If the first jump was any indication, this wasn’t going to work, at least in Gino’s mind. They all managed to stay out of one another’s way, but he felt as if he’d never made a jump before—it was that bad—and he didn’t even have the heavy equipment with him. Still, they’d all gotten on the roof without an incident. Zeke called for the equipment. He wasn’t going to mess around. He wanted them prepared.
They barely had time to see to their gear before Malichai took them up again. Gino didn’t think the first jump with the heavy equipment went any better than the first dry jump. He cursed as Diego slammed into him, nearly sending both of them over the edge of the roof. He was going to be hurting like hell on the plane ride to China.
“That didn’t go well,” Diego announced. “I felt like I was a first-time jumper. Sorry, Gino. I just ran out of room.”
“I was all over the place too,” Rubin admitted.
“Me too,” Draden said. “The weight really pulled me off balance.”
“Yeah,” Gino added. “Even after I pulled my canopy, steering wasn’t great.”
“We’re fucked,” Diego said. “Wonder how Valhalla is this time of year.” His voice dripped with sarcasm.
Zeke looked them over. “Repack your gear; we’ll break for lunch and go up again in an hour and thirty. Eat, boys, you might not get another chance until we’re in the air, and Nonny did the cooking.”
That improved things as far as Gino was concerned. Nonny’s meals were always something to look forward to. He knew when they were leaving for a mission, she came up with special dishes, everyone’s favorites and loaves of freshly baked bread. Nonny was part of the reason he had begun thinking about having his own family. She was the epitome of what many men would want, a partner to walk beside him, one who could defend her children, to help carve a life out of the wilderness. She had hunted and fished right along with her husband, and later, after the accident that took her son and his wife, she had raised four wild boys herself with no money, her man in the ground.
Her meals alone were worth gold. He sat at the table, quiet as usual, letting the talk swirl around him, hearing it, but not really listening to the camaraderie of ribbing one another and telling old war stories to take their minds off the fact that it was more than likely some of them weren’t going to be coming back.
He thought about Zara and what was happening to her. He had no idea why just the images of her had gotten to him, but more and more, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He was obsessed with finding everything he could on her, and he’d spent most of the night reading the articles he’d found online. It wasn’t a good thing, especially since he’d been tasked with putting a bullet in her head if she was working against them. Still, he couldn’t stop worrying about what was happening to her. That was another unusual thing for him. He didn’t waste time on things he couldn’t change.
Joe’s dad was a criminal. Straight up. A member of organized crime. Not just a member, but a boss. Neither Joe nor he could change that. Joe’s father, Ciro, and Gino’s father, Jacopo, had served in the Marines with Sergeant Major Theodore Griffen, and the three had been friends ever since. Gino had benefited from Sergeant Major’s abilities and connections. Ciro had run down those who had killed Gino’s father and made them pay. He had been the man to condition Gino to seeing torture and being able to shut down his mind and not view the recipient as anything but the slime they were. He considered, with his father’s two friends looking out for him, that his father was still there in spirit. He wished his father could see Zara Hightower.
Ciro had been the one to insist he be taught to take care of himself, with hands or weapons, to keep himself in good physical condition. He had taught Gino that the world wasn’t always black and white or a man all good or all bad. He’d always recognized the cold well in Gino and had talked to him often, telling him to accept himself, but to find something to balance that side of him.
Ciro loved his wife and son. He loved Jacopo and Gino. He was capable of love, and Gino knew he was as well. He’d pushed that side of him down for so long, refusing to think about it because in their line of work, men didn’t always come back and sooner or later, putting his life on the line so often, his luck was bound to run out. Then they’d found the swamp. Nonny. Wyatt’s family. Trap’s woman. Bellisia. It was hard to get around the fact that they were building homes, permanency.
He had a lot to offer a woman. He hadn’t touched his family’s money—and there was a wealth of it and growing every day. He’d never needed it. He didn’t want a woman with him because of money. His choice was the military and now the GhostWalkers. There was no getting out of the program because no one could undo what Whitney had done to them. The government wasn’t certain what to do with them. They were dangerous, but they also were loyal, and they cut down on the deaths of soldiers when they were sent into the field. His woman would have to put up with military life. The only difference was, each team was able to choose their permanent location.
“You’ve gone a million miles away, Gino,” Joe said. “You okay with this?”
Gino knew Joe was talking about the order to end Zara’s life if she was a threat to them. “Don’t know,” he muttered truthfully. He could lie to anyone but Joe. “Don’t like it.”
“It’s just a contingency,” Joe reminded softly. “In case she isn’t like Bellisia. She planned an escape with Bellisia and one other woman, but they never could be in the same place at the same time. Whitney always sent one of them out along with the threat of a deadly virus implanted in them, held the other two up to be sent to the breeding program if things went wrong.”
“Whitney’s still got one of them.” Gino sighed. Loyalty was a huge reason the women stayed, unable to leave when they knew leaving would cause suffering to friends or others who had been raised as siblings. He understood loyalty. He felt it, first toward Joe, and then the other GhostWalkers in his unit, and lastly the ones not in his own unit.
Joe nodded. “I’m sorry, Gino, I should have asked someone else.”
Gino shook his head. He already thought of the woman as “his.” That meant if she had to be terminated, he would do it himself, quick and clean so there was no chance she ever saw it coming and suffered. “She’s my responsibility all the way. I’ll see to her.”
Something about the way he said it had Ezekiel’s head turning toward him, those eyes moving over his face assessing him. He stared back, keeping his expression blank.
“Gino, when the others go out, drop back and talk to me,” Ezekiel ordered.
Gino nodded, but he cursed under his breath. He was blowing it. He wasn’t a man to give anything away and in the space of a few seconds, both Joe and Ezekiel were worried about him. Joe’s father had taught him the importance of keeping his thoughts to himself, yet in a very short time, he was giving away too much.
The talk continued, no one wanting to draw attention to the fact that both of the commanding officers had questioned him. He listened to Malichai and Mordichai tease Trap and Ezekiel about their women’s ability to cook and how they were lucky to have Nonny as an instructor. Wyatt’s wife, Pepper, had a little more time with Nonny, and although in the beginning she had been pretty bad at cooking, she was getting the hang of it.
He waited for Ezekiel, a little wary, but managing to lounge by the door looking lazy and relaxed. Another thing he had to thank Ciro for. Ezekiel was a hunter, through and through. He stalked up to Gino without hesitation, his eyes giving off a faint glow, much like a cat’s might. The two walked out of the house together, the others moving ahead in a group to give them privacy.
“You think I’m a threat to Joe?”
The question startled Gino because he was expecting something altogether different. He shrugged. “You’re a threat to anyone making your wife uncomfortable. That’s the way it should be, so no judgment, but Joe’s in a bad place right now and I think he’s looking for a fight.”