Final Extraction by Julie Trettel

Silas

Chapter 3

 

 

 

At three in the morning my cell phone rang. It was an encrypted number. I almost rolled over and went back to sleep, but curiosity had me answering it.

“Hello?” I said in a gruff voice.

“I only have a minute,” Jake said. “I’m going to need an extraction at a new address.”

“Go ahead.”

“247 Rollingwood Drive in Davenport, North Dakota. Repeat it back to me.”

“247 Rollingwood Drive, Davenport, North Dakota,” I said committing it to memory.

“Make it soon. They aren’t staying in any one place for long after the Colorado explosion. This time, make damn sure everyone’s out first.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “Really thought you were a goner there.”

“Yeah, too close for comfort. I have a girl here that was caught in the collapse. She’s not doing well. Thinks Trevor Daniels is going to put her down. I told her that was crazy, but I fear she’s right. Hurry. I don’t know how much time she has left.”

“What’s her name?” I asked, fearing he hadn’t heard me.

There was an uncomfortable silence that had my gut churning.

“Vada. Her name is Vada. I have to go.”

Before I could respond, Jake hung up the phone.

My gorilla roared in my head. My mate was injured and barely hanging on. She was in danger, and it was my job to protect her. I had her location, but she wouldn’t be there long. I had to move quickly.

I jumped out of bed and fired off an emergency alert to my team. I didn’t even bother to shower. I called Patrick O’Connell as I threw on some clothes and quickly packed a bag.

“What the Feck, man. It’s three o’clock in the morning.”

“I just got a call from Jake. I have her location.”

“Her?”

“Vada’s. She’s injured and they’ll be relocating soon. We have to act now, or we’ll miss the window.”

“Come back to bed,” I heard his mate protest.

“I’ll just be a minute, love,” he told her. “What do you need, Silas?”

“First a plane as close to Davenport, North Dakota as possible.”

I heard him tapping on a keyboard. “Jesus, that’s literally in the middle of nowhere. The closest I can get you is a private airport just outside Fargo. It’s going to be a three-hour drive from there though.”

“Have a car waiting.”

He sighed and I heard him working again.

I impatiently paced the room and caught myself grunting at him a few times. It was just a testament to how stressed my gorilla and I both were. I rarely showed my animal habits in human form, but I wasn’t even trying to pretend everything was okay.

Fury must have sensed it too as she jumped down from my bed and rubbed up against my legs nearly tripping me as she purred. I reached down and picked her up, snuggling her close to my chest, and petting her as best I could one handed.

“It’s going to be okay, girl,” I assured her.

“Almost done,” Patrick said as my phone started buzzing with incoming messages. “Had to wake your pilot, but they’ll be gassed and ready in twenty minutes. You’re clear as soon as you can gather your team.”

“Already in progress. Thanks, Pat. I owe you for this one.”

“Just bring her home.”

I hung up the phone and texted the entire team alerting them to our departure time.

Knowing I had a few minutes lead on the others, I spent a little time loving on Fury. Stroking her soft fur always helped calm my nerves. Next, I set her back down on my bed and went to the kitchenette to pull out a large bowl that I filled with water and a second that I filled with food.

I wrote a quick note and left it on the table for the maid. She had assured me that anytime I needed to be away she would happily take care of Fury. I gave her instructions but hoped I would only be gone a few hours, days at most.

In and out, that was the mission. I wouldn’t waste any time. If Vada so much as thought about going back for anyone, I would personally throw her over my shoulder and pull her out kicking and screaming. I would not lose her again.

With Fury taken care of, I left the Lodge and walked out to my car. Often, we met at the Lodge first, but this time I ordered them straight to the airfield.

The drive down the mountain was slow and painful. Never before had I wished for the ability to teleport so badly. I kept having to remind myself that Jake was there, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her, but I hadn’t gotten the chance to explain who she was to me. He didn’t know to protect her at all costs.

I don’t know how much time she has left. His words haunted my thoughts.

Our highest laws as shifters commanded us not to kill another being, most particularly in our animal form. I had broken that rule many times over for the sake of the job, but never once had it truly been personal to me.

When I killed Trevor Daniels, he would be my first and last personal kill and I knew I would have no regrets even if it cost me my job, or my own life. That was the sacrifice I was willing to make to rid this world of the sadistic man who tortured innocent shifters, locked them in cages, and threatened my mate.

Vada and I weren’t bonded. She would live, as long as I wasn’t too late to save her now.

I was the first to arrive to the airport. As promised, the pilot and crew where just finishing up fueling and their final checks to prepare for departure, but there was no sign of my team.

I couldn’t just sit in the car waiting.

