“Sydney handled the bomb, which you already know. And my guys dealt with the men on the mountainside and took care of the C4 in the mine. So, there was no damage to the historical site. We also confirmed Dragan’s dead. There was an underground tunnel that Zoran used to get in and out of his brother’s home without notice,” Carter explained, rising to his full height, and then he made a come-hither motion, and Gray appeared a moment later.
“I’ll have the Agency handle Zoran’s right-hand man, Aleksa, in Albania. Then all loose ends will be tied,” Thatcher spoke up, and Jesse had nearly forgotten about Aleksa. “Hostages okay? The boy?”
Jesse looked at Zoran’s son, Nikola, now standing alongside Gray. He’d had to witness all that violence. He hadn’t even tried to flee the room during the shooting and fighting either. And that reminded him of McKenna and the hell she’d endured back in Bama. The morphine couldn’t erase the pain from guilt, that was for sure.
“I’m okay,” Nikola spoke up in English. “Better now that I’m . . . away from them all.”
Damn. Okay. Well, that was . . . something. Tough kid.
“Hostages are fine. Bravo Team is handling them. We need to exfil before they call the police,” Carter remarked as the helo finally landed in the distance. “Shit. Hold on.”
Jesse forced himself to sit this time to see what had Carter’s attention. He clutched his abdomen, which was bandaged, and ignored Oliver’s scowl at his movement, which he could only make out in the dark because of the flashlights Oliver had positioned on him and Thatcher so he could see his “patients.”
“I know what you’re going to do, and I’m begging you not to.” Carter held on to Zoey’s wrist, but she attempted to pull free. “He lied. Yuri killed Preston. Don’t go chasing ghosts.”
“I have to know for sure,” she shot back. “If someone else killed Preston that day, I need to know.”
“He was trying to throw you off. It was a mind game,” Carter hissed. “Don’t let this fucker win. Don’t throw away your life for revenge. You have it now.” He tossed his free hand toward the castle. “He’s dead. You have your retribution. Let it go.”
Zoey shook her head as two men from the helicopter hustled Jesse’s way with a stretcher for Thatcher. “I have to be sure,” she reiterated.
“No.” Carter let go of her and surrendered his palms between them. “Please. Don’t do this. Go back to London. Patch things up with MI6. Stop this insanity of—”
“You’re telling me that if you found out someone else murdered your wife, and they were still out there, you wouldn’t do the same?” she challenged, and Carter’s shoulders fell. “I have to know if Yuri was telling the truth. I have to get to the bottom of what really happened the day Preston died.”
“Zoey.” Carter’s voice faltered this time, and he knew there was no point in fighting her. He tore his hands through his hair. “You’re going rogue, aren’t you?”
“I have no choice. And also, you look like shit. See a medic yourself.” And with that, she took off in the direction of the woods, a fearless woman on her hell-bent mission of revenge.
“Fuck,” Carter cursed under his breath before turning back toward everyone who had been watching the scene unfold like a reality show, but before Jesse had a chance to say anything, he heard Ella’s voice, and his heart paused for a beat.
“Jesse?” Ella called out.
“Ella.” Jesse struggled to get to his knees and clutched his chest, worried his heart might actually stop at the sight of her running toward him.
Ella fell to the snowy ground before him, her eyes going to the bandage wrapped around his abdomen before he reached for her, to hell with the wound. “They didn’t tell me you’re hurt. What happened?” Tears ran down her cheeks as a soft sob left her mouth. Relief? Worry? Fear? All of the above choking her up? And hell, him too.
Jesse pulled back and cupped her cheeks, needing to look her in the eyes, to double-check she was alive, breathing, and had no scratches on her. “I’m fine. Just a stab wound.”
“We need to get you on the chopper, sir,” one of the guys from the helo said, gesturing for Jesse to stand.
“I’m going with him,” Ella cried, holding on to his arm to help, and he hid a groan from the uncomfortable hole-in-the-gut feeling as he rose. “I’m never leaving your side. You’ve got me for life, you hear me?” she whispered, and he closed his eyes at her words and nearly fell back to the ground.
“We have your brothers to deal with back home,” he reminded her as she and the medic helped him to the helicopter to join Thatcher for a ride to the hospital, most likely in a larger city like Salzburg. “Your family. Mine.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” she said, her voice barely audible over the helo blades, and then Jesse stopped walking and turned toward everyone from Falcon still there.
“Thank you,” he mouthed to them, so damn grateful to be part of a team again, to not be on a one-man show.
And moving forward, he promised he’d be a better man and teammate. And the man Ella deserved.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Walkins Glen, Alabama – Two Days Later
“Are you ready for this?” Jesse asked as they neared the Hawkins Ranch.
He turned his attention to Ella, sitting beside him in his RAM, her hands slightly trembling as she gripped her black denim-covered thighs. Working his focus up over the tantalizing hint of cleavage revealed by her silky black blouse, he now felt a bit underdressed for the “welcome home event” in his faded jeans and plaid shirt open to a white tee.
“They’re all there waiting for us,” she said softly before skirting her teeth over her bottom lip. “But I’m glad Rory was able to make the trip back from Virginia to be here today. She and Savanna will make me feel less—”
“Panicked?” He waited for her nod, then redirected his attention back to driving. “I’m never going to be ready to face your family, or mine, now that they all know the truth.”
He’d hoped to return home sooner, but the team had to wait for Jesse to get released from the hospital in Salzburg, as well as for Carter’s private jet to make its way back from the States since his pilot had flown Savanna and Griffin home right before the op.
From what Jesse learned, Thatcher had discharged himself from the hospital without a word to anyone and was more than likely evading the inevitable ass-chewing he was sure to get for heading to Austria without permission, especially considering the outcome. The CIA had wanted Yuri alive, but Jesse had to believe they’d rather have a dead assassin than one still on the streets.
Thankfully, at zero three hundred hours, Aleksa, Zoran’s right-hand man, had been taken down, so all the loose ends were officially tied.
Well, almost all loose ends were tied. Zoey had a new mission. Finding out whether or not Yuri lied to her. And Jesse had a feeling the team would be seeing her again down the road, whether Carter wanted to or not.
“I just hope Beckett tones down the growly when we see him,” Ella softly said, redirecting his thoughts.