Jenna put her head on the steering wheel and began to cry.
Chapter 2
“Do you remember that time I had my face buried in your ass right here on this very cliff wall?”
Mark Outlawson didn’t even try to stop his bark of laughter at Baby Bollinger’s words. Baby had a grin on his face as he said it. Of course, Baby always had a grin on his face. He was one of the most charming and good-natured guys Mark had ever known.
Not that the face/ass situation Baby was referring to had been very funny. Baby had almost plummeted to his death when someone sabotaged his rappelling gear during an obstacle race.
“I recall you asking me to tell you if I was going to pass gas so that you could just let go and die,” Riley responded with a grin of his own.
“Can you blame me?” Baby asked. “I’ve camped enough with you now, I know I would never survive up-close contact with one of your SBDs.”
“SBD?” Riley asked.
Baby chuckled. “Silent but deadly. I’d take my chances with plummeting three stories straight down.”
“Smart man,” Mark muttered.
Riley Harrison, known to most of the world as daredevil television sensation Phoenix. If it hadn’t been for Riley’s exceptional reflexes and coordination, not to mention sheer determination to get his friend down to the ground safely, Baby would’ve died that day.
“Belay on,” Ian DeRose called from a few yards above them. “Unless you’d rather stay down there and hear the story of the greatest bromance there never was.”
Mark chuckled again. “I think I’ll pass. Climbing!”
Mark had rock climbed with Ian, his friend and boss at Zodiac Tactical, more than once. A traditional belay would be from beneath the climber, but Mark knew Ian could more than handle it from above.
He trusted his friend enough to take a more difficult path up the cliff wall. If he fell, Ian would catch him. Mark hoisted himself up foot by foot, finding finger- and toeholds until he made it up to Ian.
They sat on a slight edge, still able to hear Baby and Riley joking below them. Mark looked out at the beautiful mountains and skies surrounding him. He’d missed being here in Wyoming.
“You took a more difficult route up.” Ian’s eyes were also on the stunning view.
“Worried you weren’t going to be able to stop me if I fell?”
“Hell no. But maybe a little worried I’d have to explain to Dumb and Dumber down there why I had to.”
Mark gritted his teeth, some of the beauty around him dimming. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
Ian raised an eyebrow at him. “You and I have been friends for too many years and you’ve saved my ass way too many times for me to ever be your babysitter. But you can’t ignore what’s happening.”
Mark scrubbed a hand down his face. “Yeah, but it’s not affecting this. Not today.”
“Fair enough, Outlaw.”
Outlaw. What a joke that was becoming. Everyone at Zodiac Tactical had a code name, and Outlaw was his. Partially because of his last name being Outlawson, but mostly because it had always been Mark’s mantra.
He’d always been able to think outside the box, to see different ways of handling a problem than just the obvious—even back when he was in the Special Forces. Outlaw suggested rebel, but that wasn’t so much the case. Mark was willing to follow orders, but he was also willing to fight with less conventional measures when needed.
That had made him quite the bodyguard after leaving the military and was one of the reasons why Ian had hired him to work at Zodiac Tactical, the world-renowned private security business he’d built.
Zodiac were the utmost experts at security work of all types: risk consulting, intelligence gathering, private and corporate guarding, international hostage negotiation and rescue.
If the law couldn’t, or wouldn’t, handle it, Ian DeRose and his team could. Mark had been damned proud to be part of that team for the past two years.
But soon, he and Ian would be having a hard talk. Things couldn’t continue the way they had been.
“Hey.” Ian nudged him. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Mark looked out at the mountains to the north of them. “You ever miss this view when you’re in New York?”
Ian had moved there when his wife Wavy’s art career had taken off.
Ian shrugged. “I appreciate this more since I’m not around it as often. But the city has its own appeal. And honestly, I would take any view as long as I know Wavy’s near it.”
After what had happened to her, it was still hard for Ian to be away from Wavy at all. Even to go rock-climbing while she was in town a few miles away.
“Lord, are you guys talking lovey-dovey stuff about my sister?” Baby asked as he and Riley made it the rest of the way up to them. “If so, I can once again attempt to plummet to my death.”
Mark pushed himself back from the ledge so they could begin climbing again. “No, we were trying to figure out if we could climb a different section of this rock to avoid face-to-ass, good ol’ days stories.”
“Best day of my life.” Riley grinned and started climbing past them.
From this point to the top of the cliff wall, their equipment was set up and anchored for all of them to climb without needing to spot each other. At the top was rappelling gear to get them back down.
That was the advantage of adventuring with a billionaire. They didn’t have a ton of time today, so Ian had arranged for someone to set up and take down their equipment. All they had to do was enjoy the scenery, company, and the challenge.
Challenges had never been something Mark shied away from.
They all began moving up the wall. A few yards in, Mark could feel the slight drag of his left leg and bit back a curse. If the pattern held, his leg would continue to become more useless over the next few hours, then hopefully would right itself later tonight as he slept.
Doctors had warned him that at some point the rejuvenation may stop.
He would deal with that when it came to it. Right now, he was determined not to show any weakness. He knew he was succeeding when Baby and Riley began their joking with each other again. Riley climbed past Mark at a rate he’d never be able to match, current physical issues or not.
But then again, Riley was a world-class athlete and a decade younger, so Mark wasn’t going to sweat it.
Riley got a little farther up, then stopped and flipped so he was almost hanging upside down like freaking Spiderman. “Don’t you think it’s interesting how we don’t see Mark in Oak Creek for like two years until Jenna showed back up here?”
Baby and Ian both chuckled.
“Highly suspicious,” Baby said.
Mark rolled his eyes. “Hey, if I haven’t been around, blame my asshole boss. He’s the one who keeps me out on missions all the time.”
Ian chuckled, not taking offense. “Funny how you let your asshole boss know you needed time off as soon as Jenna Franklin resurfaced here.”
They all got a little quiet. Resurfaced was the right word. For over a month, no one had known where she’d gone, or why she’d disappeared.
But Mark had known. He’d witnessed it.