AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Got in contact with one of my people in France. He tells me that he’s good with a pilot out of Dijon, just a couple of hours from here. He’s got a few flights before then, but in two days he’ll be flying from Dijon to London, then to Boston. It’s a cargo plane, so we don’t need to worry about tickets or flight lists or anything like that.”
Hud narrowed his eyes. I could sense that his skepticism was being won over.
“And you trust this guy?”
“Of course, I do. We served together in Afghanistan, the same division. I’m not about to trust our lives to some random.”
“That’s the plan?” Pyke asked. “We go to Boston and…what?”
“We cool our heels, see if our contacts can turn up any new information on Jurgen and what he’s planning. Regardless of anything else, our job is to keep Vic safe. King Finn and his security team are working on how to take Jurgen down. In the meantime, we’ve just got to keep the princess as far away from danger as possible.”
Hud rubbed his beard, thinking the matter over.
“Pyke, what do you think?”
He shrugged. “He’s right. We keep the princess safe. Going across the pond might buy us some time. Especially if we can sneak out of the continent without Jurgen finding out about it.”
I was ready to speak up. With a groan, I sat up, pain shooting through me.
“Easy, Kid!” Ajax said, running over and putting his hand on my shoulder. “What’re you doing?”
I leaned forward, my shoulder throbbing. God, I hated to feel so useless, so helpless. Nothing a merc hated worse than being a burden.
“I’m contributing to the damn discussion. What does it look like I’m doing?”
“You’re hurt,” Ajax said. “You don’t need to worry about that. Just rest and take it easy.”
I wanted to argue with him, but it hurt just to even sit up. I leaned back against the headboard.
“We should do it,” I said. “We’ve been in Europe for too long. I miss pizza. American pizza, not the weird Italian kind.”
That got some mild laughs out of the guys.
Ajax spoke up. “Alright, that’s one vote on my side.”
“Where’s Vic?” I asked, looking around as if she might be somewhere in the room.
“She’s, ah, resting,” Hud said. “She’s got a lot on her mind. I just checked on her; she’s doing alright for now.”
“Yeah, checked on her,” Ajax said the words with a strange tone like he was mocking Hud.
Something was definitely up. Pyke had been in the middle of checking something on his phone and hadn’t noticed.
When Pyke was done, he shook his head and tucked his phone back into his pocket.
“Let’s do it. Right now, our plan is either to go to Boston or to bum around Europe and hope that Jurgen doesn’t catch up with us. At least in Boston, we’ve got a place to stay.”
“And there’s something else, too,” Ajax said. “I know this shouldn’t have any bearing on the mission, but I’d be out of line if I didn’t tell you guys about it. My brother Bryan’s home from duty. He says that Megan’s having issues with her pregnancy. We do what’s best for the team and for Vic above all. But I wanted to make you guys aware in case you think that it’s influencing my decision.”
“Doesn’t matter to me,” I said. “The plan seems sound, and if you get a chance to check up on Bryan, so much the better.”
Hud nodded. “Yeah. I might disagree with you from time to time, Ajax. But I wouldn’t ever suspect you of putting us or the mission in danger because of personal feelings.”
“Same here,” Pyke said. “I trust you.”
Ajax nodded. “Thanks, guys. And…are we in?”
The three of us shared a look.
