Jax (Titan #9)(87)

"Parker, what I meant by the assholes was we need more reinforcements. Ping ACES. Tell them their team needs to haul ass from Abu Dhabi. Whatever they can get their greedy spec op hands on, I want them on a different continent. Now."

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Jared would've enjoyed seeing Parker's face. In the last six, eight years, Jared hadn't asked Parker to co-mingle ACES with any other team.

Parker cleared his throat. "Roger that, Boss Man. Pinging the assholes now."





CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE


Seven's hotel suite was empty and dark without her. Jax had used his key card to access her room. On his phone, trying to figure out what to do next, he was nothing more than a pit of unease.

Internet searches had done no good when he searched Leyva, other than revealing a general tourist spot in Colombia. The more he thought about what it meant, the more he became convinced that it wasn't a generic place but that it held specific meaning, and Seven knew it too.

Jax had a few contacts spread throughout the world that he could call and ask anything of, and they wouldn't ask any questions. His phone buzzed with a text message



JARED: Get back to the conference room. Let's talk.



Had Jax ever met someone who had been fired from Titan before? Was let's talk Jared's code for adios?



JAX: Sure thing. Give me 20.



No reason to rush and get canned.

He dropped his head back, wanting to think more about Seven and the kids than himself, when the blinking light on the room phone caught his attention. Jax leaned over and grabbed the phone off the nightstand and pressed the message button.

"You have one unheard message." He followed the prompts to play and listened.



"Ms. Blackburn. This is Ingrid from Wayside East Nursing Home. We've been trying to contact you on your cell phone as well as your emergency backup, Victoria Hall. It's imperative that someone call us back immediately. It's a medical emergency having to do with your mother. I'm sorry that we tracked you down at your hotel. You know how these things are; small towns know things. But it's important. We're not sure who else to call at this point. Thank you. Please call."

Jax wrote down the number and hung the phone up. What the hell was he supposed to do with that? Quickly, he called Ryder. No answer. Then he shot him a text message and watched… waited. No reply. Victoria wasn't available, obviously, and Jax didn't know what else to do. He dialed the phone number. "Err, hello. Is Ingrid available, please?"

"One second, please," a receptionist said.

Elevator music came on interspersed with commercials for the nursing home's robust senior activities.

"This is Ingrid. Can I help you, please?"

Jax scrunched his face and ran his hand over his forehead. "Hi, I'm calling on behalf of Seven Blackburn. You left a message for her, but she can't come to the phone."

"It's an emergency," the woman said with such immediate disdain that Jax snapped out of his didn't–know–what–to–do funk. "I've been trying to reach her for a couple of hours now. And Victoria. She's the deputy mayor, and nobody can get ahold of her."

If this lady only knew. "They're tied up at the moment with an emergency also. Is there something I can help you with?"

"And who are you?"

"Jax Michaelson."

"Jax, in relation to Seven and Taini, who are you?"

Taini was Seven's mother. Jax connected the dots to the conversation about the unwell woman at the coffee shop and how Seven had been taking care of her mom. But besides that, was this an interrogation or a medical emergency? He should've said that he was Seven with a bad cold and scratchy throat. "I'm her husband."

A moment of deafening silence hung on the line before Ingrid likely picked her jaw off the floor. "Of course you are, Mr. Michaelson."

What was that supposed to mean? "Just Jax. Jax."

"Jax, Taini had a seizure. She likely had another stroke as well. The stroke probably occurred sometime last week, maybe two weeks ago. It was minor, and maybe even the reason that triggered the change in Taini's behavior."

Jax should act as though he knew Taini or knew anything about what had gone on in Seven's life for more than the past few days since they'd gotten married. "Uh-uh." He had no idea what he was supposed to contribute to this conversation. What did this woman want from him? "Was there a problem after the seizure?"

Ingrid harrumphed into the phone. "Generally, when something of that magnitude happens, people rush to their loved ones. Would Seven like to rush to her loved one?"

"She would like to, but—"

"Yes, I see."

The snooty bitch. She didn't see anything. "Do you?"

"Of course." Her condescension poured through the line. "I'm sure someone will stop by when they have free time—"

"Listen up, lady, Seven would rush as fast as her gorgeous goddamn legs could get her there. But she cannot right now."

"People forget about their loved ones when they drop them here. I see this a lot."

"If Seven could've answered the phone, she would have. If Victoria, the deputy mayor, could've answered her phone, she would have also. You do whatever it takes to keep Taini alive, happy, healthy, and upbeat until I get there, Seven gets there, Victoria gets there, anybody she knows gets there. Do you get me?"