The Law of Motion (Law Series) (24 page)

             
My blood boiled when he called her that, and it only pissed me off more that she seemed completely oblivious to it.

             
"Grayson," Cam sighed, almost whining, because truly, his ass was on the line if this went horribly wrong.

             
"If we fuck up," Hunter sighed  his gaze turning fierce, "I'll take responsibility, Riley. I have more...
leeway
than you do. I have more resources to cover shit up, and I can do it without the public ever knowing."

             
My eyebrows went high at that statement, though I was ninety nine percent sure that he wanted  my girl, and I hated him for it,  his position with the DIA made him a strong fucking ally to have.

             
I couldn't imagine what he was thinking, what he could be planning, or what the fuck Alyssa talked to him about on the way up here; but I could see that he was already setting shit in motion in his mind. It was written all over his intense face.

             
Doc snorted, rolling her eyes up to Ross. "Don't we have any normal friends, Roslyn?"

             
"Normal friends won't go to war for us," Ross snickered.

             
"Normal people are boring," Chance teased at her other side, loving the small light feeling for just the moment.

             
"We’re doing this in a way you won't get taken, Alyssa," I vowed, my voice only meant for her.

             
She nodded against my chest, pulling back to look up at me biting her lip. "I can handle it you know, for Juan. "

             
"I'm worried at what it will do to you!" Kristen hissed, shaking her head adding her two cents, obviously our conversation wasn’t so private. "You haven’t even fully recovered from Garcia."

             
“So you know I’ve survived the worse.” She argued.

             
"We know..." I groaned, " but we can't let them take you! I just can't! If I lose you..."

             
"Don’t you guys trust me?" She frowned, barely there whisper.

             
"Of course!" I hissed back.

             
The exact same time Macon chimed in with a “Not enough to give yourself to those guys.”

             
“What if you get hurt?” Jackson continued, apparently he was on my side to.

             
Doc ended the argument. “As admirable as Chance’s offer is,  her going anywhere is out of the question. As brave as you are Chance, facing another hostage situation will ruin you.” She declared cutting eyes at Alyssa, and she nodded at silent communication. “Good, now that that’s agreed let’s move on shall we?”

             
"Please," I whispered, slipping my hands into her hair and pulling her forehead to mine. "I trust you explicitly, but there's a part of me that thinks you're going to put yourself in danger to prove some point, Alyssa. None of this shit was your fault.” She nodded in understanding. “I want you to wear an earpiece," I stated firmly, but softly. "The small one that you can toss if you need to. I want to hear you the entire fucking time I'm in the air. If you do anything stupid I’m landing. Got me?”

             
"Yes," she answered simply with a nod.

             
I took a deep breath, steadying myself for the next words. "I'm with Victor on this," I sighed, shaking my head. "Military style operation, civilian clothes, armed. A crash and grab. I'll be in the air with Jackson and Ross, monitoring all movement with that camera Tink installed," I said.

             
Tink wanted to be able to see what I saw when I was in the air, and the idea was intriguing. It took a hideous amount of research to find exactly what we both wanted. The damn thing was expensive as all fuck, but well worth it, because it could zoom in on someone's fucking nostril hair, if we wanted. It also had night-vision and infrared, and it was all connected to Tink’s computer equipment. The little fucking genius could zoom in on someone, record them, or run them through a database, all while I was still fucking flying.

             
Doc nodded, brushing her hair from her forehead. "Doing that...going against what they say... we could get innocent people killed in that train station."

             
Alyssa nodded and agreed, "They aren't my concern," I growled, shaking my head, because despite the fact that it was the truth, it made me feel like an asshole for saying it out loud. "Alyssa and those boys are our priority. Let Cam, and Grayson worry about civilians. Okay?"

             
With reluctance, Alyssa nodded. "Okay."

             
I pulled her to me, grasping her face in both of my hands. "I love you. Please don't do anything dangerous just because you think you owe it to anyon
e

especially me. Just...be smart, get those boys out."

             
A small smile ghosted across her face, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm counting on my flyboy to help me. I'm pretty sure he'd fly to the sun for me..."

             
With that said, she went away with Doc and Tink . With one more nervous hand through my hair, I turned back to the table to start planning the most important mission I'd ever take part in.




             
I unlocked the cable that tied the tarps over my chopper, yanking it hard so that it zipped through the eyes threading them together. The two pieces fell in a soft swish down onto the helipad. I needed to run through my checklist, fuel her up, and load up all the supplies Jackson and Ross would need for this flight to Philly.

             
We were leaving in twenty-four hours, and I'd never been more nervous about a mission in all my life, because my reason for living was in the center of it all. Everyone was still planning, except for Cam, who said he'd be back in time to leave and that he had huge news.

             
"Want some help?" I heard behind me, and I turned to see Macon standing just off the slab of concrete.

             
"Yeah, sure," I said with a nod. "Grab the tarps, store them behind the shed."

             
"Okay," he agreed, starting to roll up the large piece of covering. "You kinda shot out of the house, bro. You all right?"

             
"I don't need to go over and over the same thing. I've never needed that fucking shit," I grunted, sliding open the cabin doors. "You know that. To me, it just makes shit worse, makes the crew nervous about making mistakes."

