Mission Delivery(3)

    The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and my gut churned. The look on my Commander’s face was not good. Suddenly, I had a bad feeling that I was not going to like what he had to say. When he glanced in my direction, I knew I was right to be worried.

    “Understood. We’ll rush back so we can be home to sign for the delivery.”

    Jaxon flipped his phone shut and then tapped on the small, tinted window that separated the back of the van where we were hiding from the cab our driver sat in. The window slid open, a few clipped Russian words were exchanged between Jaxon and the driver, and then the sliding window slammed shut again. Unexpectedly, the van sped up, and we had to grab on to the edge of the benches to avoid sliding into each other when the driver took a sharp right turn.

    Not liking the sudden change in both my Commander and the speed the van was traveling, I leaned towards the man in charge. “What’s going on, Jaxon?”

    “It’s time to get you home, Baker.” The matter-of-fact statement, paired with his deadly serious expression, made my stomach sink. Then a slow smile spread across his face until I didn’t think he could possibly grin any wider. “Apparently, your baby girl is on the way.”





Chapter

    2

    Where had all of the oxygen gone? I couldn’t breathe and was starting to feel light-headed.

    A slap on the back from Riley was followed by a chorus of congratulations and jokes about my lack of facial color.

    “I think he’s gonna pass out,” Arturo murmured.

    “Nah, he’s not gonna faint until he sees his baby girl comin’ out of his woman’s hoo-ha. Once he gets a good view of that and realizes just how far she was stretched to push that little girl out, he’s never going to look at gettin’ laid the same way again,” Lucas joked.

    “And just how do you know that, Young?” Jaxon asked him.

    “My father warned me and my brothers never to look when the time came for us to have children. Said he made that mistake with my oldest brother and was so worried about what he saw he asked the doctor if he could put a couple of extra stitches in my mom when he sewed her up.”

    I could not make myself laugh with the others. I had one thought running on a repeating loop through my mind.

    It was too soon.

    My baby girl’s due date was not supposed to be for another month. Why in the hell was she coming so early? Was there something wrong?

    “Nothing is wrong, Baker. Well, nothing except the fact that your daughter apparently inherited your impatience.” Jaxon snorted.

    Looking at him in a daze, I wondered how my commander had known that was what I was worried about. Had I said it out loud?

    Jaxon rolled his eyes. “Yes, dumbass, you did. And you still are. Now snap out of your shit and get ready to unload. We should be at the airport any minute now. We’ll load up on our bird and make our way back stateside so you can get home in time for the big event.”

    I heard Jaxon’s words, but my head was still swimming.

    Belle was having my baby. Again.

    I had missed my son’s birth almost fifteen years ago. Now there was a chance I would miss my daughter’s birth, too.

    “You’re not going to miss shit, Baker! Now stop talking to yourself or I’m going to slap some sense into you!” Jaxon barked this time. “Jesus. Give him bombs, bullets, and bad guys, and he doesn’t blink an eye. Talk about babies, and he turns into a blubbering idiot.”

    It took another ten minutes before our van came to a screeching halt at the airfield. Not waiting for the others, I threw the back doors open and leaped out the back with my gun in my hand before hauling ass to the private jet used to ferry us around on some of our missions.

    The plane’s door swung open, and the steps dropped down just as I reached it. I took the steps two at a time to push past our pilot who watched my mad dash with wide eyes.

    I was seated and buckled in my seat in thirty seconds flat, which caused our pilot, an Air Force veteran, to go on alert.

    “Is there trouble I should know about, Mr. Baker?”

    “No bogies behind us, Captain. Just fly this bird out of here the second you get those bozos on board. I’ve got some place to be, and you’re damn well going to get me there!” I barked back.