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Chapter Twenty Two
Hatton.
Sri Lanka.
Getting out of the city was what Chantal needed. She paused to take in the lush surroundings as she climbed from the armored suburban on stiff legs. Surrounded by the hills of the Sri Lankan tea country, Chantal found relief in the cooler air. First the three-hour inland trip from Colombo to Kandy, and then the forty-mile trip to Hatton, which sat at an elevation exceeding 4000 feet. The perfect climate for growing the finest tea in the world.
Mixed feelings over the location for the symposium had Chantal turning her back on the lavish plantation bungalow. To tourists, the tea fields provided a perfect getaway, set amongst green vistas, and waterfalls. Their every whim was taken care of, in luxurious rooms, between visiting tea estates and tasting herbal beverages. Many visitors ignored the colonial air permeating the region or the reality for the female workers picking tea for ten-hour days—a back-breaking
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The stuffy auditorium had Gage on edge. Both MSD teams and local forces had locked down the symposium. Gage now stood to the side of the small stage and watched the crowd, made up of VIPs, local politicians, the media, and foreign diplomats.Chantal was the next speaker. Feeling on edge, Gage shifted his stance and focused on the packed room. Thanks to intel, he recognized many familiar faces. After flagging a few unknowns and communicating with his team, Gage watched Chantal step onto the stage. She looked sophisticated in a navy pants suit—not overtly sexy, but it didn’t need to be. A pale blue silk scarf concealed the healing marks on her throat. Gage hated that reminder—of his failure of her physical and mental protection. He watched Chantal move across the stage. The way she walked and held herself communicated alluring confidence. Like her mother, Chantal played the intellectual card well and to her advantage.Tea
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Chantal looked up as Wyatt approached, taking the opportunity to stretch out her back as she helped a patient off a bed. “You’ve been at this for hours. It’ll get dark soon.” Dishan joined her Agent in Charge and agreed, a concern reflected in his eyes. “It’s time to call it a day, after fifteen hours on your feet.” “I could help so many more.” Chantal looked around the humble meeting space where they’d set up their makeshift treatment site. “You still have tomorrow.” She did. They planned to leave in two days, and she wanted to see at least sixty more patients. She wasn’t the only one hustling—the two local chiropractors who owned the center took the lead on the operation and shouldered the bulk of the work. “Nanri.” The Tamil term for thanks rolled off her tired lips, and conceding to Wyatt’s request, she ga
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Gage followed Chantal and her local detail across the lawn, watching the shadows for danger. When he had clear and unseen access to the verandah, Chantal slid open the door, and he slid through. Gage held up a hand and texted Gannon.“What are you doing?”“Stepping up your detail. Approaching your room so easily reveals a gap in local patrols. I’ll get more of my team involved—more patrolling bodies.”“Hang ten. Let me first close the curtains. Don’t you share a room with Gannon?” she asked as she slipped the drapes in place, tamping down on her nerves.“Yeah. He can draw his own conclusions.” Gage walked up and ran his hands over her hips. “I like your shirt. Stripes look good on you.”“How about my bra?” Chantal grinned and pulled her t-shirt over her head.Gage’s mouth twisted into a smile. “Soft lac
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Chantal felt along the patient’s scapula. “I’m not doing an adjustment. She needs to see a doctor and possibly have an MRI. I suspect a torn rotator cuff.”Shoulder pain was a common occurrence with many tea pickers who carried sacks every day, hoisting them over their backs as they walked.The translator told the hunched woman sitting on the table. The lady replied, agitation apparent as she pointed at her shoulder.“She can’t afford that. Even with her husband working in Dubai.”Chantal nodded at the translator. “Of course not. She should check first with her plantation manager. They may cover the costs through insurance. If not, here’s the number for a free clinic in Kandy. If she can get to that town, they’ll take care of her appointments and surgery.”The lady still shook her head and babbled in Tamil.“She can’t stop working in the fields or leave her three c
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The car’s atmosphere felt tense as they slowly looped around another precarious turn on a narrow pass. Chantal stared ahead, preferring not to glance over the drop-off right beside her window.“This was a bad idea.”Dishan fiddled with the windshield wiper settings. “I’m comfortable with the monsoon season, and I’ve grown up on these roads. Relax, I know what I’m doing.” He reached for his water bottle.Gripping her seatbelt, Chantal nearly climbed onto her seat. “Both hands on the wheel!”“You sound like my wife.”“Who obviously cares about living!” Wyatt added from the passenger seat.Chuckling, Dishan slowed and edged around a boulder. “We do have to watch for mudslides—a pretty common occurrence in this region.”“Gee, thanks. How long have we been at this?” Chantal asked.“Fifty minutes. Three hours to go.
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The well-planned attack took everyone by surprise, on a rough stretch of road surrounded by fields and foliage on all sides. When Gage had caught a glimpse of the targets’ vehicles barreling through the brush, he knew that they were screwed—and outnumbered. His only thought—live long enough to get to Chantal. He prayed Team Five’s training would pay off as a pimped-out Land Rover slammed into the MSD armored vehicle. Seconds before the collision, Lucius and Gage had already begun firing at the occupants as Gannon reversed. At the last second, and thanks to a headshot, the Rover driver veered off target, striking the hood of the MSD suburban, instead of pounding Gage and his team to kingdom come.“They’ve blocked the road to the front and rear!” Gannon shouted. “Heavy goods vehicles.”They’d need to evacuate on foot. There was no way that the teams could retrieve both princ
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Chantal focused on the warrior leading them through the brush rather than the awful hollowness settling into her bones. He’d lost Jason. She knew that feeling—the emptiness in his heart—the waves of misery pounding in his skull. That’s how she’d felt when she lost her father. And she’d blurted out those thoughtless words. The day’s horrors could never be unseen—images now layered on top of old memories. Her shattered mind recalled old violence which melded with the new. Was this her fault? Because of the flash drive?They walked in silence—more like jogged. Although Chantal worked out three times a week, her yoga routine didn’t prepare her for jungle warfare. Both men scanned the landscape, always looking for danger.“I don’t have it,” she stated between breaths. “God, I wish I did. I could’ve saved them.”Gage glance
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Gage stopped suddenly and drew out his satellite phone. Dishan immediately took point, checking for danger. Gannon answered on the second ring, and Gage verbally gave their coordinates. “We’re within a klick. Use your GPS tracker.”Gannon complied, and ten minutes later, Gage crested a hill and spotted Team Five and the rest of the survivors. Letting out a relieved breath, he guided Chantal into her mother’s arms. For the first time, the ambassador showed genuine emotion, sobbing into her daughter’s shoulder. Turning away from the heart-wrenching sound, Gage greeted the rest of his team.“It’s good to see you standing, bro.” Gannon pulled him into a tight hug, and Gage shuddered out a sob.His friend’s arms tightened. “We couldn’t save Jase. I tried. I fucking tried.”“Hey, man.” Liam Dalton limped over, and Gage turned to face Team Three’s Team Leader. The guy looke
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