“Blackfire.”
“Sir, it’s Emory.”
“I hear you had some trouble.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. “Three white American nationals, radicalized, part of Omar’s cell I assume. I tried to keep one alive for questioning, but things got out of hand.”
“They tend to with civilians around.”
“Sir, we’re currently headed toward the safe house in Indianapolis.”
“Good. Keep me informed.”
“One more thing, sir. Permission to speak freely?”
He laughed. “When did that ever stop you?”
“I think something else is going on here,” I said. “I find it hard to believe that Omar would waste three valuable assets like that just to attack me.”
“So do I,” Blackfire said. “There’s a reason he’s in America, but we just don’t know that reason yet.”
“I’d like permission to follow this up,” I said.
“What about the girl and the child?”
I paused. What about them?
“They can be assigned to another team member,” I said slowly.
And they’d probably be better off.
I was just too compromised. I was getting in too deep with Tara, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I had to distance myself, if not for her sake, then for Mason’s.
It would be best for everyone.
“Permission denied,” Blackfire said.
“Sir, I don’t think I’m the best man for this job.”
“You’re the best man period, Emory,” he said. “You know that as well as I do.”
“I’m too close to this.”
“Even better. You’re on American soil, soldier. You’re not in Pakistan or in the jungle. You can’t think like a normal SEAL right now. You need to be smarter.”
“How does being too close to this help?”
“It means you’re going to think before you react. Son, you and your men are all highly trained fucking killing machines. You usually don’t think; you just react according to how we’ve shaped you. But in this situation, I need your head on your shoulders. Do you understand?”
I paused, not answering at first. That made sense, to a degree. He was right that we typically reacted to situations based on what our training dictated. In almost every situation I’d ever been in, my training had been absolutely correct.
And he was right that this situation was unusual. I was a combat-trained, special forces operative, not a domestic counter-terrorist. I was meant to operate abroad, killing America’s enemies with righteous fury.
“Yes, sir,” I said grudgingly.
“Stay with the girl and the child,” he said. “Continue the mission. That’s an order, soldier.”
“Yes, sir.”
He hung up the phone.
I let a slow breath out and tossed my burner out the window.
Blackfire knew what he was doing. He’d been a SEAL back in the day, and now he was one of the most respected commanders in the entire military.
Maybe he had a point. Maybe being close to Tara and Mason was necessary to do this job correctly. At least, if he really thought that I were compromised, he would pull me out of this mission in a second. Blackfire wasn’t the type of man to take chances.
I sat in the car, thinking over the next few days. I knew what needed to be done. I just needed to figure out what to do with Tara.
Other than what I wanted to do. If I could have it my way, I’d take her to this safe house and fuck her mindless every single day. We’d take care of Mason until he fell asleep, and then we’d fuck until he woke up again. I’d do that day in and day out, and I knew I’d never get tired of her tight pussy wrapped around my thick, hard cock.
But I couldn’t have that. I had a mission, and that mission was simple. I had to keep them safe. But more than that, I had to stop Omar Hooth from doing whatever it was he was going to do.
Finally, Tara and Mason came back from the rest stop building. Tara opened the door and wordlessly got Mason back into his car seat. She climbed back up front and sat down next to me.
“Not going in?” she asked.
“Don’t need to.”
“Do they train you SEALs to have magic bladders or something?” she asked.
I grinned at her. “That’s right. They teach us to have full mastery of our cocks.”
That got a small grin from her, but it quickly disappeared. “Let’s go,” she said. “Mason is going to start getting cranky soon. I want to get him down.”
I fired up the engine. “You got it, princess.”
I pulled out and headed back onto the highway. I heard anther one of my many burner phones buzz and saw that it was a message from Travis.
Omar followed, but I lost him. Proceed with caution.
“Fuck,” I said out loud.
“What?” Tara asked.
I clenched my jaw. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” I tossed the phone back into the console and shut it.
So Omar really had followed us. I’d expected him to, but I wasn’t sure.
It would have made sense if he’d stayed behind in Dayton. It seemed as though there was something important there. But maybe all of this really was just some cheap revenge ploy, a way for him to regain some of his lost honor.
The night stretched on ahead of us as we drove. We were only a half hour away, but I needed to be careful. I couldn’t lead Omar back to the safe house, otherwise it wouldn’t be safe anymore.
As we pulled into Indianapolis, I knew our journey wasn’t quite over yet.
“We’re going to need to drive some more,” I said to Tara.
“What? Why?”
“That message earlier, it was from Travis. Omar followed us.”
“Oh,” she said. “Shit.”
“We can’t lead him right to the safe house. We’re going to have to drive around, make sure nobody is tailing us.”
“Yeah, okay. Fine. How long will that take?”
I smirked at her. “Got somewhere to be?”
“Sorry. I just want to make sure Mason is okay.”
“I get you. Shouldn’t be long.”
And so we went on a nice tour of Indianapolis. I pulled out every trick in the book, did every possible maneuver I could think of. I couldn’t spot anyone following us, but I likely wouldn’t if it were Omar doing the following. He was too good to be spotted even by someone with my skill level.
No, this was the best that I could do. I could sense Tara’s anxiety next to me, but I couldn’t acknowledge it. I wanted Mason to be as comfortable as possible, but I also wanted Tara to remain alive as long as possible.
Who knew what would happen to Tara if Omar got his hands on her.
Finally, after another half hour of fast turns, running lights, and basically insane driving, I pulled up outside the safe house. I parked the car and we climbed out.
“Home sweet home,” I said.
“It’s a dump.”
I laughed. “You’re right.”
The safe house was a crumbling row home in a line of crumbling row homes in a pretty bad neighborhood, but it was safe and presumably furnished inside.
“After you, princess,” I said to her.
She reached into the car, got Mason, and headed up the stoop.