Diesel (The Mavericks Book 13) by Dale Mayer (read books for money .txt) 📕

in command, I was always in the background. Now it’s my mission, and I don’t know what comes after this, with the Mavericks.”

“That’s okay,” Jerricho said. “I think that’s part of the joy. Just let it be.”

“Maybe. At the same time, it’s a little bit unnerving to not know what comes after this.”

“Must you have your future locked down?”

The men quickly exited the safe house building, finding a new getaway vehicle awaiting them, courtesy of the Mavericks. They drove back to the warehouse district of Shanghai, parking several blocks away, and skulked through the shadows. When they arrived at the corner, the building in front of them, Diesel shook his head and said, “To your question, no, absolutely not. I actually prefer a little bit of surprise in life.”

“So then be open to a little more surprises,” Jerricho said.

And the two of them raced through the night.

Chapter 5

Eva woke several hours later to an odd sound in the apartment. She bolted out of bed and hid behind the door. It took that long for her brain to remember that the men had gone out to demolish the building where they’d been held. She hadn’t heard any explosions, but would she, this far from Shanghai? Probably. With enough dynamite, right? She trusted that these men could do the job.

After what she and Marge had been through—and Paul and everybody else—she was more than happy to see the lab go down. It wouldn’t stop the system but … Then she heard another footstep in the hallway. Was it them? How could it be anybody else? She peered around the corner. As soon as she saw Diesel, she cried out in relief.

He looked at her, smiled, and said, “We’re back, and it’s just us.”

She raced forward, shaking in relief. “I was so afraid,” she said. “I woke up to a strange noise, and I didn’t know what I heard.”

“It’s just us,” he repeated. He reached out, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tucked her up close, and said, “If you’re tired you can go lie down. You’ve still got few hours yet until morning arrives.”

“I know,” she said. “I know. But, at the same time, I just don’t really want to go through that kind of awakening again.” She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and asked, “And was your mission successful?’

“Yes, the foundation’s damaged, and it’s on fire right now.”

Even in the distance, she heard sirens, hopefully going to the lab but not too soon. “Good,” she said. “At least they won’t refill those basement rooms with more captives so easily.”

“Nope,” Jerricho said. “And we’ve almost got your escape route planned out too.”

She looked at him, smiled, and said, “Now that would be great news. I can’t wait until we get out of here.”

“And it’s happening today. We decided to move the schedule as fast forward as we could,” he said. “It’ll take a little bit of hopping around though.”

“Right,” she said, “but hopefully it won’t be too bad.”

“No.”

She looked around and said, “Should I wake up Marge?”

“We’ll need two hours, and we are planning on leaving, if we get everything okayed, before nine this morning.”

“You don’t want to leave in the dark?”

“No, in this case, we’re better off to leave in broad daylight.” He looked at her, winced, and said, “How do you feel about dyeing your hair?”

She looked at him blankly for a moment, her hand reaching up to her blond locks. “I guess that would make sense, wouldn’t it?”

“Anything we can do to keep you out of the limelight would be good.”

She smiled and nodded. “Did you get any box dyes?”

“They were just delivered,” he said, “along with some sunglasses, skin toner, and a change of clothes.”

“Perfect,” she said. “I’m good with that. What about Marge? Her too?”

“Yeah,” he said, “and it will take us a little bit to get your long hair done, so better we need to get started then if you want a nap afterwards we can make that happen.”

“Perfect.” She was surprised that the men seemed to be quite capable of doing the dyeing, as she thought she would have to do her own hair. They actually did it for her. By the time she was done, her hair dyed jet-black, Marge had woken up, and hers was almost done. Breakfast had also been delivered, and they had eaten. She looked over at the men. “You’re not dyeing your hair?”

“Not yet,” he said. “We’ll change our hats, glasses, clothing.”

“Right. Are we going as tourists?”

“Just being the four of us will already make us a little more visible,” he said, “so we’ll split up and do two and two.”

“As long as all four of us get out of here safely, I don’t mind,” Eva said.

Marge looked over at Jerricho. “You think that’s safe to split up?”

“It is,” he assured her.

She smiled and said, “Fine.”

As they packed up from breakfast, Eva looked around and said, “Do we have to clean this apartment?” she asked. “It’s got our fingerprints and everything.”

“A team will come in,” he assured her.

She looked at him in surprise. “You have teams over here?”

He grinned. “We have teams all over the world.”

“Fine,” she said. “In that case, I’m happy to leave it then.”

And, with that, the women went and got changed. Eva almost smiled when she came back out in jeans and a black T-shirt and, with her black hair, her white skin shone almost too brightly.

Diesel immediately handed her the skin toner, and she understood.

“Right.” And she quickly added a slight tan to her skin. It took the whiteness off and made her blend in a little bit more. And, with a big sun hat and sunglasses completing the look, she laughed as she stepped into flip-flop sandals. “Now this is very touristy,” she murmured.

“It works,” he said.

At that, the two men quickly loaded up on weapons that they could hide on their person, and she watched with interest as handguns went around ankles and into back shoulder holsters.

She said, “What about