Explosive Encounter (Task Force 779 Book 2) Read online

  “Back in an hour!” Nix orders, and I nod.

  “Codie’ll be ready for you,” Ryder says as we walk past him.

  “Thank you,” Everett responds quietly.

  The walk to my car is silent, and I don’t expect conversation to pick up any as I begin to drive over to Ryder and Codie’s place. They live in her house now, and Ryder’s is up for sale. With the way the market is, I expect it to sell soon. After Ryder was rescued and released from the hospital, he had a lot of time on his hands and demons to slay, so he fixed it up some, and everything is updated for new buyers.

  “Are you sure she won’t mind?” Evie’s soft voice is like classical music. Soft but invokes strong emotions.

  “I’m positive. Codie is around your age; I think you’ll get along well.” They’re both pretty down to earth women with good heads on their shoulders. They were forced to outgrow the childishness of typical women in their early twenties a long time ago.

  After a few red lights, I’m turning down Codie’s street, and I can already see her standing on the front porch. She still has a hard time coming outside alone, but for the most part, her fears of the world have dissipated.

  “Hi!” She waves and comes running over to me as soon as my door is open. Jumping in my arms, she gives me a tight squeeze. “You make sure he comes home to me.”

  “You have my word, Codester.”

  The sound of Everett’s door shutting catches our attention, and I place Codie on her feet, and she rushes over to Everett, already knowing who she is. For a couple of days, Everett was in the hospital with Ryder, only a couple of doors down from him.

  “I am so glad to see you!” Codie hugs her tight to her chest. Standing a couple inches taller than Everett, my girl’s face is thrust into the other woman’s breasts.

  “Umm.” Ev pulls away. “Thanks?”

  “You don’t know me, obviously. I’m just so thankful Ryder and Foster were able to bring you home,” Codie explains with a huge smile on her face.

  “Me, too.” Everett matches her enthusiasm.

  “I’ll let you two say goodbye, come on in whenever you’re ready.” Codie is trouncing to the house as I pull Ev into my arms.

  “Few days tops. I’ll be back for you, Evie, and you better be here.”

  “I get the feeling she won’t let me out of her sight.” Her laugh is refreshing.

  “Codie has a couple quirks, and they’re more pronounced when Ryder’s gone,” I explain. None of us mind the woman’s unique personality, but some people might.

  “Quirks?” Ev tilts her head.

  “You’ll see.” I laugh remembering the first time I witnessed her in mid-meltdown. I don’t think she could have gotten much worse than that day, but they still pop out once in a while.

  “If you say so. Are you really sure I should be staying here?” Worry is present in her gaze.

  “I’d really like it if you did. I don’t want you to be alone when I’m gone. Especially with what’s happening.” I fucking hate that I have to leave with so much up in the air.

  “For you, I will. You’ll stay safe, though? You’ll come back to me, right?” Her chin wobbles at the thought that I won’t.

  “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away from you, baby.” I lean down, cup her cheeks, and lay my lips over hers, savoring the soft touch as she melts into my frame. “Just be cautious, okay? No strangers. Don’t go out if you can avoid it. Oh, and here’s my key. Codie knows how to get there, so whenever you’re ready, go ahead.”

  “I’ll miss you.” The words are so quiet, I almost miss them.

  “I’ll fucking miss the hell out of you, too.” Bending in for another kiss, I go deeper than before and take in her breath as she moans.

  “Stay safe.” She presses her fingers to her lips as I back up to my car.

  “Stay mine,” I tell her as I slide behind the wheel and rev the engine. Backing out onto the street, I’ve never felt so fucking helpless before. I don’t want to leave, especially when I look in the rear-view mirror and see her standing in the middle of the road wiping the tears off her face.

  Everett

  Trying to hold it together.

  My chest aches. My lungs are working double time, and the tears won’t stop streaming in thick rivulets down my face. He’s barely out of my sight, and I miss him fiercely. I don’t know how Codie does this. The uncertainty. The fear of him never returning makes my stomach churn, and I can feel the bile rising up as I rush to the house in search of a bathroom.

