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One of those bars was worth approximately twenty grand. That was one hell of an upgrade.
He handed me a bar and gestured at the drawers, as if telling me to knock myself out. A moment later, he’d written another message for me.
Take Blake and Piper on a vacation when all this is over.
I…I could pocket a few findings, sure, no problem, but I had no plans on going away with my ex-wife. What the fuck? Spoiling Blake rotten for a while, however…
God, I had to see her again. My eyes smarted at the desperate desire to hear her giggles, to be part of her mischief…
I cleared my throat and opened the rest of the drawers, gathering all the documents I could carry. I didn’t have the time or energy to go through any of it now, but we had a long flight to look forward to soon. And yeah, maybe I grabbed a few gold bars and some cash too. Being in the Coast Guard didn’t make anyone rich.
I suddenly understood how Elliott had afforded that nice ranch of his. Granted, the private sector paid better, but a ranch with an ocean view just north of Carlsbad? Come on. He’d bought my fucking dream home.
Having zero plans to ever go through something like this again, I grabbed a few more bars and declared myself done. Maybe I could give my mom a better headstone. I’d felt guilty as fuck for having to go with a cheaper option.
I swallowed and walked out, grabbing my handgun just in case.
* * *
Elliott and I met up with the others outside the main estate, and we weren’t the only ones who’d gathered files and documents. Mercier had his arms full, and Crew arrived with four backpacks he’d found somewhere. We filled them with the evidence while River, Reese, Danny, and Elliott talked…about something. Crew seemed to be recovering faster; he picked up sound if the others raised their voices. A funny sight.
To me, it was an underwater rushing sound, the same ringing from before, and…like, Greer and Cullen had deeper voices, and so did Elliott and Mercier to a degree, and I heardsomethingwhen they spoke.
I was fine being left out, to be honest. We’d done our job. Luca Blanco was dead, as were his four sons, approximately fifteen other higher-ups, and most of their guards. I was sure a few of them were hiding somewhere.
Shay was safe and back with River and Reese, who didn’t let the guy out of their sight. He was currently smashed in Reese’s arms while Coach patched up River’s leg.
Danny had taken a bullet to his arm, though it’d gone straight through, and he didn’t seem shaken. Everyone was going home with bruises and aches, but that was about it. We hadn’t lost anyone. Mathis had returned from his one-man operation at the main entrance with a single cut over his eyebrow. A nice turnout after having blown up the whole fucking gate with its ten-man security crew.
If only it were actually over.
Elliott nudged me and pointed up, and I followed his gaze. Finally, our ride was here.
I made sure I had my rifle, my handguns—in short, no evidence left behind—and then I just followed the herd while keeping an eye out for stragglers. The enemy was always ready to strike when you weren’t, and all that.
Noticing that the group seemed to split up, with Crew and Mercier heading one way with Mathis and the Finlay brothers, I furrowed my brow at Elliott.
He typed on his phone for me.
They’re escorting the civilian woman to Mercier’s contact in Pasto. We’ll see them tomorrow.
Oh. All right.
I needed to get my goddamn hearing back.
Whatever. Let’s just go. We had another war to fight in Europe.
I didn’t even know our rendezvous point, and I didn’t fucking care at this rate. I followed Elliott and the others to the back of the estate, where a suspension rope was soon lowered from the helicopter above. Hot damn, that was an AW101—a beautiful bird I’d flown in a few times in Canada—once in Norway too. Great for SAR missions, and it was big. The nearby trees whipped from side to side, and I could imagine the intense thumping sound of the blades.
Having done this a million times before, at least I didn’t need a how-to for this bit—but upon seeing Shay’s nervousness, I couldn’t help myself. As soon as the harnesses were dropped from the helicopter, I grabbed one for myself and one for Shay. Then I walked over to him and cocked a brow at Reese, a silent question to take over.
He nodded and said something to Shay.
I removed my combat vest. “Put your feet through here!” I held out the vest for him. It’d look weird, like a diaper, but he didn’t wanna wear a harness with just sweatpants on. He’d never get to use his dick again.
He gave me a confused look but complied, and I squatted down and pulled out a roll of paracord from one of my side pockets. Then I tied the rope, trapping the sides of the vest to his midsection, before I tugged down the pant legs of his sweats. The whipping winds could be brutal to your skin.
The twins had already given him one vest before, so I strapped the harness to it and tightened every ending. His chest, front and back, then between his legs and around his waist.
