Page 6 of Storm Warning

“Yes, sir.”

Once Andre scooped Christopher into his arms, Echo and Artemis formed a loose circle around them with Seth in the lead position.

Riley walked on Andre’s right side. She watched their surroundings, alert for more terrorists. An unknown number of them were combing the jungle for their hostage and gunning for Andre and Riley.

She frowned. Why had the terrorists taken her? Throughout the hurried trek through the jungle, the men had said nothing to her. It was only when they dumped her in the room where Andre found her that the men talked. Unfortunately, they didn’t say enough for her to figure out why they had kidnapped her.

Was it possible they took her as leverage to get the boy back? If so, is that what they meant about her cooperating with them? They had to know she would do nothing to harm that child, and placing him back in the terrorists’ hands was not in his best interest. If that wasn’t their goal, what on earth did they want with her? More importantly, what kind of cooperation did they want? The whole incident made no sense.

Another thought crossed her mind. What if the kidnappers were part of a different terrorist group from the one that had taken Christopher? Her lips curled. What were the odds of two different terrorist groups operating in the same area? Although not unheard of, the odds weren’t in favor of it. That option made more sense than one large terrorist group coming after her and Christopher. They didn’t know each other. Kidnapping both of them wasn’t logical.

Half a mile later, Seth held up a fist. Andre crouched, covering as much of the boy’s body as he could.

The sight did funny things to Riley’s stomach. It felt as though a bomber squadron of butterflies had taken off and were fluttering around in her gut. She knew Andre was doing his job by protecting the child with everything at his disposal. But seeing Andre willingly lay his life on the line for their principal caused admiration and fear to swell inside Riley. They were friends, after all. She didn’t want to lose him.

She frowned as she scanned their surroundings. Perhaps the friend label wasn’t accurate. Riley didn’t know what she and Andre were, but it was more than friends.

Afraid to delve deeper into what she longed to have with Andre, she pushed the concerns to the back of her mind and focused on the problem at hand. Terrorists stalked them through the jungle. They had to be her chief priority. Deep introspection could wait until they returned to Nashville.

Seth looked at Elias and Noah, who nodded and blended into the shadows as they went in search of the disturbance.

Christopher looked around with wide eyes, then huddled closer to Andre, who cupped the back of his head. One more layer of protection, thin though it was.

Fifteen minutes later, Noah and Elias returned and signaled Seth that they’d taken out seven terrorists who were trackingChristopher. They returned to their places in the circle of protection, and Seth gave the signal to resume the journey.

They repeated the process three more times before they escaped the jungle and returned to the vehicles they’d hidden in the treeline. While the rest of them stayed in the jungle’s cover, Seth and Elias checked the vehicles for signs of tampering. When they didn’t detect unwanted electronic signals, the operatives started the SUVs with key fobs from a distance.

No problems. No explosions. Riley breathed easier.

“Go,” Noah said.

The operatives hurried to the vehicles and climbed inside. Christopher settled into the backseat between Andre and Riley. Noah slid behind the wheel of their SUV with Violet in the passenger seat and cranked the engine as Grant and Rayne slid into the middle row of seats.

Noah drove out of the trees and settled behind Seth and the rest of their teams in the lead SUV.

“What happens now?” Christopher turned to Andre. “Do we have to drive home?”

“We’re driving to an airstrip where we’ll board a jet to fly home.”

His eyes lit up. “I love to fly.”

“Yeah? So do I, bud.”

Riley twisted to watch out the back window. So far, no sign they were being followed. However, you didn’t have to be a genius to realize the teams would hightail it out of the area with the boy as fast as possible, and there were only two ways to go. All the terrorists had to do was split their soldiers into two groups and send them after the Fortress operatives.

Noah glanced back. “Anything, Riley?”

“Not yet.”

Elias turned to watch out the back. “I hope they gave up.”

“Not likely. Sweetheart, watch for traffic coming from the right side. I don’t plan to stop at stop signs or red lights if I can help it.”

Violet smiled at her husband. “Copy that.”

“This isn’t the time to be a good citizen,” Iona said. “Use the combat driving skills you learned in the Sand Box.”

“Yes, ma’am.”