20 Questions

Chapter 129

Hunter

Our opportunity to scout the building between one and two didn't happen. The delivery vans didn't come, but Elijah had a feeling like something was off so we held our position. As anxious as I was to see what we were up against, I trust Elijah and I truly believe that if his gut says something is wrong, something is probably wrong. He's smart, intuitive and experienced in this area.

So, we wait.

Deliveries wrap up every day between 5:45 and 6:15. Once everything is clear, we will go in after dark. I'd like to go back to the hotel and call Jenna, but Elijah said any movement on our part could leave us detected and blow the mission. I pout, internally of course, but I follow his lead and go along with his plan. This is his area of expertise and I don't question it.

I had just finished up a stick of beef jerky and a bottle of water when Elijah holds his finger to his earpiece, his face going white as he looks over at me in horror. My mind goes to Jenna and the dream. I raise my eyebrows and motion with my hand for him to spit it out. If this involves Jenna, and I think it does from the look on his face, I need to know...yesterday.

"Thanks, Ben. Patch him through. Yeah, Hunter is sitting here right next to me. Hold on and let me give him the other earpiece."

Elijah hands me a small earbud and I pop it into my ear with shaky hands. If something happened to Jenna, I would never forgive myself for leaving her behind. Elijah notifies headquarters that I am listening and a deep male voice I recognize comes through the radio.

"Elijah, Hunter, there was an attack at the house. They broke in when the alarm system and cameras were down," Griffin explains.

"Jenna," I pant. "Is Jenna ok? Where is she? How is she? Is she hurt?"

"She's fine, Hunter. In shock and really shaken up, but she's in one piece." I breathe a deep sigh of relief as Elijah asks Griffin for the details. "Jenna caught a shadow of something in the back yard and then heard noises in the bedroom. I locked her in the panic room to go check things out. When I went upstairs to investigate, they sprayed me with something that caused me to black out for several minutes. I don't know what it was, but when I woke up, I was tied to a chair and face-to-face with two attackers."

"Ben said the threat was eliminated. How did you break free?" Elijah asks, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"I didn't," Griffin answers and that's all it takes for me to throw up the beef jerky. I vomit and cough and vomit some more. "Jenna disobeyed my orders to stay downstairs and came up anyway. She held one of them hostage while she directed the other how to discard his weapons. She was incredible. That was until he told her that you all fell into a trap and were all killed. He told her that he was going to deliver her to your father, where he and his team would do horrific things to her, but only after killing me. He came at me, preparing to snap my neck, but before he could lay his hands on me, she dropped him with a shot to the temple and then put four bullets in the other one's chest. She saved my life."

I am overwhelmed with pride, anger and relief. But with that being said, my wife killed two people. She was protecting everyone around her, but she took two lives. I can't fathom where her head is at. I've been in her position and I still see their eyes daily. The eyes that closed a final time because of me. Jenna isn't like me. This could destroy her. I need to get to her. I need to console her and make sure I haven't completely shredded her soul and her humanity with the mess I've created.

"What's the plan, Elijah?" Griffin asks.

"Have Ben send you our location," Elijah says.

"Absolutely not," I argue. "You are not bringing her here, in the middle of all this. It's bad enough what happened there, but this place is swarming with filth. It's too dangerous."