Surge - Maya Nicole Page 0,76

back door and climbed in, helping Morgan get Riley situated on the seat as Jax climbed in the driver's seat.

She slept soundly with her head in my lap. I stroked her hair as we rode in silence. There was no coming back from this. She might have been open to us before, but now we had crossed a line.

We drove about twenty minutes up the coast before turning off and heading inland. There was a narrow access road that had three checkpoints with gates to let us through. We came to an open area in the rolling hills and pulled up to the airplane hangar that housed private planes and the land entrance to our underwater city.

The scanner turned green as we rolled through it, signaling that there were no explosives in the vehicle. Jax pulled onto the platform that would lower us into the tunnel.

"No turning back now." Morgan turned around in his seat and looked at Riley. "Are we sure this is what we want to do?"

"We don't have a choice. Would you rather my father sent his top men to retrieve her?" Jax's hands were clenched tight on the steering wheel as we waited to descend into the earth.

"No, but she's never going to forgive us." Morgan sat back in his seat with a huff. "Unlike you jerks, I actually care about her."

"I care about her,” Jax and I both said in harmony.

"Everything will be fine." I had been trying to convince myself all week that things would work out in the end.

Involving a human hostage in our world was a risky move from the admiral, but our people were demanding vindication for the damage done to our home and the creatures that lived there.

Robert Kline had built an oil platform east of where our city was. Everything within our power had been done to stop it years ago, but he had deep connections in the government and environmental agencies that were no match for our undercover soldiers.

Jax drove down the two-lane tunnel toward the parking lot. I hated knowing the water was right on the other side of the concrete sides. My skin burned the farther out to sea we got.

The tunnel was a necessary step to ensuring we remained undiscovered. We couldn't have tritons popping out of the ocean all across the world. It was an easy way to access the city undetected.

As soon as we parked, a group of five soldiers came to our vehicle. I tensed and pulled Riley closer to me.

"Fuck." Jax got out and slammed the door. He put himself between the SUV and the men. I wasn't sure what the procedures were for escorting hostages, but it didn't seem too out of place that men would accompany us.

They had words and he pulled out his phone, but one of the men grabbed it from him.

Morgan hit the locks on the door and slid over to the driver's side as Jax lunged for one of the men and was pistol whipped with a taser. He dropped to his knees before he was tasered and fell to the ground. Our bodies didn't handle electrical shocks well. He'd be down for a few hours.

"Get us the fuck out of here!" Panic surged in me and I unbuckled my belt and reached into the pocket on the back seat, pulling out a gun. It would still do some damage with them in bipedal form, but not much.

The tires spun on the concrete. "God damn it!" Morgan pounded his hands on the steering wheel. He met my eyes in the rearview mirror. "They put up the posts."

The locks popped and the doors were flung open. I pointed my gun at the forehead of the soldier closest to me.

"Drop the gun, kid. You're making this way more complicated than it needs to be."

I didn't know what this was, but following Admiral West's order had been a mistake. The men in front of us were some of his top men.

"Blake. Put the gun down." Morgan put his gun down on the floorboard and put his hands in the air.

"Do it, kid. She'll still survive if I shoot her foot."

I put the gun down and they motioned for us to get out of the vehicle. The taser hit me and pain spread through my body as I fell to the ground. My muscles were seizing and my vision narrowed.

We really fucked up.

To be continued…

Submerge, Book 2 - Coming Soon!

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Acknowledgments

First and foremost I want to thank all my fans who have supported my writing endeavors. Your love and excitement keeps me going!

I want to thank Aspen for letting me bounce ideas off her and for giving me pep talks. Your enthusiasm for this book and characters pushed me through.

I also want to thank Ivy for her ongoing support of my writing. A special thanks to Devin for reading a tough scene and giving me your thoughts.

Thank you Julia for speaking candidly to me about tough conversations no parent should have to have.

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Descend

Transcend

Standalone

Widow

Infernal Council

Infuse

Defuse

Transfuse