Page 27 of Echoes and Oaths (Guardian Security Dynasty #4)
Raven relaxed. She was a study in careless caution.
Her shoulders loose, and her fingers drumming lightly on the steering wheel.
She wore a field worker's rough, practical clothing: sun-faded jeans, a dusty button-down, hair pulled back in a no-nonsense braid. Just another local woman ferrying supplies, nothing more. The dogs must have sensed the stress in the cab. They lay on the floorboards and didn’t move.
It was eerie how they tried to disappear as much as the humans going through the checkpoints did.
Eira could tell that underneath that easy, almost careless mask, Raven calculated every threat and angle.
At each checkpoint, they rolled to a stop.
Young soldiers, barely out of boyhood, scanned the truck with wary eyes.
Some looked at Raven longer than necessary.
Their stares lingered. Women traveling alone with a child always drew attention.
Raven played it perfectly. A slow smile.
A bored, almost impatient look. A few sharp, clipped words in regional Spanish, which Raven mimicked perfectly.
Eira listened as Raven talked about government permits, food deliveries, delays, and heat exhaustion.
She made herself seem harmless, even weary.
This wasn’t the woman who drove her away from Mateo that morning.
She’d morphed into someone else, a person who could’ve grown up next door to Eira.
But she wasn’t. She was an American, although you couldn’t tell it now.
Most of the soldiers waved them through.
Some took longer, asking questions, lingering, as if debating whether to pull them out and search the truck.
Each time, Raven remained unbothered, tilting her chin slightly, giving just the right amount of eye contact.
She was confident but not challenging. The guards relented and let them pass.
Eira kept Teo low in the back seat, mostly hidden beneath a battered blanket, murmuring soft, steady nonsense in his ear. Her heart hammered against her ribs, but outwardly, she stayed still and tried to become invisible.
The farther they drove, the more the world seemed to fall apart around them. Potholes cracked the road to pieces. The jungle crept closer to the crumbling shoulder. Shacks gave way to open fields and abandoned stretches of land where even the scavengers seemed too afraid to settle.
When Raven finally turned off onto a narrower dirt track, Eira let herself exhale a brittle breath. The path ahead was nothing more than a jagged scar through the field. Tall grass skirted the edges, and the brush pressed tight on either side, making walls of tangled green vines.
"We’re close," Raven said, her voice low, steady.
Eira nodded, tightening her hold around Teo. Mateo had told her that morning that the landing strip would be little more than a hacked-out strip of dirt, hidden from casual eyes. No radios. No runways. Just a small twin-engine plane waiting to take them away from everything .
The truck bounced over ruts and stones, dust kicking up in thick clouds behind them.
At one checkpoint, a soldier stepped forward. He was older, sharper-eyed. He didn’t wave them through like the others.
He motioned for Raven to roll down the window.
She did, slow and steady, flashing a practiced, annoyed smile.
"Perdón, oficial," she said, voice light, almost bored. "Running late. Supplies for the base at Puerto Santo."
The soldier didn’t move to wave them through. He leaned down, peering inside the truck. His gaze lingered too long on Eira, on the barely concealed bundle of Teo beneath the blanket.
Raven arched an eyebrow, tapping the fake permit clipped to the dash with two fingers.
The soldier grunted, unimpressed. His hand shifted casually toward the rifle slung across his chest.
Eira’s breath froze. Raven’s smile sharpened just a little. She shifted her weight, subtly angling her sidearm just out of sight near the doorframe.
For a moment, the world hung suspended.
Then another soldier, who was younger and impatient, shouted something from the back of the checkpoint, waving them forward. The man hesitated, then stepped back with a grunt, smacking the side of the truck twice.
“Move.” He said with a clipped voice.
Raven didn’t hesitate. She rolled up the window, shifted gears, and drove on, the truck chugging and choking forward like it had been holding its breath, too. Eira didn’t exhale until the checkpoint was just a smudge in the dusty rearview mirror.
And then, at last, the landing strip came into view. It was rough and ragged, but it was also the most beautiful thing she’d seen all day.
A man stood by the plane, his silhouette framed by the rising sun, arms crossed, watching the horizon for trouble. Raven didn’t slow down. She pushed the truck harder, getting them to safety before anyone could change their minds.
When she pulled up, the pilot walked over to the vehicle and took the small bundle of possessions from Eira. Raven walked around the vehicle and smiled at another man who appeared from the brush. “Z. Glad you’re here. Do you have the intel?”
The man nodded. “Got it. I’ve got his back, Raven.” When the man looked at Eira and Teo, a slow smile crossed his face. “Now I see the urgency.” He extended his hand to her. “I’m Z.” Eira shook it as she let Teo toddle a bit before he had to sit down again.
“Eira. Do you work with Raven and Mateo?”
“I do. I’m here to make sure Mateo comes home to you.”
Eira smiled, her eyes misted with tears almost instantly. “Thank you.”
Raven handed the keys to the Land Cruiser to him. “Papers to get through the roadblocks are on the clipboard. New plates are under the driver’s side seat. Change them before you take off.”
“Got it. Safe travels,” Z said and gave them a two-finger salute.
“Ladies, we need to go. Now,” the pilot said as he opened the door to the small aircraft. The dogs went in first and settled into the very back space of the small cabin. Raven swooped up Teo, making him laugh. “Brando, we’re getting on the plane, and Z is on scene.”
Eira glanced at the pilot, who seemed to ignore Raven’s comments.
She shook it off. Perhaps her statement didn’t need an acknowledgment, but it wasn't polite. She got into the plane, and Raven handed her Teo. She strapped in and held her son tightly. The pilot handed all of them earphones. Teo laughed and patted hers before doing the same to his. She smiled at him as the aircraft roared to life. Raven strapped in next to the pilot, and the small aircraft moved. It bounced rapidly down the runway before it took off. Eira’s stomach lurched, and she closed her eyes and hugged Teo tightly. There was no turning back now.