Defending Raven (Mountain Mercenaries #7)(84)

Dave winced. These men were putting their careers on the line for him and his team. He wouldn’t forget it. Yes, they were there because he’d cashed in some huge favors that were owed to him, but if they were able to get this plane off the ground and out of Peruvian airspace, he would be forever in their debt.

He stood behind the men, barely breathing as the captain pushed the yoke forward. The turn at the end of the road to get to the runway was sharp, and he heard Gabriella swear in Spanish from behind him. He’d heard enough Spanish swearing since his time in Peru to recognize her expression for what it was. He still didn’t move to strap himself in. He couldn’t. He was too tense. Ready for something awful to happen to prevent them from taking off. If del Rio’s flunkies were smart, they would’ve gotten in front of the plane, not chased it from behind.

With that very thought in mind, he saw police lights speeding toward the runway from their right.

Time was almost up. If the vehicles made it onto the runway before they’d taken off, they wouldn’t make it.

“Yipee-ki-yay, motherfuckers,” Mark mumbled as he leaned forward, revving the plane’s engines to full throttle.

“Flight three-two-seven taking off,” Porter said into the radio.

Dave held on to the back of the pilots’ seats until his fingers turned white. He kept his eyes on the quickly approaching police cars. They weren’t slowing down, and if they didn’t stop, they were all going to die in a fireball of massive proportions.

“Come on, come on,” Mark muttered as the plane shook and shuddered, picking up more and more speed as it careened down the runway.

There were at least three police cars bearing down on them from the right, and who knew how many more behind the plane. Dave also saw two military Humvees behind the police cars. Del Rio had called out the cavalry for sure.

He knew if they were stopped and taken into custody, he’d never see his wife or child again, and his team, the men he’d grown to love and respect as brothers, would spend years locked away in a Peruvian prison as del Rio’s connections made sure their cases never went to court. Zara and Gabriella would also probably become prisoners of del Rio as well.

And Dave himself would be tortured to within an inch of his life and probably forced to watch his wife be assaulted day after day, until they both went crazy from pain and helplessness.

“Get us out of here, and I’ll personally pay you each a million-dollar bonus,” Dave told the pilots.

“Fuck you,” Mark said between clenched teeth. “Did you not hear me say that I knew what your story was and I’m gonna get you home?”

The plane shook even harder as the pilot pushed it to its limit.

Dave held his breath and couldn’t take his eyes from the spinning lights coming at them, faster and faster. The plane and the cars were playing a game of chicken. A game that would end with them all being killed if someone didn’t flinch.

Luckily for them, the police car in the lead finally flinched.

The driver slammed on the brakes just before the car sped onto the runway, right in front of the plane.

The wheels left the ground, and Dave saw the men from the cars leap out and raise their rifles, aiming for the plane.

It was too late. They were in the air.

But were they safe?

“Dave?” a voice asked from behind him.

Flinching as a hand touched his back, Dave spun around to see Raven standing there. Her face was pale, and she was shaking. Without a word, Dave wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him, turning to face the front once more. Looking over his shoulder, he saw David was sitting with Gray, who was pointing out the window, keeping the boy distracted from the rough takeoff.

Stumbling a bit because of the steep angle of the plane, Dave braced his legs and used one hand to grab hold of the doorway to the cockpit.

“Will they shoot us down?” Raven asked shakily.

Dave opened his mouth to respond, but Porter got there first.

“No, ma’am. They wouldn’t dare.”

Dave wasn’t sure he completely agreed with the copilot, but he didn’t contradict him. He couldn’t relax, though. Not until they were well above missile range and out of Peru once and for all.

Raven didn’t pull away. Didn’t try to get him to come sit with her. She simply rested her head against his chest and hung on.

He had no idea how much time had passed, but the flight attendants began walking down the aisle, asking what everyone wanted to drink, so he knew he’d been standing there, staring out the front windshield, for quite a while.

It wasn’t until Mark, who had put his headset back on, said, “Ten-four. Flight three-two-seven entering Ecuadorian airspace,” that Dave felt his knees go weak.

He closed his eyes and slowly felt himself sinking to the floor. Raven held on to him the entire way and, once he was down, straddled his legs and wrapped herself around him.

David must’ve been watching, because he ran forward and snuggled into both of them.

It was then, and only then, with his wife and son in his arms, that Dave lost it.

He cried for the decade they’d lost. He cried for the pain and suffering Raven had endured. He cried that he hadn’t been there to help protect David and wasn’t there for his birth.

But most of all, he cried because he’d done it. He’d found Raven. Everyone had said she was gone and he should get on with his life. But he hadn’t been able to. His life had stopped the day Raven was taken from him, and he could finally get on with it.