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Last to arrive, I’m the only one without a machine gun.
Dany is strapped into a semi-automatic, and even Lisa is full-on Rambo, with ammo bandoliers strapped across her palm-tree-patterned blouse.
I’m glad they can protect themselves.
I just hate that they have to.
Good people should get to be left alone.
“Buoy cams show the main enemy force heading for the north dock.” Bish pulls up the rocking squares of video feed on his sat phone. A few of the cams are knocked out, but the rest flash the freaking warship, steaming toward our island. “I finally made contact. Our reinforcements are a couple hours out. They had to land their jet and source a boat.”
“Then we stick to Plan A. Run the clock.” Jin walks us through the island map one more time, highlighting our roles and hiding spots. “Reese roams the island, the rest of us stay in our places, triggering traps unless I sound a retreat to the bunker.”
“What if we all shelter in the bunker? Wouldn’t that be safer?” Lisa clutches her machine gun.
“Mom. We got this.” Dutch hugs her around her bandoliers. “All we gotta do is stall and run them around.”
“Take care of each other,” she sighs into his chest.
“That’s what we do around here.” Reese joins the hug and rubs her back.
After we secure her and Dany down the hatch, Jin pulls us in for a pack huddle. “We ready?”
I’m a million times more prepared than I ever was for a mission with the SAS. I know the plan, a dozen back-ups, and better yet—if shit hits the fan?
I won’t be left alone to clean the mess.
We’re a team.
Which is such bullshit.
I should be running life-and-death missions with disposable teammates. Like Bridget, Simon, Elyse, and her GigaChad mates.
They can all die.
Meadows Pack cannot.
I nod. “Ready.”
“Spring traps and stay under cover. No hero shit.” Jin’s narrowed gaze pins the last person I’d expect to go rogue.
“I always plan to follow the plan.” Reese stretches his shoulders until they pop. “But I’ve gotta get my workout.”
My adrenaline fires, ready for the fight, but before I can dash to find the action, Jin snags my fingers. “No hero shit. Promise?”
“Not my style.”
“Good.” He curls my fingers around a walkie talkie. “I need you to stay safe.”
“Same.” I suck lightning-struck air, so desperate to close the gulf between our skin.
Jin’s sly grin only adds to the building storm. “Is there something else you want to ask me?”
“Later.” Even though the ticking clock demands that I move, I can’t help following the slow spread of his lips.
“I can’t wait to hear.”
“But Jinnie?”
