Defending Raven (Mountain Mercenaries #7)(49)
“How’re you doing?” Gray asked from next to him.
Dave didn’t take his eyes from his wife. “I’m good.”
“No. How are you doing?” Gray asked again, deliberately enunciating each word.
Dave turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow.
“You haven’t been away from your bar in . . . I don’t know how long. You found your wife, who’s been missing for a decade, and almost in the same breath found out she’d had a baby. A son you’ve now claimed for yourself. Not only that, but you’ve had to digest a hell of a lot about what Raven has been through while she was missing. And now, instead of being on the way home with your family, you’re stuck here while we try to figure out what the hell del Rio is up to and how to get your son away from him without causing an international incident. So, I’m asking if you’re all right.”
Dave nodded. “I’m fine.”
It was Gray’s turn to raise a skeptical eyebrow.
“I’m not exactly happy. I’m sick of sitting around waiting for David’s passport, and I want my son rescued. Now. But my wife is sitting right here in front of my eyes, and that’s a fucking miracle. So I’m dealing.”
“We’ll have his passport tomorrow,” Gray reminded him.
“I know,” Dave said impatiently. “But I feel as if there’s a huge clock over my head, and every second that ticks by echoes in my mind.”
“We’re going to get your son,” Gray said. “No matter what it takes, we’re going to get him out of del Rio’s clutches.”
Dave turned back to look at Raven. He couldn’t go more than a minute or two without checking on her. The other women had moved back to where they’d been sitting on the bed and floor, satisfied that their friend was going to be all right. But he had a feeling it would be a long time before he’d be comfortable being away from her, letting her out of his sight, especially in public. “I’m scared,” Dave admitted to his friend.
“I’d be worried if you weren’t,” Gray replied.
“I don’t like risking any of you guys. You’re not only my team, but you’re my friends too. The last thing I want is to scare the hell out of my son by involving him in a firefight, but I know you and the others will do whatever you can to prevent that. And you’ve all got women waiting for you, and I don’t want to have to tell any of them that the love of their life isn’t coming home.”
“This team’s all about getting kidnapped women and children home. And your son is being held hostage. Yeah, he might be in a nice house and not chained up, but he’s being held prisoner all the same,” Gray insisted. “We aren’t going to take any more chances than we would on any other op, but we’re all more invested now. David’s one of our own.”
Dave inhaled deeply. He hated what they’d planned so far. To storm the small house and kill anyone who got between them and David. But he wasn’t willing to wait any longer once the passports were in his hands. Especially after hearing the rumors about other babies. Del Rio was the devil, and whatever he had planned for David was pure evil.
“Thank you,” Dave eventually said to Gray, meaning those two words down to his very soul.
“I don’t think I’ve thanked you yet,” Black said to Raven.
“For what?” Raven asked.
“For saving Meat. And for being willing to risk yourself to save my hide if my team hadn’t come for me when they did.”
Black was referring to their previous mission, when he and Meat had gotten separated from the rest of the team, and Ruben and his friends had jumped them. They probably would’ve killed the two Mountain Mercenaries if Zara and her friends hadn’t dragged Meat away, and if the team hadn’t found Black when they had.
Raven shrugged. “You were there to try to help, not hurt. It was the least we could do.”
Black encompassed all the women in his gaze as he said, “In our line of work, it’s easy to get cynical and think the worst of humankind. We see the worst of the worst, so it’s nice to see people who, even when the odds are against them and they have nothing to gain, are still willing to help. Thank you.”
Raven nodded, and the other women blushed when Zara translated for them.
“So, you guys are all married or have girlfriends, right?” Raven asked.
Dave wandered back over to where she was sitting on the floor and lowered himself to the carpet to sit next to her. It felt as if his heart was going to burst when she reached out and took hold of his hand. Every time she’d touched him voluntarily since they’d been reunited, Dave had felt as if he’d just won the lottery. He did his best to pay attention to the conversation going on around him, and not the feel and smell of his wife next to him. He’d dreamed about this moment more times than he could count, and it was hard to believe it was actually here.
“Yup,” Gray answered. “My wife’s name is Allye. She was a professional dancer out in San Francisco. We met when the boat she was on sank and we were stranded in the middle of the ocean together.”
Raven’s brows shot up. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. She’d been snatched off the street and was being delivered to the man who bought her, but I interfered with that. Unfortunately, he got his hands on her later anyway.”