Jax (Titan #9)(92)

Neither said anything as they turned to study her. Bianca grabbed on to his forearm, and Nolan leaned against his chest as, warily, they watched her drop to her knees also.

He gave them a squeeze that he prayed conveyed his faith in Nicola. "You know what my favorite thing about Nic is?"

Bianca turned. "What?"

"She's like a machine. You can tell her something in English, and it comes out another language. Watch." He tapped his head. "I want a cheeseburger."

"Ich will einen cheeseburger," Nicola offered.

"German?" he asked.

"Yup. Good guess."

Jax hugged the kids close. "How about… I love ice cream?"

"Somebody's hungry." Nicola came closer with her most disarming grin. "Eu amo sorvete. Portuguese this time. You want to try, Bianca?"

She shook her head.

"Nolan?"

"Say… My shoes smell. Eww, eww, eww!" Nolan jumped and danced, sticking up his feet.

"Mój zapach buty. Eww, eww, eww!" Nicola scrunched up a silly face, waving her hand. "Polish. But next time I'll try for Pig Latin. Much more fun."

Both kids fell apart in giggles.

Jax gave them one last squeeze. "Go with Nic. I'm going to get your mom, okay?"

Nolan waited for Bianca's reaction. Then the little girl took a step forward. "I'm sorry I picked up that gun."

Nicola signaled for them to go. "Thank you for listening when I asked you. Let's go get Jax a cheeseburger and ice cream. You too if you want."

"I'm coming in for your back up," Winters added.

"Same," Sugar said. "Seven wasn't in the vehicles. But Jax, I left you someone tied to a tire axle if you'd like a Suarez bitch ready to cry uncle."

"See you two soon." Then Jax hustled out the way he'd come, mentally slipping back on his warrior mask.





CHAPTER FORTY-NINE


The great lawn was littered with bodies and three smoking MRAPs as he approached the back tire of the second militarized vehicle. Gunfire buzzed in Jax's earpiece as smoke billowed from the blazing MRAPs. He stood over the Suarez militant with the tactical gun palmed and his trigger finger itching for a pull.

His heart pounded, and sweat coated his back. Licking his lips, Jax prayed for strength. "Do you understand English?"

The bound man shrank against the tire. "Y-yes-s."

"Good." He tugged his face mask back then ran the muzzle of his weapon along the man's jaw. "Of all the assholes you didn't want to see, I'm the one that will give you nightmares."

The bastard bared his teeth, hissing at the gun in his face.

Jax pistol-whipped him. "Those kids? They're very special to me."

Again, the man's mouth opened, but this time he simply held up his hand and pointed at the gun. "Think hard. I don't kill for sport, and I don't care if you take another breath. I give zero fucks. But the woman who was taking care of those children?" Jax dropped his hand and inched his weapon forward again. "Her, I care about. You have a simple decision. Tell the truth and live. Where is she?"

The man hesitated, and Jax shook his head. "That was your warning. Next I'll shoot ankle, knee, gut shot. I've seen how they bleed so purple, it looks black. Interested?" He aimed for the man's ankle. "Where is she?"

"The militia quarters—" Then he buried his face in tied arms, preparing for death, anyway.

"I gave you my word." He ran toward the barracks to the sound of the man sobbing and thanking him.

"ACES," Jared barked in his earpiece. "Target is on-site. Find her. Jax, you can get there on foot. Follow the way the MRAPS came."

"Roger that." He recalled the satellite maps and was already hauling ass.

The acrid smoke burned the night air as Jax covered as much of the gravel road as he could.

"Hold your fire! ACES, confirm targets visually or under direct assault only."

Jax rounded a bend and saw one-story buildings surrounded by a flood of people.

"Report. What's the situation?" Jared demanded of the change in the operational directives.

"Freaking chaos." Jax didn't recognize the voice. "Civilian captives released. Scattering like ants out a flooded hill. Young, old. Kids. Women."

A tsunami of people rolled in every direction. How many prisoners did the Suarez cartel have captive?

"First priority remains the same," the ACES commanding officer ordered. "Eyes stay on the pivot. Report on back side and jungle line?"

"They're being pushed in all directions," another unfamiliar voice reported. "Diversions and body shields—"

"I have eyes on the target, eyes on the target!"

"Who's that? Where?" Jax rushed through the chaos that the Suarez militia had created. Half the people didn't know who to trust or which way to go, but ACES could manage that. "Where?"

The faces were indistinguishable. Some people were dressed in rags, while others had been obviously forced into military garb and held weapons awkwardly. Jax took a defensive position and scanned the perimeter, unable to find Seven in the churn of people.

"Give me your location and her direction," Parker said calmly. "I'll lock a bead on her."