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“Jared! Thank God!” Paxton flung herself into his arms the moment they entered the cabin. “When the comms went dead after the gunshots, I was afraid I’d lost you.”
“I’m here, honey. We’re both okay. Brock has a flesh wound that needs attention.”
“I’m fine. Any word from—”
“I swear, when I get my hands on that bitch, I’m gonna break her fucking face!” Knox railed as she stomped into the den. Her arms flailed wildly as she threw her sniper rifle on the sofa and started to pace. “Why the hell does she have to be so hardheaded!?”
“Knox! Where’s Jordan?” His heart thumped rapidly against his chest as he attempted to curb the rising fear. He struggled to breathe as the possibilities of where she might be threatened to suck the oxygen from his lungs. “Dammit! Talk to me.”
“She jumped on the fucking boat that Fadhil is on— with three armed guards nonetheless! I couldn’t get a clear shot. I was scared she might get hurt. It’s a Fountain 32 Thundercat powerboat. There is no way the Coast Guard will catch them at full speed once they hit the ocean.”
“If the theory that Jordan and I worked on is correct, and I believe it is, they’re heading out into deep water towards a submersible, Brock. You need to find them before that happens.” Tanner struggled to sit upright. “Cruz, have you heard anything from your navy buddy?”
“Yeah, they detected an unknown vessel midway between California and Hawaii. They’ve been unable to hail it. It’s got to be where they’re headed.”
“Let’s get the chopper, Jared. The Sikorsky is fast enough to catch up with them. I’m not going to allow Fadhil to get his hands on Jordan again.” Brock shrugged off Paxton who attempted to wrap his arm as he ran toward the door. “I’ll do it on the way. Come on, Jared!”
“I’ll send the coordinates to the helo, Jared,” Cruz said over the comms. “I’ve got a drone following the boat but it’s struggling to keep up.”
“That’ll help.” Jared kissed Paxton briefly. “Get back to the Cobra bunker where I know you’ll be safe. I have no idea where Luca is or what he’s up to. I want you all out of here. I’ll contact Bill to send a team to pick you up.” Giving her a final hug, he ran to the door with Knox at his heels.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“You might need a shooter and I’m the best one there is since Brock is hurt. Forget it, Commander,” she cut his protest short. “You’re wasting time. I’m going and that’s it.”
She ignored his muttering, “They never listen,” and sprinted off to catch up with Brock.
They were in the air within five minutes.
Brock’s expression was closed as visions of a time where captured soldiers, himself included, tortured his mind. He rubbed his bicep, feeling the scars that would always be a reminder of the cruelty of men… men like Fadhil who had no regard for life but only the amount of pain and destruction they could cause. Men who believed that fear gave them power over their enemies.
Fadhil was about to meet a man who feared only one thing… losing the woman he’d come to love at a time he believed he would never find happiness again. Now, he would kill without hesitation to keep her safe.
“Punch it, Jared. They’re about twenty miles from that submarine which at their current speed will take them less than ten minutes to reach. You’re over fifteen minutes behind them,” Cruz’s voice cracked over the helicopter comms.
Jared slowly pushed forward the collective to increase the speed then nudged the cyclic and dropped to below a hundred feet AGL before he engaged the prop and cranked the turbine to 230 knots.
“Holy shit!” Knox cried out in awe as the aircraft reacted with a surge of power. “I never realized this baby could fly so fast!”
“That’s more like it,” Cruz bellowed. “By my calculations, you should catch up to them a mile from the sub. I’m updating the coordinates as we speak. You should be able to make visual contact in the next couple of minutes.”
“What’s the plan, Brock?” Jared glanced sideways at the glum man beside him. “At such a high speed there’s no way you’d be able to rappel down into the boat. You’ll be ripped to pieces halfway down.”
“I’m not going to. I’m going to jump.”
“Now I know why Jordan latched onto you,” Knox piped up from the back seat. “You’re just as fucking crazy as she is. That’s suicide, Brock. Jordan doesn’t want to see you in a body bag.”
“I’m not planning on dying,” he muttered as he searched the ocean through binoculars. “Jared is going to take the chopper down as close to the boat as possible and create enough wake turbulence to fill the air with stinging saltwater. If need be, you will provide suppressing fire with that minigun. I’m banking on us catching them by surprise because they won’t hear us coming.”
“Over there. That must be them.” Jared pointed to the north.
Brock zoomed in closer. “Fuck! They’ve got Jordan. The fucking bastard Fadhil just clocked her over the head and is carrying her below deck. Hit it, Jared! Get me over there.” He unbuckled his safety harness and stood in the open doorway.
“Be careful, Brock!” Knox cried as the rush of wind blew her against the port side of the chopper. She watched wide-eyed as Brock hunched down and prepared to jump.
Jared pulled pitch to put the chopper nose-high over the boat. It was now or never. Brock jumped the moment he lowered the Raider to within a couple of yards above the Thundercat.
“Oh no you don’t, motherfucker!” The round from Knox’s sniper rifle exploded in a spray of blood as it tore through grey matter, dropping the man behind the controls as he brought a weapon to bear on Brock.