             
"Captain Fletcher, from Saudi Arabia," he chuckled, shaking his head. "That asshole must've thought we were all idiots."

             
"He was good in a fight," I laughed with him, "but damn... repeat, repeat, repeat."             

             
"That day you snapped on him was priceless," Macon snorted as he dropped the first tarp to the ground behind my work shop. He turned around and started on the second. "Jackson and I were convinced that you'd get Court Marshaled for calling the guy 'Captain Fucking Memorex.'"

             
I grinned, shaking my head. "KP duty in the Mess Tent for a month was my punishment," I chuckled. "Not to mention he made me transport prisoners to Abu Grahib, no matter what pilot was available. It was a threat..."

             
Macon snorted and nodded. "You're just lucky your Dad knew him from basic," he pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

             
"Fletch was an asshole," we heard behind us, and I looked up to see my dad leaning against the closest tree. "He was an asshole at basic and stayed that way all the way up until his term was over."

             
"He was that," I agreed, "but he could really fucking fly. One of the best Apache pilots I'd ever seen."

             
"And he knew it," Macon added with a laugh. "pompous bastard."

             
I opened the pilot door, pulling myself up into the seat and starting my check list. Macon tossed the next tarp on top of the other one, taking over my run of the checklist. He knew as much about my chopper as  Ross and I did; he just didn't fly. My dad joined in, setting the sniper equipment that Jackson had gotten ready into the cabin.

             
We worked in silence as we got her ready. By the time I had started her up and shut her back down, my girl was standing just off of the helipad.

             
"Hey," she greeted, waving me down. "Doc says come eat something."

             
"Yes, ma'am," I told her, jumping down from the pilot seat and slamming the doors. I walked to Alyssa, kissing her forehead.

             
"She ready?"

             
"She is, but I don't know if I am," I admitted to her. "What did you cook Honeyface?" I asked, sniffing the air, because something smelled fucking amazing.

             
She giggled slightly, grabbing my hand. "Barbecue chicken," she announced, tugging me along. "Cooking in mass quantities was proving daunting. The grill was the only way to go. Dario and Hunter helped. Come on."

             
I rolled my eyes following behind her.

             
After an amazing dinne
r

eaten outside, of cours
e

and another round of "what if" scenarios tossed around the table, I found myself helping Kristen with clean up.

             
"You okay?" she asked, glancing up as Macon breezed through the kitchen with a happy, gurgling Makenna in his arms.

             
"Yeah," I sighed, putting away as she washed and rinsed, though it was only the big shit, because we'd used as many disposable plates as we could to keep clean up to a fucking minimum.

             
"I wish I could go with you guys," she said softly, looking behind her to make sure we were alone. "I never blamed either of you guys for this, and this Zoe bitch, seems like she needs to get slapped around a few times.."

             
I snickered, looking over at a woman that most men would consider a beauty queen, but she was tough and smar
t

deceptively so. "Smack her down, huh?"

             
"Oh, I want to," she blew, rolling her eyes and shutting off the water. "I'll be in the computer room with Tink and Doc, but I need you to do something for me, Adrian."

             
"What's that?" I asked, putting a large pot away in the bottom cabinet.

             
"Make sure my Makenna's father comes home to me," she whispered, her worry practically palpable. "He's determined to help Ross and Doc, because he gets it... Hell, we all get it, but you know him,  he's looking for a fight. I just need him to stick to the plan and..."

             
"We all feel that way, and he'll be with my dad, Kristen," I assured, leaning against the counter and folding my arms across my chest. "He's in the best of hands, I swear it. My dad hasn't lost a man since Uncle Austin, and that was a health issue, not a lack of safety."

             
Kristen nodded, pulling me into a hug. "I'm glad you and Alyssa are better. I was worried for a moment, because you two need each other more than you think. Good luck tomorrow," she whispered, stepping back.  A small, but sad smile played on her face.

             
“Think so?” I asked looking out the window at my girl and Hunter having what looked like an in depth discussion at the outside table by the tree house. “What is the deal with this Hunter guy?” I asked trying not to appear bothered.

             
She smirked. “Threatened?” Her spotter for bullshit seemed to be the same as Alyssa’s at times because she didn’t even give me a chance to lie to her. “Well if it were anyone
but
Alyssa, I would say you should be. To Hunter, Chance was the one that got away. They were close in training, and if things weren’t so restricted back then, they would have been together. Everything was there, attraction, chemistry,
lusssst
.” She teased dragging out the last word.

             
“Enough,” I groaned not wanting to know details. “He hasn’t forgotten about her in all this time.”

             
“Would you have?” She questioned making me think. No, if I met her a hundred years ago, I still wouldn’t be able to forget those emerald eyes and beautiful face.

             
“Don’t worry, only Chance can be pursued by sexy bachelors and be completely clueless. She’s happy with you, so be happy with her.” She encourage.

             
I leaned against the counter watching them talk for a few minutes before she finally nudged me in the stomach. "
Go
...be together before we all scatter tomorrow. She says she sleeps better when you're with her, and she'll need all the rest she can get."