Reckless Abandon (Phantom Protector Book 1) (17 page)

Brody leaned back in his chair. “Does she have
any talents that she’s told you about or that you’ve noticed?”

Jamie shook her head, hoping that Max wouldn’t
mention the way that Sarah’s eyes had changed colors. “None that I know of, but
I haven’t come out and asked her yet or told her about any of ours.”

Lydia
’s eyes
met Jamie’s. She gave a slight smile. “I think we need to come clean, so to
speak. We need to reassure her that, if she does, she’s still welcome.” Lydia turned to
the general. “I still stand by my vision. Jamie is the key to saving all of our
lives, and it may be that since pictures of Sarah were in the box she might
have something to do with it.”

Jamie pushed from her chair and swung her gaze
to the general’s. “You are not putting her in harm’s way. I forbid it. I’ll
take her and we’ll leave before I let that happen.”

The general lifted his palms and lowered them.
“Take it easy, Jamie. No one here will let that happen.”

Ridge leaned forward, placing his elbows on the
table. “What if she’s more powerful than Lydia and we need her? What then?”

Jamie glared at Ridge. “You aren’t using her. I’d
die to save her and I don’t care what her power is.”

Ridge pushed form his seat. “Jamie, you’re being
unreasonable. If she is the “key” then we need her…no matter how much you
protest, it doesn’t matter.” She raised his chin. “You don’t know her…anymore
than we do. What gives you the right to decide, when our lives.” He lifted his
hands and motioned to the table. “are hanging in the balance?”

Max placed his palms on the table and rose to
stand beside Jamie. “You’d have to get through me too. I may very well be an
outsider in the compound, but I can tell you that you’d have a whole lot of
Bennetts coming down on your ass if I were to say… go missing or break an arm.”

Ridge glared as he turned his attention to Max.
“Are you threatening me? We will do whatever is necessary to protect the people
in this unit.”

Max grabbed Jamie’s hand and headed toward the
door. “This meeting is over.”

He pushed through the door and stomped over to
Sarah. Lifting her up in his arms, he started walking back down the hall to
Jamie’s room. “Hey, squirt. Did you have fun?”

She glanced back over his shoulder at Jamie
before she met Max’s gaze. “I heard yelling coming from that room. Are Jamie
and I in trouble?”

Jamie’s heart broke for Sarah.

“Nope, but what do you say about taking a trip
with me and your sister? Would you like that?”

Jamie pushed her door open and started opening
the bags she’d carried from the conference room. Sarah’s bags were full of
clothes and everything a little girl could want.

“I guess that’s okay if that’s what Jamie wants
to do.”

Max set Sarah down on her feet and turned toward
Jamie. “Grab a bag and pack for Sarah too. We’re leaving in thirty minutes.” He
pointed to the door behind him. “If anyone besides me comes through that door,
especially Ridge. I want you to shoot. Do you understand me?”

Jamie nodded her understanding. “Sarah comes
first. She’ll always come first.”

Jamie grabbed Sarah’s hand and pulled her to the
bedroom. She pulled clothes from the hangers and stuffed them into her duffel
bag. She went into the bathroom and grabbed an armful of stuff from the counter
that she’d yet to put away and tossed it into the bag.

Max nodded. “Don’t forget your guns and whatever
ammo you have stashed in here.”

She heard Max lock her front door before he
pulled it closed. He returned only moments later with his own duffel bag thrown
over his shoulder. She stood in front of him in the living room, one bag in her
right hand and the other clutching her sister’s hand. “You know all they have
to do is use their gifts against us, and they’ll stop us in our tracks.”

He glanced back over his shoulder toward the
door. “They’re not going to want to do that.”

“And why is that?”

“Mike and Elizabeth Bennett are flying in to get
us. The general would never think to harm his own daughter. If we aren’t on the
tarmac in thirty minutes, they’re coming in here to raise holy hell and he has
his brother-in-law on standby. With one push of a finger, he’ll blow the Phantoms’
cover and announce their existence and mission to the world.”

Jamie shook her head in disbelief. “They
wouldn’t do that to Lydia.”

“They’ve already called to warn her. If we can’t
talk any sense into the general and the others, maybe she can. She knows what
it’s like to be in your shoes. Remember she didn’t find her siblings until only
a few months ago, and she’d do the same for her family. They’re giving her a
head start to either get the hell out of Dodge or explain the situation. Mike’s
already said he would bring her back with him if need be.”

Jamie did a mental check of all of the guns she had
hidden on her body. A knock sounded on the door. Jamie stepped in front of
Sarah. “Stay behind me, sweetie.” She pulled a gun from her ankle holster, and
Max moved to open the door.

One of the last people she expected to try and
stop her stood in the doorway. He lifted his hands in the air. “I come in
peace.”

Jamie lowered her weapon, but didn’t remove her
finger from the trigger. “What are you doing here, Thompson?”

He walked in and pushed the door closed behind
him. “Holster that thing before you accidently shoot me.”

Jamie smirked. “I don’t have accidents, and I’m
keeping it right where it is.”

His blue eyes looked from the gun back up to her
face. “No one here is going to let anything happen to Sarah; you have my word.”

Max stepped up to Jamie, further blocking Rick’s
view of Sarah. “If it’s all the same to you, we’d like to take her somewhere
she’ll be safe.” He nodded toward the door. “Their actions, or lack thereof,
when we leave will determine if Jamie and I will be returning.”

Rick let his head fall forward. “Lydia’s
devastated. She feels like this is all her fault.”

Max patted Rick on the shoulder. “It doesn’t
change a thing. She’d do the same for her family if she had to, and you know
I’m right. We’ll be gone two days maximum, the weather isn’t bound to change
that much while we’re gone. If we go by Lydia’s visions, it isn’t cold
enough and Floyd isn’t going to attack just yet. I need to get Sarah out of
here. You and all of your powers can hold down the fort while we’re gone.”

