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“I see him!”
Thankfully Goliath hadn’t escaped the structure; otherwise, this would have been a disaster. “Good.” She exhaled with relief. “Get him and head directly back to your room. Wait there until I get back.” Her thoughts drifted back to her surroundings and the VIP she waited on. “I should be leaving here within the—”
A cracking, splintering, and whooshing sound followed Jack’s terrifying shriek—a shriek suddenly cut off, stopping her words as she listened with strained ears. Then—complete silence.
“Jack?” She glanced at her screen to see whether the connection remained. It did, so she yelled his name louder, causing people to glance in her direction. When she looked again, they were no longer connected.
In all her years in the military, she’d become attuned to what her gut told her, discerning danger. Now, heightened by her mother’s intuition, it screamed something was terribly wrong.
Striding toward the exit, she phoned Wesley. Ava no longer thought about the VIP she’d waited for, or the big, critical event hosted for Wesley’s business. All that mattered was Jack. And the person she needed right now was Wesley.
He picked up on the first ring.
“Ava,” he rushed, “have you heard from Jack? I’ve been looking for him.”
She nodded before the words could get past her tight throat. “Yes, he’s—”
“Hold on. One sec.”
“Wait! Wes!” She gritted her teeth, realizing he’d muted her. She continued to weave past passengers leisurely wheeling their luggage as the gate agent announced on the loudspeaker yet another delayed flight.
“Sorry.” Wesley unmuted. “There’s some commotion outside. Someone said the tea house collapsed.”
She felt like an IED went off in her vicinity, exploding her world. Ava’s heart clenched as pain radiated from her chest through her body, tingling her extremities. As her steps faltered, the ringing in her ears was surrounded by a hollow echo, blocking out anything else Wesley said, and the airport din became muffled.
Terror unlike anything she’d experienced in her life momentarily paralyzed her.Jack!Ten years of his young life passed before her eyes—all too short and not enough memories. It took three long inhales and exhales to move past her stupefying shock before she squelched the panic that continued to rise. She found her voice, surprisingly strong.
“Jack is in the tea house!”
Wesley cursed and shouted for someone to call 911. He said to her, “I’ll get to him. I promise.”
“I’m on my way.”
She ended the call and ran for the helicopter. Her gut churned with every beat of her heart as she raced outside, instantly becoming resoaked by the torrential rain. Her extensive military training could not have mentally prepared her for this. Jack was her baby, the most important person in her life.He had to be all right.
Inside the helicopter, she buckled in while flipping switches and radioing the tower. Even with immediate clearance, she was ten minutes out. It would be up to Wesley to save Jack.
