She put her phone away, handed me my kindle and then went to check on the kids. They had been playing hide and seek with their main guard. He said that they had gotten really good at going undetected for longer and longer periods of time. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. I laid back on my pillows and tried my best to not worry. But that was a little easier said than done.
Chapter 11
Crew
After three straightdays of rehearsals, planning, surveillance and running scenario after scenario we had done it. The job was quick and clean, takin’ less than 25 minutes total. We were in and out without so much as a car alarm soundin’. Everything had gone exactly how we planned in the command center. Valdez’s family had been zip tied, and gagged, placed in the trunk of the SUV behind us. We were on our way back to the private airfield where my jet was waiting.
Black sped along the deserted dark road to get us back to the jet. We needed to get out of town before Valdez found out that we had his precious heir. I dropped my head back on my seat and wondered what Nova and Timberly were getting into right now. They both had promised to stay out of trouble and try not to make the guards' jobs harder. They were there to keep them safe, not chase them down if they left the compound again.
Comms were down until we got back home. We hadn’t done all of this for Valdez to intercept our communications before we got our hostages secured. The only thing that would come through were emergencies. We were all on edge, especially since we were out of town in enemy territory. But I think my unease was more profound, since Nova was so close to her due date.If we were at home, we would have been cherishing the arrival of our first son. Instead, I was on my second kidnapping of the month.
“How far out are we?” I asked, watching the scenery fly by as we continued to speed down the back road.
“Ten minutes at this speed as long as we don’t run into any issues.” Blue announced from his place behind me.
“Speed up but try not to get us arrested for speeding.” I said to Black.
“Don’t forget kidnapping.” Kema said from the back.
I was torn between wanting to laugh and telling her to shut up. But instead, I closed my eyes and practiced some of the breathing exercises that Nova had been learning through her online-Lamaze classes. Out of the darkness the airfield came into view a few moments later, helping to decrease the tension in my neck and shoulders by only a slim margin. Something had felt off ever since we left Timberline. Nova had been too agreeable when I left. She was never that easy to persuade. Of course, she knew why we had to go but it wasn’t like her to be ok with being left behind. Her ass was up to something, I knew it.
“What does Nova have planned?” I asked her two accomplices in the back.
“Nothing.” Kema said, too quickly.
“Why, what did you hear?” Mecca asked.
“Nothing, I know my wife and she was too cool with us leaving. Is she planning to leave the compound?” I questioned.
“No, seriously. We all promised we wouldn’t do that again.” Mecca said.
“And besides she wouldn’t do that without us there.” Kema said.
I had no choice but to believe them. They had all given me their word that they wouldn’t let Nova put herself in danger again. I would take their words as truth for now.
I was out of the SUV as soon as we stopped in front of the steps of the jet. I was barely out of the passenger seat before I was radioing the pilot to get ready for takeoff. Mecca and Kema were out right behind me, making sure that the guards were handling our hostages properly. As soon as we got them on the plane, we were under way, back to Timberline. Ten minutes into the flight, Blue received an encrypted message over our private line from Pops, requesting an update. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue but nothing but emergencies were supposed to come in while we were out of town. Pops trained me so I know that he wouldn’t break communication for something as trivial as an update.
Something was wrong. But I couldn’t jump to any conclusions until we knew more. Blue sent back an all-clear message and we waited, but no response came.
“What do you think?” Blue asked.
“Stick to the plan, we wait until we land and make contact.” I told him. “We’ll be in Timberline in an hour and thirty minutes, unless something changes.”
“Fuck.” Blue said.
“What is it now?” I groaned.
“I was able to clone the channel the kids’ guards were using to contact Valdez. The guards at their estate never changed it. Somebody used it three minutes ago to alert Valdez that his family had been taken. It looks like when the wife and son’s men didn’t check in at their estate, it triggered an alert. He’s locking the city down in case we were dumb enough to still be in Briar Ridge.”
“Any idea if he’s still in Briar Ridge or not.” I inquired.
“My contacts haven’t found anything to suggest it. Really with the way he moves he could be anywhere. His people are good at shielding him from prying eyes. But no matter where he is we’ll find him. Also, I got a hit on a couple merc operationsfrom Georgia and the Carolina’s, word is that they been seen scoutin’ out the area back in Timberline.” Black said.
“My instincts are telling me that it has everything to do with Valdez and his hunt for Timberly.” I said.
“It’s only a matter of time before he comes looking for his family. With Sabrina it was a question of if she mattered enough for him to give a fuck that she was missing. His family is another situation entirely. We have his heir, he’s coming. It’s only a matter of when.” Blue said.
“How many men can we gather to protect the compound?” I asked