I got out and said a quick hello to the pilot. We had worked with him a number of times, so it wasn’t much more than a head nod and polite “How are you doing?” He had work to do, and I simply wasn’t in the mood for chit-chat.

I didn’t know what to do. It was either pace and worry myself sick while getting pissed off that my team was dragging their feet or go for a run to burn off some of my anxiety.

I chose the run. I needed to move. I didn’t even bother to stretch as I normally would have and just took off at a vigorous pace as I ran the perimeter of the airfield.

No matter how fast I pushed myself, I couldn’t clear my mind. I could see her determined yet apologetic face so clearly in my memory it was as if she were standing in front of me, and I ran harder to catch up to her, even knowing that I was chasing nothing but the ghost of an image.

The real Vada was in trouble. As her mate, it was my duty to tear down every building in North Dakota, if need be, to find her and bring her home where I could keep her safe.

As I rounded the last corner heading back towards the plane, cars started pulling up.

“About damn time,” I grumbled as I started slowing my run.

My heart was pounding in my chest and a light sweat had broken out across my forehead in the cool night air.

By the time I got back to others, the team had assembled.

“Roll out,” I barked.

Grabbing my duffel bag, I walked up the ramp to board the plane without another word. They fell into line behind: Painter, Grant, Taylor, Ben, Baine, and Tarron.

No one spoke as we settled in for the flight. There were no questions asked. They knew they’d be briefed in the air.

Baine pulled out a sweatshirt and balled it up against the window to use as a pillow. He was snoring before the wheels were off the ground.

Taylor was snuggled into Grant using his shoulder as her pillow. Watching their closeness made me ache for my own mate.

Painter was wide awake and watching me closely with worried eyes.

This was the first mission I’d called since the day of the explosion. To do so without warning, in the middle of the night, no doubt had them all concerned. They didn’t need to worry though. This was the most alive I’d felt since the moment that bomb went off. She was alive and finally there was something I could do about it.

“Are you going to tell us what this is all about or are we supposed to just go in blind?” Ben finally asked about two hours into the flight.

Normally I’d have folders to pass around with each person’s assignment and a brief overview of the mission we were about to embark upon. In my haste to get to Vada, I’d skipped all the prep work.

“Um, well, we are sort of going in blind,” I admitted.

“What?” Tarron asked. “Why? What happened?”

“Well,” I needed to tell them, to explain things to them, but it wasn’t easy for me to talk about. “See, my mate was at the last mission when we took down the Colorado warehouse.”

I had expected shock and condolences at my confession, but I got none of that.

“We already knew that,” Baine said without even opening his eyes. “We were there, remember? It was pretty obvious, even if you refused to admit it.”

I glared at Painter.

He held his hands up in the air. “They already knew, Silas. You were just too distraught to remember that.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Oh please. We’ve all been through it, big guy. Even before you went into mourning, we recognized the signs. Vada, right?” Baine asked.

I nodded.

“I’m sorry,” Taylor said. “We’ve all been sick over it. I’ve rerun every possible scenario, but it all just happened so fast. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through.”

“She’s not dead,” I said coldly.

“I know you want to believe that, but I checked the place thoroughly. There was no sign of life. I’d even used the new technology that Echo team had loaned us. It’s supposed to penetrate anything. She couldn’t have survived that blast.”

“But she’s alive,” I insisted.

“I know you want to believe that, we all do, but you can’t trust intel coming from a source like that. She’s just screwing with you,” Painter insisted.

“Who?” Ben asked.

“Keeley,” Painter told them. He was the only that I had confided any of this to, or so I had thought.

In truth the mission, the explosion, and the weeks, maybe even months since were all blurred. The only crystal-clear memory I had was of her beautiful face.

“You know better than to trust that sadistic little rabbit,” Baine said.

“This didn’t come from Keeley,” I explained. “Jake called in a few hours ago. He confirmed it. Still think I’m crazy? I have their location. She’s injured and in danger. They are moving frequently so we have to move quickly.”

“She’s really alive?” Tarron asked.

“She really is.”

I could see him trying to process the information, no doubt going back over everything from that day.

“Do you have the briefing reports?” Painter inquired.

“No.”

“Do we have schematics of the building at least?” Baine asked.

“No.”

“Are they remote or in a city this time?” Ben questioned.

I shrugged. “Patrick said there’s no airports nearby. We’ll have a drive once we land.”

“How many are we expecting at this site?” Grant asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Silas, what exactly do we know?” Taylor asked, her voice filled with concern.

“I have an address. Jake said come fast. She’s there and this time, I’m not leaving without her.”

As far as I was concerned, that was the only thing that mattered. The rest were just details.