Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I don’t have a lot of options,” I told Darius. “This is Owen we’re talking about. I’m not going to sit on the bench with him missing.”
“I get it,” he said solemnly.
“My only solution is to surround myself with the best team who can compensate for my rustiness.”
Darius grunted.
“I’m going, and it sounds like Dante is too, as well as Chris.”
“I’m not worried about Chris.”
“Oh, but you are worried about me and Dante.”
“Did I say that? I don’t think I said that.”
“You didn’t have to say it. I can hear it in your tone.”
Darius huffed out a breath. “Okay, then, I’ll only look for a sniper, someone to watch over you, since you’re hell-bent on going.”
“I—”
“Look, we’ve known each other a long time, Jared. Long enough to know you’re a dog with a bone here. What’s your readiness window?”
“Forty-eight hours, seventy-two tops.”
“That’s enough time for you to get reacquainted with the feel of a weapon and get a little dry firing under your belt.”
“I’ve done a bit more than you think I have. Our situations at Torus, domestically, have gotten a bit dicey over the years.”
“Oh? Have they?” Darius asked, his tone biting. I could hear the sarcasm oozing over the line. “Dicey, you say?”
Fuck.
“Speed only comes through repetition, you know that. Dry fire a goddamn semiautomatic rifle, will you please. I have an image in my mind of you getting burned just breaching some ridiculous apartment building or something. You know that dry firing is an efficient way to practice in any environment. It’s considered the best training tool to increase accuracy and precision with firearms,” he lectured me. “I myself still—”
“I know. Fuck. I’ll practice.” I lied. No matter what he thought, I was ready.
“No you won’t.”
He knew me so well. “I swear to you, it doesn’t need to come back and you don’t need to lecture me. I can take care of myself and others.”
“Fine,” Darius agreed, not sounding remotely certain.
“I was as good as you, D.”
“I’m not arguing that, but I have a team that backs me up for this very reason. Lee drives me insane, but I know damn well he’s a scalpel, whereas I’m a battering ram these days.”
“Yeah, all right.”
“I’ll make the arrangements,” he apprised me. “Once I’ve secured confirmation, whoever I find, instead of sending their jacket like regular, I’m just going to get them to you. We don’t have time for you to make a decision.”
“I told you I trust you,” I said defensively, sounding annoyed when really just hating the entire situation. I hadn’t felt this way in years.
“I know,” he clapped back, just as irritated for the same exact reason. Being in a position to try and find someone who was missing, that you loved, and having to protect yourself at the same time, was untenable.
“I haven’t said thank you.” I was starting to feel tired again, and I just woke up not hours before. The weight of everything was going to crush me.
“Nor do you need to, old friend.”
“I’ll talk to you,” I said and hung up.
An hour later, we were at the end of the runway and cleared for takeoff, on schedule. I hugged Dante goodbye. “You don’t have to come.”
“Fuck off,” Dante said and turned toward his plane, which was close to mine, refueling before departing.
Chris was already on my plane, stretched out, having a drink Jing made him, and I said goodbye to Garland, told him how much I appreciated him.
“I’ll see you in Bangkok, Colonel.”
Yes, he would.
Once I was aboard, Arden took the plane up smoothly, as always, and we were on our way back. I hoped my second time there would be more successful.
FIVE
Back in Bangkok, thinking about Owen, I found myself completely overwhelmed with hopelessness. I was never like that; I was always the guy who held out hope. But this was different. He was different. He was mine, and I had nothing and no one else I could lay claim to.
When we reached the hotel, Jing had checked us in under assumed names. As far as anyone knew, we were investors, friends of Aaron Sutter, there to look at property. I appreciated Aaron agreeing to the ruse and even creating a paper trail for us.
Jing made sure to get a suite large enough for an entire team, then went ahead and paid the manager to close the pool for the day. One of the dividends of having a considerable fortune was that it allowed for complete privacy when needed. I’d never been flashy or extravagant—I wasn’t Aaron Sutter—but Owen and I lived well, and when necessary, I allowed the privilege of money to work for me.
Swimming laps, I knifed through the water at a punishing pace, hoping that it would help clear my head. The heated twenty-meter infinity-edge pool was situated behind floor-to-ceiling glass walls that overlooked Sukhumvit—the shopping district—from a soaring ninety floors up, the dazzling nightscape of the city pulsing beneath. The hotel Hasana had booked us into was one of a ring of monolithic skyscrapers near the River of Kings, as King Rama the First had named it. I swam steadily for twenty laps before giving up and sitting on the edge of the pool, out of breath. The effort had done little to quell my troubling thoughts.