quickly descended the airstairs and ran around the building in the direction of the vehicle.
The run felt good; she'd not had the chance to run in the past few days. The sun was out and visibility was great.
Josh asked, "Bridget, where are you?"
"Running to the SUV."
"Keys under the seat."
She smiled and if she had to run over one or two more of these fuckers, so be it. A gunshot sounded then another and she slowed her running.
No one said anything for a few seconds and her pulse raced and she felt sick.
"Axel?"
He didn't say anything, and she picked up the pace. No, this couldn't happen now.
"Irish, I'm okay." He sounded pained but alive.
She rounded the first corner and saw the truck up ahead. Mustering all of her energy, she pushed forward as fast as her feet would take her.
Lincoln's voice sounded next. "PD has him."
Josh sounded winded. "Confirmed."
Wyatt then came on. "Roll call."
"Josh."
"Ford."
"Lincoln."
"Bridget."
Finally, "Axel."
A sob broke from her throat. She made it to the SUV and jumped inside. Driving around to the front of the building she saw Axel laying on the ground, Josh not far from him. Lincoln and Ford were huffing against the building. Ustymovych was handcuffed and being shoved into the back of a police car. In two other police cars, his comrades were already sitting in the backseats looking a tad bloodied and the worse for wear.
She stopped the truck and put it in park. Jumping out she ran to Axel, who was beginning to sit up on the ground.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah." His voice was tight, and it looked like it hurt to breathe.
"Are you shot?" She looked around for blood but couldn't see anything.
"No." His breathing was ragged, and he leaned forward.
Josh finally said, "He got kicked in the nuts."
Ford and Lincoln chuckled slightly, though when she looked at them they both grimaced.
"Which fucker did that, I'll go kick him in the nuts for trying to ruin my fun."
This got the men laughing, including Axel, sort of, who then coughed, then groaned.
As soon as they were all able to catch their breath, Wyatt got them moving.
"Wheels up in ten minutes."
Bridget reached down to help Axel stand up. Upon standing, he heaved out a big sigh, "Damn that hurt."
"You looked like you were in a fair amount of pain."
"Jesus."
They hobbled back to the building and the sight of the vehicle caught her attention.
"Do I need to move the SUV?"
"No, I've got someone from the rental agency on their way to pick it up. How bad is it?" Wyatt asked.
She bit her lip, "On a scale of one to ten, I'd give it a four."
Wyatt responded, "That's not bad. It's usually worse."
Walking through the airport, and to the backdoor she saw police officers around Ustymovych's plane and one police officer walking down the airstairs of the GHOST plane.
The officer met them on the ground and stopped to talk to Josh.
"She wants to go back with you. Her parents have been called and they'll make arrangements with you to get her back. She's scared and trying to work through the drugs right now."
"Thank you, Officer."
The young officer nodded and waved at each of them as he walked to his fellow officers to continue processing Ustymovych's plane.
All in all, Bridget felt pretty good about how things went down today, but it also solidified in her mind that she much rather preferred teaching women how to defend themselves than actually working in the field as the GHOST team did. But it was gratifying, and she could see the appeal.
She'd keep pushing for information on whether they'd found the women who'd been stolen and sold like cattle previously, though it seemed like trying to find a needle in a haystack and send prayers for their safety. But each of these women had families and hopefully these families would continue to keep pressure on the local, state and federal government to help find them.
She slowly climbed the steps to the plane, and once on board she sat next to Angel, and held her hand for reassurance. Axel sat across from her and Josh across from Angel.
Ford and Lincoln sat across the aisle. They buckled up and prepared to take off.
"Comm units off during takeoff folks." Gavin's voice sounded over the intercom.
Bridget immediately turned her comm unit off, pulled out her earpieces and lay them on the table between her and Axel.
She caught his eye. He smiled. It was a brilliant smile, his face, though a bit battered from a fist fight, the