FIRE (Elite Forces #2)(25)
“I can’t, Kaleb. I have to work. You two should come here.” I’ve been telling her for years to quit her job and let me take care of her, but the stubborn woman won’t hear of it. There’s no sense in trying to talk her into it. I should know, I get my stubbornness from her. When she makes up her mind about something, there is no changing it.
“You know how I feel about you working, mom, but I get it.”
“First, I want to know why in the hell there is another man outside of my house. By the way, I should mention he’s a very large, nice-looking man. Thanks for sending the nice-looking ones, Kaleb. Then tell me all about this woman who seems to have captured my son’s heart.”
I roll my eyes and spend the next half hour talking to her about anything and everything. I make sure to sidestep why she has extra security on her. She knows better than to ask. I make sure Amelie is ok, and we both stay silent for a moment toward the end. I know she has so many questions, and I love my mother for always respecting the fact I can’t tell her everything.
We end our talk with me promising to bring Jade to her as soon as I can and her excitement about all the places she plans to take us when we do get to make the trip to see her. I have a feeling she’s going to overwhelm Jade, but I know she can handle it. She knows my mother means the world to me, so she’ll mean a lot to Jade for that very reason alone.
Keeping things from her makes me feel guilty as hell, but right now, I don’t even know whether to tell her we killed her other son, or that I’m going to kill him. That doesn’t really sound like a great conversation to have with your mother on any day, but definitely not the day she finds out you’ve met the woman of your dreams and that she is actually yours.
I see Jade peek through the curtain of the main cabin a few times to check on me as I finish up the call. How did I get so lucky to actually get the one woman who caught my eye to fall for me and prove herself to me over and over again?
I see her again and motion her outside to meet me. These tapes are going to be hard for me to watch, and I just hope I can control my anger when I do. Seeing what they saw will be hard, but I know this is something we need to do.
“You ok? Is your mom good?” she asks before she reaches me, and I reply instantly.
“She’s good. I’m going to be alright once I get what’s on these tapes behind me.”
“I know you are. Come inside and let’s face what we’re up against. They have Pierce’s footage ready to watch.” I pull her back for a quick kiss, not because I can’t keep my hands off of her this time, but because I want to feel her support before I go in to endure the disturbing mind-f*ck I’m about to sit through.
“Jesus Christ, Jade,” Pierce says. I know what he’s talking about without even looking at him or without hearing the yelling. The gunshots on the screen showing she took off, leaving her position even though she was told to hold back. Shit, she was firing and killing every f*cking thing that moved.
She shot them straight in the dick. I have to laugh out loud along with the rest of the guys. She’s f*cking crazy when it comes to this shit. And that makes me love her even more. I lean over to give her a kiss, not caring what the rest of them think. I don’t keep my eyes from the screen long, waiting for the sight I’m here to see.
I continue to watch while my insides jump with every sound of a gunshot and every word spoken. My mind spins with pent-up frustration and anger the whole time the video plays. Harris even darted out of the woods right after Jade, both of them guns f*cking blazing. I see Pierce and Jackson approaching from the other side, hear words flying like the wildfire emblazing my goddamn soul.
And then, f*ck… there I am. Hanging helplessly on that damn tree. My head down. My body burned and bruised. I suck in a sharp breath when I see it’s Harris who takes control over me. His large body covers some of the footage as he struggles and focuses on cutting my battered body down.
The sounds of him grunting and then watching him shield my body from the bullets slinging through the air pull deep inside my heart. I owe him my life. He’ll get my thanks and will forever have my loyalty after what he did for me out there. I’ll call him soon, but right now, I need to stay focused. I need to be sure my brother was among the dead. My eyes flit everywhere, while I search all the dead bodies to see if one of them is Ty.
I stand abruptly. Time ticks slowly as I try to count the endless bodies lying on the ground. My girl is solely focused on me, her lips pleading for me to look at her. To seek her out.
“Stop the damn tape,” I yell loud enough to cause Jade to jump out of her seat and stand beside me.
“What is it? Did you see him?” Her hand grips my arm gently.
The tape stops rolling, but my gut doesn’t. I know what I saw. It has to be him.
“Roll back about ten seconds, Pierce.” I ignore Jade’s plea beside me while the tape is moving backwards in slow motion then filtering to life again on the screen. “Brighten it. It’s so f*cking dark. There, on the roof. Enhance that,” I say loudly. The screen pauses in an instant. My body stiffens. My heart explodes.
“Motherf*cker,” Pierce and Jackson both say at the same time.
“There he is. The f*cker isn’t dead,” Jackson says with alarm.
“Is that him?” Jade points to the chicken shit sitting on the roof, his beady little eyes on the screen gazing back at me.