Jamie walked past Rick to the door. “Tell Lydia thank
you. If it wasn’t for her, I never would have found Sarah in the first place
and I’d still be searching for the truth. It was because of her that I found a
bit of peace. You and she of all people should understand my need to protect Sarah
at all costs.”

Rick nodded and opened the door. “Let me go
first. If they try anything, I can suck the powers from them and you’ll have a
clean getaway.”

Max chuckled. “I don’t think it will come to
that. I’m sure Lydia
has already spoken with the general and handled things.”

Rick started walking down the hall. “Just in
case, I think I’ll go first.”

Jamie kept her gun in one hand and held on to
Sarah with the other. “Suit yourself.”

They all walked through the Intel room. Sarah
pulled Jamie to a stop when they reached Jonah. She hugged him. “I hope they
bring me back for more lessons.” She let her hands drop. “But if they don’t, I
just want you to know, you were my favorite.”

Jamie couldn’t hide the smile that formed on her
lips. There was nothing evil about her sister. She had a big heart and an
innocence that Jamie had lost after her first kill. She wouldn’t put Sarah
through that… she couldn’t.

The general started barking orders from his
doorway. “I want every one on alert. My daughter is on that inbound jet and I
want her in and out of here in a matter of minutes. If Floyd has us under
surveillance then she’s a potential target and that is unacceptable.”

Everyone nodded, and several groups scurried out
the door. The general briskly walked over to Jamie. “I would have never let any
harm come to Sarah, but I understand why you feel you need to take her out of
here, and if it gets my daughter out of the line of fire, you have my
blessing.”

Jamie did the one thing that she never does. The
move was out of character from the combat training she did on a daily basis.
She threw her arms around the general and whispered, “I’ll be back in two days
before the weather gets cooler. Keep them safe and come up with a contingency
evacuation plan. You need to have a fail-safe just in case.” She leaned back
and looked him in the eyes. “Maybe you should dust out the underground tunnel…
you know the one that leads into the forest.”

He let his hands drop. His eyes widened. “You
know about that?”

She tilted her head to the side. “I stumbled
upon the entrance when I was younger and just remembered it when I was trying
to figure out a way to keep Sarah and Lydia safe.” Jamie shrugged. “It
might not be a bad idea to get prepared.”

The general walked them out to the tarmac just
as Mike touched down. He slowed the jet and stopped about one hundred yards
away. The stairs lowered, and Elizabeth
jumped down the steps two at a time. She ran up to the general and hugged him.

“Now, Daddy, I can’t believe you of all people wouldn’t
understand Jamie’s need to keep Sarah safe.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I would
never dream of stopping her. I completely understand.” He gestured toward the
plane. “I think it’s about time for all of you to go.”

Elizabeth
headed
back to the stairs and stopped at the bottom and gave her father a skeptical
look. “Why, General, if I didn’t know any better, I would think that you’re
trying to get rid of me.”

The general glanced around at the trees. “I am,
Lizzy. Lydia’s
vision shows that Floyd is bringing the fight to us... I need you to go.”

Elizabeth
glanced around at the trees before she stepped up on the stairs. “I’m putting Sarah
in hiding,” she called over her shoulder. “But I’ll be back. You might need my
help.”

“Elizabeth,”
he warned in a voice that only a father had. “You will do no such thing, and
I’d appreciate it if you could find your sister and ask her to meet you
wherever you’re going.”

Elizabeth
shrugged
her shoulder. “You know better than that, General. She isn’t going to listen to
me anymore than she does you.”

Jamie followed Elizabeth up the steps. She stopped on the
third rung. “I know where Gracie is, and I’ll call her on the way…getting her
to listen to reason will be another story but you have my word that I’ll try.”

The questioning look on the general’s face was
one she’d never seen before.

Jamie ran her hand down the group of leather
seats once she boarded. There were two groups with seats of four, two seats
facing the others. A table was bolted between the too. Jamie sank down into a
chair across the table from Max. She buckled Sarah in.

“Nice plane.”

Max shrugged. “I knew they’d come for us,
without question.”

Sarah squeezed Jamie’s hand to the point of
cutting off any circulation she had left in the digits as the jet sped down the
runway and lifted into the air.

Elizabeth
’s
voice sounded over the speakers. “Thanks for flying with Bennett Airlines. The
weather temperature at our destination is in the mid-seventies. I hope you all
brought bathing suits.” Jamie could hear a struggle, before the intercom
clicked off, she Elizabeth’s voice. “You’re such a party pooper.”
 

Jamie glanced out the window at the white fluffy
clouds that seemed to mesmerize Sarah then turned to Max. “I thought Southall
was only fifteen minutes away. The weather there can’t be that different from Henderson. Where are we
going?”

“It’s a surprise. Close your eyes and rest
awhile. I’ll wake you when we get there.”

Chapter
17

It hadn’t taken long for Jamie to succumb to
sleeping with the help of the hum of the jet engines. She laid her head down
and missed the entire flight until Sarah woke her.

“Jamie…Jamie…wake up, we’re here. You should see
how blue the ocean is. It was the most prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Jamie rubbed her eyes and glanced out of the
window before she looked at Max. “The beach house?”

“Yeah, but you and Sarah won’t be staying in
mine. She’ll be staying with Emma and Lily. Theirs is more secure, and Sarah
will have someone to play with.”

When the plane completed its taxi, he stood and
grabbed their bags out of the overhead compartment. He glanced over his
shoulder. “I don’t think Floyd has tied us back to the Bennetts or he would
have snatched one of them by now. Besides, Rick has added security since we
last visited, and she’ll be surrounded by bodyguards. This is the safest place
I could think of.”