Covert-Completed(book 1 Dr Jenny Stevens Series)

Chapter 12

Two weeks later

I slammed on the gas paddle and revved up the engin. The mud splattered in a windfall shooting an arc over the bank even as my four wheel drive tires squealed to spit the mud out from under it.

I did not move an inch.

Muttering an oath I shifted the gear and swept my feet of the paddle before I threw on the handbreak. Not that it mattered. The bloody jeep was grounded. I wiped the sweat from my brow and sighed heavily at my circumstances. I faced a difficult conundrum. I could heft it out of here on foot or simply wait it out. I was sure help would be along soon in enough. The nearest post was perhaps only a days walk away.

This was a damn full venture. I have been out here traipsing about the country side looking for only god knew what and now here I am hopelessly lost and most importantly without internet connection.

I sighed heavily before reaching into the back seat of my hired vehicle to pull out a pair of trusty Wellingtons. I may be stuck in mud and lost  but I was not caught ill prepared. I have all I need to ride this bit of bad luck out.

I changed my footwear before opening my door to jump out and have a look at the damage. This was unexpected for it was a bloody four wheel drive. It should easily be able to clamber out of a bit of mud. I landed on the soft soil and was immediately being sucked under. Well this explained it... this was a damn quick sand swamp.

Shit!

I scrambled for the door latch and clung to it for a bit. I was done with this shit. Cody was right. This was a fools run. I really should have known better. Even if the information that had pinged on my computer had looked legit, I should have known better than to trust it. They were afterall professionals. Look at the numerous false trails I have pursued in the past. It was why I joined the Covert Ops. I have been chasing after these suckers for ages now and the skills I gave harnessed in all this time couldn't have been put  to better use than finding justice for others. Even if I have failed to find it for myself.

I tugged hard and managed to pull out of the knee high mud. I kept my weight on the door and used the body of the vehicle to inch my way around the swampy area.

When I hit a dry patch I let go and tested the ground with my weight. It held firm. I sighed in relief then went about testing the ground along the otherside of the vehicle. It was firm. The swamp was only just eating  into the path when I ran my front tire on the right side into it.

I took a pace back then squated to get a better look at the damage.  My tire was sunk. The whole Jeep was at a tilt. But I had a chance with three of the four tires on solid ground. I just needed to figure out a leverage that could be used to heft out a bloody jeep. I may be brilliant but at this moment I doubted my brilliance could stretch that far.

I dropped my head in resignation before collapsing on my bottom. I stretched out my Wellington clad legs and lay back on the dirt.

I thought back to the ping that started this trip. Cadwell 230. My internet buddies have been on the quest with me eversince I revealed my plight to them. I was on a quest to retrieve my half-brother from his father. Having a hippy for a mum had been all fun and games untill she bumped into Mr Cadwell. The drug lord and tycoon had taken to my whimsy mum and all was well for a time. But then my mum died and Cadwell left taking little Bobby with him.

I had been away at college at that time gaining my credibility as the next best IT whizz. It was that incident that drove me on but Caldwell was a whizz himself. A criminal mastermind and my search for Bobby had thus far only alerted me to the lengths and depths he could go to hide from the law. Naturally he was in hiding for the dubious nature of his activities not so for carting off his own son. He hadn't a clue that I was hunting him.  That I wanted my Bobby back. He was my only living blood relation . Other then my step-mom and her family from my dad's side. Dad had never married my mum but he had married my step-mum and while she had no children with him she did have them from her previous marriage. When my Dad died I grew closer to my step-mum and then closer still when my real mum died. But it wasn't the same. I needed to have Bobby in my life.

Hence, my quest for him.

I looked around at the wilderness around me and cussed my need for my family. Bobby was probably languishing in the richness his dad could provide. He's probably forgotten me already. He'd been six to my seventeen when I last saw him. He would be a grown adult now.