  With a hand over my mouth, Codie pales when she sees me and points to a closed door off the kitchen. Slamming through, I barely push it closed with my foot before I vomit into the toilet. The rush of air leaving my lungs in the form of dry heaves leaves me exhausted and wanting to curl up in the fetal position until Foster comes back to me.

  I tried so hard to push him away. I tried to ignore him. Nothing worked, and he forged through my fragile walls and embedded himself in my heart, and now, all I feel is agony.

  A knock sounds on the door before it’s opened a crack, and Codie’s standing there with a damp cloth. “Just something cool for your head.” Her quiet voice and understanding eyes have me nodding as she comes closer to place the rag on my forehead.

  “Why am I in so many knots? We hardly know each other.” I groan as my stomach revolts again.

  “Your heart obviously recognizes him.” I can hear the smile in her voice.

  “Is it always like this?” I don’t know if I can handle that.

  “Well, no. I missed Ryder fiercely when he left the first time and the second. Third, too. But I’ve learned to make sure I have plenty of things to keep me busy while he’s gone. The nights are the worst when he’s not there to warm me or chase away the lingering nightmares. Everything else I can handle.”

  Feeling dizzy, I lean against the wall behind me. Codie fills a small cup in the sink and offers it to me. I drink it down in one gulp, the cooling liquid easing my now sore throat.

  “How did you know you could handle it?” I wonder.

  “I’m not sure I ever had that conscious thought. Ryder just kept coming back, and when Nix and Theo came to my door with the news he’d been injured, it was a sink or swim moment for me, and the decision was easy to make.”

  “He was hurt because of me.” I still hate that. I remember very little of my time in captivity, but I know Ryder almost lost his life so I wasn’t hurt any further.

  “Because of? Lord, no. For? Absolutely.” I groan. That’s not any better. “Don’t do that. He would take a thousand bullets for any innocent life if it meant sparing them. To him, it was an honor to make sure you were no longer harmed.”

  And the tears are back. “Is that really how he views it?”

  “It is. It’s how they all are. You won’t ever meet a more honorable group of men in your life. Even Nix, who is a complete asshole. Once you’ve weaseled your way into his heart, he’s loyal for life.”

  “He growls a lot.”

  Codie laughs and nods. “He does. But he has the guys' best interest at heart. They’re a family. One I’m honored to be part of. One you’re now part of, too.”

  A family?

  They do seem like that. Closer than, even. I suppose it’s not all bad.

  If only I could stop my stomach from churning and settle down.

  11

  Foster

  Somewhere in Yemen.

  It’s fucking October, why the hell is it so goddamned hot? Do these Middle Eastern countries not know what seasons are?

  “How’s the C-4 looking, Chaos?” Nix calls over the line.

  “Like putty,” is my smartass reply. I know if the man were sitting next to me, I’d be getting a slap upside the head right about now. “It’s coming,” I say when he doesn’t answer my first response.

  We’ve been here for thirty-six hours already, traveling from Sana’a and down to Aden because of a lag in our intel. Our captives were being held off the Gulf of Aden, then moved fur
ther inland, and now, they’re fucking back here for some reason.

  It’s like playing a shitty game of pin the tail on the donkey.

  “Bogies are moving in the southwest corridor. Two appear to be hostages. Four have guns,” Tac relays. Ryder earned his nickname after he showed off his computer skills the day we interviewed him.

  “How many are still alive?” Knot asks. Nix is the only man to ever beat any of us in hand to hand combat. Rookies say it’s because his hands are the size of rope knots.

  “By all accounts, it appears thirteen of the original fifteen,” Phantom interjects from his perch a quarter of a mile away with Shaker. Theo and Weston are two of the best snipers and medics in the entire United States military. Earning their nicknames from experience.

  Nobody ever sees Theo coming until he’s gone, so we call him Phantom. And Weston’s name Shaker is a bit of an oxymoron since he has steady hands, but it was a running joke in his old unit, and it stuck.

