
Rachel said something, more words of assurance, but I didn’t hear any of them as my eyes drifted back to the TV that had been left on, although the volume was muted. My eyes glazed over as I watched the image of a plane hitting the side of a mountain, bursting into a billow of smoke.
36
Jack
It worked.
Perfectly, flawlessly, unbelievably.
It fucking worked.
I still couldn’t believe it. It was like being transported to someone else’s reality. One minute, I was standing on the side of a mountain, in the middle of the fuckin’ desert, my hands sweaty as I gripped my 9mm, and the next—or, at least, what felt like the next—I was in the cockpit of a plane, flying above the site where I’d just managed to drop a shit ton of fire on a secret den full of enemies.
Once my hands stopped shaking, I went to work on getting in contact with friendlies, who’d be able to get me to safety. It took a little finagling, but I got the radio to finally transmit my message. Before I knew it, I was being directed to cross the border and land at an airstrip.
The events blurred together, as I was greeted by a team of soldiers, all who fired off questions at a hundred miles an hour. I was assessed by a medic who was able to stitch up the cut in my leg and got me some painkillers, even though I’d insisted it wasn’t hurting anymore.
After that was done, I was ushered into a room full of high ranking officials who were stationed at the base, who repeated the questions the welcome party had already asked. I sat down at the head of a long table and when prompted, unfolded the entire order of events, about what had happened, how I’d come across the rebel base, and how I’d managed to use the cover of night to sneak aboard their plane, commandeer it, and take off into the night, but not without a parting gift of unloading the rest of the ammo on board to bury their den.
When I finished the retelling, the room of officers was silent, all of them staring at me with blank faced shock.
“Hell, Lieutenant, that was some ballsy shit!” General Fleiss boomed, shattering the silence. I grinned at the General’s words. High praise from a very high ranked official. “We’ve obviously got some questions for you.”
