Just Another Job

The Plan

Wow. This chapter was so exciting to write! I hope you love it as much as I dooooooooo! That's a picture of Raelyn on the side, I'm going to start putting up pictures of the main characters again. I can't believe the final conflict of the story crept up onme so suddenly! 

I walked out into the living room as I zipped up my jacket. Ian, Dak, and Raelyn were staring at me with incredulous expressions. 

"Do I need to check if Jo is still alive?" Dak asked. 

"We just had a little disagreement," I mumbled, hoping that they hadn't heard anything important. If they knew what I was planning to do, they would try to stop me too. 

"It happens a lot," Ian said to Raelyn. He had healed overnight, and now he was sitting next to her on the couch, obviously trying to make a move on her. She was having none of it. Ian couldn't get lucky with any of the females involved with our mission, it seemed. 

"I'm going for a walk," I told them, lacing up my boots. "I'll be back as soon as she has cooled off." 

"You want company?" Dak asked. 

"No, I'd rather go by myself," I said, trying to play it off casually. Ian had been the one I was worried about shaking, but he was only paying attention to Raelyn. She was staring at me with narrowed eyes, like she didn't quite believe me. I could only pray that she wouldn't decide to check on Jo. 

"Be careful," she finally said, though her eyes didn't leave me. I nodded shortly and left the cozy cabin, emerging into the brisk air. Thoughts of Jasper being tortured assaulted me as I paused on the doorstep. I hissed through my teeth as I pushed the images from my mind. I didn't have time to waste. 

I ran as soon as I was out of sight of the cabin. It would have been faster for me to run in panther form, but I couldn't ditch my weapons and come up against Harting defenseless. I still wasn't sure what my plan was. Meet Harting's goons at the airport, disable all but one, and force him to tell me where Jasper was being held. Making him talk wasn't something I was worried about. I had lots of experience with that sort of thing. For the first time in a long while, Jones, my old employer, popped up in my head. I had been so scared of him finding me. What a joke. Jones was nothing. In fact, Harting had probably hired him for the job, telling him right then that he planned to kill Ian and me as soon as it was completed. 

The roar of a vehicle caught my ears. I moved over to the side of the road and slowed to a walk. trying to amble along as quickly as I dared. The jeep pulled up next to me and the driver cut the engine. I caught a whiff of the scent and slowly turned to face Raelyn. 

"Need a ride?" she asked. 

"I told you, I just came out to take a walk." 

"Okay. All bullshit aside, you gonna continue to play dumb or take the ride?" 

"Where do you think I'm going?" I asked. I wouldn't pull her into a suicide mission if she didn't know the risks she was taking. I didn't know anything about Raelyn, but something about her felt familiar, like I had met her before, in the form of all of the mercenaries I had come into contact with in my previous life. She knew my lifestyle, I could tell. 

"Something having to do with saving Jo," she answered. "Isn't that what it always is with you?" 

I sighed. "It's dangerous, Raelyn." 

"Thank you, captain obvious. Now get in and stop wasting time." 

I hesitated for two seconds before walking towards the jeep. Raelyn twisted the key in the ignition as I slid into the passenger seat.