  Mine came because I like to cause Chaos. The bigger the boom, the better as far as I’m concerned.

  With two more hostages possibly dead, I know we don’t have time to fuck around. Especially me. I’ve got one shot to get this controlled explosion right and not blow the whole damn building.

  “Ready. How much time have I got, Tac?” I can hear Knot moving towards my position as we wait. He’ll be my cover while I stick the blocks to the door.

  “From takeoff to finish you have ninety-three seconds before patrol is on you again.” Great.

  “Tell me when.” Knot is next to me now. “Take this.” I hand him my rucksack. I can move faster without it on my back.

  “Three, two, go!” Tac yells in my ear, and my feet are moving before he’s done talking. “Ninety seconds,” he says as I skid to a stop in front of the door. Placing the C-4 blocks on the ground, I affix the first one on the right corner and move to the top. “Seventy-five.” His fucking countdown is not helping.

  Third block up on the left top. “Sixty.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Tac, and watch the patrol,” Knot growls.

  Fourth block is in place. Now I have to connect the detonators.

  “Two guys are coming your way in ten seconds.”

  “I thought you said ninety-three?” I hiss. Don’t fuck with me, or they’ll get a bigger boom.

  “Leave it, Chaos. Blow 'em all the fuck up.”

  “Done deal, bro.” I’m perfectly fine with that. Making a dash back to the wall we were hiding behind, I wait until the two men are in front of the door and stop to inspect. “Here we go.” I grin and press the button before either can figure things out.

  The ground shakes.

  Wood and metal fly through the air.

  Bodies drop.

  “Breach!” Knot calls out and leads the way. I follow him, and Tac is five seconds behind us. Shaker and Phantom enter from the opposite side of the building.

  Gunfire riddles the building in blinding bursts of light as the kidnappers try to fight us off. “Shit,” I hiss as I feel a bullet whizz past my head, nearly taking my ear with it.

  “Chaos!” Knot yells. “Got any grenades?”

  “Really, dude?” I laugh because when don’t I? Grabbing the explosives off my belt, I peek up past the crates I’m crouched behind to see where the most gunfire is coming from. “Here we go. Hold on to your panties, boys, it’s about to get loud!”

  Pulling the pins, I let the first fly.

  It explodes.

  I let the second follow.

  The boom shakes the building.

  “Recovered the hostages,” I hear Shaker say. “Four down. Eleven alive.”

  “Don’t take the building out, Chaos. Their families are going to want those bodies,” Knot orders.

  “Yeah, yeah.” He always ruins my fun.

  “We’re taking heat!” Phantom yells amidst bursts of more gunfire.

  “On our way,” Knot replies. “Hit 'em hard again, Chaos.” Music to my ears. I pull the pins from three grenades and let them fly.

  We all duck and as soon as they explode in rapid succession. We’re on the move with everyone either dead or on their way to it; they don’t give a shit about us now.

  Running through the warehouse, we aren’t confronted by any more men as we come up behind the near dozen men pinning Shaker, Phantom, and the hostages down.

  “On your six,” Tac informs them. “Take cover.” We see them all duck as we stand, and within seconds, we’ve flanked the kidnappers and open fire, sending them all straight to hell in fifteen seconds of M240B rounds. Their bodies drop like icicles from a roof.

  Quiet descends as the smoke clears, and the only sounds are those of crying hostages and whimpering or dying kidnappers.

  “Should put them out of their fucking misery,” Weston mutters, and I couldn’t agree more. There are four families about to be grieving their losses very soon.

  “We aren’t executioners, Shaker,” Nix snaps at him.

  “Yeah, neither were they but look what they did.” He points to a doorway, and as we walk over, I can already see the carnage and terror these men have caused as I walk in. They didn’t just murder these workers, they fucking tore them apart.

  One man is beheaded. Another had both his arms hacked off. The other two were considerably lucky, bullets to the head.

  I fucking hate terrorists.

  12

  Everett

  Girls' night!

  “Lola!” I hear Codie screech from the front door seconds after it rings. “What are you doing here?”

