I grasped her face. “Remember what you’re gonna do for me?”
She released her lip and gave me a shaky nod. “Stay on the plane.”
“And keep Roark in line,” I teased, trying to cut through some of the tension radiating off her. “Find somethin’ Maddie likes to drink for takeoff and landin’.”
“Okay.” She exhaled.
“Trust me, Siren. It’s gonna be fine.” I kissed her forehead and stood. “If she’s there, we’ll bring her home.” The plane came to a stop.
“Showtime.” André stood and geared up.
Neil shouldered an assault rifle like he was carrying a backpack. No protective gear, he looked like a fucking vigilante lumberjack. André on the other hand, was dressed in all black with enough ammo to take out a small army.
Neil unlatched the plane’s door, pushed out the stairs and ducked his head as he stepped out. André handed me an AR-15 then followed Neil.
I glanced back at Siren. “Sit tight, darlin’.” I winked and walked off the plane.
A GUY MET US AT the bottom of the stairs in front of an idling SUV. André handed him a wad of cash and told him he could pick the SUV back up in an hour. Three minutes later, we were speeding down the highway with Neil behind the wheel.
“How far?” I asked.
André messed with his phone. “Six minutes.”
Neil glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “You should not have promised her we would bring the child back.”
“We’ll find her.”
“She could be dead.”
Anxiety hit my chest like an IED blast wave. “She’s not dead,” I ground out.
“Next exit, then go left,” André interrupted.
I leaned back in the seat and took a deep breath. “We all know what we’re doin’?”
“Yeah.” André looked at his phone then pointed for Neil. “See that turnoff? Veer to the right then take your next two lefts.” He looked back at me. “Recon first. I’m not pulling up on the house blind.”
“Fine.” It was the smart thing to do but I knew if it were just me and Neil, we’d pull straight up.
A few blocks later, André pointed again. “Hit the lights and park there, in front of their neighbor’s house.”
Neil pulled up by a house that had a few cars in the driveway and parked on the street.
André looked at his watch. “Give me four minutes.” He was out of the SUV before either of us could say shit.
Neil broke the silence first. “Stone will have her protected.”
The way he said it made me think he knew something. “What do you know about him?” I checked my weapons.
“My crew redid the foundation on his compound a few years back. Off the books. No permits.”
I stilled and stared at Neil in disbelief. “And you’re just now thinkin’ to tell me this? Why the fuck didn’t he recognize you two nights ago?”
“Wasn’t relevant and we never met. Business was done over the phone with his VP and he handled the payments.”
It was totally fucking relevant. “You know the layout of that place. We could’ve gone after him.”
“For what?”
Was he shitting me? “For Blaze, for Layna, for Maddie—fuck, pick a reason, there’s a hundred of ’em.” I would have personally enjoyed beating the fuck out of Stone for answers.
“Not my fight.”
Jesus fuck. “Then why the hell are you here?”
“A child was stolen.”
I’d never understood Neil’s code of ethics. He seemed to pick whatever suited him that day, shit, that hour. The only thing he was consistent on was kids and women. It was how I’d met him in the first place. Fucker had walked through an enemy compound, calm as fuck, bullets flying everywhere, holding two injured Afghani kids. He’d waltzed up to me like it was a walk in the park, dumped the kids at my feet and said two words: “Save them.” Then he’d disappeared.
A week later I was hiding in a murder hole trying not to get my head blown off when he’d appeared over me like an executioner. That day he’d said four words. “Did you save them?”
I had. And it’d sealed my fate with him. I spent the rest of that tour as his personal medic while he systematically plucked injured kids from God knows where and delivered them to me like I was the fucking Savior himself. We’d moved around so much, I didn’t even know how he kept track of my location but he did. When my tour was up, I’d only lost one of the kids he’d brought me. We’d been friends ever since.
André opened the door and slid back into the front passenger seat. “There are two motorcycles out front, a pickup and a small compact with a baby seat. No lights are on but a TV is on in the front of the house on the first floor. Thermal imager showed two people downstairs, three upstairs. Stone definitely has her under watch.”