Free Wild Hearts (Novella) by Tina Wainscott Page B

wasn’t going to be the one to ask if they’d managed to keep it together. And he didn’t have to, once he checked Knox’s ring finger. No sign of the wedding band, not even a tan line.
    “How’s the road?” Risk asked Salsa and Rath instead.
    “The wind in our faces,” Rath said, his smile breaking through his dark beard. “The rumble of the engine, the freedom to do what we want. Sleeping under the stars.”
    “Bugs in our teeth,” Julian added. “Exhaust fumes. Numb balls at the end of the day. Prickly scalp from wearing a helmet for hours on end. Fuckin’ awesome.” But he grinned. “Staying away from my family … priceless.”
    “They still trying to get you to come back home?” Risk asked.
    “About every other day. Calls and texts. First my younger brother, then the older one, then a cousin, then my father. Even my younger sister.” He imitated them in Spanish, then translated. “ ‘Come home. It’s your destiny. Your responsibility.’ They figure, since my military career—and chance to escape—crashed and burned, what else is there but the family business?” He settled his hand over his crotch. “I’ll take the numb balls,
muchas gracias
.”
    Of course, Sue chose that moment to bring the tray of drinks. She quickly shifted her focus from Julian’s crude motion to each plastic glass.
    “Excuse my ungentlemanly friend here,” Saxby said in his soothing voice, giving her a wink. “Don’t judge me by the company I keep.”
    And just like that, she was snared, focused on him instead of those glasses. She gave him a smile. “There’s nothing to judge, sugar. I grew up with three brothers.”
    Sometimes Risk and Saxby would make a competition of who-gets-the-girl. Sooch had earned his nickname many a time. Sue took their orders and sauntered back to the kitchen. Sax shot Risk a challenging smile.
Are we on?
    Some small part of him responded, as it did to any challenge. The rest of him just wasn’t into it, which seemed rather odd when he thought about it. For some reason, banging some chick and never seeing her again didn’t appeal. Like BASE jumping, it wasfun in the moment but left him hollow later. He waved it off and dumped four sugar packets into his iced tea. “Any of you been thinking about Chase Justiss’s offer?”
    Rath kicked back, his arms over his head. “Had enough of being at someone’s beck and call.” His dark brown eyes got even darker. “ ’Sides, I’m heading down to Mexico to find out what happened.”
    “And get yourself killed,” Saxby said. “They know what we look like, and they have pictures to keep our mugs fresh in their minds. Since they think we’re assassins, they’ll be keeping an eye out for us.”
    Rath had a determined gleam in his eyes, one Risk knew well. No one was going to talk him out of going. “Let us know before you go,” Risk said.
    “Why, you gonna pray for me?”
    “Maybe we’ll go down, too,” Risk said.
    Rath hitched his thumb at Julian. “I already told JuJu here, I’m not dragging any of you into this. This is a solitary mission. My ass on the line.” Rath and Knox were loners at heart, used to being self-sufficient. Even BUD/S hadn’t worked that out of them completely. Nor had the months of training and all the deployments afterward. Yet Risk knew either man would put his life on the line to save his teammate. Their loyalty was bar none.
    “Let us know anyway,” Risk ordered. “In case you go MIA.”
    “Yeah, sure.” Rath narrowed his eyes at Risk. “You really thinking about joining this security company?”
    “It’s more than that,” Risk said. “It’s the kind of thing we’re good at. That we live for. Not rushing into armed compounds or engaging in firefights, but it’s also not waiting around till the government decides to send us in. Or changing their mind once we’re there and ready to rock and roll. But it
is
about righting wrongs. Getting justice for people who can’t. I talked to the