25. Cash

I stormedinto the conference room and nodded to Rae, who immediately brought up the stats for the current mission.

"Alright, listen up, everyone!" I shouted over the roar of angered colleagues. Everyone went quiet as they gave me their full attention. "We have a team that's gone dark. All we have to go on are their trackers, but as far as who's after them or why their running is still unclear. Our last communication with them was at this diner in Denver. They were making their way to us when they were attacked. Since then, no one's been in contact. We know they're all alive, but that's as far as our intel takes us. Dash, get on with local LEOs and find out everything they have on the situation."

"Already on it, boss."

"Rae, backtrack through their movements and try to figure out any connections to any other threats in the area. I need to know yesterday who the fuck is after them. And find out where the fuck Rafe is."

"I've been trying, boss. He's not responding to any calls."

Fuck, that meant I had to go a different route, one I was hoping to steer clear of. "Alright, I'll deal with it."

"Boss, isn't Fox with them?" Lock asked.

"He is, but as you all know, Fox isn't himself. I don't think we can count on him to get them out of the clusterfuck they're in."

"Why didn't we just bring them in when this started?" Edu asked.

"Chase didn't give us that option. Instead of checking in, he went on the run. He must have had a reason. We need to know that reason if we're going to bring everyone in safe. As of this moment, we know we have one man down. Nick is injured and unlikely to be able to fight. We need to find him and make sure he gets proper medical treatment."

Rae stood and walked over to the computer screen on the wall. "Their last known location was at this hospital. With any luck, Nick is getting the treatment he needs."

"No one else is moving," Thumper pointed out.

I nodded. "We assume they're keeping guard around the hospital. However, Chase's tracker went black. We don't know if he cut it out or if…if he was taken," I added, watching the whole room stiffen.

"He wouldn't leave without his team," Eli said. "That would be insane."

"Unless he knows something the rest of us don't," I answered.

"But then Patrick would have checked in with us," Kavanaugh said. "He knows protocols."

"Listen," I cut down the constant questions. "With Nick injured, it's possible they went this route for the protection of everyone. I need a team to head out to the hospital and find out what the fuck is going on and why no one is checking in."

Lock raised his hand. "We'll take care of it. Scottie can fly."

"That's a negative," I said with a shrug. "He's still not cleared to fly. You'll have to take Max."

All eyes swung to the man in the corner who hadn't said a word the whole fucking time. With his straw fedora pulled down over his eyes and a cigar hanging out of his mouth, you would think he was just chilling out, but the loud snore that shattered the silence said differently.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound like a good idea," Lock winced. "We'll take our chances with Scottie."

"Thanks," Scottie nodded. "Great vote of confidence."

I didn't have many choices at this point. And we still needed another pilot to head out at a moment's notice when Chase was found. "Fine, but put in the records that Max was the pilot."

"You know, I'm getting all the feels right now," Scottie grumbled. "I didn't even want to fly to begin with, and after all I've done for this company, I'm getting the boot."

"You're not getting the boot," I argued. "You're…getting a reprieve."

He scoffed at me. "Yeah, that's a nice way of saying you're fired."

I didn't have time to argue semantics right now. "Lock, when you get to Denver, report in immediately. I want to know what the fuck is going on and why Chase left on his own."

He nodded in the affirmative.

My gaze swung to the Three J's, who up until now had taken a back seat to pretty much all operations. I'd allowed it after they'd been fucked over multiple times by Rafe, but it was time for them to do what they did best.

"Jack, I need your team to track Chase's movements from the hospital and find out where he is. Once you locate him, lend support in any way necessary."

"Uh…with all due respect," Red said, pushing up in his chair. "Given all that's happened recently with…various jobs," he said, glancing at Jack, "perhaps it would be better to send another team out."

"Because I had my brain fucked with?" Jack asked. "I wouldn't trust me either. But I've got this."

"If Rafe is involved—" Red continued.

"Then he'll have to get in line. We have a job to do," Jack bit out.

That was good enough for me. I knew they were all ready to get back on the horse after the crap they'd been through.

"We'll fly out with Lock's team and start there. We'll check in as soon as we find something," Jack confirmed.

I nodded, glad I'd made that call. Jack was ready, despite what everyone else thought.

"I'll have Duke call ahead to Denver and get the vehicles we need. Any questions?"

When no one answered, I nodded. "Let's get to work."

Everyone filtered out of the room except for Max, who was still sleeping in the corner. I walked over to him and shoved his feet to the ground. He startled awake, looking around lazily.

"Meeting over?"

"Are you trying to start a fire?" I asked, nodding to his cigar.

"This?" he frowned. "Don't worry about that. I'm extremely skilled at sleeping and smoking."

"That being said, there are no cigars allowed in the building."

"Then I guess you shouldn't have brought me here."

I leaned over, resting my hand on the arm of his chair. "And what would you do if I sent you back? Spend your days rotting in jail?"

He muttered under his breath, swiping a hand over his face. "You know, I was happy down there."

"Wasting all your talents? Is that what you really want?"

"My talents never got me anywhere good," he said mysteriously. "I was better off before I met all of you. I was perfectly happy getting drunk and giving the locals tours in the skies."

"You were hiding."

"By choice," he grunted.

"That's not an option anymore. I need you to perform your duties."

"Whatever. I'll get in the plane."

"And make sure it doesn't crash."

He waved his hand at me and stood, stretching tall. His pink island shirt spread at the buttons before he dropped his hand. "You know what I need? Some of that shawarma the weird guy makes."

"He's not here—which you would know if you had been awake during the meeting."

"Guess I'll scrummage around in the kitchen."

"Or you could prepare the plane for takeoff."

"Scottie's got that," he muttered as he walked out of the room.

I had a terrible feeling about employing him, but there wasn't much I could do until I could convince the insurance company that Scottie wasn't a liability.

Rae knocked on the door, closing it as she entered. "We need to talk."

"Shoot."

"I've been going over some things from Chase's past."

"What kind of things?"

"From his last mission. I think I might have found something, but I need to do some more digging."

"Is it bad?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know when I have something concrete."

I nodded and watched her walk out of the room. Whatever she was onto could only be bad. And if that was the case, I didn't know what was headed our way. But there was someone who might have an idea.

Pulling out my phone, I dialed a number I thought I would never use again. As I waited for the line to pick up, I considered how I would handle this.

"I thought I told you not to call me," Shadow said gruffly.

Well, that cleared up any thoughts I had of this being a pleasant conversation. "I need information on Rafe."

"You know I can't give that out."

"It's important. I have a team missing. Rafe isn't exactly known for keeping his hands out of my business. If he has anything to do with this, I need to know."

The line was silent for a moment as he considered this. "Rafe is…otherwise occupied. You don't have to worry about him interfering in your business."

"You're positive."

"As positive as I can be with Rafe. Trust me, if he had anything to do with one of your operations, there would be signs."

That was the problem. Those signs didn't always show themselves immediately. Still, this was the best intel I had to go on. If Rafe wasn't involved, then we had a bigger problem on our hands. We had someone coming after us with a vendetta of some kind, and we had no idea who that was.