Chapter 82
“I just don’t think this is a good idea,” Lucas was saying when Jo sat down with him to talk about her plan to take most of her squad back to the United States for a mission to save Jamie Joplin and the other Guardians being held captive by President Crimson Crotch and his asshole lackeys.
“Why is that?” Jo asked. “I’ve already told you how important this is. We can’t let him execute our people.”
“No, I understand that, believe me. I do. I know this Jamie you speak of. He was a friend to Eliza when few others were.” Lucas’s eyes went to Elliott. It was no secret that Elliott and Eliza had never gotten along, but then Lucas’s wife rarely got along with anyone. He refocused on Jo. Elliott didn’t say a word. He certainly wouldn’t deny that he didn’t get along with Eliza. In fact, he’d probably happily list off for Lucas all of the reasons he thought his wife was a horrific bitch, but now wasn’t the time, and if her uncle had learned one thing in all of his years it was not to piss off the help when you needed a favor. He’d told Jo that a million times since she was a little girl.
“Then you know we have to do whatever we can to rescue him and the others,” Scott said for Jo. She hadn’t brought her whole team in with her to meet with Lucas and a few of his higher ranking Vampires, but she’d brought Scott, her brother, Cadon, Elliott, and Zane. She thought the five of them should be able to convince the Souled Vampire if anyone could.
“It’s not that I don’t understand,” Lucas said, running a hand through his hair. “It’s only, I don't want to miss an opportunity to complete the primary mission while you are away, and it’s a possibility Holland could show herself at any time. We get new intel from Adrian every day. What if she moves while you’re away?”
Jo shrugged. “Then you follow her. You keep an eye on her, and we’ll be back soon enough so we can take her out.”
“But you didn’t partner with us to be reconnaissance for your team, remember? You asked us to help you defeat her forces, not follow her around like… secret agent spies.”
Jo bit back a laugh at his English. She couldn’t laugh when someone messed something up a little in her own language when she only spoke one. Besides, she got the gist of what he was saying. “I know this isn’t what you signed up for, Lucas, but if you can do this for us, it’ll be much easier to get her when we get back. I won’t be taking my whole squad with me, either. I’ll leave you some people, so if you need to pull out, then they can jump in, as soon as you tell them what you know.” She realized it probably would’ve been a good idea to put at least some of her own people on this to begin with. It just hadn’t shaken down that way.
Lucas still looked unconvinced. “Say I do agree to this plan of yours. What about the American? What will we do with him?”
“Shit,” Jo muttered. She’d forgotten all about Ryker. How had that happened? How did she let such a colossal pain in her ass slip her mind?
His voice cut through her thoughts. She didn’t know he was around, but when he spoke, she turned to look at him. “Simple enough. I’ll go with you.”
“What?” Jo exclaimed at the same time as half of her teammates at least. “You’ll go with us? Are you insane?”
“Clearly,” he said, which was what she would’ve answered, given the opportunity. “But that’s beside the point. Come on, you know you can use me. No one hates Crimson Crotch as much as I do.”
She had to think that was true, though he still hadn’t told her why. She’d learned that Ryker had had a run in in the past with Vampires that might’ve cost him his family, but she wasn’t exactly sure, and until she heard the words from his mouth, she wasn’t going to speculate.
Turning back to Lucas, she said, “That solves that problem.”
“Are you kidding?” Cadon asked. “You can’t really think we can take him. He’s a liability!”
“How is he a liability?” Jo asked, turning to give her brother a look that should’ve told him she thought he was an idiot.
“He’s a human! A fragile human! He’ll get killed!” Cadon shouted back.
“And so what if he does?” Jo said, pretending like that wouldn’t bother her at all, when in actuality she knew that it would. “That’s his choice, not ours.”
“Thanks for that, gorgeous,” Ryker said, winking at her. He’d come around to stand in front of where her team was assembled on a large sofa. “I’ll take the risk. Beats hanging out here.”
Lucas stroked his chin thoughtfully. “You’re forgetting that you have another complication. What about your aunt? I can’t keep an eye on her, and I have to assume you will take your other Hybrid with you. What then?”
Jo swallowed hard. She hadn’t thought about that either. “I guess… we’ll have to take her with us.”
Elliott interjected. “We can’t. There’s no way. Not in her current state.”
Jo turned to Scott. “How many days do we have before we absolutely have to leave here?”
He thought for a second, probably calculating how long it would take to get there and said, “Three days, tops.”
Turning back to Lucas, Jo said, “We’ll fix her. And we’ll take her.”
Lucas’s eyes widened. “How are you going to do that?”
“I don’t know,” Jo admitted. “But we’ll figure it out. If we can do that, will you work with us to keep an eye on Holland while we’re gone?”
Lucas nodded. “Sure. But I don’t think you can do it.”
Jo didn’t either. “Watch us.” She extended her hand, and Lucas shook it. “Deal.”
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