  “Study break?” I hear the other woman say. “Nix said he was out of town again, so I thought I’d pop over to keep you company, too.” Her voice carries a worrying note.

  “Perfect! Come on in, I want you to meet someone.” That’s my cue, I guess.

  Standing from my seat at the table where we’d been playing cards, I wipe my hands on my pants. New people make me nervous.

  I begin to smile as I see them entering the room. “Hi,” I whisper, too quietly it seems because they don’t hear me.

  “Lola, this is Everett. Evie, this is Lola, Nix’s sister.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Lola grins at me, and it’s warm, not just a fake, be kind to a new person smile.

  “You, too.” I try to match her enthusiasm, but I’m sure it appears just as forced as it feels.

  “You’re the girl, right? The one from Mexico?” Jesus. Does everybody know about that?

  “Unfortunately,” I confirm, feeling all kinds of uncomfortable.

  “No, honey. Fortunately. You had a great group of guys come to the rescue, and I’m so glad to see you safe and sound now.” Lola’s genuine sentiment brings tears to my eyes, and it’s hard to keep them at bay.

  “Well, sound, anyways,” Codie says.

  “What’s that mean?” Lola cocks her head, and it’s then that I can see how young she truly is. Eighteen or nineteen tops.

  Clearing my throat, I answer. “The guys think the cartel is after me again because of my supposed father. But so many secrets are coming to light, we’re just not sure what’s happening.”

  “Damn. They’ll figure it out, though, won’t they?”

  “They always do.” Codie smiles, complete confidence in them. I wish I could muster half of what she exudes. I want to believe in our guys, to accept that I’ll be safe, even if it will take time. But with living in this nightmare for so long, it’s hard to have any faith.

  “Okay, enough depressing stuff. Code, where’s your margarita mix?” The excitement on Lola’s face is adorable. Until Codie bursts her bubble.

  “Well, if I had any, it would be above the fridge. However, you’re only eighteen and not quite legal yet.”

  “How else are we supposed to have a girls' night if there are no margaritas? We can’t be like the Owens sisters if we don’t.” She sing-songs the last part, and I’m hard-pressed to disagree with her.

  Even if we aren’t witches and Practical Magic wasn’t an intens
e movie, I’m all in for this kind of girly fun. So long as we aren’t summoning dead boyfriends back to the living.

  “But I’m here. With you. You’re responsible. We aren’t going out, and I swear not to have more than two. Three tops.” Lola pleads, and she has these big blue eyes with long lashes just fluttering and waiting for Codie to cave.”

  “It’s not like we’re going out or having anyone over. It would just be us girls,” I encourage. I don’t support underage drinking, but I do remember being eighteen, and Mom and I would have a few girls' nights with margaritas or wine coolers.

  “Yes!” Lola wraps an arm around my shoulder and has the goofiest grin on her face as we both give Codie a look to sway her over.

  “Oh, fine.” Codie rolls her eyes and pretends to be put out by the begging. “But you get to clean up the mess.” She points to Lola. “And no more than three and no telling your brother, or any of them.”

  “Deal!” The young woman fist pumps both arms and spins in a circle. “Four?”

  “Three,” Codie repeats.

  “It was worth a shot.” She shrugs. “I’ll get the blender.”

  “I’ve got the tequila.” Codie laughs.

  “I have no idea where anything is, so I’ll watch.” I giggle.

  “Grab the ice!” Lola calls as she grabs the orange liqueur and then the blender. Meanwhile, Codie is grabbing the tequila in one hand, lime juice in another, and everything spills onto the table.

  It’s going to be an interesting night.

  After retrieving both ice cube trays, I crack one and dump the cubes into the blender. Codie adds the lime juice and liqueur, and Lola dumps half the bottle of tequila. Codie looks at me with concern, and even though I’ve only spent three days with Codie and mere minutes with Lola, I can tell something is wrong with the younger woman. Maybe the alcohol will loosen her up enough to confide in us.

  Popping the lid of the blender on, Lola places her finger over the start button and sings, “We put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up!” before pressing down.