Bitter cold night air greeted them as they stepped forward. It had gotten even colder since they left work, and his breath fogged in front of his face. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he pulled the coat tighter around his body and walked alongside Noah. He was about to ask where Rowe was when a low roar echoed across the parking lot. A large black SUV surged up the rounded drive and stopped right in front of them. Jude’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest at the sight of the black monster. It looked too much like the same one that ran them off the road.
Noah stepped forward and pulled the back door open for Jude, motioning for him to climb in, before he grabbed the front passenger door. Taking a deep breath, Jude got into the seat and pulled the door closed. Warmth wrapped around him, battling back the winter cold.
“Look, I…of course, I’ve thought of that! I…no, I’ve already assigned two bodyguards, and—” Rowe said brokenly into the cell phone pressed to his left ear while he drove with his right hand. “I’ve got it covered. Just get here safely. I’ll keep you updated.” Rowe ended the call with a groan and tossed it over to Noah, who was chuckling beside him.
“Was that Lucas?” Jude asked as he buckled himself in. After flipping in his Jeep already that night, he was never ever going to sit in a vehicle without a seat belt of some kind. The damn thing had saved his life.
Rowe chortled and gunned the SUV, racing down the drive and onto the main road, turning toward the nearest expressway ramp. “I so can’t wait to tell him you said that. It was Andrei.”
“Is he coming to help?”
“Not this time,” Rowe said with a sigh. “He headed down to see his parents early this morning. Needed to help with something. I don’t know. Their heater maybe. When the news of Snow hit, he started north, but he’s down in the fucking wilds of Kentucky. He’s still at least another three hours away, and that’s assuming the weather holds.”
“Fuck,” Jude muttered, slouching in his chair. The former MMA fighter was great in a fight, and if they were lucky enough to locate Snow, Jude would have liked to have Andrei at his side. The man had become a close friend over the past couple of years, helping him learn the ins and outs of Snow’s unique family.
“No worries. We’ve got plenty of hands on deck for this little mission.”
Jude looked up to meet Rowe’s hard gaze in the rearview mirror. No, Jude wasn’t worried about the prowess of the men who would rally to Snow’s side. Rowe was scary all on his own as a former Ranger and just a general devious bastard, but throw in his boyfriend Noah, who’d spent several more years in the Army as a Ranger and had the same twisted sense of humor, and the pair were positively lethal.
“Does this mean you know where Snow is? Or who’s holding him?”
“We’ve got a good lead. The triplets are pulling together all the details they can on the location. We’ll lay everything out when we meet with the rest of the team.”
“But they can confirm that he’s still alive?” Jude pressed.
Rowe frowned and dropped his eyes to the road. His hands tightened around the steering wheel until something creaked. Noah reached across the seat and put his hand on Rowe’s bicep, squeezing.
“We don’t know for sure,” Noah answered.
“But we’re not going to fucking wait around until we can confirm it. We’re going in tonight.”The drive to Ward Security had felt like the longest of Jude’s life. He sat back, listening as Noah made a series of phone calls either to the IT specialists working to track down Snow or the other bodyguards. It sounded like Noah and Rowe were rounding up people to join in the rescue mission, but he was catching only snippets of it.
Most of the time, Jude just stared out the window at the lights of the city as they passed in a glittering blur. He wondered if Snow was in pain or if he was being tortured. Guilt ate at him. His family had pulled Snow into this danger. Of course, he could hear Snow’s growly voice that Jude’s family was his family too. Snow would do anything for the Torres family, even if it meant risking his life.
But he didn’t want this for Snow. Their entire relationship started while Snow and his friends were being hunted by a lunatic. Mel had been killed and Ian was very nearly killed. A lot of their first year together had been spent dodging one disaster after the next. But after the insanity of Oklahoma a year ago, Jude had started to think that life was settling into a kind of quiet normalcy. No more car chases or people wanting to kill them. There was work and home. Saving lives and building a life with his general.