Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

Jackson

"Over there!" Mac called out, but I was already running for it.

The radio was clutched so tight in my hand that I knew once I let go of it, there would be a permanent impression left behind.

The whistle was faint, followed up with Ayen's soft voice saying, " Did you hear it? "

I lifted the radio up to my mouth. "I'm coming."

I crashed through overgrown brush and tangled saplings that left scratches sliced into my cheeks and hands. Behind me, I could hear Roxy and Mac and whoever else had heard the distress call following closely behind.

Giving that radio to Ayen had been an impulsive move, but one that had ultimately given me peace since I wasn't going to be able to watch over him while we split off. Now, I was regretting not simply forcing him to partner up with me and dealing with his attitude later.

Another whistle sounded off, this time much closer than the last one. I pivoted and headed for it, the smoke becoming much denser as the heat from the fire was growing more intense.

"Ayen," I called into my radio again.

He was coughing as he said, " Are you almost here?"

Fuck, I was never letting him out of my damn sight again. I didn't care how much of a temper tantrum he threw. He was going to be stuck to my side like a fucking glue trap until this god forsake program was over with.

"Jax!" Mac called. "I think I see them!"

Roxy's bark had me completely turning away from the direction I'd been heading in and moving deeper into the thick smoke.

She led us to a steep incline just as Ayen blew on his whistle once more from right down below us. He was coughing loudly by the time I leaned over to see him kneeling down in the dirt with the contents of his pack scattered around him and another inmate passed out next to him.

"Ayen!"

His head snapped up, his body wracking with more coughs.

I swung my pack from my shoulder and threw it down onto the ground. Ripping through it, I tossed a long tether rope to Mac and twisted around to find the grappling clips to go with it.

Roxy barked again and danced between us both as we worked, clearly anxious that she couldn't get down there and rescue Ayen herself.

"We're going to have you tie this around him, Ayen," I called down to him. "You're going to need to lift him up from there to help us pull him up over this incline."

"Okay..." His cracked voice was fucking killing me.

Focus, Jackson.

He needs you fully functional.

Mac tossed one end of the rope down to him with a large slipknot already tied into it. With the other end, he walked backward around a large tree trunk and wound it around, coming back over to me to collect two clips that he attached to his belt. I handed him a set of gloves and shoved my own hands into a pair.

"Tell us when you get that around his waist," I called down to him again.

"Do I just…" He began to choke again.

Fuck—with the way the incline was curved over them, it was creating a sort of vacuum seal for all of the smoke to collect under and not rise to dissipate into the sky like it should have already.

"Just put it around his waist for me." I held back from ending that with ‘baby' by the skin of my teeth.

If I wasn't so good at catching myself before it was too late, I realized that breaking the news to Mac that I was sleeping with one of our inmates at a time like this would go down as one of the dumbest possible decisions I could ever make while staging a rescue operation.

"Okay..." he said.

"You do it?" I asked.

"Yes."

I stood and grabbed onto the rope, pulling the tension until it was taunt. Leaning back over to look down at him, I discovered Ayen was already trying to lift the other inmate up from the ground. His body was shaking, the other man's dead weight clearly tough to bear.

"That's it, just a little bit more," I encouraged.

Mac and I strained as we pulled on the support line. The angle was awkward and not at all ideal for a proper load haul operation but we were working on borrowed time and trying to find a better solution was a risk I wasn't willing to take with Ayen involved.

Mac took the brunt of the weight while I brought up the slack, keeping the tension around the trunk as tight as possible while we hand-over-handed it.

Finally, when the inmate's head popped up over the side of the incline, Mac leaned backward in order to allow me to let go of the rope.

Dropping to my knees, I fisted my hands tightly in the inmate's coveralls while hauling him up the rest of the way over. He was still passed out cold, but with a few quick taps of his cheek, his eyes fluttered under his lids.

Still alive.

Good.

With quick movements, I slipped the rope off of the inmate and loosened it up enough to toss back over the side to Ayen.

"Tie that around your waist. We're going to help you walk up the side?—"

I was cut off by him dissolving into a deep coughing fit, choking on the smoke surrounding us to the point where he collapsed back onto the ground. He was bent over on his hands and knees, trying to pull in as much air as possible.

" Fuck ," I dug through my bag again.

"Jax, stop. We just need to get him over here." Mac grabbed my shoulder, trying to pull me back up. "Put on the rope, Ayen!"

"He can't breathe ," I snapped, jerking away from him.

"If we spend time looking for a breathing apparatus then he's as good as dead. We need to get him up here now before he passes out."

I was inches away from tearing my fucking hair out. Both sides of my brain were screaming for two different things: jump down there and rescue him by hand or try to find him something to use to breathe into. Neither side was interested in following Mac's orders, no matter how much sense they made.

My fear was making me act irrationally, to the detriment of Ayen.

"Ayen," Mac called again. "Get the rope around you and we'll pull you up."

I crawled over to where the incline dropped off. "Ayen, just put it around your waist, sweetheart, and we'll pull you up."

His hand fisted in the dirt, slowly inching forward to where the rope was. Tears and sweat were pouring down his face to the point where he was having a hard time seeing where he was going. He patted around on the dirt, feeling for the rope.

"To your left... yes, right there," I said. "Now, put it around you... that's it."

I stood quickly, grabbing at the slack and waiting until he finally was able to get it around him. Once he tugged it twice to get it snug around his waist, Mac and I yanked on the other end hard enough that I felt my shoulders strain.

If Mac couldn't tell how desperate I was to get him up before, he certainly did now with how quickly he was having to change his hand-over-hand and toss the extra rope back away from his feet while I used both of my hands together for longer strokes to choke up on.

Ayen grabbed at the side of the incline, his hands digging down into the dead grass and dirt to help us haul him over the side. He collapsed instantly the second he was over, his legs still dangling off precariously.

I tossed the rope and dropped to my knees to grab him, scooping him up into my arms to drag him the rest of the way onto safer ground. He fell into me, becoming dead weight the moment I had my arms tightly secured around him.

I brushed my hands over his face, the grime from the smoke and dirt leaving streaks across his beautiful face. The relief at seeing him still alive and breathing was unmatched, overtaking me so hard and fast that it practically knocked the wind out of me.

When I'd first heard that distress call, my entire world felt like it'd suddenly caved inward. I hadn't wanted to believe it, having only given him my radio as an overprotective safety precaution that my stupid possessive self needed to fulfill in order to actually walk away.

I never thought he'd need to use it.

Never in a million years.

If I had, he would've never left my side today.

The fear that had completely stolen all other sense of rational thoughts from my mind was nothing like I'd ever experienced in my life. Not even when my father's alcoholic rages resulted in Carter and I walking away with black eyes and bruised bodies.

I never ever wanted to feel like that again. My heart was already outside of my body and being carried around by a man that I'd only know for a short time. And coming face to face with the reality of that fact was both startling and mind-boggling.

When Ayen's eyes blinked open, they were unfocused. His mouth dropped open to try and suck in as much clean air as he could.

Finally, he mumbled, "Jax..."

"You're okay." Tears leaked from my eyes as I brushed more grime from his face. "You're okay. I got you."

And I'm never ever letting you go again.