24/7

High Speed

•~• Jay's POV •~•

By the time Sam fnished giving us an update on where Seb is being kept hostage, Nic and I, along with the entire team were already armed and mobilized.

We were about to leave when Nic turned to me.

"Wait. Here wear this."

"A bullet-proof vest? As much as I want to be the one who saves the day, I don't plan on being at the forefront of the action. I don't think I need to wear that."

She cocked a hip and raised an eyebrow, arm still outstretched.

"I don't care if you're staying in the van, Faulkerson. You wear this or I will personally handcuff you to your bed and leave you there. Your call."

When I heard her say handcuff and bed, my brain happily ran to the edge of the diving board and executed a flawless inward twisting high dive straight to the gutter.

A hard thwap on my head brought me back to the present.

"Done perving, Faulkerson?"

"Ow! What the— You don't know what I'm thinking so shut it. And stop thwapping me! Nakakarami ka na, Mendoza."

"Oh please. You know I'm right. Focus. You need to be a little less Fifty Shades of Gray and a lot more—"

"Iron Man?"

"Too Disney. I was thinking more along the lines of Lethal Weapon."

I snatched the bullet proof vest from her hand and angrily put it on.

"Iron Man is NOT too Disney."

Sam cleared his throat.

"Are you guys done with the verbal foreplay? Chopper is ready. Land convoy has left. Police support's ETA is less than ten minutes. I'll be monitoring all comms from the building across the target location, along with your B-team, Nic. We need to go now."

I nodded at Sam then took Nic's hand in mine as we made our way out onto the open field and into the chopper.

As soon as we took off I turned to Nic and handed her a palm-sized silver tube.

"What's this?"

"Insurance. It's a low-impact stunner. If, on the off chance, he asks you to disarm, all you need to do is hold it in your fist, get close to him and land a blow. Shouldn't be a problem for you given your skill in close contact combat. One blow and it will render him immobile for up to a minute. Enough time for you to restrain him."

She nodded.

"Do you have one?"

"Yes. Look, Nic... I know you're more than capable of leading this operation successfully but please..."

She leaned over and gave me a quick on the lips.

"I will be careful. I promise. Now, you need to promise me you won't try and be the hero, okay? This isn't a video game where you get multiple lives."

"I plan on having lots of babies with you, Mendoza so yes, I promise I won't try and be the hero."

Several things happened all at once. Nic's eyes bugged out, she lost all ability to talk and my phone started ringing.

I absentmindedly answered it, my attention focused fully on Nic.

"Hello?"

"Hello... bro."

I froze.

"I know what you're up to. I'm ready for you. Tell your minions to stay in their positions. This is between you and me. Come alone or this boy's death, just like Viv's will be on your head."

Then the line went dead.

*•*•*

Author's note: The voices in my head took a
short holiday somewhere cold. They're back now, with presents!

I know, I know. They suck at giving presents. Bastards.